More training

At karate tonight, after some combinations to warm us up, we split up again to work on our kata - this time each being given a section to work on and then show at the end. Mine was the 'main sequence', that is soete kake-dori, mae geri, osae uki, uchi uke, nihon zuki, and then going into the manji uke and morote zuki in kiba. It was good to practice it a few times and I was able to focus it up a little, especially the kiba section.

I also partnered up with K again for his Ji'in bunkai, for which we have all 3 sections now, including a nice close-up exchange for the final moves of the kata. (Final moves, that is, for the Shotokan version - for some reason we don't include the last four moves of the kata as done in Shito Ryu and Shorin Ryu. Why? Edited out deliberately, forgotten, or not transmitted properly?).

I then trained on my own for a bit, on the mats, and practiced the jump into mikazuki geri and ryote fuse - down on to the ground. This was very useful as it is not something I have the room for at home, and I must have done it a good 20 times or so. I'd say just under half were satisfactory - and by satisfactory I mean a good connection of the mikazuki onto the hand (a slap!) and a balanced landing in exactly the right direction. So, progress, but it still needs work.