4th Kumitachi

We continued with bokken (wooden sword), learning the 4th kumitachi. I hope I don't have to memorize all of these! I wish I were able to practice more on my own, and well, sometimes I'd like to retire and do this all the time. Ah, retirement... (come on, snap out of it Dave!).

Jory says that I know enough to be dangerous now. I'm not sure I'd agree. Dangerous to whom? I would venture to say that the less experience one has, the more dangerous one is. Mostly he sees some bad habits. This is good, er bad. The habits are bad, but it's good he sees them. I think it would be accurate to say that I'm in "the middle", the difficult period of "knowing" some techniques, though superficially (making them dangerous I suppose). One positive thing, if it can be called that, is that I don't have the illusion that I have mastered anything. It generally feels to me that I have only a rudimentary understanding of ki. In aikido, it's all about blending with the attack. If there is a feeling of applying a lot of force, it's not blending.