Saturday may have been one of the hottest and most humid day in quite some while, but the iaido seminar organised by the Kohokai and hosted at Kenshinkai dojo was one of the best training experiences I have had for quite some time.
Led by Toshi Tsukadaira sensei and Emiko Yaguchi sensei (after 90 minutes of kendo as a "warm up" for some of us) we engaged in a more Japanese-style seminar format, where we generally worked on kata of our choice and had the various sensei available provide input. This was incredibly useful in identifying and starting to address some of those niggles and rough edges in our performance, and I would love to see it employed more often as a seminar approach in the future.
Personally, I would like to especially thank John Isaacs sensei for the warm welcome, the considerable time he gifted to me to provide feedback on what I was doing, and the invite for Toowoomba-based kendoka and iaidoka to come far more often (and, indeed, regularly) to Brisbane to touch base and continue our improvements in both disciplines.
I would also like to second Isaacs sensei's sentiment regarding Yaguchi sensei's instruction. As he said, "sensei is the epitome of what a Sensei should be - humble, informed, great example, but most importantly she genuinely cares about the students and makes them the priority".
Many thanks also to Tom Johnson for having organised the event, which always takes considerable behind the scenes action. We are hoping to have another session with Yaguchi sensei before she leaves in March, and we will certainly look forward to that opportunity.