Kiss her with Ki

Spent the past few days training with Nagato sensei, plus we were supposed to have training with Soke Friday night. But Ninja masters get days off too, so Noguchi sensei took over. Still, we had a terrific class, with Noguchi running us through Gyokko Ryu kata at breakneck pace.

I trained with Darren Hovarth the other day, which if you know Darren, at 6'7", 280lbs, and wide as a bus, is like training with a polar bear, armed with a knife. Darren has been around for quite a while and now lives in Japan from his native Australia. Not only is he quite good, he's surprising light on his feet. He was good fun and very helpful, offering his thoughts on Chuto Hanpa and the perspective Soke is trying to convey.

"Anything is okay, as long as it works," Nagato said, a familiar quote of his. Sensei worked against kicks and at points disappeared on his partner when he slipped under his kick and spun behind to control him as the student crashed down in a heap, so surprised by Nagato's lithe movement and timing. Sensei just laughed. At another point, he turned away from the kick and sat down on his uke, arms crossed, yet still covering every point of attack and escape his uke could manage. Nagato sensei's size is deceptive and one might think it would be hard to fit it all into the moments he does, but just one training with him is enough to come away scratching your head.

He also talked about putting Ki into a particular strike, a shuto, as an opponent reaches for you. "Hit them like your Mom would hit you when she's angry," he laughed. "Put energy into it." And demonstrated in animated fashion. "But don't do this to your girl ... kiss her instead!"