The plus side was that I was introduced to Swiss team, met Oscar Kimura the captain, very nice fellow, awesome kendo too from what I hear. Now that I've made contact with them hopefully I'll get a chance to practise with them soon.
We weren't going to waste our planned kendo day and instead came up with the idea of Mumeishi's practise. It was well worth it too. It was a very small practise, very cozy, but the advice we knew was going to be invaluable with the human resources available there. Geoff and Terry were there and so was Hiyama-san. After some sweaty keiko, this is their respective pointers for me:
- Terry Holt sensei: after Men cut, zanshin, pull shinai back with the body rather than arm ... in a spin around sort of action
- Geoff Salmon sensei: Be quicker to bring in back foot, more abdomen push
- Hiyama Yasuyuki-san: Recuring theme of big kendo v small kendo, cut down rather than tap up