[himecthekWiff]

Dear Mssrs McCall and Henriksson:

Last weekend, at the Nippon Budokan's International Budo Culture Seminar, I was fortunate enough to meet Nariaki Satou Sensei, KH8, Professor of Tsukuba Univ. and member of the AJKF Committee on Kata.

I inquired about any changes in kata no. 7, nanahomme, detailing what we have discussed in previous postings; however, Satou Sensei reponded that there have not been any recent changes, nor are there any changes under review.

According to existing instruction, uchidachi kiai on the initial step, with timing that would correspond to the (intended) men strike, while shidachi executes his nuki-doh, his kiai issuing at the moment of doh "impact," following only a moment after uchidachi's attempted men strike and corresponding kiai. In instances where I have seen this done correctly and at full speed, it results in "ya-toh!" Nearly at the same time, but clearly the men occuring first,

During uchidachi's men-strike attempt, the interval is issoku-ittou-no-maai, the timing and distance of the strike should be one striking motion from the first, left-leg step, to the (intended) men-uchi; however, upon missing the men-strike, as uchidachi's sword contiunes its path down to a below-knee-height level, uchidachi continues with one more (right) step forward according to his forward momentum movement.

Anyway, these are my interpretations based on conversations, and what I have seen and read here in Japan recently. If anyone has any additional information, we'd all appreciate your input.

MK