Eureka! After 25 years and more than 50 trips to train in Japan I finally understood the footwork difference between Koto Ryû and Gyokko Ryû. Better late than never.

We had a class with Nagato sensei and I couldn’t do the Oni Kudaki he demonstrated until I saw. Hatsumi sensei often speaks about mienai waza, a technique that cannot be seen. For me this, had been mienai for a quarter century.

My taijutsu had been mainly influenced by Noguchi sensei. The reason for that is that Hatsumi sensei in 1993 told me to train exclusively with him and Noguchi sensei. This had been valid until the opening of the honbu in October 1997. I asked him again with whom I should train now and he said only at the honbu and with the Shi Tennô teaching there. So I began to train regularly with Senô sensei, Oguri sensei, and Nagato…

During the last class in Ayase at the Budôkan, sensei never repeated twice the same movement. Instead he was surfing from one opportunity to another.

Written differently Ayase can be 怪瀬, « mysterious opportunity », and indeed his movements were definitely mysterious and he was adapting his actions to any opportunity offered by the opponent.

That was even more difficult for me as he asked me twice to demonstrate. Then he was expressing it in such a « mysterious  » way that I couldn’t repeat it!

Apparently to an observer what he was doing was simple and obvious but when you had to do it, it was nearly impossible to copy. Once again I got totally lost!

Facing a group of lost students he stopped and said: « I teach the same feeling with many forms, don’t memorize them. In a real fight you will have no time to think, only to react.  »