Today was the Sanbusaku Seminar. That means I drove up to Trumansburg at 7:00am and started working with swords--wood, padded, and metal-- until 9:00pm. I've now attained Instructor rank, which is two below the highest in the style. My arms are killing me! Most notable today was the fact that I was able to do tameshigiri, live cutting, for the first time. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience, holding a live blade and slicing it through the mats with barely any resistance. I saved a piece of the mat that was between two of my best cuts:
That size mat is about equivalent to a human wrist in terms of density :)