An excellent class tonight. We focused the entire class on Standing Iai 1 through 5. My #1 needs some work on the flick-advance-strike. The rest went smoothly.
Some subtlties I enquired after;
– There is less emphasis on the standing iai beginning and ending position (unlike Shotokan Kata), the more important issue being a general preparedness to adjust distancing as needed for opponents.
– When advancing in standing iai 4a, the hips remain at a constant level. You should not rise up into a taller jodan position, then sink into the next stance with the cut. I suspect this applies in general to most cases unless explicitly said otherwise.
– When making the small leap and turn in standing iai 3, it should be performed in such a way that you neither travel forward or back at all. In actual usage, it would travel as needed to provide correct distancing to your opponent.