Class with Nate, Don and Sabrina. Chris again observed class. During seiza I had a pop quiz on the three types moves, the six traditions, and the three rules of swordsmanship (straight offense, offensive defense and initiated response; warriors greeting, given steel, sword honor, sword respect, sword salute and sanctuary; patience, respect and awareness). We went through requirements, pairing Nate with Sabrina and Don with myself. After requirements I instructed all three on Kata Ich, then took a break.
During the break, I set up a combination gauntlet and balance (1 & 2) course including a hanging ring thrust target. The first run throughs had the gauntlet runner wielding a boffer and the others used boken to make a pose along the course. The runner had to use controlled clean cuts to exposed target areas to kill each person as they went through the course. After each of us had three consecutive attempts, I changed it to each person along the guantlet would make a half speed attack and the runner had to kill or block and get by. The last three passes the runner was only permitted to block with no counter attack.