I attended a special brown/black belt practice with Mr. Jim Sagawa today in Auburn. As the only brown belt in attendance, I hope I performed well. The practice was very good, the primary focus was on the kata Jion. There were several details that were clarified through out the practice. We also touched on nearly every Heian kata and Taikyoku Sandan in exploring the techniques and movements used in Jion. At a rough estimate, we performed Jion thirty times through, total.
I am placing the Winter Special Training on my calendar as a tentative. It is at the end of January, and consists of three days of heavy training. All SKA members must attend a minimum of two special training events prior to testing for their Shodan rank (1st degree black belt).
Mori Sensei also noted that, if I am truly interested in achieving Shodan with the SKA, I had best begin practicing 5000+ times through Bassai, the required kata, now.