Jodan in Cleveland

Man was there a lot of jodan kamae in Cleveland. It seems to me that a lot of people in New York have caught the jodan bug. I even went up against a member of the Kendo World community in Ai jodan. He got me with a morote kote. Anyway, the tournament was great for me, the best I have done in Jodan yet. I was first to face Dr. Wu, who chose to go ito againts me instead of nito. I scored a katate men and, for the first time, katate kote. It was a great match. Then I went up against Mosoco from NYC in jodan as well. This was an excellent match. We were trying to find a weakness the entire way and he finally got a morote kote. I was very satisfied with these matches and felt that the loss was to a great kendoist. He went on to take third in the division. The team competition was great as well. I fought against Sasaki from University of Chicago and won on a morote kote from chudan. Then it was up against NYC kendo and I won with two hiki men, the first for me to score from a hiki waza. Overall it was a great time and jodan is feeling more and more comfortable the more I do it. The kamae is also starting to feel natural, not quite like chudan yet, but getting there. Cheers!