It has begun.

Tonight, at the direction of our head instructor, I started practicing in earnest for my ikkyu test, the last one before shodan, and so my last one at my home dojo. (Black belt tests are taken at seminars under the aegis of very select senior instructors.)

I did some randori (multiple-attacker freestyle), and got over a bit of my neurosis that my randori sucks. It's not good, but it's not as bad as I had psyched myself into thinking it was. Doing several in an evening is good for getting a sense of progress in what can be a very daunting activity.

I also started working on "the grid," a matrix of techniques which consists of five different throws for each of about a dozen standardized attacks. The attacks and the eventual throws are specified, but the stuff in the middle is left as a proverbial Exercise For The Student, and there are an infinity of options available. The challenge is to find a collection of techniques which are reasonably straightforward (it's not time to be too flashy), well suited to me, and diverse. Tonight, I figured out a possible set of techniques for a particular attack, "shomenuchi," which is an overhand striking attack.

( aikido geekage continues in detail... )

Overall, it's an exciting time, although it will probably take me out of the comfort zone I've been in for a few years, since now I'll probably start getting stressed out about "making progress" instead of just practicing without much thought for the long run.