sharp

Cutting practice at Akabane. Only 8 people cutting, so we all had lots of targets and took our time. It was pretty cold, so I had a hard time getting warmed up. Tried a few new cuts like tsubamegaeshi (will need BigTony to teach me that one) and ichijin. The former being a total failure (Akama-san almost got it a couple times though) and the latter being a minor failure.
After practice I went down to Machida to Hataya's sword shop. It's a tiny little place crammed with stuff, swords, and all his polishing equipment. I introduced myself as BigTony's friend and asked him how much it would be to sharpen up my cutter. Usually working polishes cost about 50,000 yen, but as I don't care what the polish looks like, I just need it to cut, he sharpened it up for me for 6000 yen. I'll have to tell Tanaka-sensei and bring all our other swords in to get straightened and polished.