Playing Tall Opponents, Part 1

I've managed to ask for comments about my ikkyu grading performance from every one from the grading panel and now I have some solid ideas about the things I want to work on leading up to shodan.

The comments are mostly related to the way I play tall players, as both my opponents in the ikkyu test are tall. I'm 164cm, the typical Asian height, so many of my opponents tend to be taller than me. Itakura sensei made 2 key observations:

1. My cuts weren't determined enough. He's right - my opponents were both quite twitchy and took my advances as a cue to initiate their cuts, thus foling my attempts at executing cuts. Still, I should make determined strikes regardless.
2. More focus on shikake waza. Same point as above.

So...how should I play taller opponents? Some points for considerations:

• Taller opponents have superior reach, especially men;
  
• To cut their men, I'd have to move in to close the maai. But that means "exposing" my men even more;
• Taller opponents' kote/doh are more accessible;
• Taller opponents can be in some way forced to cut men only.

These are some of the points I could think of right now which I should consider when doing jigeiko against them.

I've been watching Takeshi's jigeiko and shiai with great interest since he's shorter than me but is yet able to hit any opponent's men with relative ease. The key is seme. With strong seme, he is able to control the opponents, making them take the defensive posture and force them into creating suki. Since the opponents are forced to be defensive, they are not in a position to attack. This works against ALL opponents, not just the tall ones.

Accordingly, I must apply myself consistently into training my seme. This means improving my footwork, center, kigurai and other elements to produce effective seme. I hope that with more hard practices I can improve on this aspect, and will be able to make determined and spirited strikes with sutemi.