Thanks for all the info, Jon. As always you've given me an awful lot to think about
As always, anything I say about Taijutsu should be taken with a bucket of salt, since I often have my own way of (mis)doing things that may not be quite in line with party canon
By the way, the seoi counter with the palm strike to the hip was the Koto-ryu one I mentioned, though we went with sokuyaku to the knee and a kick in the head rather than the ukemi takedown.