Unka Kim's Martial Art
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Senior class notes:

We had a senior class for iaido and jodo recently and there are a few calls for "the notes" so with prior apologies, here they are.

The first day used iaido. Note I didn't say we worked on iaido, we used it. During the introductory comments it was stated that we would use the Zen Ken Ren judging guidelines for different levels as our guide to what would be presented in the seminar. This would not be in relation to "passing the next exam" but toward a level-appropriate discussion.

The work began with three embu of three kata each by one of the 7dans after which pairs of attendees were asked to critique. It was very satisfying to see that all of the comments were appropriate to the level of the demonstrator. The comments referred to feeling, metsuke, timing and similar things.

Next a kata was performed by a 3dan and the participants gave a single suggestion for improvement. Again it was satisfying to see that all the comments were focused on the same area so that a coherent, positive change could be made by the demonstrator.

The participants were asked what they needed to work on and a discussion of self-directed practice was had.

Two participants then demonstrated their most troubling kata in order for them to focus on an area of concern. A discussion of metsuke as it relates to the various sets of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu and Zen Ken Ren iai was had. Next, and for the rest of the morning, there was a recapitulation and extension of the points that Maehara hanshi gave to the seniors at the May seminar this year with regard to using the back foot. Yes, seniors work on such things as using the back foot in their kata. Some analysis was done "hands on" to explore these points.

In the afternoon the seminar began with a run-through of the Zen Ken Ren kata with specific focus brought to bear through a reminder of the traditional instructions on swordsmanship as one can read in the textbooks. A reminder was given to all to go read and research to improve our fundamental understanding of the principles behind Japanese sword. Following this the over-5dan participants watched the rest perform the kata once more with specific, individual suggestions being made.

Finally, since the chance was there, the last hour or so of the day was devoted to making sure that the participants, who all teach, were on the same page for those points of the Zen Ken Ren that concern their students. There were no differences worth mentioning in the understanding of those present, which again, was very satisfying to see.

That concluded the first day of the seminar and some of the class retired to the Pub for a jolly good bitch session about our students... and other things.

The second day of the seminar had a somewhat different group of participants and we used the Zen Ken Ren jo to examine some of the same principles of movement we discussed the previous day. The point was made that with a partner in front of you the concerns with "what is happening" during the kata are much reduced. Physicality over theory was stressed due to the somewhat lower average rank (and age) of the participants but the comments remained focused on methods to improve rather than on specific details of kata. Much work was done on connecting the weapon through the hips to the floor and the main theme was to create a strong platform with a relaxed body above the waist. A major theme was "light hands" and the block wall was assaulted often as students tried to push it over with something other than a death-grip on the bokuto or the jo.

The morning and some of the afternoon was devoted to the solo kihon so that the participants could work within themselves. We then practiced the first three kata (which all the participants would have been practicing for over a decade) to put these insights together with a partner. It is surprising just how quickly a kata one knows well can break down when the lower body is creating so much more power than the usual "going through the check-points" movements one uses while teaching.

After allowing the somewhat "scary" kata to create tension in our upper bodies once more we put down the jo and some simple exercises were done with bokuto to bokuto to once again lighten up the hands.

Since most of the work over the weekend involved highly individual-specific corrections and an actual feeling of force vectors while in physical contact with a partner I'm afraid these notes may be somewhat less than useful to anyone not at the seminar. On the other hand, now you know what went on if you were wondering.

Vocabulary is not Knowledge

Reading through the research literature, it always depresses me a little bit when I read an article "On Kata" or some sort and as I begin I realize the author is going to tell me that "Martial arts are taught in set-piece physical actions called kata."

Oh, thanks.

The acquisition of a specialized vocabulary (in other words, a jargon) has always been a substitute for knowledge amongst undergrads who figure the game is to learn the language of science. This has been discovered by other fields of study and some struggle to create a jargon as obscure as they can make it. The problem isn't restricted to academe, in class-based societies your language will substitute for your status, hence Pygmalion.

But that's not how jargon works in relation to knowledge. Jargon is a shortcut not a goal and it's only useful if everyone knows the shortcut. It does not work if it's obscure, the aim is not to exclude, it's to save time. Hence the need for undergrads to learn the language of their discipline, even if that discipline doesn't really need a specialized language.

My daughter looked at a toddler the other day and asked if it is necessary for humans to lose that wonder of the world as they grow up. Unfortunately it is, we take in much too much information to deal with it unfiltered. Our brains sort and categorize, they don't accumulate and extrapolate. We don't do "big data". If we did we wouldn't have computers at faceplant crunching the numbers trying to figure out what we're going to buy next. When the world has tigers in the bushes we don't need to be pointing at flowers and saying "pretty", we need to be seeing tigers. As toddlers we have adults doing that filtering for us until we get the ability. Then, as adults, we take special classes that help us "be in the world" and appreciate the pretty flowers, but again, that's in a protected place like a temple, not, hopefully, while we're driving a car. When we're dealing with the modern tigers (cars) we need to categorize, we need to dismiss anything that we don't need to see, like thousands of advertisements surrounding the road signs.

The research kids marvel that folks miss the guy in the ape suit who walks across their field of vision. I marvel that the researchers expect anyone to see him. We have to discriminate to survive.

Hence the jargon, we put entire species into a name, we put entire books worth of physics into a formula so that we can move beyond that book. If we don't put chunks of knowledge into a word we spend all our time re-learning that knowledge. Once should be enough so that we can then trust that formula and use the method of it's derivation on the next one.

We put an entire method of training into the word "kata". But knowing what that word stands for isn't the same as knowing how to learn or to teach kata. Vocabulary is not knowledge. Use it, by all means, but don't assume that if you don't know that bit of jargon you are somehow lacking in the knowledge that lies behind it. And of course, don't assume that knowing the word means you actually understand the concept it represents. Louisa may speak with the posh accent but she's still from the apple-selling classes. She'll need to know how to fold napkins in the current style. Until she does, it might be best for her to speak posh, but as little as possible lest someone discover she knows the words but not the concepts behind them.

Secrets to textbooks

We all know there are no secrets any more in the budo, not with internet video out there. But how far back did these secrets start to get spilled?

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Research Journal of Budo Vol. 17 (1985) No. 3 p. 8-17

Research on the Texts of Martial Arts Published in Edo Period - with Emphasis on the Texts Related to Archery -

Kohei Irie
The University of Tsukuba

The technical system of martial arts in Japan had been established in the 16th and 17th centuries and various schools of them had been founded. In the area of archery, the transmission system of technical method in mounted and ceremonial archery, which were characterized as the chivalrous accomplishments, had been established in the 15th century. On the other hand, foot soldier archery (Hosha), which aimed at the real battle, was developed toward the same direction as those of another martial arts.

In the Edo period, the publishers, which had become one of the established business, printed, published, and made public the texts of martial arts which had hitherto been secret. Archery, strategy, and gunnery were the main categories of martial arts in terms of the number of publishing. Many works on strategy and gunnery had been published after the 19th century, assumedly because of the influence of advanced military techniques introduced by the European countries.

As for the works concerned with archery;
1. The arrival of firearms in the 16th century and the accompanied changes in the warfare methods made decrease the utility of the bow. Thereafter, archery was emphasized with its traditional and ceremonial aspects.
2. Archery started to be recognized as the chivalrous accomplishments being a part of general education of a Bushi.
3. Competitive aspect of archery (e. g. Toshiya) raised the interest among the vast majority. These factors might have facilitated the publication of texts dealing with archery.

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Archery, strategy and gunnery manuals. Where are the sword manuals from the Edo? There were some which we have today, but it seems not as many as for archery (no longer used for war so no need to keep it secret), strategy (when was that ever secret, being based on the Chinese classics) and gunnery (which perhaps was foreign, best used in large scale warfare, and not otherwise worth keeping as a secret). Within all this, perhaps the sword schools assumed that their skills might yet be used in a fight and so might be worth keeping secret. Those manuals we do have might also have been written for the few, as was Musashi's Go Rin no Sho, written for his employer.

I don't know if an author in the Edo could benefit from being published, presumably he would at least achieve some promotional value toward being hired as an instructor if not monetary gain. Any benefit would have to be weighted against the risk of revealing too much and losing potential students who would figure they could just "buy the book", and the potential loss of life if the secret, unbeatable technique was revealed to the public. How many of these manuals got general circulation as opposed to being "privately published" for the boss? I can't imagine them being any more popular than they are today (not very) so they were likely of limited print runs. The western military manuals of the same era seem to be of the same ilk, being written mainly for the select few.

In our own era, famous instructors such as Nakayama Hakudo produced small print run books to give to their students. Some of these have become somewhat widely available but does one call them secret or public? Is it secret if nobody has seen it, even if it was intended for the public? Is it public if everyone has a copy even though it was intended for students only?

Speaking of secrets, do we really learn anything from internet video? We learn the general shape of things by watching, and if we were thinking of a fight to the death that would be a handy thing to know. It's never good to have a sword appear from a strange angle. But beyond that, there are a world of things that don't show up on film. A student mentioned last night that she found her first kyu test on some tapes and it wasn't at all what she remembered it was. I have mentioned before that I once made a student repeat a kata five or six times because she wasn't "on" and with the final one I was happy. Looking at the video later it was quite clear that whatever I was seeing "live" wasn't there on the video. For myself, I have watched video of myself in dread, knowing how off-balance and weak I was, only to see nothing of the sort. I have also looked at a film of a strong performance, only to see a shaky old man.

There is simply a lot that film can't capture. Imagine how much less you can capture with words in a manual.

Well, actually words are a lot stronger than film, a lot more revealing of some things. A video of a kata will show shapes and shadows, a few well-chosen words can open up a cascade of understanding much more secret than any peeking into windows.

Why a new kenjutsu school?

I think everyone can agree that schools multiplied in number from the original three (Nen, Chujo and Shinto) from their founding through the Edo period. The question is always why. Why not just dance with the one that brung ya? If you learn in one school why not just teach that? There are many answers of course, but here is one.
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A STUDY OF THE RELATION BETWEEN ZENSIN-MUKEI-RYU KENJUTSU SCHOOL IN THE BUSHU DISTRICT AND MT. OHYAMA-SHINKO CHAPTER IN THE SOSHU DISTRICT
Koji KAZUMA

Zensin-Mukei-Ryu Kenjutsu School (literally Zen Meditation-Intangible swardsmanship School) was founded by Shichirozaemon Minamoto-no Takesato Tajima (Takesato Tajima). a headman of Ogose Village (presently Ogose Town, Saitama Prefecture), influenced by Ohyama-Shinko (a Kind of mountainous folk belief) in AD 1800. The School had been prospering until 1830.

This study aimed at clarifying the plan made by the disseminators (mentors) of Ohyama belief who took advantage of Zensin-Mukei Ryu. The results are summarized as follows:
1. In the middle of the Edo Period, many farmers of middle or upper class in the Bushu District (presently Saitama Pref. and its vicinity) wanted to practice Kogen-Itto-Ryu Kenjutsu School that had been established in the same district. Then, Takesato Tajima, one of the students of Kogen-Itto-Ryu. founded another new school, Zensin-Mukei-Ryu in 1800, a branch split from Kogen-Itto-Ryu. It (Zensin-Mukei-Ryu) spread in Ogose Village and its vicinity.
2. Takesato Tajima and his 114 students dedicated a tablet to Kasuga Shrine of Ogose Village, on which the names of the members of Zensin-Mukei-Ryu were writen. On the Tablet we can also find the names of 21 disseminators of Ohyama belief in the Soshu District (presently Kanagawa Pref. and its vicinity), mixed with those of other students in the neighborhood.
3. Mt. Ohyama in Isehara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, is located 1252 meters above sea level. The faith in Mt. Ohyama was born in ancient days when farmers and fishermen in the Kanto District prayed for rain and good harvest. The disseminators of Ohyama had been propagating their belief around the kanto District for acquiring their followers. They organized “Ohyama-Ko”, a pilgrim association of having the same faith. They climbed together Mt. Ohyama and made a monetary contribution to Ohyama Shrine.
4. Then there had been several “Ohyama-Ko” around the Ogose Village. Takesato Tajima and his students also had faith in Mt. Ohyama. They had made a pilgrimage to Mt. Ohyama, and stayed with Sato Ohsumi, one of the disseminators, who was also one of the students of Takesato Tajima.
5. The disseminators of Mt. Ohyama had come to resort to force for protecting themselves from enemies whom they came across while spreading their belief. Before AD 1800, they had been the students of Kogen-Itto-Ryu. After 1800, however, they were converted to Zensin-Mukei-Ryu. This shows how the disseminators came to be affiliated with Zensin-Mukei-Ryu.
6. In short, the disseminators conceived that being the students of Takesato Tajima would help them to increase the number of their believers. On the other hand, Takesato Tajima, saw to it that he could take advantage of Mt. Ohyama's religious influence in order to expand Zensin-Mukei-Ryu. Thus, Zensin-Mukei-Ryu was established to promote mutual benefit with the disseminators of Ohyama belief.

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First, let's note that this paper would seem to indicate that farmers and fishermen were studying first Kogen-Itto-Ryu and then the new offshoot Zenshin-Mukei-Ryu in the middle of the Edo period. These people seemed to be followers of a local religion called Ohyama-Shinko and it seems they used their sword skills to defend themselves while promoting their religion.

The new sword school was founded and grew with this religion, and the religion gained new members through the sword school. All this before the Meiji reformation when we are told the sword arts opened up to the common people as the ex-samurai sword instructors were thrown out of their jobs. It seems that everything new is always old. Every sure fact a house on shaky ground.

This relationship of mutual benefit between a "new" martial art and a religion was not unique to this case. We can look at modern examples such as Aikido and the Omoto-kyo. This is perhaps the best known but others can be found with a bit of research. Nothing is as simple as we like to make it a generation or two later. No budo school ever came into existance simply because a brilliant student appeared. We must always look at the cultural circumstances of that founding if we wish to fully understand the school.

Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu

Let's move back toward kenjutsu once again from iai. What was the relationship between these two?

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Relation Between Iai and Kenjutsu on the Traditional Books

Research Journal of Budo Vol. 19 (1986-1987) No. 1 p. 10-16

Tetsuya WADA
Kagawa Medical School

The practical characteristics of Iai and Kenjutsu are quite distinct when they are phenomenally judged. In Iai, on the whole, unsheathing the sword is the most important technique and great weight is given to the process of unsheathing it. In Kenjutsu, on the other hand, the technique begins after unsheathing the sword and taking a certain posture (kamae). So we can regard the relation between the two as “mihatsu” (before unsheathing) and “ihatsu” (after unsheathing).

Closer investigation, however, reveal that Iai has “kata” not only of “mihatsu” but also of “ihatsu” in the case of “tachiai” (initial moving from standing posture), and that Kenjutsu also has its own techniques to unsheathe the sword. Thus these two martial arts, in which to use the Japanese swords, have the technique in common with each other.

But, the main purpose of Iai is to cope with emergencies in daily life, so the point of view was directed to various, broad aspects of daily life, and in Kenjutsu, the point of view was directed only to the aspects of fighting after taking a certain posture. On that point these two were remarkably different from each other.

Iai and Kenjutsu, after Edo era, had tendency to develop in their own way and to specialize as well. But on account of this, there appeared reversed thought that these two should be regarded as compensating each other.

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Here we have the idea that iaido, concentrating on the draw and thus preparedness for emergencies, and kendo, concentrating on the fight, have become distinct entities. But today they ought to be thought of as complementing each other as (they say) two wheels of a cart.
This would seem to be the orthodox view of the kendo federation. What to do if you aren't in the kendo federation? Does one practice the tachiai (the partner kata of your particular iai school) or some other koryu kenjutsu? Or do we worry about this at all? Surely iai alone or kendo alone is sufficient for most modern usage. My feelings on this are in fact, quite conflicted as I can see how each art contains everything you need, but then again, each kata contains the whole. All of swordsmanship can be derived from a single cut provided one understands it correctly.

The difficulty is how to tell if what you're deriving, or should we say inventing, is correct? If we practice kendo, iaido and jodo in the kendo federation we can be fairly certain we are getting the full theory of the kendo federation. If we do just one of those arts it will be a bit less easy to see the whole, and so on. What would studying an outside kenjutsu do for our kendo federation member? Would it open up the wider world of the "Japanese sword"? Is this a good thing? As we have so often in the past, we come down to your reasons for practicing. If it's to learn to fight it may not be a good idea to learn too much. Be excellent at less instead. If it's to preserve the cultural history of Japan, again, learning too much may be counterproductive as you confuse waza from one school with another. If you want to study the limits of Japanese sword, perhaps this accumulative approach is best, as you will eventually be searching for that which does not exist rather than what does.

For myself, I'm a bit old to think about being the best in the world. Mostly I'm just curious and am concerned more with who is teaching than what is taught. I have investigated several schools over my years and have kept up a few of them for the ease with which they teach different aspects of combat. I think this is close to what the kendo federation had in mind when it adopted iai and jo into the organization. Iaido to teach the handling of the katana to those who use the shinai. Kendo to teach the iaido folks about a real opponent. Real swords for imaginary, real opponents for imaginary. Jodo? More a case of the central role the police have had in the kendo world than what jo can teach a kendoka I suspect.

Iaido research

What does research into its history reveal about iaido?

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Research Journal of Budo Vol. 14 (1981-1982) No. 1 p. 27-35

The Formation of IAI and its technical vicissitudes

Tetsuya WADA
Tsukuda University

Iai originated in the practical combative techniques known as batto (striking instantly with a sword while rapidly unsheathing it in one stroke) which were born during the ages of civil and martial disorder. These martial techniques, batto, as they yielded to the necessities of the subsequent ages of peace underwent drastic transformations in terms of both the way the techniques were preformed and their ideological foundations, and gradually developed into what is now known as iai.

Within the process of this development, in terms of physical technique, the trend toward the practice of the art from a sitting posture occupies a central position. This central position is shared on the mental side with the philosophical reorientation of the art toward one possessing the fundamental nature of being directed toward a defensive response to a sudden and unexpected attack such as what might occur even in an orderly society. This kind of iai, in both its physical and intellectual characteristics, was well suited to the peaceful social conditions of Tokugawa society. Iai was the model martial art for an age of social order.

By developing in this way, undergoing many technical vicissitudes, the adoption of sitting in the formal posture of seiza, the use of the samurai's uchi-gatana (long sword worn through the belt with edge upwards) instead of the soldier's tachi (long sword slung from the belt with edge downward), and assuming the character of a mental discipline practiced without an opponent, iai eventually realized its standard form which has been preserved down to the present time.

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It seems that as iaido went into the Edo period, seiza became the focus of the practice. The mental aspects of the practice also became more important, as did the emphasis on self defense.

If we think about what this implies for the past, it would seem that iai was not so focused on self defence from seated postures, that it was thought of as a practical combat art. What does this imply about the origins of our art? Assuming that the Oku forms of Tosa iai represent the older kata, what do you know about them that would confirm or cast doubt on the conclusions of this abstract?

Finally, why do you practice iai? Is your practice true to the original kata and thoughts of the founder? Do we even know what those are?

Riai and Research

Does my study of academic papers truely help with my understanding of budo or should I simply get out to practice more often?

Being an academic, spending most of my working life in a University setting, I'm not likely to say that research is useless. Having written 20 plus books on the subject I'm also not likely to fall on the side of "just do what your sensei says". In fact my sensei says that I have to write a book which starts with "My sensei says" because he read one from the past where the author did just that.

Every book I've written should be read with "my sensei says" at the start of each paragraph. It's father's day and all my budo fathers are being thanked for their teaching. Not with cards but if I see one today I'll buy him a beer.

I'm going through research abstracts at the moment, all from the same journal, and making comments that force me to read the abstracts closely. These are all papers written in Japanese so no hope of my reading the whole thing to come to the meaning. Makes you appreciate a good abstract writer. In fact, with five companies controlling access to research these days abstract-driven research is going to become more common. There's no way under the sun that I'm going to pay $35 for a reprint of a non-scientific paper. I'm not going to be replicating methods in this type of research, but I do need more than a glance over the abstract and a note in my head that "I've read it". If for no other reason than to put it out there to my students along with the reference so that when I say "kendo is as old as most koryu" they don't call BS at me. Did you really just say to yourself "depends on your definition"? Hah, you relativistic lefty academic you.

Back to the point, (hey, it's Sunday morning and this dad was never going to get breakfast in bed but he can take his time over coffee). Does my reading of abstracts increase my ability to hit someone else on the head with a stick?

Yeah, it does. Understanding the historical roots of techniques means I know the rational behind them. Sure I could continue on the way I did when I was a beginner and have trust in my sensei, I still have trust in my sensei, but many of them are no longer with me. Do I simply stop here? Repeat what they told me until I die, hoping that the kata will teach me instead?

It's not a bad plan, the kata do teach me but if I want to figure out what the original meaning was, I need to get things in context and the only way to do that is to understand the history. Take the idea that square hips and control of the centerline is a kendo thing. Not exclusive to kendo of course, but central to the art as practiced now. Where did that come from? How does it flavour the iaido of the kendo federation? How would it influence koryu done by the sensei who are in the kendo federation? How does knowing that hips were not always so square help my practice of koryu?

You see what I mean. It's not that I didn't know that kendo is square hips and other arts like Aikido are not, I have known that since the beginning, having done both. But to read the history of how hips got where they are gives me some extra comfort as I experiment with my own. Knowing some history lets me understand where my Aikido teacher's teacher came up with that marvellous straight line at the end of his circular techniques. That line that cut the motion of balance right out from under you and launched you into the air. I knew it was there as a beginner but I used to grow doubt when other folks told me with massive authority that there were no straight lines in Aikido.

Part of becoming a senior is being able to pat a beginner on the head and say "yes indeed son, there is only one way to do this and you must learn that way".

As a "30 year man" should I still believe that? Well I could, and I could probably get the highest ranks available in any organization by simply doing things "the right way" but what fun would that be? And what chance would I have of advancing the art? My buddy Jeff in Japan has lamented for years about the homogenization of iaido and I sympathize. When all the teachers are interchangeable how do we ever get to the point where we figure we can use our special understanding to drop the other guy? Part of the special, advanced teachings of budo is "the edge". That's a belief that you have something that will give you the advantage in a real fight. If you're all clones of the top guy (wow I can't even get myself to say "the right way") then it's all just a crapshoot as to who walks away from the swordfight. Except for the top guy of course since he gets to use a variant of a technique to beat you, which variant then becomes "the right way".

Part of the confidence that lets you toe the line in a fight is the belief that you have a chance, and often that comes from a belief that your teacher has trained you well and distinctively. If your teacher is all about "doing it the right way" or "doing it the way it's supposed to be done" you are going to have to hope your teacher is a better mimic than the other guy's teacher. Me, I like my iconoclastic sensei, none of them were ever worried about a grading or a competition, they were going to show their art and the hell with the judges.

That's a hard lesson, it's a major change in attitude from the blindly following beginner. You must believe, you must trust, you must follow to learn, but if you don't break away from that you'll never do your sensei the pride of passing him by.

Reading the academic papers is part of that, if only to demonstrate to yourself that the old guys in the old days were not inclined to sit at the feet of the master forever. In fact, the master gave them some paper to remind them what the names of the kata were, and booted them out the door to go find their own way. Hopefully while they were still young enough to learn something.

The purpose of Kendo

Going back to the origins of shinai-bogu practice, what was the original purpose? This article deals with a match from 1750, mid-Edo. I don't seem to have the URL for this article but if you've been looking at the previous posts you'll find the Journal of Budo and can search the author's name.

THE KOMUSOU (MENDICANT ZEN PRIEST OF FUKE SECT) AND THE TRANSMISSION OF BUJUTSU-An Investigation of a Histrical Material for a Knight-Errantry Tour in A. D. 1750 at Sagawa-Shinkage School in Sendai Clan-

Shoji ENOMOTO

In A. D.1750 two Komusous visited Shinzaburou SAGAWA at Shinkage School in Sendai Clan and played several matches against the Sagawa's disciple. Shinzaburou SAGAWA left a detailed note of the occurence, namely, Ikkan Seizan Sagawa-sensei Shiai Shimatsu. Three written copies of it in the possession of the Saito-houonkai Natural History Museum and the Miyagi Prefectural Library have been analyzed by the present author.
The purpose of this study is fourfold: (1) To clarify who two Komusous called one of them Ikkan and another of them Seizan were. (2) To clarify the purpose for which they went on a Knight-Errantry Tour in A. D.1750. (3) To clarify what kinds of samurai there were in the Sagawa's discple. (4) To clarify how they played the matches and what kinds of protector they played with.

Briefly, the main conclusions were as follows:

(1) Ikkan's name was Gonpachiro HARADA and Seizan's Hannojou NAKAGAWA. Both of them were the samurais of the middle rank in Kameyama clan.

(2) They went on a Knight-Errantry Tour for the purpose of learning practical Bujutsu because, at that time, the educational system of Bujutsu was defective in Kameyama clan and many riots of the peasants were got up everywhere in Japan.

(3) Half the number of the Sagawa's disciple were the samurais of vassal's vassales and of the lowest rank in Sendai clan.

(4) The matches of Sagawa-Shinkage School was played with Fukuroshinai (a kind of bamboo sword) and “Menpou Tebukuro” (the protector of the face and the forearm), but these protectors had no conection with the parts that the players striked on. They striked on Kobushi (the fist) or Wakitsubo (the armpit).

Here we have what must be the beginnings of the movement to kendo, a match played with fukuroshinai (a split bamboo in a leather bag) and head/wrist protection. No chest protection yet. It seems this protection was just that, and not an indication of specific target sites. in fact it seems the boys aimed for the fist and the armpit instead. What's a practice without bruises? The matches were not competitive in a gaming sense either, as it seems the visitors from Kameyama were seeking instruction.

It's interesting that those pesky peasant riots were mentioned in this context. This is an indication that in 1750 the sword may have been playing an important role in policing. This would give kendo training a practical purpose beyond just testing the moves learned in kata.

The author (or the translator) speaks of Knight-errantry which I'm assuming was Musha-shugyo. Other documents have indicated that around this time or afterward a sword student would practice for 5 to 10 years and then receive Menkyo Kaiden. He would then go on a trip to challenge other schools in kendo matches. Yes Menkyo Kaiden in under 40 years, at that time it likely meant you'd learned all the kata of the school to the point where you didn't forget them as soon as you left the dojo. Sort of the modern kendo federation equivalent of godan, where you are expected to be technically fluid in all the kata but aren't really expected to be able to adapt to variable circumstance. In other words, the time where visits to other instructors and matches with other people will do you some good.

It suddenly occurs to me that the rotating partner system of 6dan in jodo gradings could be seen as a reflection of this. You are expected to be able to demonstrate high level jodo with a random partner.

Has anyone been inspired to look through Google scholar as a result of these posts? If you are at a University and have access through the pay walls there are a couple of translations of old manuscripts I'd love to have. If you don't want to post them yourself feel free to send them to me and I'll comment. I have no shame... send them to me anyway.

Techniques: kenjutsu to kendo

How did the shinai-bogu techniques change from the older kenjutsu schools to the newer kendo? One paper gives us some information.

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THE SYSTEM AND CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNIQUES IN KENDO Chiefly on “Kei-joki” by Sugane Kubota, Tamiyaryu-

Koichi HASEGAWA, Tamio NAKAMURA, Yoshio KOBAYASHI

We noticed “Hokushin Ittoryu”, among several kenjutsu schools, which tried to re-build the sustem of techniques and constrasted them analytically. But in this essay, we have examined the kenjutsu-theory of Sugane Kubota who was a contemporary of Shusaku Chiba (the founder of “Hokushin Ittoryu”) and left enormous writings. Particularly we have studied, from the viewpoint of the history of athletic techniques, the features of the fundamentals of techniques which are the basis of the system of techniques.

As a result, we have found the two faces; one is the part which tried to build the sustem of techniques consciously, that is, the part which changed from pre-modern (Edo era) kendo into modern (Meiji era) one, and the other in the part which could not get rid of the traditional “Kata-kenjutsu”.

The results of the former are as follows
(1) Not only feet position but also posture was right in the opposition to the opponent, and the direction of the sword was straight to the center of the opponent.
(2) “Te-no-uchi in striking was similar to “pushing-cut” rather than “pulling-cut”.
(3) The course of striking from the front along the central line to the opponent was proposed more mainly than from the right or left side. And continuous strikings were encouraged.

The results of the latter are as follows:
(1) The position of the sword was limited to the three; “jodan-no-kamae” “chudan-no-kamae”, and “gedannokamae”. And jodan-no-kamae”, in which the height of the point of the sword is fixed between the nose and mouth of the opponent, was the most basic.
(2) The footwork was “ayumi-ashi” (walking step).
(3) We guessed that swinging up was done without changing the condition of holding sword of the first posture.
(4) The elbow joints were stretched more forward in holding the sword than modern kendo.
(5) The follow-through of weight transfer after striking was not made unlike the present kendo, and it was directed to return to the former position soon.
(6) “Kanemen-Zuki” was adopted, which was widely used in spear-fighting. It showed a tendency to the techniques of practical and comprehensive military arts.

Thus, Kubota's kenjutsu-theory has some characteristics of the transitional age from pre-modern to modern theory. But it does not reach the stage which breaks with the traditional “kata-kenjutsu” and constructs the system of techniques.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/arti…/budo1968/…/25_39/_article

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The writings of this Kubota (have never heard of him before) could give us an idea of what was happening during the transition of older to newer kendo. We can see that the stances were becoming more square to the opponent, the centerline becoming emphasized. There are photographs on the net of old kenjutsu folks who are striking in what I might describe as western fencing lunges. Definitely not kendo stance.

The differences listed here are a bit more difficult to parse. The jodan no kamae mentioned seems to be a high seigan, the tip forward and at mouth height rather than what we would call jodan (with the hands overhead and the tip pointing backward). I need to go back to some of the older writings now to see if they make sense from this point of view, I remember being confused by a "jodan" that mentioned the tip being forward. We see the sword held not only higher but more forward than in modern kendo which might indicate a greater emphasis on to-ma, techniques from "outside". I have no idea what kanemen tsuki would be but if it's from spearfighting it may be a thrust to the face? What's kane-men, an area on the head like gan-men or sho-men? A quick cafe search of google turned up nothing.

Those doing seitei iai and jo under the kendo federation might take a look at these points and consider the influence of modern kendo theory on our stances and techniques. Understanding where a posture comes from will often reduce the mental discomfort for those who started a koryu practice first. I know I struggled with a lot of my practice until I understood that seitei iai "is kendo". Once I understood the reference point, the postures and techniques fell into a coherent pattern. If a thing is internally consistent it is easier to hold in your mind.

Kendo and Kenjutsu

Just when did Kendo develop and where did it come from? It started, not so much as a new art, but as a method of practice, and as such it started fairly early.

Beyond being a method of training, it was a practice that allowed different schools to test their skills against each other.

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PROPAGATION OF “SHINAI-UCHIKOMI-GEIKO” AND ACTIVATION OF “TARYU-JIAI” IN THE IWAKUNI CLAN

Tetsuya WADA 1)

1) Kagawa Medical School

In the latter period of Edo era, “shinai-uchikomi-geiko”, the new training method in which swordsmen wearing protectors strike and thrust each other unrestrainedly by means of bamboo swords, became popular and spread in place of the traditional method by means of kata of the school in Kenj utsu. With the propagation of the new method, “taryu jiai”, a match between swordsmen of different schools, which had been put under the taboo, got activated all over the country. There are, however, few detailed investigations into the process except for the Kanto area. The present study was undertaken to make clear how “shinai-uchikomi-geiko” propagated and “taryujiai”got activated in the Iwakuni clan. Major findings are as follows;

(1) The trend in kenjutsu, the propagation of “shinai-uchikomi-geiko” and the activation of “taryujiai”by the new method, had extended to the Iwakuni clan at latest in the Tenmei or Kansei period. However at that time all the teachers of kenjutsu-schools refused to adopt the new method, so no one of the bushi-class adopted it and took part in “taryu-jiai” in the clan.

(2) With the activation of “taryu-jiai” in the Iwakuni clan, there appeared participants to it in the bushi-class in the latter half of the Bunsei period. Moreover, there appeared teachers of kenjutsu-school who approved to adopt the new method and to take part in “taryu-jiai” in the next Tenpo period. And this became the main method of kenjutsu in the clan.

(3) When Yoro-kan (the clan school) was established in the 4th of the Koka period, it was publicly decided to adopt the new method and to practice “taryu-jiai” in the school. At this time it was Katayama-school that defied the decision. Seven years later, however, the new method was adopted in the school in the 1st of the Ansei period. As a result, in all the kenjutsu-schools in the Iwakuni clan the new method came to be used and “taryu-jiai” to be practiced, while existential significance of the traditional kata and schools main-tamed with it became quite small.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/arti…/budo1968/…/23_45/_article

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tenmei 1781-9
kansei 1798-1801
bunsei 1818-30
tenpo 1830-44
koka 1844-48
ansei 1854-60

In the Iwakuni area we see that shinai and bogu existed in the late 1700s, but that the kenjutsu teachers resisted its introduction into their schools so that the bushi didn't practice. Would this imply that the common folk were practicing? This would certainly go against what we commonly believe, that sword practice was reserved for the samurai. If this is true, if the commoners were practicing with shinai and bogu, this would certainly have been a good reason for the upper crust to ignore it.

However, by 1830 it would seem that the new practice was starting to infiltrate the bushi and that by 1844 some of the sensei had adopted it. By 1860 all the schools were practicing the new style and participating in challenges with other schools. Was this the end of koryu? Well it seems that schools which had a focus on kata training did become quite small.

So the roots of kendo stretch well back into the Edo era and the old kenjutsu koryu were heavily involved (unless there is evidence out there that kendo was invented by the non-bushi classes, something I haven't seen). It would seem we must give kendo the additional cache of being kenjutsu as well. Can we also call kendo a koryu?

Or do we reserve the word koryu for those schools that only practice kata, or that practice with shinai and bogu in a distinctive, school-based way? It would seem that kendo rapidly became "extra-school" or "meta-school" as the taryujiai testing of kata became a competitive paring down of techniques to what works. This continues to this day with various rule changes that change the emphasis from one technique to another. Kendo was also, shortly after the Edo, taken over by a national body and so into a central control. This would also be a blow to the individual koryu and it would seem that this was recognized as the kendo no kata was developed to provide a national kenjutsu kata. Unification and standardization of a method of practice, rather than a separate popping into existance, seems to have been the route to modern kendo.

One might jump to the conclusion that this damaged the old schools, but a further look into the history might just reveal that it was kendo that provided (and perhaps provides) the environment for their survival. It is a complex relationship, unworthy of simplistic viewpoints.

The Gotcha World

Pity the poor samurai of the "low replace high" era. The samurai would sell their services to the highest bidder and turn on their former bosses in the middle of a battle if they figured they could get a better deal. The lords had to watch their backs constantly, their audience rooms having a separate side room full of guards just in case. This was the era of constant vigilance, where the smallest slip could mean your downfall.

Good thing we don't live in that age, who could stand the stress.

Wait, an offhand comment about love in the lab at a meeting half a world away means a Nobel laureate is forced to resign his job. A human rights campaigner is outed by her parents as being the wrong colour and has to resign. Hell there's a whole section of the "social media" that hunts around looking for those who, in their opinion, have bad viewpoints, in order to hound them out of their jobs.

Never mind that their views must have been OK with the boss in the first place (or maybe they kept their opinions to themselves as they kept their jobs), what boss is going to resist the pressure of the social media when advisors are telling them the business is going to collapse unless the miscreant is fired.

It's the gotcha mentality where one slip of the tongue will lose an election, where the press figures an unguarded comment or a statement taken out of context is news. So much easier than actually running down a real story, better to shove that recorder into someone's face and hope they screw up. Who likes political attack ads? Everyone apparently, since they work. Gotcha!

Sharks in the water, one of them gets cut and the others converge. Pirhana attacking their own. The dog eat dog world, it's no different now than in 1570 Japan.

So what to do about it? Well how about doing what a smart budoka of 1570 would do, how about learning the martial arts, specifically iaido. Think about it, where else can you learn to watch your back as efficiently. You prepare your uniform and your weapons before stepping into the dojo (out in public). You bow as you enter to settle your mind into pre-prepared patterns of thought (your scripted press conference answers), you move into the dojo with a specific way of walking designed to make sure you don't slip up (don't slip up). You do a socially imposed and approved bow (shake the hands, kiss the babies) and then spend a couple of hours acting as if someone is going to jump you from the shadows at any minute. (They are.)

What better training for the gotcha world could there be.

A woman just walked into the cafe who I know has starred in porn videos. Really, just this moment. Did I take a picture and out her to the rest of the place? Of course not, if I had I would have been admitting I'd watched the vids. I'd be as gotcha'd as she. Was that the correct, budo-learned response? (Any and all attacks leave the attacker open to a counter-attack). Perhaps, but my real reason for not saying anything was that the woman deserves her privacy. Aside from proving I'm a complete shite, what good would outing her do? (You see what you could have done there? You could state that proving I'm a shite is a good thing... which it probably is.)

I'd rather sit here and call in bad driving to the police. Bad drivers can kill people, I've never heard of anyone damaged by watching a porn vid online, except of course for those who end up on afternoon TV with sex addictions. Does afternoon TV cause sex addictions?

Next time you record someone saying something unguarded and put it on the social networks (or as I like to say, gossip over the back fences) be sure to include the end bit where you say "gotcha", it's more honest and will make you a better person.

The Dan grade system.

武道学研究37-(1)1-9,2004 武道における段級の歴史と意義について藤堂良明

A STUDY OF THE HISTORY AND THE CULTURAL VALUE OF DAN AND KYU GRADES IN BUDO
Yoshiaki TODO,Naoki MURATA

Abstract
Study of the history and meaning of dan and kyu grades is one key to the essential character of Budo. Using this idea we began research into the origin of the dan grade system in Shogi, during the Edo period of Japanese history. The dan grade system in certain Kenjutsu and Jujutsu schools where comparable systems existed. For our final reseach we studied the grade system of Judo in the context of the clear intentions established by Jigoro Kano,and we considered how both kendo and kyudo have adopted grading systems and their meaning. Results were as follows:

1. There were 9 dan grade steps in Shogi at the beginning of the 18th Century. A Shogi player could be promoted to the next grade if he won a game against Iemoto,the top authority and 9th dan holder. Only Iemoto was permitted to hold 9th dan.

2. The Jigenryu of kenjutsu school established its own dan grade syustem from 1st to 4th dan at the begininng of the Edo era in order to keep the students motivated. The Tenjin-shinyoryu Jujutsu at the end of the Edo era established 3 dan grade steps: sho dan, chu dan and jo dan. Both systems had similar policies for dan promotion,requiring length of training and technical skills in kata. Also intangible factors such as being of good character, and not aggressive, but with a determined spirit. The system at that time had only a few 3 or 4 dan grades and there was a long time between promotions,and so students could eventually lack motivation.

3. Jigoro Kano, the founder of the Kodokan, established the dan grade system in Judo from 1st dan upwards (without an upper limit), with kyu grades from 5th to 1st, because he disagreed with the traditional grading system and its excessively long intervals to the next grade. He allowed students who had reached 6th dan to teach Judo, and then encouraged study more deeply into the heart of judo before arriving at 10th dan or Shihan. The other purpose of establishing the dan grade system was to stabilize the organization on a firm financial footing.

The Dai Nippon Butokukai, established in 1895 in Kyoto, adopted the dan grade system for Judo and kyu grade system for Kendo which was used in Tokyo Police. In 1917, the Butokukai adopted the dan and kyu system for both Judo and Kendo,then in 1923 also adopted the dan and kyu system for Kyudo.

4. The dan and kyu grade system used today in Judo examines students for promotion up to 6th dan on points obtained in competitions and on their performance of kata. Above 6th dan are judged on their depth of knowledge and their contribution to judo. The grading system in Kendo examines skills in competitions and kata and there is a written test in addition. Correct posture and being able to use a sword correctly are considered to be more important than winning in the examining matches for promotion. Fees for promotion are used for further development of the organization.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/budo1968/37/1/37_1/_pdf

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We often hear that dan grades started with Judo in the 20th century but this paper shows the system has been around since the beginning of the Edo era. The early use of dan grades seems to have been the same as today, to keep students motivated and hanging around. It seems Jigoro Kano added a few kyu grades and increased the number of dan grades to increase the frequency of grading, again to motivate students.

Let's face it, students like grading. The authors also point out that an extensive dan grade system puts the organization on a firm financial footing. Gradings = income.

In the iai and jo sections of the kendo federation we test "technically" up to 5dan when you can go and teach in your own dojo and put students forward for grading. After that other things come into play which are not strictly technical. In this way we are quite similar to the Judo system as described. Certainly things like depth of knowledge and contributions to the art are taken into account in all senior ranks in all arts, whether written down or not.

The Dan system has been around for a very long time and it seems to work for larger organizations... or is it a cause of larger organizations? Would a small koryu art which relies on the dedication of its students to survive, begin to grow if regular testing was instituted? Would working toward a Dan rank help keep students involved and provide income for the art in order to promote itself and increase its numbers?

Would this be a good thing?

Renshu vs Keiko: what's in a name

武道学研究40-(1):1-8,2007〈 総説〉『武道における稽古用語の変遷について』藤堂良明 1) 村 田直樹

A study of how the names used for training methods in Budo have changed
Yoshiaki TODO and Naoki MURATA

Abstract

We currently use the term renshu (practice) to describe the process of training and mastering techniques in Budo. It was called Keiko in the feudal times in Japan. We have to divided the change in the usage of Budo-related words into three periods

:the early period when Bushi (samurai warior) culture began

:the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), when many martial arts schools were established

:and the modern period when kOdOkan judo was founded by Jigoro Kano.

We analyzed both the meaning and performance of Keiko using source documents on BudO and Judo, The results of our research are as follows: 1. Bushi in the middle ages used the word Keiko to refer to training in such martial arts as horse riding, the archery, sword play and sumo wrestling , however, the precise methods of traning used in these martial arts are not described in the documents. 2. Keiko meant, at the beginning of the Tokugawa period, simply repeating the forms of techniques which had been established by the founder of each school. Later on the meaming of Keiko changed its meaning from simply repeating the forms and techniques to the process of performing these techniques with more originality and ingenuity. 3. In the latter half of the 19th century the names of martial arts such as jujitsu and kenjutsu and so on changed to judo and kendo etc. along with the modernization of their techniques and philosophies. Jigoro Kano,the founder of KOdOkan judo, originally used the word keiko as the name for the practice of training and mastering techniques on the KOdOkan. Later he changed the name of this practice from Keiko to renshu in the belief that young people ought to do more physical fitness training at schools. He favored introducing the new subject of physical education into all junior high schools to foster the health and strength of young people. The name renshu was thus accepted in the first quarter to the last century by judo practitioners, but not in the world of Kendo, where practitioners studied hard and seriosly with the purpose of building up men with a steady nerves, who practiced as if they were using real swords. So in Kendo, the name Keiko was still used to mean 'practice' at that time.

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An abstract (the paper is in Japanese) concerning the difference in how training has been named through the years. Today it is Renshu for most folks, specifically Judoka, and it means physical fitness type training which likely reflects what most people get from the martial arts.

When we go to the word keiko we see that originally (at the start of the Tokugawa era, the early 1600s) it meant to repeat the kata of the school faithfully. The authors state that by the later 1800s that word had changed to mean those kata done with more originality and ingenuity.

If we consider that by the late 1800s shinai and armour had been adopted as a common training method for kenjutsu, this change in meaning might not reflect a change in attitude to the kata, but rather an expansion of the term to cover the modification of those kata to suit shinai competition. For those who can, reading the body of the article might reveal whether the authors considered this.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/budo1968/40/1/40_1/_pdf

Finally we come to the modern day when jujutsu has been renamed judo and kenjutsu has been renamed kendo. In the early 1900s Kano renamed judo training to renshu, perhaps as a way to get judo accepted in schools as a physical training method. Kendo retained keiko since it was "where practitioners studied hard and seriosly with the purpose of building up men with a steady nerves, who practiced as if they were using real swords." Kendo did eventually get into the school system, but later, and mostly as a way to prepare the nation for the war. It wasn't until after the war that kendo was associated with fitness and especially, competition. A situation the kendo federation seems to be trying to reverse since the mid-1970s. At least according to Alex Bennett who is in a position to know this.

What's in a name? Quite a bit actually, so it always pays to look at how an author is using the term you might, at first, assume you know.

Every ten years

Someone has to do a study to see if what we knew ten years ago is still true. It usually turns out to be. My buddy Nate just sent me a link to a news article on a Canadian study of self defence and rape. Lo and Behold, they found out that those who take self defence courses are twice as likely to avoid being raped.

Oh dear. And they are going to specially develop a course out of their findings which they will offer to universities who will of course have to pay for their facilitators. (That's today in a nutshell, it's not real unless you're paying for it. No research without payoff at the end of it.)

Any anti-rape people out there who wish to look up the history of the movement might want to check out the last chapter Susan Brownmiller's book. In 1974 or so Brownmiller concluded that the solution to rape was for women to learn how to fight back.

This wasn't new then, still isn't.

The problem is that since the 1970s this subject has been political. Starting in 1987 until just recently I taught a course of self defence at the University of Guelph which was based on the resistance literature up to that time (and about ten years beyond until I convinced myself that the subject isn't changing) and in every single year that I taught I had to justify myself to someone or other who had an agenda. Very seldom was that person in the class, if you're taking a self defence course you're already self-selected toward believing it will be of some use, but student politicians and members of activist groups were a constant source of challenge.

Now all I wanted to do was teach my students to break away from an attack and escape. I had, and still have, very little interest in who to blame, how to fix those who are to blame, or how to fix society, I'm not 20 any more. I taught from the actual resistance research literature and tried to provide a very realistic approach to life and how to go through it without unwanted danger or damage. And how to be as dangerous and damaging as possible when required.

Most people got that. Those that didn't were invited to read the literature which, as I say, hasn't come up with anything new since the 1940s when the first studies seem to have occured. Yet with all this research, all the books available, most folks still come up with numbers that don't work, mostly because they "believe" this or that. My relationship with "belief" is a whole other topic but suffice to say I didn't even start on this self defence stuff before I did the research to see if it would work or not.

I still get irritated when I read things like one in four students will be raped as was said in the news article. The same article that then stated their findings were that somewhat over 9% of women in the control group were raped while about half that number were raped in the self defence group. Wasn't that control supposed to be 1 in 4?

OK now define rape.

Now let's go to the 1 in 4 thing. Never a real number, it was, at one time, traced to a rape shelter pamphlet by someone who cared enough to trace the citations. The real number of women in university who experience some form of unwanted sexual assault? Since the '40s it's been around 40% and it hasn't changed much. It's much more than 1 in 4, but again, what are you using for your definition? How about date rape? How about having sex with anyone when you didn't want to have sex with them? Around 40% for women in a study of 1000 U. Kansas students. Oh, in the same paper the figure for men was over 60%.

What, you scoff? Go get my stuff from the manuals page of sdksupplies.com website, it's free, and go look up the original papers. Please, don't tell me what you believe. Incidentally, for all you who scoffed at those numbers and are in a "live-in" relationship, what percentage of you have had sex when you didn't want to have sex? I asked for 20 years and got a number that approached 100%.

Anyway, apparently the problem is over, my self defence classes went from 80 students twice a week in the early days to zero last year. Somebody has apparently fixed things, or perhaps not, but I'm content. I'm too old and broken these days to take the hammerings of enthusiastic "helpless" 20 year old women. I'm well content to leave the subject to the young and enthusiastic.

Still, if anyone wants to pay me enough I'd be willing to come out of retirement to teach some instructors. Our course has worked in places world-wide as I've been told by my graduates.

Or you can just read my secret now: Anything works, any sort of resistance works. What doesn't work is doing nothing, begging, crying, and pleading. Talking works, running works, breaking arms works. Do you get hurt by resisting? No. Yet injury and resistance are correlated. You tell me which direction the correlation runs. Can you think of specific instances where I'm wrong in my statements? Yes you can. These statements are statistical and therefore lies as we all know. "lies, damned lies and statistics". That's why we gutted Stats Canada right?

Don't get me started. If you are being assaulted, fight back any way you can. It's statistically likely to stop the assault without further injury to you and it's also statistically likely to be good for your mental well-being later on. If you can't do anything right now, wait and watch and think and act when you can. Nobody, especially groups with a political interest in this stuff, gets to tell you what you should do or what you should have done. I'm simply telling you that the statistics favour fighting back. Take a self defence course to give yourself some tools to fight back with and you're more likely to fight back.

It's not rocket science, although one might think so with all the research that gets done.

Equipment

I typed Photography into google and got thousands of pictures of cameras. That's not what I think of when I think of that word.

Similarly, when I think of iaido I don't think of swords. When I think of jodo I don't think of a stick.

I certainly don't think of the technical aspects of taking a photograph, I don't keep a notebook with all my lighting diagrams in it, I don't care about that. I am not even particularly interested in the image that comes at the end of the process.

Any more than I'm interested in looking at video of myself doing iaido. I don't care whether or not I hit all the grading points.

I care about the process.

Post-Seminar depression

I Want an Unbreakable Wood

Found a couple of posts I did on wood and thought I'd put them together for you here. It's been a few years and I'm sure a whole new bunch of folks are looking through the wood databases to find a wood that's unbreakable so that they can do full contact training. Of course we also want a bokuto that's the same weight and balance as a shinken.

Ironwood:

Sometimes I'm asked to make such a beast. Often I'm asked about ironwood:

Ironwood is probably best defined as "the toughest damned wood in the area".

So around here you get Ironwood that is Ostrya virginiana, American Hophornbeam or Carpinus caroliniana, American Hornbeam, which one of my students used to call "muscle Beech". The tree looks like it's got rippling muscles. It's a very dense, white wood that is hard to put nails into, and has a grain that can go just about anywhere. Needless to say it's not a commercial lumber.

In the Sonoran desert you'll get Olneya tesota which apparently grows there and nowhere else. It is truly a wood I'd call "iron". Along with snakewood, it doesn't even sound like wood when you knock on it, more like pig iron, it almost rings. X-Pen-Sieve.

The list goes on and on, there's one on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

One ironwood I use a lot is Ipe, Tabebuia sp. which is a Central and South American wood of various species. Very tough stuff, used a lot for underwater pilings since it doesn't rot very easily. Unfortunately, China has discovered it, along with many of the other pretty woods and the price is going up while the availability is going down. This one is used for expensive decks.

Lignum vitae is called ironwood, not much available any more I'm afraid, since it is now CITES listed (as in "do not cut/trade/use this stuff") although it was never my favourite wood to use for weapons. Too heavy and tends to do what it wants to do, I gave in recently and bought the last of a supply. I have a few bokuto, shoto and little knives made of it hanging around if anyone is interested. You'll feint at the price and if I sell it all I might break even on the deal.

Some of the European Olives are called ironwood, and I've seen some olive that is indeed pretty hard. Have never used it for bokuto, made a mirror for the sister in law out of pearwood once I think.

I don't speak Spanish but I always suspected the Bolivian wood Pau Ferro (Caesalpinia echinata) translates as "ironwood". It's a great looking wood that's also become scarce lately due to the great resource-sink known as China.

While some of these woods are really difficult to dent, and incredibly dense, they can also be very brittle and prone to snapping in half.

Hardness:

Hardness is one measure that may help pick a wood for weapons, but one has to realize that there are other factors involved. Hardness may also imply brittleness, just as in steel, so a wood that is very hard may also tend to break or, more usually, splinter more easily than a softer wood which will deform when dented rather than break.

Wood is not homogeneous so some parts may be hard while others may actually be absent. For instance on the Janka hardness scale locust is listed quite a bit higher than oak or maple, but locust has a very large pore structure so the hard parts may crush into the pores and splinter. Red oak vs white oak (filled pores) is another example of this effect.

Flexibility can play a part in the toughness of weapons. Ash is very light and not very hard, but because of the way the fibers run, it's very tough, not likely to break on a large side impact, even though it may dent.

Cross-linking of fibers is also important, I tried a bokuto of Ramin several years ago, very straight grain, very nice long fibers, decent weight and hardness, but it split from tip to butt. This may just have been this one piece, but I never bothered to try it again.

Grain is important, a very hard wood with wonky grain may break on being dropped onto the floor. Bokuto from the same plank can act quite differently depending on grain, how the wood was dried, and sapwood/hardwood transitions. Osage orange has great hardness and deformation numbers and is known as a great weapon wood, but it's not a commercial lumber so getting clear planks (without knots and wonky grain) is tough. It's also not usually dried very consistently so can spring in unpredictable ways when cutting. Once had a piece I cut lock up the sawblade and stall the motor, thankfully it didn't kick back. All in all not a pleasant wood to work with. It's very stiff and can tear out easily when machining. But it will knock the bejeepers out of lesser woods. Incidentally, osage had a big part in converting the US territories into states as the farmers moved onto the cattle range and used Osage to fence their fields.

Even fungal growth can surprise you. Purpleheart is a wood that is very consistent and great for weapons but there's a fungus that actually eats across the grain, you don't see it until the wood is finished somewhat, the signs are quite subtle but if you tap that piece on the floor it will snap in two. Very strange and luckily quite rare, but I have to keep an eye out for it.

Pinworm/powder-post beetles can riddle hickory with holes, again making a very tough wood into something useless for weapons. These things are the "rust" of wood and I fight them constantly in my shop. If you use air dried wood you acquire them.

Hardness can also mean heaviness, you'll notice that most of the harder woods are also very heavy which isn't always the benefit you might think when using weapons in partner practice.

Other Things:

Price is also a definite consideration, all wood weapons eventually break down when used for contact so it doesn't make a lot of sense to be spending hundreds of dollars on rare, endangered and exotic species if you're just going to pound them to pieces. Paradoxically, as a salesman I would also rather folks pound hickory than rosewood, my profit margins are quite low on expensive woods since the starting material is so expensive and the waste is high. Air dried often means unpredictable and most exotics are air dried. Replacing a fancy bokuto is expensive for you and not as profitable for me.

Beauty however, comes into play, as well as the feel of the wood. Hickory is a bit shaggy and not pretty but tough. Cocobolo can be finished so smooth it is in danger of slipping out of your hands.

A named wood can be several species, for instance Ipe or Hickory are usually sold as a set of species. Hickory can even include Pecan which I personally like a lot for a bokuto, it is less stiff than the "impact/select grade" that folks talk about which is really just sorting through and picking out the Shagbark, the hardest of the hickorys. Shagbark is indeed more dent resistant and heavier than the other hickorys, but it gives you quite a bit more shock in the hands than does pecan, and I've found that it can even bruise your palms, whereas a softer hickory will dull the impact a bit. Before you ask, I don't sort my hickory, I've found all of it is just fine for practice, and sorting the finished bokuto for weight is about all I do. That's the instructor in me over-riding the salesman I suspect, but I already sell too many different types, breaking them down further is more work than my lazy butt wants.

How you/your art uses the weapons makes a huge difference. Some schools seem to swing for the other guy's sword, while others swing for the person. Baseball bats won't last long if you swing them against each other or against a telephone pole. On the other hand, even a pine bokuto would likely last a fairly long time doing something like jodo if you were practicing properly. I actually made a bokuto from cedar (even weaker than pine) and used it for many classes of jodo. It is so soft it goes thunk rather than clack when you hit it. While it got quite shaggy and splintery it never broke in half. On the other hand, I could put it over my knee and break it. How? Soft hands, like a baby's behind.

So lots of things to consider and as with everything, a balance is needed, there isn't a single wood that's best for everyone.

Dent resistance, crush resistance, shear resistance, load resistance, all good things, but moderated by weight, grain, looks, price, etc. etc.

Breaking them:

I'm not the one to ask about breaking sticks, I've broken just about everything at one point or another. I don't think there's anything wooden that can't be broken. That includes resin-laminated plywoods that are heavier than lignum and hard as glass. I remember a couple of fellow stickmakers who offered to replace broken bokuto for free. That ends up a challenge I'm afraid, and they end up replacing expensive pieces because someone has wrapped their stick around a telephone pole. Thankfully I don't think anyone offers those challenges any more. I certainly do not replace broken bokuto unless there's a flaw that gets past Brenda.

The exotics can be pretty tough, given the right piece, they can be pretty weak too. Another thing to consider is what you're matching your bokuto against, a super hard and heavy stick will pound a lighter one pretty badly.

Entitled

I think it's a hangover from my youth when fairness seemed to be super important. There's a Lincoln sitting across two parking spaces in my morning cafe. This in a very small, very busy parking lot. I can see the thinking, it's a new car and it's higher class than the Mazdas and the Toyotas whose drivers would probably ding the door. Besides, parking across two spaces means it's easier to get out, and buddy probably has a business meeting. So of course, being a busy and important person, you get to park across two spaces.

I was reaching for my keys.

I see SUVs parked in the laneway of the Mall outside Starbucks. Same thing of course, busy fellow, busier than everyone else, therefore entitled to block traffic while they rush in for a Starbucks. The drivethrough at Timmies is not appropriate of course, since one would prefer a Starbucks, being a higher class of person.

Not long ago a cop was dinged on social media (and fined by his department if I remember rightly) for parking across two spaces while he went in for coffee. One a restricted disabled space.

What is the mindset of folks who do this? I can see the police figuring they are exempt from laws they themselves enforce, who's going to ticket a fellow officer? But it takes a special attitude of entitlement to park a police cruiser in a disabled space and figure nobody will say anything.

"What were you thinking" would be the question. The answer of course is "nothing". You don't do this stuff if you are thinking.

Which brings up the point. I don't do martial arts to learn how to beat people up, I do it as a way of learning how to pay attention, and part of paying attention is to think ahead to the consequences of our actions. As an instructor I need to point out to my students the consequences of moving the wrong way under a sword. Outside class I also try to use what teaching moments I can find.

I think I'll get my keys out and see if buddy is still parked across two spaces.

Everywhere I look.

We're at Tombo Dojo for the weekend (my cabin which had an 800 sq. foot dojo built into it on the second floor). There are 9 of us here at the moment, just starting to wake up for the Sunday seminar.

When I'm at the cabin I sometimes tend to keep my head down because everywhere I look I see a job that needs doing. If I sit on the deck I see boards that need replacing and rails that need staining (yes these two are connected). If I look over the railings I see beer caps and coffee cups that need picking up... does everyone believe the wood elves come around and clean up when we leave the place? No, if you drop that beer cap over the rail it's going to be there the next time you come back. Unless I go pick it up of course.

Doing the iaido class yesterday morning I had the same sort of feeling. These guys need work wherever I look. We did the practice where I give them one correction at a time, they go to the back of the line and I give the next one a correction. When they get back in front of me in the rotation they show me the correction. (We didn't do the part where they get sent home if they don't fix it).

About twenty minutes in, it suddenly hit me that these guys are actually pretty good. I was sometimes struggling to find a correction to make. It's the same with the cabin, sure I see lots of jobs around the place but sometimes I step back and look at the whole picture. It's actually a magnificent place. Eight inch logs, 800 square feet of decking, and that thirteen foot high space with a red pine floor we put down last fall. Cold running water, hot water when the sun is shining on the pipe I threw up on one of the decks.

It's worth keeping the head down once in a while and enjoying the place.

It's also worth not looking for a correction to make once in a while, or even just letting these guys get on with it. One of them just walked out onto the deck with an obi and an iaito so that he can work on his corrections from yesterday.

As a teacher it's my job to find things for them to improve, but sometimes it's a bit hard and I'm tempted to make something up. I mean, do I really need to varnish the pine planks down the hallway walls? A natural finish does develop on pine after a few years, and it looks better than any stain you could apply to the new wood. It's patina, and you can't slap it on out of a can.

I'm not going to look at the guy outside, he doesn't need advice, he needs time to develop his own patina on his iai.

Yesterday afternoon was a lot easier for me, we were learning Kage Ryu on the sand. A baseball team worth of keikogi-clad folks sitting around Sauble Beach having coffee and shopping, then swinging five foot long bokuto on the beach was quite an attraction. It was a lot of fun in the sun to teach a brand new art, the learning curve was pretty steep, even more so than usual since these swords are supposed to be at the very edge of what you can draw and put back into the saya. My job was embarassingly easy, show it and then let them try to do it. I really felt like I wasn't earning my pay. Sort of like when we put in the dojo floor, that job was not the same as picking up empty coffee cups around the cabin or washing the walls, it was a dramatic improvement for a short period of effort.

I think it's worth remembering this as a teacher. If I'm teaching a bunch of people who have been practicing seitei gata iai for upwards of ten years my job is going to be like washing windows. Sure it needs doing, but if you get your nose too close to the pane you'll be scraping at fly poop with your thumbnail when all you really need to do is get the dust off of it. Step back once in a while and see if you really need to be digging in the corner of the frame at that fleck of paint.

Enjoy the view instead, I suspect if you really want to work (or teach) there is a much easier job waiting if you turn around and look.

Low hanging fruit.

Here's the lesson, if you keep picking at the corners of that windowpane to "clean it" you run the risk of breaking the seal and now things will start to fall apart.

If you keep correcting an iai kata that's just fine, that only needs a bit of time to develop the patina of age, you run the risk of messing it up. I've got splotches of paint on the sauna where I touched up little areas of poor coverage with a mis-tinted paint. Looks a lot worse than when I "fixed it".

Do the big jobs, the low hanging fruit and the little ones might just get fixed along the way. It wouldn't be the first time I picked up the beer caps along with the wood scraps after building a shed. In fact I seem to recall hearing a few "aha" comments about seitei iai while the folks were learning kage.

If it's a tough job, you may get it done by sneaking up on it.

What are you looking at?

Just what is it that you look at when you're watching a budo video on the net? One thing you're not looking at is the micromovements and intentions of the participants. I know this because I spend a lot of time yelling at one of my students about not getting those right and making her do it again while we're filming. Then I go look at the four or five takes and realize that even while I know exactly what I was seeing in each, they all look the same.

Do you look at the techniques, trying to see "how those guys do it"? Nothing wrong with that, it gives you a wider point of view. Unless it doesn't and you just look at how wrong those guys are.

How about looking for the correct (exact, specified, model) way that your seitei gata is performed? I just watched the jodo demonstration at the world kendo championships and the one thing I did not do is look for all the minor corrections I got a couple weeks ago. The hachidan demonstrating has been to Guelph but he wasn't the hachidan we had this year. Instead I looked at timing and distance and stance and the shape of the cuts and the grip and all that sort of fun stuff. Technique, as in the exact angle of this or that, is not something that you can pick up from any old sensei. Unless it's written in the book they are not going to match each other. Even doing the same exact cut twice in a row is difficult, which is why such things as tameshigiri into the same cut you just made is so impressive.

I opine about what I see, I look for ways to break the kata. That gives me insight into my own weaknesses. I also look, as I do on a grading panel, for strengths, for what each person does well.

What I don't look at, and often I will cut a video off (who has time to watch all of everything), is twitchiness. Speed doesn't impress me if it's combined with imbalance, tight, small cuts and obviously memorized dance movements. I know I must make dancers angry by accusing bad martial art of being "dance" but what I mean is bad dance, dance that is obviously poorly memorized. Movement that is self-referential and self-conscious, with no regard for the partner or anything around. In other words, memorize the movements and do them as fast as you can.

The equivalent out the window here is the guy in the red car who just swept across the crosswalk because he can turn right on the red and intends to do it. Never mind the girl on the sidewalk he almost ran over. This guy will end up jumping a green and getting t-boned by a guy who is pushing it to get through an orange. They'll both be well satisfied that they were right. You can go on a green and you can go if it's not red!

Watch for the good stuff, it's out there, and if you can't find it, watch for what's good in the awful stuff you're seeing.

Opinions

Everyone has one, and apparently so have I. I discovered this while looking at videos on the net. After a statement a few days ago that I do not offer comments on other people's koryu performance it might seem odd that I would have opinions, but having them and offering them are two different things.

Of course I have an opinion on a budo performance, it's my job as a grading panelist to give my independent assessment on those in front of me so without an opinion I'm just a decoration for a head judge who dicatates the passes and fails. As a fellow who is serious about my koryu practice, where there are no gradings to opine about, I also require an opinion. That opinion is upon my own performance, and on that of others to whom I compare myself. So naturally it carries on to an opinion on those who demonstrate their arts on the net, arts that I may or may not practice, I judge them all.

Should I? Certainly, why not? There are lots of things to judge, timing, distance, cutting, body mechanics. It's good practice to look closely at the good and the bad, and it's practical from an antique budo point of view. Looking at potential opponents before an actual match could save your life.

The "but" of all this today is the same as in the past. You need to judge, to look for places where you can win a fight, but you also have to look for the hidden strengths, the places where you think you know what's happening but you are fooled. When looking at someone who is doing my arts I can be pretty sure I know that a weakness is a weakness, but an art I don't practice can include movements I'm mis-interpreting. It's instructive to find those places that I think are weak which are actually strong. It isn't as if I haven't fallen into that trap in the past. There's many a time I can recall attacking a weak position only to find myself tied up in a knot on the ground, slapping the mat. Nothing encourages humble like getting wrestler sweat ground into your cheek.

Even someone doing an art I practice has to be watched carefully. Very few people are one-trick ponies and a lot of folks will have other arts and other techniques at their disposal should the need for them arise. It won't do to move into someone's weak spot only to find oneself at a disadvantage from a technique of another art.

So what do I opine about? Crap technique, certainly. Weak swings and awkward hasuji and many other things but mostly I look for those strengths. It's a lot harder to disguise strength than it is to disguise weakness (the best way to disguise weakness is not to post videos of your demonstrations on the net).

Look for the strengths of each person and you'll learn a lot more than sneering at the faults.

Who's your gramma

In the koryu arts that I practice, I know exactly who taught me. In most cases it was one sensei whose lineage I also know. In one case I'm a bit of a mix between two teachers at the insistance of my sensei, but I also know both lineages. That's important in the koryu since "lineage is legitimate" and we all want to be legitimate.

The martial arts are taught in very similar ways to music. I've often asked my daughter about her lineage, I suspect it's quite interesting, but she's never asked. Why is that? She's familiar with my, well let's call it obsession, with the genealogy of instruction but she isn't fussed about it at all.

Is it only martial artists? Is it only me? I wonder how much of this is predicated on testability. After all, the kendo folks don't seem all that obsessed with lineage, they learn from many people and what works in the match is what they value. Similarly, my daughter plays, the proof of her instruction is in the music, if she's making beautiful music she's content that she was taught well.

In the koryu it's a bit more slippery. How do I know what I know is known well? First, I have to have faith in what I was taught, and that's where the lineage thing comes in. I have faith in my lineage. That lets me trust the kata long enough for that kata to start teaching me what it knows. I'm sorry, that sounds a bit strange but the kata contain knowledge that you can access if you trust that your training is solid. Any art does. I will bet that if you play a piece of classical music, and you have been trained well, you will understand what the composer was thinking at the time, why he wrote the piece, what understanding about music he put into it.

Which brings us to seitei iai and jo. Like my daughter's music instruction, which is tested by the creation of music as vs noise, like the kendo player's success on the court, seitei success is measured in the approach to an objective standard in testing. That is, your instruction can be tested in the grading process. This means that it doesn't really matter who teaches you seitei, as long as it's taught to the current standard. Note I said current. With no need for a specific lineage, how does one keep the art unified? Except in specific instances, such as when outside groups begin using the zen ken ren iai for their own purposes, that control is maintained by reference to a somewhat shifting standard. That is, you need to keep up with changes coming out of Tokyo to keep passing your exams. Is this done in a cynical way? Not at all, in fact the efforts to keep things standardized, and "unchanging" are what make the passing standards drift. There is nothing on earth that doesn't contain variation (that's quantum he says) so the effort to propogate a standard from a point source will almost guarantee "changes" down the lines. The meaningful "lineage" in seitei is "anyone who has been at the latest seminar and can be trusted not to have misunderstood the instruction". Hence, multiple teachers are not a problem. If they're OK you pass your next grade, if not, you know quickly how good their instruction was. There you go, the free market and it's corrections.

This year at the recent seminar the word was "beautiful", our seitei ought to be beautiful. I'm good with that, if I dig far enough I'll find where I said that same thing years ago. If it looks good, it's correct. The other thing, for anyone looking for my comments on what I learned at the seminar, is to push with the back foot. Go figure, it's the kendo federation.

We all want to know that we're learning stuff that's real. Few people, in my experience, will admit to learning stuff that is "incorrect". Even cosplayers, people who dress up as fantasy characters, will argue over the authenticity of their laser-lance or their bunny ears. With some things we can test for authenticity. With your bowing and fingering techniques you can play that Mahler piece or you can't. Can't? Bad teacher or bad student. With your hiki-men you can win the championships or not. With your beautiful iai you can pass the next grading or not.

But much of koryu is different. Without gradings how do you test your skill? If it's jodo or another partner art you could practice with someone new. Do you have the control to change your movements within kata to prevent injury or are you simply in automatic pilot? That is some sort of a test, certainly. With a bit more skill you might try staying within the kata but push it toward trying to hit each other, except for the very last blow.... sound dangerous? It is. For iai, which is a solo art, how do we test it? We can't, it's a live blade and short of deaths and dismemberments, there isn't a way. Hence the testing and grading stuff in front of a panel, or the paper given to you by your teacher.

No, the only way you can do a gut-check on your koryu (outside of grading systems) is to trust the lineage, and to trust it you first have to know it.

Go find out who your gramma is.

The secrets are out

Back in the day we were not supposed to demonstrate anything in Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu iai except the formal kata. Now I see folks demonstrating the bangai and hayanuki and all sorts of variations, some of which they seem to have made up.

Why the change?

I think it has to do with the same reason karate demonstrations include kicking and punching drills. The purpose of the demonstration has changed. A hundred years ago a demonstration was likely a presentation before high-ranking officials. It was an honour to be invited to show your art and you treated it as such, showing only the pure form and certainly not showing practice exercises.

Now we organize our own demonstrations in malls and parks in the hope of attracting students. A different purpose and so a different demonstration. Karate clubs will show kick and punch drills so that potential students can see what they're signing up for. The equivalent in iaido is the bangai and the variations in kata? Along with, perhaps, walking up and down the hallway cutting.

Is this a good thing? I'm not sure, why show people that iaido can get even more boring than doing a kata? Who will that attract? Similarly I'm not sure doing three minutes of mokuso followed by ten minutes of explaining the scoring system is a good way to attract kendo students. Do some kiri kaeshi to warm up and then whack each other I say. Show the good stuff and leave them wanting more.

On the other hand, to an intermediate student the iaido variations are the fun stuff, so perhaps that's the reasoning, the bangai are longer and so more interesting than doing the fundamentals.

Do I have it right? Are demonstrations including the variations and bangai to attract new students or are modern students just not thinking about what they're doing when they present the art to the public?

Grading at senior levels

Once again this topic comes up. This time my federation has asked its higher grade iaido members if they would be willing to travel to grade, within the country or overseas. Some said yes, some no, some said maybe a little.

The reasons were discussed a bit, with the usual range of things being discussed. Me, I didn't answer the survey because I'm done with iai grading. There are three 7dan ahead of me to get 8dan before I even think about it, and I have no personal desire for the grade. There is also no need for me to have the rank, so all in all, I am done with it.

Why would I not try anyway? I could I suppose, being semi-retired means I've got the time and I could find the money I suspect, but I just have no reason to bother. Here's my personal story.

I started my grading career in 1981, a year I suspect, after I started Aikido. I went through 5 kyu grades in five years and got shodan in 1991 I think. That was a teaching rank then, and the rank at which I could award kyu grades on my own and put my students forward for shodan. I have no idea if that is still the case but back then it was the finish of my gradings. The next functional rank was 6dan which was automatically shihan then, which meant you could award dan rank. I had no reason to continue grading.

Sometime around that shodan mark (1987 roughly) I started practicing iaido in the CKF (I actually started iai in 1983) and it involved no ranking at all. There wasn't any grading system since the CKF didn't have an iaido section for several years. No problem, I wasn't much impressed with grading after 11 years of it. Eventually an iaido section was created and I entered the grading system because we needed panels in order to grow the art.

While some people can't be bothered with grading, most want it. When gradings happen, numbers rise, it's that simple.

My reasons for grading in iai have always been organization-related (the need for rank to grow the organization). My last self-testing grade would probably be my aikido ikkyu, the shodan came 6 years later at a seminar simply "because it was there". What I'm saying is that I too wanted the gradings at the beginning, they provided structure and incentive and all that usefull stuff. By ikkyu though, I'd been through the curriculum and what was left was training for the rest of my life. No sweat, I didn't need incentive at that point, gradings were of no use to me, especially since I was still with my sensei.

Now I hold the iai rank required to sit a panel up to the top grade that we test for in the CKF. All my iai rank has been to benefit the organization, I didn't go through that beginner phase where grading was useful to me, I started practice "to practice" as a natural extension of my previous art.

I know very few people who get to ten years of practice without having that same flip in attitude toward grading. You start grading for yourself, but at some point you are grading for the organization.

Up to now I haven't mentioned such things as ego-gratification or self-esteem issues as grading incentive, I didn't forget them, I just don't care about them.

If I never grade again for any art I might practice it won't matter to me. Not personally. In fact, the koryu arts I practice have no grading systems for me to join. I practice them because I... well I suppose because I have to. My students practice them for the same reason, I don't give them a choice about it.

So, back to the survey. I think the question was a bit umm, I don't have the word for it, misguided, misdirected? To ask senior people how far they would travel to grade seems to imply that they wish to grade. That grading is something they ought to be willing to spend for. It's the wrong question really. Ask me how far I would travel or how much money I would spend to support my organization, not how far I'm willing to travel to grade. The answer to the latter is "no distance at all", I hate travel and will not stir from my seat here at the window to go grade anywhere. I don't want to grade. To be clear, I also don't want to sit grading panels either, and will actively try to avoid all such things.

On the other hand, ask me if I'm willing to spend time and money to travel to get a grade that the organization needs, and you might get a different answer. Would it bother me if the organization made it mandatory to go grade overseas so that I don't have to sit panels any more?

Go ahead, ask me.

You get what you pay for

I've talked about this before. I don't charge for my classes and get a couple new folks wandering in every couple months. Some stay, some go and many make a class a month or so. I charge nothing so that's more or less what the instruction seems to be worth. On the other hand, we've got folks around that pay exactly the same rent I do (nothing at the University) and charge hundreds of dollars for a class. They always seem to have five or six times the students we do.

It's worth what you pay for it.

I was talking today to some vendors at a flea market about pricing. I found a very strange inuit sculpture at their table, it seems to have been made of some sort of composite material, maybe a fine gravel plaster thing, painted and finger-sculpted. It came from an estate with a lot of inuit art and before I asked about it they said "we can make you a deal on that, we can double the price if you'd like". I laughed and knew instantly what they were talking about. Folks can't believe you'd charge a low price for something valuable. If it's a low price that must be what it's worth.

At the seminar we just presented we provided lunches for a low price, but it's pizza so nobody expects much. We also provide a drink with lunch and we leave the drinks out all day. At the end of the seminar I must have picked up 50 or 60 half empty water bottles, pop cans or juice containers. They're free I guess, worth nothing, so it's not worth keeping track of yours, take a slug and go get another when you want another slug.

Another instructor who has dojo parties commented that at one time the beer was free. He too picked up a lot of half empty bottles at the end of the night. He started charging a dollar a beer and they suddenly needed half the number of cases per party. No more half empty bottles either.

If you pay for it, it's worth something I guess.

I'm at the cabin now and I notice that the fire pit contains not deadfall and other scrap from around the place, but heating cordwood. In fact a rather large dent has been made in the stocks. Want fire... hey here's a bunch of really nice wood all neatly stacked up, just carry to the pit and burn.

Not a lot of thought there, it's just lying around to be used right? Now it's half burned in the pit and I'm going to be calling the wood guy for another couple cords for next winter.

If we charged for cordwood I bet the deadfall would appear at the marshmellow roast. It's family so I don't want to "make a rule", neither do I want to ration water bottles or get into the bother of charging for instruction, but holy doodle, I wish folks would think about the worth of things in terms other than money. It isn't free if you didn't pay for it, not even split hardwood, certainly not pop, and yes, not even my instruction.

Don't get me started on first-time photo models who want to get paid. I'd like to point out that my day rate was $1200 when I worked as a commercial photographer. Just because I'm working for free doesn't mean you get paid, especially if I'm teaching you your end while doing mine. Most especially if I have no commercial use for the photos. I'm just keeping my hand in.

It's worth what effort someone put into it. That's what it's worth.

If it was bought and gifted to you, it's worth something. If you use what someone else bought, it's worth something. If someone is doing something for you, it's worth that effort. Sweat equity it's called.

In a cashless economy where every currency transaction will be auto-monitored by the tax folks, you're going to have to figure out what things are worth in the barter economy that will replace the grey-market cash economy we have now. May as well get used to figuring out the worth of something when there's no price tag hanging off it.

When Dave leaves the Bar

My friend Dave is the first person most people see as they arrive at our annual spring seminar. Has been for all 25 of them. Folks see Dave to check in, and after two or three days of practice they go home but the seminar is still going. We pack up, clean up and add up for quite a while. Then there's the sensei who are still around, they don't get to go home for quite a while, although this year it's earlier. Yesterday they went for ice cream as we collected the t-shirts, sales items and detritis of 150 swordsmen who can generate a very large number of half full bottles of water which all have to be found under the benches where they rolled.

By the way, Lauren says thank you to all who bought swag from her band, they made $200.

Dave was there with his truck, loading and unloading stuff to the warehouse, the minions were there too. Hey, it's their name, not mine, they call themselves Pam's Minions because they exist to jump to her command. Without them not a lot gets done and they let Pam do some practice.

OK I'll explain a bit further for those who wonder how we did this thing 25 times. For a month before the seminar it's the Pamurai who books rooms, organizes lunches and generally sorts things out so that we can get started. During the seminar it's Dave, Liz, Carole and a few other key players who have straight jobs and do them well, but it's also the minions who fill in everywhere. They're the guys you see running by with boxes and trays, hakamas flying behind them. They hang around and jump in whenever anyone "in charge" looks frazzled, they sneak up behind and listen until they figure out what needs doing, then they go do it and come back saying "all done, not to worry".

And after, it's Dave doing the books from the various revenue sources that pay for this thing. He hands me a big bag full of his unique accounting notes and all is done. My side of this is to ask him "all good?" and he says "yes" and I go to the bank to pay off my credit cards.

That's the mechanics. It is chaotic, it is messy, but it seems to work so I've learned not to poke it. Way back down on the farm I learned not to try to fix the tractor, you jiggled the distributor cap and slapped the solenoid and then pushed the ignition and you got to work.

We often get offers of help and always accept, but "never follow up". What needs doing most is pretty obvious, garbage picked up, tables and chairs folded and stacked, floors swept, shoes straightened, all the things you would do for your kids. Those that can look around and jump in to help with what needs doing are annointed minions. Lots of attendees simply practice as is their right. You pay for a seminar you get to relax and practice, that's the rule and it's a good one. Too many helpers just get in each other's way but just enough means minions aren't collapsing on day three.

Last night we needed to take the sensei to the airport hotel instead of this morning so after ice cream and then a last dinner at the bar, the convoy took off to loads of photos and hugs, then I came back through surprisingly clear roads and met the last of the seminar for final drinks and wings. Four of us closed down the seminar (and the bar) proving once again that...

The seminar is not over until Dave leaves the bar.

Many thanks to everyone who came and practiced, some extra to those who helped the kids out.

May 5

Today seems to be May 5, that makes it exactly fourty years ago today that I showed up on the University of Guelph Campus for my first day of classes. I left High School early to avoid those last couple of months of grade 13 and so never did graduate High School. Got a UG matriculation paper somewhere, probably in the same box in a warehouse that my various martial arts paper is. In other words it's as lost as my BSc and MSc.

That makes 2/3 of my life spent here in Guelph. Hmm. My son is worried that he still has no plan in life, hah, I never did get one going. I spent the years since 1975 just "going with the flow", I had a set of principles rather than a plan. As far as I know, they haven't changed much.

Do what you say you will do.
Live like a student.
Play nice.
Life is not fair.
Own what you do.
Nobody owes you a living.
Debt is toxic.
Give it back and pay it forward.
If it doesn't scare the horses, go ahead and do it.
Stop your whining and finish the job.
If you can't sleep, get up and read your book.
Don't be stupid. (Probably my favourite).
Go with the flow.

Stuff like that. Stuff that wasn't dogma imposed from some authority, just things I learned from the family and those I grew up with. Are they "small town values"? In the late 60s early 70s? Are you kidding? I was as counter-culture as you could get in rural SW Ontario. You know the place, Saturday night on the back roads with a case of beer, empties heading for stop signs and mail boxes.

Did I always live up to my principles (such as they were, they sure don't look as lofty as some). Nah, I was a jerk much of the time, still have mood swings where I snap at people and I'm getting generally "old man cranky". But overall they have served me well. I'm happy with them, and they worked.

Somewhere along the way (OK 1980) I found the martial arts and all the various rules included in those seemed to mesh with mine pretty well. I'm still noodling around in the arts and they've provided me with a nice hobby for my declining years. The overall effects have been positive, some joint problems that I'd likely have anyway and an overall fitness reserve that seems to be holding up.

No real point to this, I just want the kids to know they don't have to have a plan at 20. I'm still looking at their schools thinking I ought to go get that PhD to provide my life with some direction.

Hah.

Practice is pointless

Or at least it ought to be. If you are practicing FOR something you are not likely to keep working beyond your goal. If I am practicing FOR the big match, once the match is over I have no more reason to practice.

Same with writing, if I have no reason to write, I tend not to write. Now, long ago as a poet I learned that not having an idea is the surest way to shut down the creative drive. So you do the mechanical thing. If I look back over my journals I see that each new date tends to have a little poem about sitting down to write with my new pen, or my new notebook, or some comment on the weather or the coffee in front of me.

We do the same when we meet someone. When I was a kid my cousin and I used to meet the next day or even a week later and instantly start into the conversation we had when last we met. I would bet that's a rare thing. We make some social noises to warm up don't we? How are you, nice weather we're having, did you see the game last night? I had a meeting with one of my financial advisors (yes I've got more than one) last week and we went through about 2.6 minutes worth of him asking me how it was going. I went along because it got us both comfortable with each other once more, then we got into the part where I have to trust him not to lose all my money. The idle chit-chat ahead of time established that trust, he asked and I answered and that let me see that he was paying attention to me.

I'm not keen on idle talk, or idleness at all for that matter. If I'm having coffee I'm writing this stuff. If I'm eating I'm reading, but that sort of idle talk is necessary for other things and so it is done.

Many things are done for their inherent value. If I'm driving I'm driving (I like to save my life, and those around me, on a minute to minute basis and if you're in control of a destructive device as powerful as a car it's absolutely essential to save lives minute by minute. I watch too much stupidity on the intersection in front of me not to understand this.

Practice? It's in the form of warming up for life, like that poem about coffee, it's warming up. You do it. It's not like eating which you can do automatically because you're refueling (you eat FOR energy) and so you read. Practice is done for itself, or you don't continue doing it beyond the goal.

Should I be reading while eating? No, I should be in the moment, I should be paying attention. You don't want to know all the things I've put in my mouth by mistake while reading. Driving, practice, OK eating, all ought to be done in and of themselves rather than FOR anything. It's all part of paying attention. If you drive to get from point A to B you're driving FOR something and you might be tempted to eat, or text, or do some other stupid thing because you're only driving FOR something.

Practice FOR practice. No music to distract yourself, no thinking that you're working out to lose weight or to live forever, just practice. Pay attention to what you're doing and you might actually improve, but that's a side effect. You practice because that's what you're doing, and you do it because that's what you do.

Go practice.

The best defence

The best defence is a good offence. You've heard this one yes?

We know it isn't true. If we look at our kata we realize quickly that most of them start with an offence from uchidachi, the senior side, and a response, that works, from shidachi. So the good offence is defeated by the defence and response.

To make the saying true, we must assume that an opponent can't attack while he is defending. But we practice that all the time. We attack while defending and we defend while attacking.

We could make the statement true if we assume that a successful attack is the best defence but that's meaningless. To win a fight you should win the fight. Umm OK thanks teach.

Cannon fodder

To be cannon fodder is usually defined as being wasted. You're thrown up against the cannons and blasted to bits. Yet from a wider perspective, cannon fodder can make sense. If you throw the inexperienced, mostly useless troops up against the cannon and follow up with good troops you might just get across the killing ground before the cannon are reloaded. History is full of commanders who put their weak troops in the middle of the line to be killed and driven back making a pocket so that the stronger troops can then fold in on the attackers from the flanks.

One can send the civilians and the kids out to clear the minefields. Not nice, but war isn't nice is it? Is it? Depends on how far away from it you are I suppose. Since you don't lead from the front any more, national leaders have little problem sending "their" soldiers out to die. Nations who are a generation away from a war might start thinking it's a romantic thing, similarly young men who haven't the life experience. Handy combination isn't it? I wonder how many dabblers in wars would be dabbling if the leaders had to be in the front lines, or even in the same country?

Cannon fodder can also be a military option, sometimes the only one. In the Korean War my father told me of the human wave tactics of the Chinese army. His tank was parked on a hill, he had a block of wood that prevented the barrel of the 50 calibre machine gun hitting the front trenches of his troops, and he would just depress, sweep and fire when asked. Bodies piled up in front of the trench during an attack, cannon fodder by every definition. But if you have no other option you use what you have. In that same war I was told of the tactics of rifles in the front ranks, knives in the second and bodies in the third. You picked up the weapons of those in front.

How does a military with bodies but no equipment fight? Human waves of cannon fodder. How does a military that can't afford too many casualties counter these tactics? More and better cannon. We see this through history, better equipment means fewer bodies wasted. In the second world war you saw the Russian armies spending bodies, the German armies using the highest tech equipment around, and the US/British/Canadian armies using mass-produced lower-tech equipment. Cannons as cannon fodder.

But equipment costs a lot, and you have to use it eventually. One thing that isn't seen as much any more is using that money to buy what you need, instead of military equipment to fight with. Rich countries have paid tribute to powerful militaries and it has worked. Used to be the main reason for having a strong army at one time. The USA bought half a continent from France with the Louisiana purchase, and then Alaska from Russia. In fact, the world's most powerful military for the last hundred years hasn't won much in the way of land, they did much better when simply buying it. Seems more efficient to me.

Instead of spending money on cannons to kill cannon fodder, why are we not buying countries? For what was spent in the wars of the middling east in the last 20 years I'm sure we could have bought the real estate instead. Divide the money spent by the population of the region and see if that wouldn't be enough to entice you to sell your house and lot, especially if it were rented back to you at a reasonable rate.

Demographics. To understand cannon fodder you need to look at the numbers of teenage boys (and sometimes girls) who are available to throw into those human waves.

Small Comforts

I was just starting to think that in a past life I had really annoyed some old man who was just trying to get along and do some practice. You know, karma catching up.

It is nice to be reminded that I'm not the only one who is tired of having to reinvent the wheel every single year, and fight for the priviledge of teaching the students at the University for nothing while the University complains that we aren't making them enough money and that we have to pay to get into the building, and to rent the room and.... well if you're in a similar institution you understand the complaint don't you. People who are supposed to be in charge of programs for students who figure that they'll be paid anyway if there are no programs for them to take care of.

Last night a few of us went for beers and reassured each other that "it isn't us". Having figured that out, we have started looking into spaces in town. After all, if we have to pay for the chance to teach for free, why not give our money to someone who will appreciate it? As one of the boys said, it would be nice to be able to plan for more than a year in advance.

I've felt that way for a decade or more, each fall has been a wiping of the brow and a feeling of "yes, one more year got through". It's not a feeling of neglect or uncaring that we feel around the place, it's a feeling of active hostility, trying to push you out of the place for some reason. I don't know why, there aren't any groups crying for the spaces or times we use, and in a year they will have double the space they have sitting empty now.

Kind of a shame, I've been in that building since 1975, that's 40 years, almost 35 of them teaching. When I started we had one of the most amazing martial arts programs around, have had it for 40 years. Back then the staff was all for us, they saw the benefit of an activity that people could participate in for the rest of their lives. They helped, mostly by staying out of the way. Now it's got nothing to do with exercise, life-long learning or community. Now it's money. In 40 years I've gone from being a member of a group to being a client who needs to be shaken down for as much cash as possible.

Well at least I know it ain't me, it's the place and, fond that I am of the old building, it's the community that mattered. The community that doesn't exist any more.

Places can be replaced, all I need for my art is a ceiling that I won't injure and a floor that won't injure me. We're starting to look, maybe the entire martial arts program of the University will simply roll on down the hill.

They won't even know we're gone.

Water fits into anything

Water fits into any shape container. This is an analogy that has been used for hundreds of years in the Japanese sword arts. I expect it came from a Chinese military text and taken up by writer after writer in Japan.

What's it mean? It means get beyond the kata, get beyond the technical and start adapting to the shape of the container you find yourself in. Be a bit fluid in your attitude. Go with the flow.

Kata is a container, it contains the waza of your school, the techniques that you put together to make a kata. If you figure the kata are the important things you will try to fit a kata to a fight and it will be hard. If all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.

Make your kata too rigid and you don't have water, you've got ice (if you're lucky). Something frozen won't adapt, it will, however, break nicely. Iaido is a great place to find brittle kata and brittle attitudes. With no partner to change the shape of the kata, the shape can become the important thing, to the point where one might forget what the vessel is for. It's nice to have a pretty mug sitting empty on a display shelf, but if you're thirsty you can't drink that mug.

Partner kata will force you to adapt to small changes, to stir the water about. Moving water takes longer to freeze, and if it stays liquid it might even adapt to a radically different shape container. It keeps that possibility, certainly. Think of partner kata as a mug that gets shaken around.

A competitive match is even more random, consider a match a balloon that two people have their hands on, a vessel that changes shape. If you figure chudan is the best kamae for kendo that's one thing, if you figure it's the only kamae you may have trouble trying to force every match, every balloon, into the same shape.

On the other hand, water alone is hard to hold, if you don't have a container it goes all runny and useless. You can smack someone in the head with a sack of water and do some damage, throw the same amount of water at them without the sack and they will just laugh at you. I found my practice of Aikido to be like trying to put water into a sock, rather than a sack. Often there was no shape to the practice at all, just a bunch of technique that I was trying to shove into some sort of shape. It's hard to push water into a shape without a container. Of course I was too young to understand how to find shapes for the techniques, and being impatient, I started iaido to get the shapes. I didn't realize it at the time, I simply wanted a more defined place to work on my balance and posture without some gumby flopping around, attached to my wrist.

People say "in a fight there are no rules". They also say "you fight like you train". So we should train with no rules? We should spray water around in hopes of enough of it hitting our opponent that he'll get waterlogged and fall over?

We train with rules, otherwise we can't find the techniques. Aikido kata in my line are created by the sensei on the spot, if we don't spend enough time on each, we lose the chance to really fill them up. We usually don't spend that time, students wanting to go on to the next one and sensei agreeing because it's boring to watch students.

Competitive matches have rules, those are the container within which we learn the techniques. Too much worry about winning and we lose the chance to fill up the container fully. We find a couple of things that work and "use them to death".

Kata has a shape and kata based arts spend lots of time filling up the container. Why do schools tend to increase the number of kata over the years (and sometimes decrease them)? Know too few kata and you spend all your time poking around in the little nooks and crannys up in the corner of that Toby-mug's ear. We start to crawl up our own fundament. So a sensei invents another kata or six for us to fill up. On the other hand, if students can't get to all the kata because they've "got a life", none of the kata get filled up and it's time to focus on fewer of them.

It's not a disaster if we have some lost kata around, you can only drink out of one cup at a time... well when I was a student I could do a waterfall of four glasses and I knew guys who could do eight, but you know what I mean.

I think I've pushed this water thing around long enough, time to stop drinking coffee and float out of here before my back teeth float out of my mouth.

Kata is not Combat

Taylor's Fallacy

1-Moral Instruction in Budo

2-Moral Instruction in Budo

3- Moral Instruction in Budo

4- Moral Instruction in Budo

5 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.5. When gain comes prior to the technique and when the body precedes the sword, such conduct is called “disorder.” It is caused by external benefit seeking.

Adapting [yourself] to [the opponent’s] movement should not be accomplished by thinking and calculation. When you take gain as a natural outcome, you will make adjustments without thinking, and transform without calculation. The one who receives the transmission [of the art] will not make gain his priority, and will thus gain mastery of oneness. He will pay heed only to his own response [to a given situation] as his only gain. He will not succumb to thinking and calculation. With a single-pointed mind transcending chaos, he will never doubt his victory. In so doing [the practitioner] will attain the stage of his original destiny. Once the transmission of the art is internalized, it yields a truly victorious performance. Taken to a higher level, there will no longer be any notion of single-mindedness, or any distinct single gain to pay heed to. Strike with inside and outside as one. No more good and evil. Don the armor of one-mind and counter a thousand blades and ten thousand swords. Control the ten directions and kill or grant life at will. Once single-mindedness is actualized, it is the stage of method-gain sameness.

A thousand changes stem from oneness. This oneness is the no-form, no-mind body as a whole. To take water as an example: water has no form. Therefore, it can fit into square and round containers. Practitioners should receive the transmission without prioritizing gains or their own bodies. As the oral transmission has it: “sword-and-body first-and-last.”

This art is a method of gaining a sharp blade. When there is a sword, there is a method; when there is a method, there is a gain. Mind is the source of methods. Body is the source of the sword. That hidden causes ripen into manifest ends is a fallacy. Truth is a certain victory, fallacy is a certain defeat. If gain precedes the method, even the sharpest sword will not cut down a man. Therefore, the foundations must be rectified and mastered through and through. The gains and losses of actual performance depend on the accrued merit [of successful mastery of the basics.]
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"When gain comes prior to the technique". Shooklyn notes that this gain can also imply victory, so when one thinks of victory before technique, the safety of one's body, before the sword in your hand, it is not a good thing. One is looking at the goal rather than at the process and this is disordered, the wrong way around.

The message here is to concentrate on the technique, on being one with the sword and not to think about winning or other external goals. when in a fight dont think and calculate, just adapt without thinking, like water fits into various shaped vessels. This water analogy is popular, I ran right over it the first few times I read this, didn't even realize it was here, but it's important.

How can one learn to adapt without thinking? By training without thinking of winning and losing. Remember that this essay came from 1769, a year long past the wars and into the era of shinai kendo where one could fight matches without great risk of death. To fight for its own sake, in order to learn to be spontaneous, was possible at this time. If one got caught up in the competition, in trying to win or avoid losing, one lost the chance to learn how to become one with the sword.

Once the art is internalized, once we are one with the sword, victory appears. We begin to strike with the speed of thought we might say, or Chiba might say, with the speed of sight. We see, we strike. (Shooklyn says "what you see is what you get"). We achieve single-mindedness with the result of method-gain sameness. The technique-victory oneness.

Technique is not unimportant, although many take that meaning from such advice as we have here. Technique is very important, it's how we express what is in our mind. The problem is not technique, it's thinking about technique, thinking about the goal, thinking in general. We can go into a fight all thoughtless and instantaneous movement, but if we don't use good technique it's just so much waving a stick around.

Students should understand the transmission as “sword-and-body first-and-last.” Don't worry about winning or about your body, just seek to become the art, to become one with the sword, there is nothing else to be done, no external goal to be sought. Work on technique, practice technique, don't think about what you're practicing for, or where you're going to use the technique. Technique is not "if he does that then you should do this".

The author obviously thinks this is an important point, he makes it again by pointing out that the art is the way a sharp sword appears. You have a sword, you learn a method, then gain appears. The mind produces the method, the body produces the sword. Nothing mysterious about this. If you think of gain first, you can't cut, even if you've got a sharp sword. Your liklihood of victory in a match corresponds to how much training you have done.

Please note that all this is in reference to the usual way of things. If you feel you can go into a sword fight with an indomitable will to win and no training, you might, by accident, be correct. The idea that your "samurai spirit" will prevail, your dedication to the cause and determination to overcome the enemy might work, you never know. I remember a quote from an Australian vet from the second world war who suggested that the first time they saw a sword charge it was a bit startling but "after that, they made pretty good targets".

Last evening I read a quote from the western sword tradition of about the same era as this essay, where the sword master commented that one should teach one's son wrestling because a mediocre swordsman will be defeated by a good wrestler who is also a mediocre swordsman, and the best one could hope for in most gentlemen's sons is mediocre sword, unless they are spending all their time in the salon.

Training, make the important thing the process, not the end goal. Make training the point, not winning a match. So say the folks in 1769, so said Musashi a hundred years earlier.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

6 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.6. The one who concentrates on the outer aspects of a technique reacts to what presents itself from the outside. The one who uses the internal aspects concentrates on the inside. Then controlling the internal aspects, he uses the external.

In this manner, the causality of internal to external is maintained, and favored techniques tend to ensue while the disliked ones are likely to be avoided.

Depending on how the opponent engages and feigns, [one should] put pressure on the center to win at the periphery, or else put pressure on the periphery to win at the center, or even put pressure on both the center and the extremity to win at the both spots. Thus putting pressure on the technique, one protects the gains, putting pressure on the gain one protects the technique.

If one attacks both internally and externally, the error will arise in front; if one defends both externally and internally, the error will arise in back. Therefore, attack while defending, defend while attacking. Attack is not merely attacking, defense is not just defending. There is no victory without both present simultaneously. In the transmission this is called “remaining and not remaining.” The learner should rectify the center and peripheries with this point in mind.
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We continue here with the will and the technique, mind and body, internal spirit and external spirit and such descriptions. In other words, thought and deed. If you concentrate on technique, you will respond to technique from the opponent, there won't be anything else for you to respond to. If you use the internal aspects, your insight, the internal analysis of the situation, you will be looking for insight into your opponent as well. Then, controlling the inside you will use the external. Analysing the situation with your mind, you will use your sword.

By now, I am starting to think that this is too simple, am I missing something? I keep reminding myself that for many years I figured it was about looking at what technique he was using and then picking one to counter it. Outer aspects reacting to outer aspects. How, after all, can you read someone else's intentions? With practice I am starting to pick up more subtle clues and my reactions are, if not yet spontaneous in swordwork, at least more subtle. I'm starting to see how, by looking inside my own mind I can see inside his.

If you look inside and use the external to react, you maintain the correct direction of causality. Going from external events to internal would mean being led around by the opponent's actions, which is not healthy.

I'm not sure about "favored techniques tend to ensue while the disliked ones are likely to be avoided. " Is this a good thing? Does Chiba recommend this? I would have thought not if he refers to a student having favourite techniques. One would think that favour and dislike were words weighted toward the subjective rather than the objective. Is it that we are talking here of favoured techniques as ones that are favoured for victory and disliked ones headed toward defeat? In whose opinion? If the instructor, or the advice of the texts concerning the art, that would be good. We recommend (favour) this technique, we don't like that one so much because it isn't very strong in this situation. Think about it and you'll pick a good response rather than a poor response.

Shooklyn suggests that center and extremity in this next passage refers to the internal and external aspects of technique. I am afraid I read it more literally, as centerline and edge. Attack toward do, the side, and the opponent will respond leaving his center open to attack. Press down the centerline and then attack the sides, or alternate between center and periphery and you will confuse his defence. I say this because Chiba tells us that putting pressure on the center or periphery is the result of how the opponent engages and feigns. I think we're talking seme here, if he is pressing your center, move his attention to the periphery to disrupt him. All of this reminds me of advice not to attack a position of strength, don't oppose strength with strength, especially if you are not the stronger. I remember well an aikido class where I decided I'd demonstrate that one could avoid strength by moving underneath it, but at the time my knee was useless and I didn't get under my attacker who got a good shove through my wrists into my shoulders. I stood there for a good three seconds with screaming pain in my shoulder before I finally convinced myself to give up the attempt to get under and moved to the side instead. By that time my arm was hanging useless and took many months to recover as much as it has (which is not completely).

"Thus putting pressure on the technique, one protects the gains, putting pressure on the gain one protects the technique." While previously this gain was best read as victory, here Shooklyn suggests the gain should be read as preferences, favoured places to attack and well-guarded weak spots. Thus we press the technique and protect the attack (by keeping the opponent on his heels), or we guard the weak spots and protect the technique (by denying the opponent the chance to disrupt it by pressing that weak spot).

The last paragraph seems to be embodying the concept of Sei Chu Do, Do Chu Sei. If the body is active the mind should be still, if the body is still the mind should be active. If you are attacking with the sword, you ought to be defending in your mind (looking for counterattacks, keeping your body in a good posture so that bits aren't hanging out to be hit). If you are defending with the sword you ought to be searching with the mind for the attack which must be appended to the defence.

If you attack with both the mind and the sword (internal and external) you have nothing left to defend with should your attack fail. Cannon fodder. The error arises in front, at the beginning, all out attack only works if you catch the opponent, if not, you are defeated "before you start".

If you are defending with both the sword and the mind you are going to be back on your heels and even if you ward off the attack you won't have one of your own. Your mistake is at the back, after you've defended and have nothing to respond with.

In both cases there is a hole in the technique. There must be attack in defence and defence in attack. This concept is a bit more complex than "the best defence is a good offence". Look after the centerline and the periphery, your line of attack with the sword and your arms and legs which might be hanging out to the sides, where they are not protected by your attack line. We were practicing a kata last evening which includes swords meeting and stopping between the two partners as they both strike at the same time. The question arose as to what was happening, are the two people clashing swords together? No of course not, that would mean that the one of the attacks is coming from the side (periphery) which would leave the center open for the other swordsman. No, both swordsmen are attacking down the centerline and as a result you get the stalemate with each strike as two swords are moved into the same place at the same time. The uselessness of attacking into the attack. What caused my rotator cuff to fail.

“remaining and not remaining.” When you attack, keep part of your spirit back, when you defend, send part of your spirit forward. "The learner should rectify the center and peripheries with this point in mind." This final statement makes most sense if we use Shooklyn's suggestion that center is the internal and periphery the external. Think of your mind as the center of a circle, the techniques exist on the periphery. Of course it could also mean, work on your kamae, don't leave bits hanging out when you attack, don't attack off balance, don't forget the other people in the room who might also attack you...

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

7 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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5.1.7. To gain directly using a technique is called “guarding the beginning,” while to present a gain as a means is called “guarding the end.” If one pauses in the beginning, it means there is a gain at the end. If the end is protected, it means that there is no gain in the beginning. The important point in swordsmanship is not to stop either at the beginning or the end or to have beginnings and ends depend upon the opponent. One does not stick to either of them.

The stage of “sameness of the beginning and end” is one of the absence of beginnings and ends. When there is a beginning, an end is simultaneously present. When there is an end, a beginning is there, too. It does not matter whether the movement is strong or weak, light or heavy. This is how the technique is one yet makes two. While the gains are two, they are one all the same. Whenever you gaze into the sky, the sky is there instantaneously. Liken yourself to an unmoving mountain.

When you make a move, do so like sparks from a flint. Stopping neither at the beginning nor at the end even for a single moment of thought, reach ten thousand things. Since neither the beginning nor the end is sought, transformations will happen spontaneously. Moreover, since the technique issues from one’s whole body and mind, the one who takes advantage of the beginning, gains the beginning, while the one who takes advantage of the end, defends the end and gains the end regardless of how strong or weak, light or heavy the technique might be, or whether it is done while advancing or retreating, or whether the range is long or short. Therefore the one who makes the technique a part of body and mind has nothing to look for outside. When it is not sought elsewhere, one’s mind moves not an inch. This is called not stopping at the beginning or end. The one who achieved mastery over this art does not stop at the beginning and let the initiative be taken; while defending he does not stop inside, and as he defends the gain, the gain of the technique is not stolen [by the opponent.]

Revealing no form when form is sought, revealing form when no-form is sought is called “the stage of unity of crooked and straight.” The one who gains victory by abandoning the notions of “technique” and “gain” is the true master of the art. This is the quintessence of the art of war. Ultimately, without leaving a trace, it is obtained within one’s heart-mind; the hand moves accordingly. Mind is mind, technique is technique, one’s self is one’s self, and opponent is opponent. Whatever one faces, one seeks nothing. With only spontaneous merit, he uses the art when there is need, and abandons it when there is none. He attains “the wondrous stage” of the art.
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Here we are talking of beginning and ending. Think of this as a passage between you and the opponent, someone moves, things happen and then you separate. Shooklyn suggests that a gain at the beginning is to attack while the opponent is beginning to execute his technique. Sen no sen. The end is to counterattack after parrying. Go no sen.

With this in mind, "To gain directly using a technique is called 'guarding the beginning'". Your guard being a successful attack as the passage begins, to get in there faster. It could also mean striking before the opponent twitches, sen sen no sen, I suspect. In this case also, our offence is our guard.

"to present a gain as a means is called 'guarding the end'. If one pauses in the beginning, it means there is a gain at the end." Gain being victory or a point, if you hesitate as the opponent begins to strike, your chance for gain is after you have defended. On the other hand, if you guard at the end of the passage there is obviously no gain at the beginning (or at the end if you have defended then broken contact).

Chiba moves from here to his main point, don't think about beginnings and endings, there are no passages, the fight is continuous. Don't "stop either at the beginning or the end". Don't leave beginnings and endings to the opponent to define. Beginnings have ends, ends imply beginnings so they are the same.

"This is how the technique is one yet makes two. While the gains are two, they are one all the same." Shooklyn suggests this means the targets are multiple while the technique (taking advantage of openings at beginning or end) is one. I agree, as Musashi says, look to the strike no matter what you are doing. Find the opening and use it.

"Whenever you gaze into the sky, the sky is there instantaneously. Liken yourself to an unmoving mountain." I love these things. Remember our discussion of projection and reflection. You don't need to think up the sky to see it, you look and it is there. The unmoving mountain is your 'body of a big rock', it's your immovable mind. Don't let yourself be dragged around by your opponent's beginnings and endings, don't let your mind be dragged about by thoughts of why the sky is blue. There it is, deal with it.

We come to the spark and flint, another image that Musashi also uses. Your reaction to the appearance of an opening ought to be the same as a spark which happens as steel strikes flint, without any space, instantly. Put any thought in there and you have a space. Think about a beginning and an end (a technique) and you have a space. Don't seek after beginning and end and transformations will happen spontaneously. The rest of that paragraph ought to be clear once this is understood. Become the art and whether beginning or end, you gain, strong or weak, near or far, you gain.

The "stage of unity of crooked and straight" is to reveal no form when form is sought and reveal form when no-form is sought. This stage means that you are not searching for the proper technique to respond to the technique your opponent is using, and to use technique when there is none opposing you. By simply reacting to what is happening in the moment it happens, one has abandoned thoughts of winning and losing and technique.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

8 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.8. There are body and function in an initiative. Attacking without preliminary movement and form is called “the body of an initiative.” Attacking when preliminary moves are made and forms are revealed is called “the function of an initiative.”

To take the body initiative is to attack from an empty spot and to defend with a given form stealing the opponent’s gain, breaking through his setup. Doing thus means using the apparent gain while keeping a technique hidden.

To take the function initiative is to attack with a given form and to defend from an empty spot breaking through the opponent’s setup,stealing his technique. One makes the technique apparent while the real gain remains hidden [until the definitive blow.]

If someone acts haphazardly trying to win without knowing the principles and techniques of body-function attack and defense, he will stick out his head only to be hit and stretch out his hand only to be cut down. This point should be well practiced in training.
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You cannot always just hit your opponent. He is not a stationary target, he moves, he defends. Here Chiba is talking of two ways to take an initiative. The first is the body of an initiative, to simply attack from an empty spot, to swing at a target and then defend with your technique to disrupt your opponent and steal his gain. Use an apparent gain, a strike to an opening to trigger his reaction while keeping your own technique hidden.

The second way is the function initiative, to show the opponent a technique and as he tries to counter that, strike at whatever opening appears.

Of course what is being said here is that form and formlessness, technique and striking from the void are one "two sides of a coin". Chiba clarifies by saying that if you simply flail about, sticking out your head or your hands you will be defeated. You have to understand this body-function, attack-defence, principle-technique, all the pairs Chiba has been describing in order to avoid defeat.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

9 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.9. There are two kinds of counterattack: one using the empty spot, the other one using a given form.

When you wish to win over the opponent’s empty spot, you have to kill the opponent’s intended form [or technique]. In order to take advantage of the opponent’s assumed form, you have to discern his aim and destroy his empty spot. When the attack comes, counter at the moment he is recovering his balance while his move stops at the periphery.

If he does not regain balance, control the movement of his center. The opponent who moves from his center with extremities at rest should be taken advantage by controlling his center. When the opponent’s center is upright yet his extremities are in disarray, he has to be cut down at the extremities. When the opponent’s center and extremities are both in motion, which is a big mistake, take advantage of this bluff. When his center and extremities are both at rest, which means he does not reach out, take advantage of his [actual] state of engagement.

There is engagement in feigning and feigning in engagement. The great bluff is the same as not reaching out; not reaching out is like the great bluff. The oral transmission says: “he follows forms and chases manifestations.” In other words, one gets stuck in a form. One loses to an initiated attack. Whatever follows is of no use. Therefore, counter the form and kill the manifestations. There are two types of counters. One has to do with an empty spot; the other one has to do with a manifested move. The prior is to counter with a kill, while the latter is to kill with a counter. At this juncture, the distinction between the initiative and the counterattack cannot be made. The initiative becomes a counterattack.

The counterattack becomes the initiative. The distinctions between the sword and the body, between the strengths and weaknesses, center and periphery all become obliterated in one beneficial action. Having arrived at the sameness of technique and principle, one becomes equipped with a technique that breaks through the circle of initiatives and counterattacks. This wondrous principle is hard to learn. It truly belongs to the mind-to-mind transmission.
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In article 15.1.8 we talked about two kinds of attack, one without preliminary movement and form, the body of an initiative, in other words, spontaneously, and one with preliminary movement and form, the function of an initiative, with a complex, planned technique.

Here we talk of the counterattack and again we speak of a counter into the empty spot, and another using a form. To counter into an empty spot you have to stall his own form. Musashi called this holding down the pillow. The idea is to forestall your opponent's technique by striking into the space created as he starts it. By striking into this empty spot you will stall his attack outside your body and disrupt the opponent's balance, strike as he tries to recover his balance.

Chiba talks next of controlling the opponent's center or periphery. If he has not recovered his balance, attack his center. Step in and cut.

If he is moving from the center and his sword is at rest, you have to control the center, do not allow him to achieve his desired distance.

If his center is stable and strong, but his arms and sword are not coordinated, attack his arms.

If both center and arms are moving, strike. Both arms and body moving are a mistake according to Chiba, a bluff. This is also what Musashi says when he warns against moving in and striking at the same time. The body must get to the distance first and then the sword can strike.

If neither his body nor his arms are moving, he is not attacking, not reaching out, so strike before he is prepared. Chiba says there is engagement in feigning and feigning in engagement, misdirection must be part of any attack and an attack has (may be) misdirection. Chiba then warns that the great bluff is the same as not reaching out and reaching out is like the great bluff. An immobile enemy may be feigning rather than immobilized.

Again we are warned about becoming trapped in form. If you do you will lose to your opponent's initiated form. You have to disrupt his form, his attack, and then kill whatever moves follow, the manifestations. At this point Chiba repeats that there is a counter to an empty spot (counter with a kill) and there is a counter with a manifested move (kill with a counter). At this point it's hard to tell whether you are attacking or counterattacking.

When you unify technique and principle, attack and counterattack, all the other pairs, your sword becomes wonderous.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

10 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.10. Distance is important in a match. When I want to make use of it, the opponent does so, too. As I distance myself, he approaches. Whether one is brave or cowardly, slow or fast, in his initiative and counterattack is a matter of life and death. Hence, proper distance cannot be compromised even for the space of a single hair breadth. Without regard for peril one must take advantage of proper distance thus arriving at the stage of single-handed control over life and death.

I do not breach the distance, nor do I stall in waiting [for the opponent to do so]. I establish the proper distance and remain at this level. This is called “life taking blade and life giving sword.” There is no difference between being close or far in terms of distance. There is no difference between breaching the distance and anticipating. The practitioner of the art should maintain proper distance without waiting for changes to occur. Nor should he let others reach him. Instead he should quickly gain control of proper distance.
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It's a plain-spoken article for a Sunday morning. Distance is important in sword, so important that in a Kendo match we start the opponents at issoku itto, one step distance, and in kata we spend hours working on the exact pace that takes us to the correct distance as we approach each other.

A big part of any match is to set the distance, too long for him, just right for you. In Jodo we use a stick that is, in fact, only an inch or two longer than the sword which opposes it, but we use that distance to full advantage. (Check the distance from tip to grip rather than just measuring the two weapons). As I suspect some of my students have heard me say "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades". A miss with a sword is a miss, whether from two inches or two miles.

Chiba says "I establish the proper distance and remain at this level. This is called 'life taking blade and life giving sword.'" Satsunin to and katsujin ken generally refer to the intent with which one uses the sword, in a killing or a life-preserving manner. I don't know what Chiba is thinking of here, perhaps the fine control of distance that lets you kill or prevents the opponent from killing you. However, he goes on to say that there is no difference between being close or far, breaching the distance or waiting for the opponent. One should control the distance. Shooklyn notes that we aren't talking strictly of distance here, but of the combination of distance, timing and control of technique. Add to that, anticipation, reading the opponent, controlling the rhythm and all the other aspects of a fight and you start to understand how Chiba can say that there is no difference between close and far, your physical distance is not the only factor to consider.

Speaking of distance as this combination of things, the important message here is to "establish the proper distance and remain at this level."

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

11 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.11. I turn my opponent’s techniques into my own techniques. I turn his gains into mine. This is called “the mocking bird stage”. Strength for strength, weakness for weakness, a strike for a strike, a thrust for a thrust: counter each and every one of a thousand changes this way. This is called “facing the opponent’s technique.”

Weakness for strength, strength for weakness, a block for a strike, an empty spot for a block: accommodate each and every one of the manifold transformations of gains in this manner. This is called “accommodating the opponent’s gains.”

Face a committed advance by engaging in return, and accommodate a feigned advance by feigning. When the opponent deftly feigns an impossible technique, do likewise.

The mastery of the art is to turn a committed move into a feigned one [immediately, should it miss the target], and to show a feigned move, but turn it into a committed one [immediately, should an opening present itself]. Therefore, facing an opponent, first pretend to be a fool and appear [as if you are about] to lose. This is a stratagem. Truly, as the saying goes, “warfare is the way of deceit.”

When you consider merit to be a spontaneous outcome –feigning and engaging are two sides of the same coin, and so are deceit and truth. This knowledge must be obtained only through self discovery.
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We continue with the analysis of strategy in a sword fight. This article deals with types of response to the opponent's actions. FIrst, we discuss the "mocking bird stage" or "facing the opponent's technique". We copy his moves. Come on, you rememer your little brother copying everything you said, it made you lose it didn't it? Think about a life or death fight where the opponent copies every move you make. If you don't do something risky by the third or fourth passage you aren't human. It's either take a big gamble or run away, this guy is meeting you strike for strike and thrust for thrust, he's obviously reading you.

Next we have "accomodating the opponent's gains" which is to meet every technique with it's balance. He strikes, you block. He blocks, you aren't there to be blocked (an empty space, you are, one hopes, in the act of striking somewhere else).

To explain the first point further, if the opponent is attacking, attack in return, meet him strongly. Look for a chance to strike a neglected point from an empty spot. If he is feigning, you feign too, don't get taken in by a fake.

Now combine these two ideas. If he fakes and you fake and he's open you turn your fake into a strike, now you are responding to a fake with a strike.

Therefore the next step is to learn how to switch from feigning to attacking at need. If you attack and fail, don't think of it as a failure, think of it as a fake. Now he's reacting to what you're doing, find another place to strike. If you fake, and he doesn't fall for it, strike. I remember Ohmi sensei trying to explain maai to a class practicing Uke Nagashi from the Tachi Uchi no Kurai set of Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu. The movement involves a threat by a thrust which uchidachi must strike down, at which point shidachi does uke nagashi and strikes to finish the technique. The class was essentially touching shidachi's chest before doing uke nagashi. Sensei explained over and over that the movement must take place at issoku itto, at the awase position, not where the class thought it should be. "If he is that close he will simply kill you with the thrust!" Chiba is saying the same thing here, feign a movement but if you find your fake within range and your opponent hasn't reacted to it, strike him. If you aren't in position to strike, he won't react to the fake. Ohmi sensei went on to explain that uchidachi must react to the thrust as it crosses the maai, as it comes into range. If he doesn't it's too late, he is struck.

Act like you are a fool, like you don't know what you're doing and are easily defeated, "This is a stratagem. Truly, as the saying goes, 'warfare is the way of deceit.'" This may seem to indicate that Chiba is recommending this as a 'plan'. However, in the last sentence Chiba says "When you consider merit to be a spontaneous outcome...". Remember that we are working toward "the void", toward the "empty spot", toward being able to react without rationalization leaving technique and strategy behind and simply striking. Chiba says that when we consider that, feigning and engaging are two sides of the coin, as are deceit and truth. Sure we have technique, we have strategy, and they may well work. In fact they often do work, but they are not the goal. The goal is to go beyond all that. Musashi had 60 duels before he was 30 and he thought that he was lucky or perhaps that his opponents were not as skilled as he was. He decided that this was not a profitable way to spend the rest of his life. He went on in search of the void, of the spontaneous outcome. The place where technique appears at need rather than where it is forced upon the situation.

All these techniques and strategies are a stage, not the end. There is no 'end' there is only unbecoming, only the empty spot, the void.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

Walk up and kill him

Musashi talks about the void. Chiba Chosaku talks about the empty spot. Takuen Soho talks about the immovable mind. They are all talking about being able to respond without thought, without calculation to a situation. Mushin, munen muso. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Techniques appear at need from nowhere.

When I try to explain Niten Ichiryu I often say "walk up and kill him". Partly I'm talking about the simplicity of the kata in the ryu, but I'm also talking about the mechanics of the strikes. They contain a large aspect of spontaneity, of striking from the empty spot. Just strike.

Sounds great doesn't it? You will finally be unbeatable and as we see in the movies, nobody will ever be able to sneak up on you and defeat you. We even have martial arts that test for higher grades by making the students dive out of the way of a shinai strike from behind. Amazing, a real spidey-sense that tingles all over the place.

Oh, wait, where's that radioactive spider again?

Tapping into the void doesn't mean supernatural powers, it means having enough practice, enough experience that you don't need to think about it. When I'm in the shop I can look from ten feet away to a board and tell whether it's a full inch or under by a sixteenth of an inch. This is not magic, this is experience. If you are old enough to have been doing a job for twenty or thirty years consider how much conscious thought you need to do it well. This is the void. You adapt to unexpected demands of your job spontaneously, you don't get distracted by the trivial, you go to the heart of what needs doing and you do it.

Does this mean you can see around corners? Even the best accountant may not get out and find another job before the company loses it's biggest customer and goes bankrupt. There are things you can't see, and what you can't see you can't deal with.

So Musashi and all the other swordsmen were as vulnerable to unseen strikes as anyone else. To defeat an opponent from the void they needed to be facing that opponent. They needed to know they were in a fight. Note that my saying is "walk up and kill him", you're aware you're in a fight. It is often said that Musashi never bathed for fear of being attacked out of reach of his swords. This may or may not be true, but the story is truth. To avoid being attacked unexpectedly, expect an attack. Cut down the chances of being ambushed by not being in the situation in the first place.

Don't let people with shinai in their hands stand behind you.

12 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.12. The gain of such as art comes of using one of my [techniques] and two of the opponent’s. It is, for instance, to strike [in proper timing] having the opponent miss the target while I raise the sword to strike. This is called using one out of two. To cut after having parried is called one for one or two for two. When you use the one-out-of-two, it is certain victory. Using one-for-one and two-for-two you sometimes win and sometimes lose. Trying to do both at the same time, you lose in a moment.

Thousand-fold variations should be thoroughly covered in practice.
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If I remember right, the western tradition speaks of beats here. A strike down is one beat, to block and strike is two beats. Chiba here is saying that if you have one beat while your opponent has two you are more likely to win, provided of course your beat is a strike.

At least that's what it seems like he is saying. Unfortunately it doesn't actually read that way. I raise my sword while the opponent strikes and misses and then I strike. This he calls one out of two and you win.

To parry and then cut is one for one or two for two and you win sometimes and lose sometimes.

Try to do both and you lose in a moment.

I'm assuming that to lift and then to strike is one. This would make striking from Jodan 0.5? The opponent missing is two? Regardless of this, the situation is what Musashi called stamping on the sword, you will hit him just after he's cut and missed. This is a good strategy, well represented in many schools. Shooklyn notes the modern kendo example of kote-nuki-men, expose your wrist, avoid his strike by lifting your sword and hit his head.

The second situation where you parry and strike gets into the ton-ton, back and forth fight where you take turns striking and blocking. Chiba seems to be saying that the winner is a random event. I'd tend to agree, and it's best not to get into this sort of thing. Musashi would say you ought to disentangle or change the situation with a sudden movement before it occurs to your opponent to do it.

But the third, are we trying to parry and cut at the same time? Cutting and knocking the opponent's sword aside as you cut is said to work. Are we trying to use one for two and two for two at the same time? I'm not sure what that would be.

I suspect Chiba means don't get confused trying to decide what to do. If you decide to block and to cut at the same time your body will be locked in confusion as two different signals are sent together. A sure way to lose.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

13 - Moral Instruction in Budo

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15.1.13. When one abandons manifold transformations of techniques, one relies instead on the gain of one single course of action. In other words, one reaches the stage of unchanging heart-mind. It is called “undistracted thought.” Thus, maneuvers are made depending on the opponent.

The secret of countering a thousand blades with one sword lies in making use of the accumulated merit of practice. When the time comes to put this [knowledge] to the test, one ought to rely on the spontaneous manifestation of technique. This secret thereby obtained is thereby mastered only in one’s mind. From the outset, let all the maneuvers happen naturally and strive to ascend to the stage of “a hundred battles and a hundred victories” with your whole being. What is called the stage of the single blade in kendo lies in selecting no particular skills, nor in getting involved with principles and technical nuances of manifold changes and transformations. It consists in the total victory before the opponent even conjures his principles and techniques, by making use of the single blade of unchanging one-pointed mind.
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This is the summation of all that we have discussed before. Chiba gives us numerous pairs of concepts and tells us that they are actually the same, two sides of a coin. Here he tells us to abandon technique, abandon all thoughts of principles, all planning. Let the encounter unfold, allow yourself to fight from the place of undistracted thought, the unchangeing heart-mind, use the single blade to overcome a thousand blades and all that.

In other words, use spontaneous action to defeat whatever is thrown at you.

Heck, I've known that since my first days in the martial arts. I read lots of books and they all told me to just 'do it'. What's the big deal, you have faith and swing and somehow a technique shows up and you win. I've seen the movies.

But does faith have anything to do with it? Only if you figure Fudo Myoo will somehow guide your arm. Thing is, the gods may also be on the side of the other guy, despite you being a better offerer up of worship.

No, better to respect the gods but not rely on them. The reason Chiba put this article here rather than at the beginning of the piece is that you don't get here without a lot of practice, a lot of learning of technique. Then, after years of repitition and learning you have to do the most difficult thing of all, you have to let it all go. Now that's tough.

Who wants to let go of 10 or 20 years of work? You spend a decade making sure you can cut to exactly one angle, move in exactly the correct distance and block to the cut in less than five milliseconds, now you're supposed to give all that up? Nonsense, what's the point of learning all that stuff in the first place?

The point is that you have something you can let go. A beginner knows nothing, a master knows nothing. What do you think separates them? You know the ending now, feel free to jump to the end and cut out all that hard work through the middle. Be sure to let the rest of us know how you did that.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

14 - Moral Instruction in Budo
(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

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15.1.14. There is a distinction in kendo between the long and the short [range.] At a long range I use the gap to expose [the enemy’s] aim. At a short range I use that space to project my aim.

The differences of range ought to be quickly adapted to deploy projection and reflection. It applies both to my opponent and myself. It is not just a matter of who is superior at long range and who the other way round. Both conditions come down to one: assuming a given form and following through with a technique. It will be easy to maneuver if the form is mastered. The ease in maneuvering brings about a natural success. Thus left alone, the matter of distance no longer depends on the length of the sword or actual inches and yards.

That said, if I fail to make use of the long range, I gain nothing. Conversely, if I make use even of a short range, I will succeed. Going for long range, do not end up unable to change your technique into a short-range cut; going for a short range do not [become unbalanced or overextend] if you have to adapt a long range. This is called “the sameness of the long and the short.” However, if you end up consciously choosing one of the conditions and “measure” with your blade, your mind will become entangled in calculation, and you will thus lose the original heart-mind of the art.

Your heart-mind is the sharpest sword. What does it have to do with range? For instance, even if you wield a dull sword that cannot cut flesh you will break bones with it. In this manner, even the dull sword finds its use. For the one who sharpens the sword of one-pointed calm and pure heart-mind, it matters little what kinds of weapons he might use: all become the sharpest swords. If the original sword is never separated from the body even for an instant, taking life or giving life become spontaneous matters.

That said, the one who takes advantage of the long range wins over the one who falls short. When both are equal, one sometimes loses and sometimes wins. Yet sometimes the one who falls short wins, and the one who overreaches loses. In battles there are winners and losers, and it is all in accord [with the supreme principle]. He who does not know his limitations obstinately desires a gain regardless of whether it is for the good or evil of others. This is against the Way.

There are limitless outcomes of any given contest such are the wondrous benefits of spontaneous nature. Sometimes there is victory, sometimes defeat, and yet too, total victory where defeat seemed imminent. Sometimes both parties die, yet sometimes both survive. There are no obvious certainties, nor are there any obscure uncertainties. There is no way of seeing whether you are going to win or lose. All are the wondrous benefits of spontaneous nature of the Heavenly Way.

Thus if you do not think about the advantages and disadvantages of a contest, freeing yourself from life and death, and letting the advantages and disadvantages be decided by the will of Heaven, you will decapitate the great opponent –your own ego; and then the enemies in ten directions will disappear. When there is no opponent, how can you be defeated? Suppose there is someone who will come and challenge you. He will but destroy himself.

Knowing this is wisdom, and also, virtue. Practicing it is valor, and also, art.
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We continue with the summing up of the "Mysteries of Swordsmanship" (15.1) but move to what feels a bit like a forgotten point, the close and far distance, or perhaps we should say the approach. The first sentence states that we use the long range to expose the opponent's aim, and the short range to project our own. Since modern kendo starts at the neutral point of this range, the issoku itto or one step distance, we should perhaps think of kata here. As you walk toward your partner you should be projecting in such a way as to see what he intends, then as you cross the one-step distance you perform your counter to his attack. We might also think of the WWII kendo matches which were set up to start at a large distance and finish with a single point. In that case you were expected to run toward the opponent and win in a single strike. You had the approach to analyse what he intended and then it was over.

Chiba mentions projection and reflection. This we discussed in article 15.1.4. We should project what we wish the opponent to see as we approach from long range, and reflect what he does as we move to close range. We assume a form and adapt a technique to respond to that, both opponents do this, and if the form as been mastered you will have success. Being concerned with the measured distance, having a longer or shorter sword, these don't matter as much as our appreciation of distance, to our technique. At this point (1769) in the development of kendo one could have a shinai of any length one wanted, (bokuto too, one supposes, shinken however were likely regulated by then). Chiba is saying that this isn't as important as understanding the distance during a fight.

"That said" if you don't use the approach you won't gain any advantage, but if you use any distance to your own ends you will succeed. Adapt, if you're looking for a strike from a long distance and he jumps in close, adapt. If you're striking close and he jumps out of range, don't get over-extended. If you start measuring the distances you will lose your one-pointedness (heart-mind), you will become entangled in calculation. Treat every distance as the same thing.

"Your heart-mind is the sharpest sword". We move a bit toward metaphore here with the observation that even a dull sword will break bones if it is used correctly. Keeping your concentration, your un-entangled mind, you will be able to use anything as a weapon. If you forget the "original sword" (the one in your mind) you will have a problem, keep sword, mind and body integrated (through long practice and then forgetting technique) and giving or taking life becomes spontaneous. Musashi says we must always keep the strike in mind, everything works toward the strike and if we forget this for an instant we are in trouble.

"That said" if you can strike from a long range that's better. If both are equally skilled at long range it's a toss-up. Sometimes the long range specialist over-reaches and loses. When speaking of battles, someone wins and someone loses, if you insist on trying to win, for whatever reason, you are going against the Way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes both walk away, there's no way of knowing what will happen in a fight and this is the wondrous benefit of the "spontaneous nature of the Heavenly Way."

Leave all thoughts of winning and losing, life and death to the will of heaven and you will "decapitate the great opponent - your own ego" With this your enemies dissappear and you can never be defeated. If someone attacks, wishing to kill you, he has already destroyed himself.

How many times have we heard that last and figured that means if we're "good enough" at X-ryu and someone tries to fight us they've already lost? Firing bullets at Superman, it's just asking to get your lights punched out. It's not really that is it? When Musashi fought Sasaki and Sasaki threw his saya away Musashi said "you have lost!" Shortly after that Musashi decided he didn't get it, he figured (perhaps even correctly) that Sasaki was so upset he could be beaten and saying this would upset him even more. Tricks and a desire to win are not what it's about unless all you want is to win. In that case you're a murderer and you're using satsunin-ken.

If we have decapitated our ego and are challenged and lose our physical head, our opponent has still defeated himself. He still has to live with his ego. It is in this way that the kendo (kenjutsu, whatever you practice) gives wisdom and becomes an art.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

15 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

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15.1.15. When both my opponent and I have discernment, both of us approach without thinking, both retreat without calculation.

He does not approach where I want him to. When I approach, he defends himself. When I am like this, he is also the same: striking at an unexpected spot, reacting in an unpredictable manner. There is no end to these infinite changes and transformations. Applying the principle through a variety of moves, both he and I are one and the same body. He thinks what I think; he calculates my calculations. The unity of technique, principle, movement and stillness is like projecting one’s reflection in a mirror.

At this stage, there is no technique with which to win and no principle to be known.

Whenever you want to win, you will lose. Whenever you do not win, you will immediately lose. The fact that you do not win means you have not [mastered] the art. An adept must keep this in mind.
=====

When I was much younger I had an Aikido partner with whom I was in complete synch. We were equally matched physically and mentally, and we had tremendous sensitivity to each other's movements. We could change techniques in mid air and still land without damage. There was nothing like it and I remember it to this day.

It lasted for about six months and then was gone. I have been hunting for it ever since. I've come close, but never that close to dancing on the edge of disaster, that close to the absolute limits of what I could do.

For a time in Tae Kwon Do I could freestyle with a partner so that it looked a lot like Capoeira, kicks skimming the cheekbones, punches grazing the chin, sweeps barely touching the foot.

For a time in Jodo my partner and I tried, really tried, to take each other's heads off and never quite succeeded. Another partner did me the honour of trying to cave in my skull when doing sword with me.

If you and your opponent both understand the mysteries as outlined in this text, you will be a match, there will be no thought of winning and losing, only of two who are one in the art, both a part of one whole, reacting to each other like a reflection in the mirror. When you experience this you lose all interest in besting an opponent, you only want to continue in this endless winning that is the giving up of the idea of winning.

If you wish to win, you will never get to this point, you will lose. If you do not win, you will instantly lose as your opponent comes through your collapse to strike you. If you don't win you must practice until you cannot lose.

This is the end of first set of articles, 15.1, the Mysteries of Swordsmanship. There are four more sections to come but none as long as this one. I will try to break them into logical sections if possible.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

16 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

=====
15.2. Formlessness of Swordsmanship Methods

The Great Limit is originally limitless. Water yields to square and round vessels and assumes their forms, but originally it is formless. And so it is with the methods of swordsmanship.

Although at the beginner stage one focuses on stances and learns how to perform techniques, the Stance is originally formless. Accordingly, just like the water that yields to the vessels and assumes their forms, the Stance also assumes various forms in response to the opponent. Indeed there are various examples of stances depending on a style of swordsmanship such as upper, middle (or “clear sight”) and lower level stances; side stance and its reverse; kasumi stance; yin-yang stances, and so forth. Yet they are all wondrous workings of the multitude of changes and transformations that stem from the One Function.

Furthermore, there are various names of battle formation methods –the Eight Battle Formations: Fish Scales, Crane Wings, Flock of Geese, Spear, Bow, Crescent, Yoke Swing, and Five Agents; Mutual Confrontation; Three Siege Maneuvers; Left-Right Encircling Maneuvers; Shapes of One一 and Nine九; Boar-swinging Dragon; Endless Snake, Long Snake, and so forth; and all these forms are assumed in response to the changes of the opponent formations.

However, when someone makes only forms without knowing the Principle, he is ignorant of the Principle of changes and transformations. As a common saying has it, “he makes a Buddha image without putting a soul in it.” For instance, if the formation is suddenly attacked by forces assaulting from the rear or along the right or left flanks, the head force regroups to the rear, or one flank reinforces the other. Strategists must be constantly aware of these [responses]. This is called “nipping mutability in the bud.”

Therefore, always assume a form in response to the opponent, and not by yourself.

A shōgi player has several pawns –the assaulting force –to play with. Captured pawns become part of the capturer’s force. So it is with the art of swordsmanship. Although the way the forms are used is a received tradition, these forms, too, are just like the standard moves of shogi pieces. [Ultimately] form and no-form are all the same. The one who becomes aware of this principle will spontaneously mature in his understanding of the art, and thus he will do the techniques without doing the techniques. This is verily called a “true technique”. Should you come to the realization of this principle after your hands and feet have become accustomed [to the techniques], such knowledge will surely become your shortcut to mastery.

The matter of assaulting forces and regular troops depends upon the opponent, while the matter of committing and feigning depends upon yourself –the outcome [of the battle] depends on how well the belly of each side is settled. Is this not what the ancients used to say?
=====

Chiba makes many things more clear in this passage, he is demystifying the mysteries. We learn where stances and techniques come from and when they should be used.

First, we are reminded that swordsmanship is originally formless. The creating of technique comes from a place of no techniques, shape comes from no shape like water, originally formless, assumes form when poured into a vessel. This is not such an obvious statement as it might seem. We teach from techniques, from shapes, and it's hard to get beyond that stage. I have read endless discussions on the 'net about the difference between one line of practice and another and it never seems to get beyond "those guys finish their cut at horizontal and we finish ours a little below horizontal". The sort of thing that one would be teaching a beginner becomes blown up into a justification for two lines of practice. When one has only a hammer... when ones knowledge extends to where the sword stops during a cut, everything seems to come down to cut-finish-height.

Form comes from formlessness. Technique gets made up, it isn't received from another plane of existance. There is no ultimate reality where techniques exist as ideal forms which we then try to approach. It may seem to be this way, when we begin to write we may copy the kanji until we learn to recognize them (to read), we may practice various kata containing various techniques until we learn swordsmanship, but ultimately it would be nice if we could write, if we could create something from nothing on our own.

When you read Chiba's list of stances above did you see it as a list of stances or did you start to wonder what kasumi stance or yin-yang stance was? The point is that these are just names for shapes, it isn't important that you know them. It's important that you know they all come from one place, from no-stance, and no, I don't want to know what mugamae looks like in your school. Think about that, you can show me what mugamae looks like. Of course you can tack a name onto anything, any shape, you can call a shape no-shape if you wish, but it might be more useful to look for a deeper meaning to a name like that.

Chiba now jumps from solo fights to the battlefield in a way that is similar to Musashi's discussion in the Go Rin no Sho. Obviously a student of the sword arts was expected to expand his understanding beyond the duel to the war. Again, the limited understanding of the beginner is often seen on the 'net, as some will claim that "this school still teaches the strategies of warfare while that one has been reduced to teaching only swordsmanship". Perhaps, yet this author gives a rather impressive list of battle formations despite being a member of a sword school which I have never heard associated with battle strategy and writing in the middle of a long age of peace. What's that you say? He might have studied beyond his school? I bet he did, yet he uses battle formations as an example while discussing his sword school. Knowing lots of battle formations is not all that useful in and of itself. You need to know which to apply to what formation your opponent uses, and then you have to know how to change your formations in relationship to what your opponent is doing... actually if you can do it before he changes his formation that's even better. Nip it in the bud.

Making formations on the parade ground or when you're leading a marching band might be entertaining, but making formations on the battlefield which are not in response to what your enemy is doing, is to misunderstand strategy altogether.

"Therefore, always assume a form in response to the opponent, and not by yourself." I am so tempted... no I will comment here on iaido. I hold a high rank in that art but I am forced to reappraise it as a martial art while reading this passage. Is iai simply making a buddha without putting a soul into it, is it just form without function? This is worth more space than what we will give ourselves here, I encourage some reflection by my iaido students.

The text moves on to compare techniques in sword to the standard opening moves in shogi. We have the received tradition, what we were taught by our instructors, but sword techniques are no more and no less useful than standard openings in a board game. Ultimately we are looking for the principles behind the techniques, the formless knowledge that exists beyond the opening moves.

Moving your pieces, setting up your troops, depends on what the enemy is doing. Attacking or feigning depends on you. The outcome depends on who has the stomach for the fight.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

17 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

=====
15.3. Proper timing in a match

When both opponents face each other in a match, endless variations of movements may arise. Once the state of anticipation in the middle of an attack and attack in the middle of anticipation is actualized, [the practitioner] arrives at the unity of attack and anticipation. Maturing in technical skill, [the practitioner] arrives at the principle. Mastering the principle, he arrives at the [perfection of] technique. The unity of technique and principle is thus embodied. In this manner, when one’s belly is settled, his hits leave no trace, his actions make no shapes. As the saying goes, it is like striding on top of the nine heavens and strolling below the nine grounds. Beyond the border of no-recollection and no-thought, no sound issues, and no odor comes forth. Ghosts and spirits would not visit this place.

As a matter of comparison, the mind is likened to a mirror in that it reflects objects. This is called the mind-mirror. If you face a mirror and try to attack, the attack cannot pass undetected. But if your mind projects itself, it can hardly be called a real mind-mirror.

There is an old poem that Hanshan once addressed to Shide:

That you are holding that broom
while there is no dust to sweep
is in itself mind’s dust,
is it not?

The following poem is Shide’s response:
This broom
is for sweeping the kind of dust
called “no dust to sweep.”

This interesting dialogue indicates the stage when the level of no-recollection is not yet reached. When there is a thing called “mirror,” it means there is still a concept of “a mirror.” To get rid of the mirror that reflects, and to be able to reflect is the highest mastery of the mind. As an old poem has it:

The Pond of Sarusawa –
the moon thinks not
of casting its reflection
upon the water
that thinks not of reflecting.

While such an account is surely that of someone who has achieved an exalted level, let me also provide an account of proper timing for striking down an opponent, in a manner suited for a general audience. To wit, when the following opportunities present themselves in a match, one should definitely strike:

1. One should avoid the opponent’s committed moves, but strike at feigned
2. Next one should strike the opponent using the discernment of the eye, and ones. not the mind.
3. Strike when the opponent is indecisive.
4. Strike when the opponent freezes.
5. Strike when the opponent shouts in preparation for an attack instead of waiting for him to do his technique.
6. Strike instantaneously.

Also, there is a method of the Eight Conditions for a match:
1. You must act when the opponent is in the midst of preparation.
2. In a match, you must act according to the position of the opponent.
3. You must act when you discern your opponent’s habits.
4. When the sword tips come into contact, you should pressure the opponent’s attacking impulses with your mental power. 218
5. You must put yourself in a striking position such that your opponent will consider it too far for a strike, [6] while it will be close enough for you.
7. When the opponent is strong on the defense, you must use feigned and committed attacks.
8. Regardless of how strong the opponent’s hand is, dissipate the force and attack.

In terms of military strategy, when you must attain victory over an opponent who is twice or three times stronger then you, it is a matter of great importance to retreat from the place of direct confrontation while striking at the opponent’s weak spots in counterattack. In military strategy, too, there is no such thing as cutting down the opponent in a dramatic theatrical manner. You must think deeply over such matters as when to pursue and scatter the opponent, as well as when to retreat and counterattack: know these well.
=====

Timing. You have to unify attack and anticipation so that they aren't two separate things. You must master the technique to understand the principle and master the principle to arrive at the technique. When you unify it all you are in the place where ghosts won't go, you're in the void. We've heard this before, as we have heard of the mind-mirror that is not clouded but reflects so purely that no attack can be missed. If there is dust on the mirror it doesn't reflect truely. A mirror also reflects without thinking about it, like the pond and the moon.

That reminder given with appropriate zen poems to the superior swordsman, we ordinary folks are now told the opportunities to strike in a match. You can read those for yourself. The first two seem somewhat strange to me at first glance. Striking at feints seems a good way to fall into the trap, but if we know it's a feint we can strike at a different place than the one desired. Avoiding the committed move is also efficient, the alternative is to block it which takes more energy than avoiding it.

The second point is to strike using the discernment of the eye and not the mind. Again, it seems counter-intuitive, surely we want to use our mind and not our eye? No, your eye is the mirror, your mind-mirror is the strike that happens when you see-strike without putting the analysing mind in between the two. The rest seem clear, if not obvious.

The eight conditions for a match are next and they seem fairly clear as well. Number seven means, I suspect, you should mix up your attacks between feigned and committed. Shooklyn suggests that against a strong defence one should feign and then strike the exposed target as the opponent reacts to the feint. Going back, we see that he on the other hand should be striking us at an exposed point as we feign toward him. We can see how fast we get into the situation where neither can win if both are skilled.

It seems to me that this advice ought to be as applicable to kendo players today as it was in 1769. Read the points just before your next practice and see what you can do with them.

The final passage bears special attention. First, we are told that on the battlefield we do not confront superior strength directly, but retreat and counterattack to the weaknesses that are exposed. Good advice, the counterpoint would be to strike strongly and quickly before the opponent can retreat if one is superior in strength.

Next we are reminded that there is no dramatic, theatrical victory to be had. Too much style is a bad thing, just get the job done. Remember what Musashi said about flowers that have no fruits.

Be the big coconut that falls on the head, not the flower petals.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

18 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

=====
15.4. On the unity of mind, vital force, and power

The expanse of Heaven and Earth never extends beyond the Principle and vital force. The cyclic progression of the four seasons never stops –it is caused by the configurations of vital force, which in turn depend on Principle.

Man is born between Heaven and Earth receiving both the Principle and vital force. His heart-mind is the luminous essence of vital force. Therefore the heart-mind is in union with the perfect forces of Heaven and Earth; it thus abides in utmost sincerity and ultimate beauty. As in this old poem, the fragrance of cherry blossoms comes from the heart:

Cherries of Yoshino –
year after year
they blossom.
Split the trunk and see
where the flowers’ fragrance is.

Vital force fills the body. With regard to the heart-mind –as in the case of soldiers who follow their general’s command and move swiftly –when General Heart-Mind is tough, Soldier Body, full of force, will follow his general’s order and move at once. To describe once again the working of the heart-mind by way of an analogy to chess, tapping on the edge of the board humming a popular tune is indicative of the state of vital force, in other words, of an unsettled mind. Although it is quite normal that this so-called “vital force” should be so agile, we must understand that the heart-mind moves depending on vital force.

That which is called “power” arises where vital force gathers. When vital force is deficient, the body is weak; when the vital force is abundant, the body is strong. When the vital force of breathing is abundant below the navel, the whole body, down to a single hair, will not be short of strength. Therefore, you should know that strength is in the body, while courage is in the heart-mind.

Through continual practice of swordsmanship for several years, strength and courage will extend to the tip of the bamboo sword. This is called the “power that issues from technique.”

When the heart-mind, vital force, and power are separated, the efficiency of techniques of swordsmanship cannot be demonstrated. It is as with gunpowder: if sulfur, saltpeter, and ashes are separated, its power will weaken; but if the three ingredients are mixed, its power is so effective –it is akin to making Heaven and Earth tremble.

“No space to fit a hair;” “flint-and-sparks momentum;” “strike the opponent before he makes a move;” and “the cat catches a mouse” –all these are expressions of the unity of heart-mind, vital force, and power.
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Principle and vital force, 理気 is Ri Ki. Shooklyn notes that this would be understood in that time as a Neo-Confucian concept of principle (emptiness) and vital force (phenomena and the energy that binds them) which echoes the Buddhist emptiness and manifiestation. Today we would probably say it's the unity of theory and spirit but we must always understand the definition as the author understood it when reading anything.

Nothing extends beyond emptiness and phenomena. That's acceptable, there's not-stuff and stuff. That's not going to be argued by anyone, but of course that's not the problem for philosophers is it? The problem is stating that stuff comes from not-stuff. That the seasons depend on the movements of vital force which depends on the principle. For swordsmen, I don't think we need worry deeply about this, we can take it as a metaphore meaning that what we do is best derived as if out of nowhere, rather than at the end of a long and time-consuming string of reasoning. It's a very practical matter of prolonging life during a swordfight.

Man is between heaven and earth and we have both ri and ki. Our heart-mind is in harmony with these and so we abide in utmost sincerity and ultimate beauty. I very much wish we understood this, unfortunately we are also greedy, grouchy and prone to ambition, all of which destroy our understanding of just how much in harmony with the universe we are. This is why we lament the passing of childhood. It's also what we need to re-capture to become better swordsmen.

Chiba uses a lovely poem to illustrate our need to understand this unity. I love this poem, I can imagine someone splitting open a cherry tree and looking for the scent of the blossoms. We do this all the time. my own reaction to the poem is to think "you're looking where the scent isn't" after all the trunk doesn't smell of blossoms, blossoms do. Of course the poet is speaking of finding the source of the smell, not the smell itself, and so we break the tree open to look. We could dig up the roots, we could grind the flowers and extract the molecules and put them through a mass spectrometer and... wait, we just found the fragrance, and we can identify how it is created too.

The poet wasn't thinking literally I suspect, if I remember right, Japan had a pretty good perfume / cosmetic / chemical industry quite early on. The point is that it's the whole that is important. It takes the entire tree to make the fragrance. We can extract it, we can likely synthesize it, but that's not the point. To look in the trunk for the fragrance is to destroy the fragrance. Break down the techniques, examine the variables too closely and you risk going too far down the chain and losing your fight. Leave the tree alone and enjoy the fragrance, leave your heart-mind unified with the principle and the vital force and enjoy... everything. Split your attention and you split the trunk of your cherry tree. Pay attention, concentrate.

Power comes from the vital force, and now we're talking about that which makes the body strong, part of which is breathing from the hara and not the chest. Strength is in the body, courage in the heart-mind. I really like this, we would say "strong mind and body", but Chiba goes on to say that power issues from technique. And where does technique come from? The principle (void). And how does the principle act? Through the vital force (ki) which acts through the heart-mind to create courage which can use the body's strength which thus creates this power.

Break any link in that chain and power decreases or disappears. You can be the strongest dude around, or have the most spectacular technique, or the deepest understanding of the philosophy, but it requires all of that together, working as an entire tree to produce the fragrance of a cherry blossom.

Dude, it's spring, go smell the Sakura, and while you're at it, have a sniff at the trunk to see what we're talking about.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

19 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

=====
15.5. Technique –Principle: Questions and Answers.

Question: There are technique and principle in swordsmanship. What is technique?

Answer: In kendo there are four roots [of technique]: size, strength, speed, and weight. However, there are four types of disadvantages associated with these four: big is slow; strong is stiff; fast is small, and light is weak. The one who does not have these disadvantages can be called “truly big, strong, fast, and light.” The technique that does not lose its direct impact is called “correct.”

Question: What is principle?

Answer: It is that which governs technique and is thus the hidden side of technique. It is called “mysterious.” Victory is attained by combining the correct and the mysterious. The correct becomes mysterious, the mysterious correct. This is called “the union of technique and principle.”

Question: What are victory and defeat?

Answer: Victory and defeat depend on the following three factors: distance, position, and vital force.

Question: What do these three mean?

Answer: When my opponent advances I retreat. This is called “distance.” When he positions himself at a certain place, I do likewise. This is called “position.” He has vital force and so do I. The two interact. This is called “vital force.”
=====

We come to the final section which is a series of questions and answers. It's fun that after the pains the author took to explain the value of leaving thoughts of winning and losing behind, that these questions deal mostly with winning and losing. We'll split the section up a bit as it's fairly long.

The first question is about technique and the author mentions that technique comes from four roots. Size, strength, speed and weight. Today we often say Dai Kyo Soku Kei meaning big, strong, fast and smooth. That last is interesting as Chiba uses weight rather than smoothness. Kei can mean light or flexible so without having the original kanji to look at I suspect this is the phrase we're discussing.

The four terms are usually given as the order in which you should learn. First big, then strong, then fast and finally smooth. Heaven forbid that you skip one.

It does happen that we teach beginners big movements, then they get strong. Once they give up a bit of strength they start to get faster and eventually, with enough practice they tend to smooth out. It's more of a natural progression than a curriculum and we usually keep the teaching mantra to "big". We're happy if shodan level iaidoka can go through the movements with some size. Nidans tend to have cuts strong enough to split logs, sandan and yondan get fast and finally, at about godan or rokudan we're starting to see some smoothness. At rokudan we're still trying to get them to ease up on the grip, although the rest of the body is lovely and light.

I'm more interested in the interplay of these things, and especially in Chiba's use of weight rather than smoothness. Each of these four roots have a weakness inherent in them. Big is slow, strong is stiff, fast is small and light is weak. Good technique means having none of these weaknesses. How do we do that? Tenouchi and shibori, the grip. Ease up on the stone hands and squeeze as you hit. Oh? You know that already? Of course you do, but if you're having trouble with it think of Kei as weight rather than smoothness and see if that helps. It surely helped me.

That's technique. Interesting that we haven't had any specific physical movements described isn't it? Perhaps the author is trying to protect the secrets of the school? I doubt it. These are the secrets, the actual movements in a technique are, or should be, left behind long before you're reading something like this text.

We move on to principle, the other side of technique, and by now we know that it's the void, the space from which techniques arise. Here it's called the mysterious and victory is attained by combining the mysterious with the manifestation, the technique. "Who knows where that technique came from but it worked!"

Next we get into the nitty gritty, victory and defeat. We still don't have any physical movements described but Chiba gives us three factors to consider, distance, position and vital force.

Distance means to advance when your opponent retreats. Be in range, preferably when he is out of range. When he stops and takes a stand so do we take our position. Preferably where he is out of position. Then we interact through our vital forces, our ki, our spirit as we swing at each other and victory and defeat appear.

Simple yes? Walk up and hit him.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

20 - Moral Instruction in Budo

(Itto-ryu Kenjutsu Jiri Kuden Kannen Sho, 1769)

=====
15.5. Technique –Principle: Questions and Answers (2)

Question: What is the decisive point in a match?

Answer: When vital force and form come forth together, it is called “the decisive point in a match.”

Question: When this happens, does it lead to a certain victory?

Answer: That which cannot be won is inside one’s self. That which can be won rests with the opponent. One has to mature [in this art] and reach the “wondrous.” When one matures, his heart-mind fully forgets his hand; his hand fully forgets the sword and spear; he does not leave the divine sphere.

Such state is the state of ease in which there is no limit to magical transformations. One maneuvers in accordance with one’s opponent’s movements and attains victory.

Question: What is the meaning of gains and losses with respect to technical form?

Answer: There are a few swordsmen nowadays who tend to assume oblique stances. This is called “linking form.” Linking form allows one to act according to circumstances: when there is contact, one rolls with it; when there is none, one stays away from the opponent. This is called “to follow what comes about.” When one follows this method and becomes proficient in this way, one makes [conscious] maneuvers. In so doing, there are gains and losses with respect to technical form.

When one learns the proper way, his maneuvers will be proper. In training one comes full circle: having gone all the way to the end, one returns to the beginning; having come to the beginning, one reaches the end. There are neither beginnings nor ends for me. The same is true of others –there are no limits to mastery. One is both divine and not. This is called “maturing in studies.”

Question: What is certain victory according to the transmission?

Answer: Certain victory is to be fully accomplished within human affairs. Which is to say, he who studies without reflection remains in darkness; he who reflects without study does not understand the truth. He who studies and reflects well can earn his bread and clothes. If one is active in studies and thorough in reflection, how can one not gain knowledge, how can one not become victorious?

Question: What is the difference between high skill and poor skill?

Answer: The sole difference is whether you can seize the crucial moment in distance and timing or not. Distance and timing are the great opportunities in a contest. When distance and timing are not properly used, even if one has done quite a bit of practical training, one is after all not yet ready to step onto the contest ground. The point of difference between high skill and poor skill is truly a matter of a hair’s breadth.
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This is the final part of the text, and we continue with questions on how to win a match. The decisive point is given as "When vital force and form come forth together". This is somewhat different than Musashi's critical point where one is on the verge of hitting or being hit. Chiba refers more to the point where we reach the unity of swordsmanship.

The next question asks if this brings certain victory and Chiba reminds us "That which cannot be won is inside one’s self. That which can be won rests with the opponent" This goes back to his first article where he tells us that the losing point is in oneself and the no-winning point is in the opponent. We are to lose our ego, our desire to win. If there is a desire to win, we cannot win. Whether or not we score a point on the opponent depends largely on him. If he hits us first we will not win. Winning and losing are 'in the air'. If we lose our ego (stay in the divine sphere) and unite the heart-mind, the technique and the sword, we will fight in accord with what the opponent is doing and this will lead to victory (incidentally, whether we win or lose the match).

The questioner still wants to pin something down and asks about gain and loss with respect to technique. Chiba refuses to be drawn in. He tells us of those who use oblique stances (think of an Aikido stance, half-facing forward). This is not the usual kendo position and it allows one to roll away when struck and to keep the body out of reach by, perhaps, using a longer shinai with a longer hilt. The angled body position would allow this longer blade. Using these things one can link one's form to the opponent's form in a mechanical way, and so in a mechanical way one can have gain and loss in technical matters. In other words, if you want to restrict yourself to technical gain and loss, you put yourself into the realm of technique which, as we have been told repeatedly, is limited. No matter what stance you take, if you 'take a stance' you are restricting yourself to that stance. This may seem good for politicians but we are swordsmen and it is dangerous to be drawn into a fight of stance against stance. Instead, learn the proper way so that your movements will be proper. Have no stance, do not try to force the world into your stance in the hope that it is a good one, that way lies the war of rock-paper-scissors.

Chiba says your training will come full circle, at the end you circle back to the beginning and so there is no limit to mastery. We are all familiar with the concept, your white belt gets grimy until it is black and then threadbare to become white again. A beginner has no technique and so strikes 'from nowhere' as does the master.

When Chiba says there are no limits to mastery he means that we come back to the beginning, but not on a flat circle. Open it up to a spiral, when we get back to the beginning we are above the beginning, and each time we circle around we get higher. If you think there is something to learn you will only learn a little. If you think there is learning there is nowhere to stop. It's a process rather than a goal. "One is both divine and not. This is called “maturing in studies.”" When you come back to the beginning you have skills and you do not, you have something and you have nothing, but go around again and you will have more and even less. The 90 year old master says 'I think I am getting the hang of my grip'.

Our questioner then tries another tack and asks about victory according to the transmission. He is told to study and reflect. Study alone brings technical skill alone, without understanding, you swing your sword in the darkness. Reflection alone will not reveal the truth, you are a 'light under a bushel basket', there is nothing to be illuminated. If you study and reflect how can you not learn a truth and this is certain victory according to the transmission. It is ignorance that lies bleeding on the dojo floor.

In the final question our hapless student gives up on trying to learn the secret of winning and asks about good and poor skill. The difference, he is told, is in seeing the critical moment in distance and timing. "The point of difference between high skill and poor skill is truly a matter of a hair’s breadth." Substitute 'literally' for 'truly' and you have our modern version of this statement. It really is a hairs breadth, the thickness of a hair, the time it takes for the sword to move the thickness of a hair.

At Ganryujima
Musashi's headband
floats to the sand

To those who have come along with me as I read through this manuscript, I hope you will go back over the text itself without my thoughts in your head. Circle around to the beginning and see what it will teach you this time.

From: Moral Instruction in Budo
A study of Chiba Chosaku with a translation of his major work.

MA thesis, McGill University, Samuel Shooklyn, 2009.

Look first

Tameshigiri as cultural object

The Lost Kata Mines of Canada

Seitei, Gateway, just let me in

The Danger of Seitei

Purity of Line

Learning by teaching

The Lineage Lens

There's always grading (Grading III)

Greed for Grading II

Greed for Grading

The Value of Things

Competition in budo

Just Start

You get out what you put in

Not Starbucks

What you need

How to make a million in budo

Technique, History or "I like it".

The Sword of Sci-fi

A Plea for Clarity

Kasso Teki and Real Teki

The End of Learning

Speaking of Timing

Zanshin is killing me

Why we Kata

Back to gradings

Keep Calm and Kata On

Responsibility or Insecurity

Furi Kaburi

Distance Education - 3

Distance Education - 2

Distance learning

So Much Sun

Seitei vs Koryu

Musashi then and now

Should I start a club?

Kasso Teki

The Things you Learn

Respect the man

Boys Don't Smell

Mathematics

Retail Therapy

All UR NMES IS CHZBGR