Martial Thoughts

My journey has been a long one, culminating in 15 years of constant training. Mentally I have developed slowly but I am confident my mature attitude is slowly rising to tackle what I deem necessary to transcend my status as a senior student into a mentor for other students to aspire to.

 I have not followed my path up the mountain in a fast line but have smelt the flowers along the way and wandered the forest floors so that I can bask on the light set forth by my master. I don’t see the rush to the top as a goal worth taking; I see the path winding slowly up as my chosen goal. Today I know that this holds true when living in a world full of hectic people I would rather walk rather than run.

 There is an ever increasing sense within me to improve further my techniques rather than just to do, however as of today I find this is making my work sometimes sluggish, as I have to assess what I do rather than move. However in saying that I do find that since I am forced to assess what needs to be done my temperament has benefited greatly. It’s a long journey but at least I am closer to where the path leads.

Sweeping the mats.

 This to me is an integral part of ones development; I don’t see it as a chore but take this opportunity to clear my mind of all the baggage that I carry through the door of the dojo and onto the mats. I picture in my head the same setting that I have before me of the mats having dust and junk cluttered on it. As I systematically sweep them away I think of all the superfluous junk in my mind as being swept away. Each stroke I attempt to breathe in and out by the number of counts of my sweeping.
 
Moving my feet purposefully backwards I envision what I will achieve as I see a clean mat in front of me I think of the saying empty your cup so that it can be filled with new knowledge. Breathing slowly and deeply I empty all the things that plague me in my work and try not tot think of anything except a void waiting to be filled.
 
There are also times where instead of emptying my mind of useless garbage I take it as an opportunity to stop myself from looking too far ahead of me and reinforce my focus on the task as if taking one step at a time.

Thoughts.

It is very hard to train while a practitioner is harbouring an injury, especially a recurring ailment, the best that a practitioner can do is to know their limits so that they do not aggravate it further. However they should not set in their minds that once a limit is put they cannot perform past it.
 
In today’s society there are a lot of able bodies that could rise to greatness that would equal to the olden times of history, however due to the bombardment of information presented to these people they are quickly distracted from ever attaining what they could have grasped in their heads.
 
I believe that it is not that they are lazy or looking for the easy was but it is because of the information they get will confuse them or rather give them  something else to do thereby forgetting what they had intended to do originally.
 
Preventing this from happening is something that needs to be instructed into young minds. The notion of self belief, much like the way fanatical institutions taught their children, in that they are only given limited amounts to study and re-enforced into their head, however there is a danger that the student will not be able to think outside the box and fail to be open minded.

“In all that is said and is written, there is nothing new that can be found, except in the interpretation of the message”
 
The flow of the hand manifests to the assailant a sense of calmness, keep in mind that you are calm even when the world around you is at a blur. Don’t rush it. Keep it as definite an action and wild as the assailants’ actions. Use your eyes to track your enemy at a constant target so that you can see your peripheral vision.
 
With practice you will find that your body will move without conscious thought to control your action, this is known as muscle memory. “Don’t tense up” a saying made famous by Bruce Lee, is as true today as it was when he said it. Your tracking of the opponent will also enable you to anticipate what they are going to do from the body balance and the flow of their action. It is important that if you are caught flat footed to go with your opponents attack, so that they are further committed to their attack towards you, drawing them to a point where you can use it to your advantage by seizing an opening that they offer to you. When you find yourself losing go with their force of attack and counter with such force at a particular point of weakness, affecting their advantage thereby blunting its full force on you.
 
To do this you would attack their organs, floating ribs, neck and other soft body targets and with such a force and deafening roar that it will disrupt the train of thought. Allowing you to give them pause in what they are doing. With so much to take in they will stunned momentarily, a split second and this should be enough for you to turn them in their mindset if you capitalise by following it up quickly with forceful attacks. With deadly intent giving your mental state of mind a destructive path.
 
This may seem like and overkill, but if you find yourself on the  receiving end you are very close to wanting to be mentally prepared to take the fight to a whole new level. This is meant to show you that though you mean to win, deep down you are conflicted of hurting  someone and this mindset is dangerous as it will make your actions lax and without deliberate force.

If you hone the feeling that you need to do something, don’t hesitate or you may miss your chance. Don’t have regrets – as Musashi once said.

Pressure

 The importance of affecting once assailant through pressure in behaviour or through direct manipulation of body parts and mental state cannot be neglected even if you are far superior in skill to your opponent. In the outset of anything one should already be in the state of mind that the opponent is disadvantaged either through terrain (Classic Art of War strategy) or their state of mind. Achieved by either appearing weak or overly strong so that they have the false sense of what you are capable of thereby already affecting them in an advantageous way.

Using direct manipulation of ones assailant by affecting their balance with force in certain part is at most covered within ones chosen martial doctrine, from affecting their pressure points or the direct manipulation of what my master describes as “Anatomical weaknesses”.

The feel of the Bokken

 Upon first handling a bokken, you initially have this feeling that the object you are holding is nothing more than a piece of wood that is shaped like a Katana/Japanese sword. To the uninitiated the feel of the bokken is nothing spectacular and will even find that they are twirling it like a baton or worse yet handle it like a Chinese sword. When I say Chinese sword, I mean that the bokken is slashed about and when on an exercise they strike at their opponents without any deliberate outcome, thereby having no actual benefit to them.
 
When one holds a bokken they must have the mental note to themselves that they are on the edge of life and death as they practice its use, with the realisation that a bokken is a symbolisation of a real sword that can either take life or preserve life. Only then can one truly benefit from its practice and learn that they will gradually be more deliberate in whatever they set out to do. From a simple piece of wood shaped like a sword, one may attain the basic understanding of life in a broader sense.
 
Neither feeling power nor strength the wielder finds the beginning of emptiness and fullness all in one moment, the calm taking over, one feels the weight of the bokken. As one lifts it up before striking, they feel heaven above give it the weight of a thousand thunderclaps as it sails downs towards the target, destroying anything in its way with deliberate intent, and thus preserving life.

It is not what is thought of
But what is acted upon
That defines the person.

As it hits the target, there is the initial resonance of something preventing its way, this is short lived however when the wielder has the weight of the bokken distributed evenly between the leading hand and the power hand, the right and left hands respectively. On a controlled impact all resistance will fail even if it is attempted to be deflected away from the intended target, the wielder will still be able to hit another target of opportunity opened up from the change of position of the bokken. A kamae that is gained from these situations are very advantageous, as the opponent will not expect a deflected blow to end up at a good position to strike back.
 
However on the outset that a controlled strike is deflected and the wielder is put in a disadvantageous position, due to unforseen reasons, as it is still a controlled strike there is a higher chance that the wielder can move away from any oncoming blow from the opponent and gain the upper hand.
 
A controlled strike can be achieved by having the sensibility in ones self on how they hold the bokken, the wielder is subject to sense the balance, weight and length of the bokken. These three factors play an important part in an even of a duel between another person or against themselves.
 
The pursuit of perfection,
There is no greater purpose than this,
All waking hours of ones life,
Devoted to the perfection of what one pursues,
Be it fishing, writing and just being.

In closing I now see a peak and the stroll has turned into a brisk walk, I will stumble and trip but real question is how fast I get back up to take those final steps forward. I look back and see others below me, always looking up at whats ahead of them. I take comfort in knowing that I can rest awhile and take in a deep breath to bask at the peak ahead of me. Nothing changes when I start again as I know with determination I will reach it.
 
Benefit of the doubt

There are things in life that you just have to take at face value. However this should not mean that you keep it at that especially when it will affect you personally. Some people will at times allow you to make your position fallible. Big word.

Let’s not detract from this work and in saying that I feel they should ensure their behaviour in future does not erode your honor, strong word but none the less taht is what it boils down to. Since the saying your word is your honor, from memory that is a big deal since not many people in the mediaeval times knew how to read and write therefore public declarations in verbal forms bound them. In today’s age people forget that since they take for granted everyone knows how to read and write.

A small thought but a powerful one.