Heihō kadensho

Also known as 'The Life Giving Sword'.

This is a translation of an important classic on Zen swordfighting. Yagyu Munenori was so widely renowned that he was appointed official sword instructor to two Tokugawa shoguns. (The position was always coveted by Miyamoto Musashi, but he never succeeded in gaining the post). Yagyu's style is known as the Shinkage-ryu style, for centuries the official style of the Tokugawa dynasty. His spiritual mentor was Zen priest Takuan. (And is therefore especially interesting to read in relation to The Unfettered Mind) Here, Yagyu's Buddhist spirituality is clearly reflected in his central idea of the "life-giving sword" - the notion of controlling an opponent by the spiritual readiness to fight, rather than during the fight. His mastery of restraint and diplomacy made him a trusted political and military advisor to the shoguns. This book is a look into a master swordsman's thoughts on nonattachment and even non-violence.

"You attain the victory by having your opponent make the first move."

> Lees het boek online (in het Engels, 145p.)

Messenger

Mary Oliver is arguably one of the greatest contemporary American poets. Her work, which spans more than four decades, is filled with a quiet wonder about nature and our place in it. This poem below is both joyful and pensive, quiet and exuberant at the same time. A bit like when in Aikido we flow with our partner, so I thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy!

Messenger (by Mary Oliver)

My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.

Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,

which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.

More about Oliver can be found at the Poetry Foundation. Some more of her poems are
- here
- and here

The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts

Woven deeply into the martial traditions and folklore of Japan, the fearsome Tengu dwell in the country's mountain forest. Mythical half-man, half-bird creatures with long noses, Tengu have always inspired dread and awe, inhabiting a liminal world between the human and the demonic, and guarding the most hidden secrets of swordsmanship. In The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts, a translation of the 18th-century samurai classic by Issai Chozanshi, an anonymous swordsman journeys to the heart of Mt. Kurama, the traditional domain of these formidable beings. There he encounters a host of demon; through a series of discussions and often playful discourse, they reveal to him the very deepest principles of the martial arts, and show how the secrets of sword fighting impart the truths of life itself.
The Demon's Sermon opens with The discourses, a collection of whimsical fables concerned with the theme of transformation--for Chozanshi a core phenomenon to the martial artist. Though ostensibly light and fanciful, these stories offer the attentive reader ideas that subvert perceived notions of conflict and the individual's relationship to the outside world. In the main body of work, The Sermon, Chozanshi demonstrates how transformation is fostered and nurtured through ch'i -- the vital and fundamental energy that flows through all things, animate and inanimate, and the very bedrock of Chozanshi's themes and the martial arts themselves. This he does using the voice of the Tengu, as the reader is invited to eavesdrop with the swordsman on the demon's revelations of the deepest truths concerning ch'i, the principles of yin and yang, and how these forces shape our existence. In The Dispatch, the themes are brought to an elegant conclusion using the parable of an old and toothless cat who, like the demon, has mastered the art of acting by relying on nothing, and in so doing can defeat even the wiliest and most vicious of rats despite his advanced years.
Chozanshi's deep understanding of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Shinto, as well as his insight into the central role of ch'i in the universe, are all given thoughtful treatment in Wilson's introduction and extensive endnotes. A provocative book for the general reader, The Demon's Sermon will also prove an invaluable addition to the libraries of all those interested in the fundamental principles of the martial arts, and how those principles relate to our existence.

It has been said that even Morihei Ueshiba was trained by a Tengu in the mountains of Mt. Hongu.
(Read more)

ISSAI CHOZANSHI (1659-1741) was the pen name of Niwa Jurozaemonn Tadaaki, a samurai of the Sekiyado clan. Among his works, The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts (1729) and The Swordsman and the Cat (1727) are his most famous.

> Read part 3 'The Swordsman and the Cat' online (shortened version in English, 4p.)
> Read Book @ Google books

Non-Violent Communication

In Aikido we sometimes say: ”Move yourself, don’t move the other.” When we move the other - when we do a technique onto someone – we treat them as an object, which means there can be no Ai. If we move ourselves and connect to the other, the other becomes an extension of ourselves. Then, when we move, the other moves in harmony with us.

A similar principle is the cornerstone of Non-Violent Communication, a process of personal communication pioneered by Marshall Rosenberg. NVC focuses on two things: honest self-expression (exposing what matters to oneself in a way that's likely to inspire compassion in others) and empathy (listening with deep compassion).

Let me explain using an example. Imagine at home someone is playing their music really loud. This is upsetting you. At some point, you may confront this person with annoyance in your voice. “Come on man, you are being really loud, don’t be so annoying.”

This way of communicating tends to be counterproductive. The other cannot but feel attacked, which usually generates verbal or physical aggression, which in turn undermines the relationship. “Mind your own business, you always play your stupid music loudly and you shout on the phone.” Forget about Ai in that house….

NVC has an alternative approach that encompasses four steps: observation, feelings, needs and requests. This may look like this. “I am noticing really loud music. This is making me feel uncomfortable. I am studying and I feel the need for some quiet. I would like to ask you to turn down the volume a bit.”

This approach is fundamentally different and will get you a completely different outcome. After all, the other is not being judged and it's hard to argue with someone's feelings and needs. True, the other may decline your request, but the communication process itself will not get in a way of being heard by and listening to someone else.

Try it on for size, it’s good fun and actually quite simple to use. The easiest thing to do is to start each sentence with ‘I’ instead of ‘you’.

So in the dojo don’t say “You are being rough, relax.” but say “I am not comfortable at this pace, could you please slow down.” Or say “I would like us to be more connected while moving” instead of “you are being a bad uke.” Moving from blaming/judging to identifying needs/facts will get you empathy rather than a counterattack.

There is a lot more to NVC than this, so if you are curious have a look at http://www.cnvc.org.

Angry White Pyjamas

"Angry White Pyjamas, An oxford poet trains with the Tokyo riot police"
by Robert Twigger (source: Wikipedia)

Angry White Pyjamas is a book written by Robert Twigger about his time in a one-year intensive program of studying Yoshinkan aikido.

The book is set in Tokyo in the mid-1990s. Twigger is living with two friends in a tiny apartment near central Tokyo. They all decide to enrol at the Yoshinkan Hombu Dojo in order to get fit and break out of their sedentary life-style.
Soon after beginning regular training, Twigger decides that the only way you can truly experience aikido is to do the Yoshinkan Senshusei course, a gruelling 11-month program to train up instructors of Yoshinkan aikido. The course consists of four hours of training, five days a week, in addition to dojo-cleaning duties, special training weekends and demonstrations.
Twigger spends the majority of his time describing the rigor and sometimes agony of the very intensive course. He refers to doing kneeling techniques, or suwari-waza, until his knees bled, only to practice the next day and in so doing tear open the scabs. He describes techniques being performed with such vigor and intensity that smashing one's head into the mat was a frequent occurrence.
Other experiences on the course include "hajime" sessions where one technique is performed repeatedly, without a break, sometimes for up to half-an-hour or more. During these sessions, trainees sometimes pass out or vomit, especially in the summer months. Instructors sometimes dish out punishments to trainees if they feel they are not pushing themselves enough, including rounds of push-ups, sit-ups and bunny hops.
Other people featured in the book include several top Yoshinkan instructors, including Chida, Shioda and Chino senseis, as well as Robert Mustard sensei, the chief foreign instructor and David Rubens Sensei from England. Teachers are sometimes portrayed as being quite cold and occasionally brutal and unsympathetic to the students, whom they are trying to push to greater and greater efforts in order to build their technique and "spirit".
In addition, Twigger describes other aspects of Tokyo and his life there, including his relationship with his girlfriend and her family, his work at a Japanese high-school as an English teacher, and stories of living with his two flatmates. He also gives thoughts and observations about Japan and the Japanese culture.

Keep the channel open

There is a vitality
From Martha Graham to Agnes de Mille

“There is a vitality, a life-force, a quickening that is translated through you into action. And because there is only one of you in all time this expression is unique.

If you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost.
The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is
nor how valuable it is:
nor how it compares with other expressions.

It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”
[source]

The Unfettered Mind

"THE UNFETTERED MIND: Writings of the Zen Master to the Sword Master"
by Takuan Soho. Translated by William Scott Wilson

In een leven op dood situatie van zwaardpunt aan zwaardpunt met de vijand, waar moet de zwaardvechter zijn gedachten leggen? Dit is de eerste vraag, in de eerste van drie essays (alle drie in dit boek) geschreven door de zenmeester Takuan Soho voor de begeleiding van samurai zwaardvechters. Onder de andere vraagstukken die zich voordoen zijn het verschil tussen de juiste geest en de verwarde geest, wat maakt het leven kostbaar, de boeddhistische paradigma van vorm en bewustzijn, en wat onderscheidt de ware geest. Dusdanig bondig zijn de inzichten in deze geschriften, dat deze de ontbinding van de samurai-klasse overleefde en in het heden als inspiratie dient voor velen in het bedrijfsleven en de industrie, evenals voor hen die zich hebben gewijd aan de (moderne) krijgskunsten. De geschiedenis van het zwaard in Japan gaat terug tot de oudheid. Zen en de meditatieve praktijken hebben ook een lange geschiedenis, maar het was niet tot de heerschappij van de Tokugawa shoguns, beginnend in de vroege jaren 1600, dat de technieken van het zwaard versmolten met de geest van Zen. En als van iemand kan worden gezegd dat zij de drijvende kracht achter dit fenomeen zijn geweest, dan was dat niemand minder dan Takuan Soho, vertrouweling en religieuze instructeur van een keizer, een groot zwaard meester, en de hoofden van de belangrijkste zwaardscholen van die tijd. Takuan's meditaties over het zwaard, zoals deze hier in deze essays gepresenteerd worden, zijn klassiekers van Zen denken.

Het is gezegd dat Takuan vele personen heeft bevriend en geadviseerd, uit alle lagen van de bevolking.
Onder hen:

• Miyamoto Musashi (kenjutsu meester)
• Matsudaira Dewa no Kami (Daimyo)
• Ishida Mitsunari (Daimyo)
• Kuroda Nagamasa (Christelijke Daimyo)
• Yagyū Munenori (Daimyo en kenjutsu  meester, hoofd van de Yagyū Shinkage-ryū stijl zwaardschool)
• Go-Mizunoo (afgetreden Japanse Keizer)
• Tokugawa Iemitsu (Shogun)
• Itō Ittōsai (zwaardvechter)

> Lees het boek online (in het Engels, 48p.)