sword motto

[ulvulv]

If you were to choose a motto for your sword-practise, that carries some core idea/qualities about the way you train and/or teach swordsmanship, how would you sum it up, in a short, sweet and to the point sentence. Or two?

[Charlie Kondek]

Gosh there are several good ones.

Last year, I wrote down the budo charter and kept it in my nafuda (it begins: "the purpose of budo is..."). I took it out and looked at it from time to time, and tried to meditate on its principals.

I think this year I am going to swap it for something I read in Hagakure and make it my practice to every year put some new maxim or written piece in my nafuda as my focus for the year.

Another good one would be from Go Rin No Sho (Harris trans.): "It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way."

Anyway, the Hagakure bit I am going to put in my nafuda for this year says:

A certain swordsman in his declining years said the following:

In one's life. there are levels in the pursuit of study. In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless. In the middle level he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others. In a higher level he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth. In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.

These are the levels in general;. But there is one transcending level, and this is the most excellent of all. This person is aware of the endlessness of entering deeply into a certain Way arid never thinks of himself as having finished. He truly knows his own insufficiencies and never in his whole life thinks that he has succeeded. He has no thoughts of pride but with self-abasement knows the Way to the end. It is said that Master Yagyu once remarked, "I do not know the way to defeat others, but the way to defeat myself. ''
Throughout your life advance daily, becoming more skillful than yesterday, more skillful than today. This is never-ending.

However, even that does not sum up my attitude toward swordsmanship. My complete attitude toward swordsmanship is...

(cont.)

[Charlie Kondek]

This says everything I personally might hope to say about swordsmanship.

The Lost Master
by Robert Service

"And when I come to die," he said,
"Ye shall not lay me out in state,
Nor leave your laurels at my head,
Nor cause your men of speech orate;
No monument your gift shall be,
No column in the Hall of Fame;
But just this line ye grave for me:
`He played the game.'"

So when his glorious task was done,
It was not of his fame we thought;
It was not of his battles won,
But of the pride with which he fought;
But of his zest, his ringing laugh,
His trenchant scorn of praise or blame:
And so we graved his epitaph,
"He played the game."

And so we, too, in humbler ways
Went forth to fight the fight anew,
And heeding neither blame nor praise,
We held the course he set us true.
And we, too, find the fighting sweet;
And we, too, fight for fighting's sake;
And though we go down in defeat,
And though our stormy hearts may break,
We will not do our Master shame:
We'll play the game, please God,
We'll play the game.

[Doug Stryker]

I practice a gendai style, and we have three main principles that function much like mottos. They definitely embody many of the qualities we strive for and the way we train:

• "The sword cuts, not the man." (Rely on technique, not muscle power)
• "Close and cut." (Meaning to close the distance between you and your opponent. Our art is very aggressive and we are to always press forward.)
• "Always keep the ha and the kissaki between you and your opponent." (An imperative to always remain aware of your weapon as well as your opponent. And like the motto before it, to be aggressive at all times)

Personally, I've always liked the motto that you'll see in my signature. For me, it sums up our style's (and my) attitude, as it includes overtones of personal honor and duty as well as courage.

Regards,
Doug

[Charles Mahan]

It's in my sig :D

[ulvulv]

There is this saying from Master Eckhart, that perhaps some of you know. With some adjustment, I think it fits nicely on lot of "ways", not only the mystic/catholic tradition he lived in.

"When God is not with you,
act like you did when God was with you,
and he will surely return"

I think it can apply to the ups and downs that all feel that choose to sacrifice time, energy and money on pursuing the archaic and anachronistic arts that the Japanese weapon arts is. To overcome hesitation and doubt, and keep practising no matter how my "daily form" is, I find to be my greatest challenge. Wasnt there a japanese highly ranked kendoteacher who was asked: "
what is the hardest part of kendo, sensei?
"Getting in the car!" That sums it up.
During the year, I go from thinking "why isnt everybody pursuing the Japanese arts", to "why on earth is Anybody doing this silly thing"?


Carpe sword every diem;)

[socho]

"Kill them all, let God sort 'em out"

or,

- If you ever use this in combat, the ultimate would be to have your opponent, as he bleeds out on the ground in front of you, look up and say, "Man, that was beautiful!"

Dave
(in a slightly non-spiritual moment. Contents of this post are not necessarily endorsed by the poster or any organization he may be affiliated with.)

[Dan Harden]

TGIF
Tip Goes In First
..............Meik Skoss


Dan

[A. Bakken]

I like Muhammad Ali's motto:

Move like a butterfly, sting like a bee

Fits iai if you don't take it too literally... :D

[Wout]

well I don't have special sword motto, but there are certain things I look at in the same way: "If he can do it, it is possible and if it's possible I can learn to do it too (or die trying)"

[Matt Wolfson]

There are several and all are plagerized from somewhere else.

"The true value of sword fighting can not be seen within the confines of swordfighting technique." M. Mushashi

"Change the things in life that can be changed
Accept the things that can not be changed
Have the wisdom to know the difference between the two." Part of a religous prayer? Not sure but believe that it is.

"By nature men(people)are pretty much the same. It is learning and practice that sets them apart." Confucious
--Matt

[J.T. Hurley]

It comes from the Serenity prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

It's probably most famous for its usage in some Alcoholics Anonymous groups.



"Change the things in life that can be changed
Accept the things that can not be changed
Have the wisdom to know the difference between the two."

[chrismoses]

"The pointy end goes in the other guy." -Anonymous

[Chiburi]

"Pain is only weakness leaving [my] body" - Anonymous

Have I mentioned how bad my knees are? ;)

Cheers,

[nicojo]

This is a good thread.


Maybe I will have something in ten or so years...

[Andrei Arefiev]

I've always liked the iai phrase which I've heard attributed to Yamamoto Harusuke, although it seems to be quite wide-known:

Tsune-ni itte, kyu ni awasu.

Which translates to something like "Wherever you are, whatever you do, be prepared."

[Wout]

hehe after readin a bit on the site about Muso Shinden Iai http://iai.whaleeaters.org/iai010609.html that would definitly be a very good motto for iai. But I don't know anything about iaido, for kendo I think a good motto is "to battle!! there is no regret!"

btw cool movies on that site too, but then again iaido is kinda cool

[ScottUK]

"There is a time and a place for the use of weapons" - Musashi.

OK, maybe not! :)

[Mushin Ronin]

I thought the one for Kendo was "Ki Ken Tai Ichi" Spirt, Sword, Body as One.



J. WInter

[mech]

"Discharge the halfs you ve cut it, someone at some time could claim for it"

mech

[chrismoses]

Mech, as per forum rules, please sign all posts with you full and real name.

Also, Hungh? What on earth does that mean?

[Robert Cheshire]

"Cut First, Cut Hard, No Mercy, SIR!"