Imagine you're trying to get some high school students inspired by the study of Japanese culture and budo... sure, for probably everyone here that interest is in-built, but just imagine. At the same time you want to try and impart some of the more socially useful and ethical ideas budo has articulated: these kids need some framework to hang the good stuff on. Respect, perseverance, seeing past the surface: all these things are almost there in these kids but they just need a bit of inspiration, a bit of a spark to trigger their own inquiry.
How many inspirational maxims* (or just interesting single characters) can you think of that come from your study of budo? As a kendoka, I know a lot get printed on tenugui. I can think of:
isshou ken mei
ken shin mei dou (sword heart bright way)
bu toku
mu shin (and all the variations)
dai dou mu mon (great way with no beginning)
kokoro
kou ken chi ai
jin gi rei chi shin
There'd be more but early-onset Alzheimers has stolen the rest of...
If you can type the kanji, even better!
b
PS - can anyone remember how to write the Japanese version of "get over yourself"? Literally I think it is "overcome yourself".