A Lesson from Kendo

Dear You,

I'm in a hurry right now (when am I not, these days) but I felt that I had to tell you something before I forgot the moment, lost to the wilds of making it through the life of a professor.

I was just watching a documentary on Japan, and as you know, Japan has been important to me, and to you, for as long as I can remember. On the day I left for India, those famous words I said upon first waking up: "Oh, how I wish I were going to Japan instead." These days, Japan is our chance, mine and yours, to reclaim myself from this great sense of "Lost" that has overcome me over the last few years. The documentary has many sections on parts of Japan: sushi, trains, Ikibana, Zen, nightlife, Geisha, and Kendo. It is the Kendo section that taught me something, and I wanted to share it with you.

In Kendo, when the swordsmen let lose their powerful blows with their bamboo swords (Shinai) it is not only THAT they hit, that is important, but that they CALL out the location before they hit it. After the strike, there is no celebration, there is a passing by the opponent, then a reset of stance (San-shi), and then swords touch each other again, and then engagement begins again. Insights gained:

1. It is not enough to swing the sword, you must call out where you wish to strike as well.
2. If you don't strike where you called out, you haven't struck anything at all.
3. Nothing from the strike, or being struck, is taken for granted.
4. How you hold yourself is essential. Win or lose, cut or not cut, hit or get hit, you hold yourself in a way where the entire experience is taken as a whole.
5. The holding (of the self) is the thing.
6. Neither celebrate nor mourn, but be in the experience.
7. Reset your stance, and strike, or be struck, again.
8. The optimal moment is what one trains for.
9. 20 years is nothing, it's a start.

I thought you would appreciate these insights.

Sincerely,
Admiringly,
Your Dearest