Sword Of The Stranger - A Story Of Honor

"To believe in something and not to live it, is dishonest."

-Ghandi

Normally I wouldn't write about anime- don't get me wrong, practically every morning I wake up and listen to this audio on repeat as I work out, alongside it others;

To put it simply, yes I am an anime fanatic.

But my love of animation aside, I am writing about the movie Sword Of The Stranger. Fantastic movie; not only for its visuals and the amazingly well done fight scenes, but moreso its story of honor. But I won't go into the plot and risk spoiling it for you.

Here it is in full;

Honor.

It's such an important word to the martial artist, and one largely ignored these days. And even worse, many who claim to have it misunderstand what it is.

Honor is something which can only be seen tangibly in the actions of others. People have died in the past to preserve it, either their own, or another's.

Knighthood, Samurai, aristocracy throughout the ages; all have claimed ownership.

Yet honor is not some kind of systemization of conduct and moral codes to adhere to.

To put it simply honor is keeping true to yourself.

Cultures differ, and throughout the ages what has been honorable to one, such as suicide for a knight, to honorable in another, such as the Samurai. Even in certain religious circles, such as Jainism ritual suicide has been seen as honorable, where the same would be deplorable in western culture.

It's just a fact; what is honorable to one will not be to another.

And while many might agree on certain aspects concerning their beliefs on what they define as honorable, it is not always the case.

So this is why uniform codes, such as Bushido came to exist and be widely held, but it was still and always will be a very personal choice to follow such a code. No different than if you were to compose one for yourself.

Honor, to me, is to do what you believe is right. Whether guided by intuition, emotion, or logic, upholding one's sense of self, their duty in existance to be, is what determines the quality of their honor.

And honor is very complicated. Sometimes doing the right thing isn't honorable in terms of what society would uphold. Justice for example is associated with honor, yet at the same time 'justice' is as grounded in a motive for revenge and compensation as it is to right a wrong. And it is only the latter which is honestly honorable in a sense of rightness for a situation.

Let me give you an example; say somebody came into your home and attacked your family. It is honorable to defend your family and stop them. Some would even say you should kill that person.

Yet let us tweak the situation slightly; your family is evil, doing wrong (this is just a hypothetical to make a point) and this person is attacking them to stop what they are doing. Is it still honorable to defend a group of people who are doing wrong?

Some would say yes, some would say no. It will always depend on the context of the situation, and where you stand perspective-wise concerning it.

To put it succinctly, to carry honor is to carry a sense of what is right. And you are only honorable when you are upholding what you believe to be right.

Honor should be engrained in the martial artist; it is reserved humility, and we practice it everytime we bow or thank our teachers, but also those who are our peers. This is why the school I attended where every black belt was expected to be bowed to, from white belt to other black belts even higher ranked- it was a mark of respect and acknowledgement. It was little wonder then this school instilled great moral character in its students, through a myriad of different methods. This is just one example.

Honor is tantamount to respect, and without respecting what you believe in, and working your hardest, devoting yourself to fulfilling those beliefs in action when the opportunity occurs, one cannot say they are living honorably.

It is not so simple as right or wrong, a system of ethics. Morality and ethics changes from person to person, culture to culture, and even situation to situation.

So those who walk around claiming to have a code of honor but do not follow it do not have honor in my book. If it is a part of your system of belief and honor to not steal, yet you still steal, then you are without honor for you are not being true to yourself. It is a part of my system that if I am training with someone of lesser ability, experience or skill, I will not abuse being better. That I will work with them at their own level.

And of course I cannot always do that; one occasion comes to mind where I was sparring somebody where they just kept going more and more agressively, and if I did not do o as well I would become injured. I ended up having to actually go at my ability and kick them hard enough in the head to stun them to de-escalate. I would not say that was honorable- but it was necessary for me to avoid injury. In that instance I did not follow my code of ethics, and I acted dishonorably in my own eyes.

That is what is more important than conveying honor to others, but ensuring you carry that honor within yourself and feel that, that feeling is deserved.

That is what the story of the Sword Of The Stranger spoke to me, and why Nanashi is a great example of one with honor; we can be cold, but if we enjoy life, even the little things, and never forsake what we believe is right, then we can say with honest truth to ourselves we are living with honor.

It's up to you though to determine those things, and keep yourself in check to follow those principles. That is the meaning of honor- staying true to what you believe is right. It's something you will work on your entire life, but a life with honor is far better lived than one which isn't.

"A true martial artist in my book, is someone who is going to do the right thing and lead by example."

-Duane Lugwig.

"Honor is integrity tied to action."

Make Your Tools

"One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the art of peace (Aikido/Martial Arts). Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train."

-Morihei Ueshiba

"Attachments... are the greatest impediments to spiritual growth."

-Thich Nhat Hanh

So as many of you may know, I have moved from the United States to the small country of Israel. While one of my bags is mostly comprised of martial arts equipment, this is all safety and targets. I could not bring my Kendo armor, and certainly could not any of my nunchuka, shinai, knives, or bokken. Let alone bo staves and the like. All that had to be left behind.

I've practiced Kendo on and off for over a decade now. If I recall correctly, it's going on twelve years, and I have no expectation to stop being in form concerning practicing it.

Today combing through about 200 pieces of wood I finally came across a piece that is about the weight of a shinai (quite light for a bokken) and is the approximate length of a wakizashi.

Now this is not a shinai by any means, but it can become a makeshift bokken. I intend to get some cloth and wrap the hilt in such a way to turn it into a legitimate piece of training equipment. And this is what the heart of my post is speaking about; sometimes you have to make do.

You may not have training weights when you go somewhere new, but you will always have rocks you can till the ground and find, which may be even better and more useful for strength training than what you had.

When you start over somewhere that by no means giving up who you are, and what it is that you do. It just means adjusting. So you don't have a heavy bag; find a tree that can become one. So I don't have a bokken, I will now make one so I can keep practicing.

I didn't have a mirror to watch how I did my techniques, all I could do was look at my shadow in the near-noon sun and see if the Head, Stomach or Wrist cuts I were doing were straight. My shadow became the mirror that so many of us become used to, and take advantage of in our schools.

Not going to lie, its apparently impossible to take a photo of yourself doing a technique while
staying in perfect posture and position. But, this is what I mean when saying use your shadow as a mirror.

But someday your school may close, someday you may move. What, you then give up all that you did and learned?

I certainly can't, so I'm going to make do. You should consider how you can do this if you had to. Resourcefulness is something I take pride in as a martial artist. We always find a means.

"Make do with what you have; it is all you need."

For my blog on my travels in Israel: http://ajourneyinisrael.blogspot.co.il/

One's Character

"If it is still in your mind, it is worth taking the risk."

-Paulo Coehlo

This post is going to be a little different. While it might not seem like it, this story is about struggle, it is about violence. It's about style, and it's about character. And perhaps those last two are what make martial arts the most worthwhile.

I will relate this story as best I can. I tried to look it up for someone who might have written it beautifully. Having been unable to do that, or at all actually, I suppose it's up to me to communicate it instead.

I find it inspiring, I hope you will too.



One day as part of his initiation into a gang a young man, no older than sixteen was part of a robbery that resulted in the death of another person. A young man who had just started college and was working part time.

At the day of his hearing in court he was sentenced to three years in prison in front of the man's monther. Sobbing, as he was taken away in handcuffs, she stood and shouted,

"I WILL kill you for taking my baby! I will KILL you!"

It was three weeks while in prison serving his time when that mother visited him. They would talk, she was always respectful, but always warm. She would bring him food, though when he asked for cigarettes he never got a one from her.

Over time she encouraged him to start reading, to enroll in the prison's education system. To complete his high school diploma.

When he turned 18 she encouraged him to apply for the prison work program- so he could have a job when he got out.

Finally the time came when he was to be released. He was 20, and the woman shocked him by offering him a place to stay with her as long as he worked and continued to strive for an education he could be proud of.

He stayed with her for awhile. Three months became six, and then finally a year. And then two years. He had been working steady in that time, and was saving to enroll into community college. They still spoke everyday.

One day the women called him into her study.

"Do you remember that day in the courtroom?" she asked, her hands hidden from view behind her desk. Her normal smiling demeanor was gone, and a very serious look was drawn across her face.

"Yes," he replied.

"And do you remember how I told you I would kill you?" she asked. 

His eyes widened with the realization,

"Yes." he said, barely audible as a whisper. She looked him up and down,

"Well I have. I have killed you." she responded. 

"What?" he asked, not comprehending.

"I. Killed. You." she repeated, and then paused before continuing.

"That person you were; a thug, someone who murdered my baby. Now, you have a dream, now you work, and help. Who you are now is not who you were then. That person is dead. I killed you." she repeated.

The young man started to cry. She stood from her desk, her hands until then hidden, were empty and open. And she embraced him in a hug, and together they cried.

"I'm sorry," he said, and she nodded, still holding him.

"I know." she answered.



Alchemy isn't real in the medieval sense, or even in the real outside of arranging electrons and protons within an tom, but it is real in taking something awful such as mercury or lead when a person's soul consists of such quality, and changing it into gold or diamonds.

I like to liken it to skipping rocks across water. We all start martial arts as a rough stone that only sinks, and never skims the water to move ahead. With practice and training, and the experience not unlike how water treats a stone smooths it until it can move ahead. That in a way is alchemy, the transmutation of something into another.

As a martial artist it is a good question to ask, could you be as strong as this woman and do as she did?

"The true alchemists do not turn lead into gold, they turn the world into words."

-William H. Gass

"Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure."

-Paulo Coehlo

Nen; Ki and Chi

"Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise tones the body."

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

"To truly understand the ancient martial martial ways of Okinawa you must stay here awhile. You must see and feel what is outside of the dojo in order to better know what is inside the dojo. You must know our history and our hearts."

-Shimabukuro Osensei

He can walk on something outside of himself, because of his control within himself.

I've spent a lot of time practicing the external arts; martial arts that channel energy outward. Over twenty years. I have only spent a quarter of my time as a martial artist for the last five to seven years practicing any internal, where you develop and manipulate the energy generated internally. I tend to then use that energy to channel it to augment my abilities externally. Hence my passion for Baguazhang.

By energy I am referring to kinetic energy; the same that occurs when molecules or atoms vibrate and become active. Chi, in my opinion, refers to when the molecules in your body are activated and how you use them within your system. Most do so for healing; an active cell composed of thousands of molecules, when vibrated is imparted to become more active and thus heals faster. Ki is similar, one stimulates the molecular physiology, but then impart it elsewhere. Chi in a sense is when a molecule just vibrates, and how it interacts with itself. Ki is when that same molecule vibrates, and then interacts with another molecule imparting and affecting that molecule. In that sense, Ki is external martial arts, whereas Chi is internal. I am very good at the former, but neither are mutually exclusive in any sense.

The best drill I can summarize the difference and interaction between the two is this; to increase one's energy I know of a silat drill. You extend your leg into a kicking position on a stationary object; one that 'resists'. I.e. you try to break it, and no matter how hard, it will not. Metal is the best form of such an object, but a tree works as well. From the extended position you 'push' off the target.

Once you can do so forcefully, you will find when executing the same strike it will become much more powerful than before the exercise. You are channeling internal energy to thrust off the target, but using external to impact the target with your energy output.

There's no way to actually measure this. I suppose you could hook yourself up to nodes, but what you exhibit would be much different than what I exhibit.

This is why in the argument of speed vs. power, I prioritize technique over both. Technique is what allows a proper punch to channel energy from the ground, and direct it through the body to be expressed outwardly. But the same technique can be expressed inwardly also.

Martial arts is often mistaken as purely destructive, but it can also be restorative. It depends on how you channel the force; do you do so inwardly such as in Taijiquan, or do you outwardly such as with Tae Kwon Do or Karate, or Kempo.

How you choose to cause energy to interact with yourself and others will determine who you are as a martial artist.

This is a rather esoteric conversation. But let me demonstrate in the video below. I can extinguish a flame by blowing on it; creating a forceful wind with my mouth. Or, I can use a proper technique with a punch that channels the internal energy my body generates, and expresses it in a direct line to and through the target.

Some people extinguish a flame by using the sleeves of their shirt. Not unlike a magician. There are many tricks. It is like the one inch punch- it can be a party trick or a very real and practical technique. It all depends on what technique/move you use, and whether it is combat effective. A magicians trick to extinguish a flame is not practical in a fight, whereas what I do here is very practical. At :018 you can even see the smoke from the extinguished flame and its gasses be pushed in the direction I punched from. I can do the same thing with water when in a pool.

It's weird, and complicated, but as a martial artist worth it.

"Soft as cotton on the inside, hard as steel on the outside."

-Taiji quote.

Time To Go Hunting

"The purpose of training is to tighten the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit."

-Morihei Ueshiba

"I'm constantly trying to find other people to better me, to improve. To move outside my comfort zone."

-Frank Mir

I am sure many who are reading this have found themselves in a similar predicament; they are someplace new and for awhile, and want to train, but have no one to do so with.

That's what is currently on my mind; I am in Israel, just outside of Tel Aviv on a kibbutz for a months, and though a major city is just forty minutes away, it may as well be out of reach. The community center in the kibbutz where some martial arts are practiced is currently shut for the summer, so I have to come up with different ways to do so.

Luckily this isn't my first time having to hunt for training partners, and there are some tried and true strategies to find them.

The easiest and ironically at times more difficult way to find a training partner is by talking with others. Find a way to bring up you practice martial arts, and boom, you may have found a training partner. The problems with this method is that it can take time, but also it means that who you may get as a training partner is limited literally by those around you. Sometimes word of mouth gets you that golden person who can help you reach new levels, but I've seen this happen rarely.

Another means is through the internet. There are always forums and hot spots online to meet and coordinate for finding a training partner. I prefer this method most because it allows you to hunt when its best for your schedule, and you can be more selective. You do TKD and want to train with someone who does kyokushin or Muai Thai? This is the route to go.

A way that I have found that works is to start a martial arts club of some kind. The only problem really with this is that if your club has a theme, such as kung fu, or boxing, that is in all likelihood all you are going to get to train with. I prefer mixing it up; I want to spar people from styles I have never even heard of to push myself, so when I assisted founding the NVCC Martial Arts club, it was open to all styles. At any one session we might have a few TKD people, of different styles, to Wing Chun, Silat, Shotokan and more present.

And then there is the long way; find someone who just wants to learn martial arts at all and practice with them until they become a martial artist who can help push you forward. The teacher teaches the student the path, walking ahead, until the student can not only walk with their teaching side by side on the path, but can even run forward, and come back with word of whats ahead.

That's perhaps the greatest way to find a training partner in terms of it having a meaningful and even spiritual context. The only problem is it can take time.

While it is true you can practice by yourself, as Miyamoto wrote in the Book Of Five Rings;

"As one man can defeat ten men, so can one thousand men defeat ten thousand. However, you can become a master of strategy by training alone with a sword, so that you can understand the enemy's stratagems, his strength and resources, and come to appreciate how to apply strategy to beat ten thousand enemies."

-The Fire Book

I prefer to do so with others. They push me harder than I can myself, because I know myself completely. They will think of things I cannot, and use them, and probably succeed until I can come up with my own means to respond and manage their actions.

A training partner is someone who will push to become more than you are. Toward what you can become. Friends can be training partners, but this is usually a bad idea. Your friendship and camaraderie may distract you from actual work which is why you are present together in the first place.

They do not have to better than you. Such a thing is unfeasible. Perhaps they are far faster than you, while at the same time you can kick higher than they can. The point is with their help you can become faster. They can learn to kick higher. It's a mutual exchange. There is no way to find someone who is overall objectively better than you, pragmatically. That's all in a person's judgemental and self-doubting head. And if you go into the relationship of having a training partner thinking they are better, or worse, that you are better, than it will eventually fall apart and you will be without a person to work to become better in the martial arts with.

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, 

but on building the new."

-Socrates.


For the blog concerning my adventures in Israel, see: ajourneyinisrael.blogspot.com/

Burning The Wick

"What gives light must endure burning."
-Viktor Frankl

This will be a very short post; a blurb of a blog entry;

One of my favorite things to practice to practice in martial arts is doing a strike and extinguishing a candle flame. I do this mainly with hand techniques, but now and again do so with kicks. Sometimes I do it on the first move (Especially with hand techniques) but sometimes it can take awhile (such as with a kick)

When you do a technique and fail, such as doing a strike and not blowing out the flame with its wind, or the vacuum it can make, you can see very visibly how you are either improving or not. I implore you to try. I've seen novices knock the candle over and spill wax on your carpet; I've been able to extinguish a candle from more than a meter, and I can see where I'm at because of that. If I can do a technique adequately, I am five feet from it and can put it out no matter what I do.

Practice this, and you will see where you are at.

Just Once I'll Use A Photo From A Meme Generator; This One Is Perfect.

The Coin Does Drop

"You win battles by knowing the enemy's timing, and using a timing the enemy does not expect."

-Miramoto Musashi

 

 

Generally speaking people react similarly to things. That's why there are such things as genre as comedy or horror. We are instilled, from birth and culture how to react. But training can also override and empower such reactions.

For example, we are taught in martial arts how not to flinch when something approaches our eyes or groin. We do this so we can ignore an instinctive reactions to close our eyes or shy away- not only because such involuntary movements can cripple us while instinctively protecting those areas, such as by blinding us (closing our eyes) or making us lose a position of defense, but because the lack of control also means we are still programmable. If A happens then B happens, and if B happens C-Z is possible.

We, as martial artists, and in control, do not want to be programmable. When our opponent or enemy can expect us to do a certain thing, they can manipulate and use that thing.

Our goal is to do that. For example, if I punch a straight to their face, I expect them to move either right or left to avoid the blow. Fighting is more than chess, its a kind of physical programming in a certain sense. If they move to the right I throw a roundhouse kick from the right. If they move to the right, after my hand is extended I pump it through a backfist going to the left. If they back up I pursue, and they lose ground and thus position.

If they block I pump the punch hitting over and over until the arm is numb. These are all situational, but if you do the right thing at the right time it works. That's the point of this; a combination works because one strike leads to the opportunity to use another.

If I do a ridge hand and they block is, I will wrap my arm around theirs' to strike them through a back fist. This becomes a knife chop to backfist.

It's not about a specific combination; I can still remember those I've drilled. Front punch- back punch, front kick then back leg front kick. It's about understanding what happens when you do something, and using it to lead to something else.

It's all about how you chain them together.

When you drop a coin you know it falls straight down. When you throw a ball against a wall you know it will bounce and richochete off; but if you can know where the coin will fall and when, you can always catch it. When you can try eventually you can find how the ball will go, and catch it.

Think on it; program your opponent to react as you want, and then win.

"The more complicated and restricted the method, the less the opportunity the expression for one's original sense of freedom."

-Bruce Lee