It is vital in the application of the spiritual principles, as in judo techniques, that they must work. One hundred years ago, Zen master Iida made quite a point of this. He said things may be very beautiful; things may be very appealing; things may be very touching, very kindly. But unless they work, they’re not Zen.
And in judo I can remember a beautiful stylist. He said to me once, ‘You know, as I pick myself off the floor, they say, “Oh but you’ve got such a lovely style.”
When I was training in Japan, I knew a senior judo man who was expert in groundwork newaza, and especially armlocks. He was a small thin man, with very supple and wiry legs, and he could always somehow thread one through the gaps and wind it round the other man’s arm. Then he would put…
Does not competitive sport produce discord? If so, should it not be avoided by a seeker of the Way, whether as participator or even spectator? If people play golf or soccer or chess or judo, without counting points to make a match of it, that is not sport but healthy exercise (mental in the case…
One of the elements in more advanced stages of the ways is to develop ingenuity. Some of this can be done by the student himself. For instance, in judo he can try practising with one arm tucked inside his belt, so that he has only the other arm to fight with. This will sometimes give…
Hold tightly, let go lightly: this maxim for life is found in various forms all over the East. It can be exemplified in judo in a concrete form. Suppose my right hand (palm up) holds my opponent’s left wrist. He struggles a bit to make me instinctively hold tighter. Then he joins his hands, and…
In the Japanese budo tradition there are many particular ‘Ways’: kendo, the way of the sword; shodo, the way of the brush; kyudo, the way of the archer, and many others. Even other branches of culture, for instance music, have a connection with budo. An expert in the koto (a sort of horizontal harp), or…
When I had been a few months in Japan and had learnt a few hundred of the most frequently occurring Chinese characters, and became able to read a sentence here and there which was written in those common characters, I felt quite pleased with my progress. But then I found that for anything beyond simple…