Читать книгу Traditions. Essays on the Japanese Martial Arts and Ways онлайн

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Traditionalists do not need me to point out these specific problems, nor should they be upset at having them made public. Because they have been taught so well, they can seek out their own weaknesses. Since their art is strong, they need not fear having their shortcomings brought out for others to see. In fact, they should welcome the opportunity to reflect in the honored traditions of ryomi, just as masters like Kofujita Kangejuzaemon of the Yuishin Itto ryu did. Ryomi is a process as grueling as any physical training, and one just as important in the education of the traditional budoka.

A Puppy Dog’ s Bark

The date: around 1630 probably. The place: a little nomiya, a rustic shack of a restaurant that served travelers in that rural corner of central Japan. The afternoon’s business: slow. Heat oozed in from off the dusty highway outside. The greasy noren (a split length of cloth serving as an informal doorway) was unruffled by even the faintest breeze. Inside, except for the flies droning, the only customers were a pair of itinerant barbers and a swordsman. The latter sat near the window, watching the empty highway with a sleepy sort of disinterest and sucking noisy mouthfuls of cold noodles from a cheap bowl. Because he smelled and looked more than a little in need of a bath and scratched most distastefully with the blunt ends of his chopsticks at the scruffy patch of eczema on his forehead, the barbers did their best to ignore him.