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

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Moreover, Musashi was not merely another swordsman. He was as well an artist, a philosopher. And so I wonder if Musashi was contemplating, in this stern-eyed portrait, not just the shikaku he faced in combat but the vulnerabilities he faced in life. Was he considering the unexpected angle of attack of an enemy’s sword? Or the surprise assaults to which all of us are susceptible: illness, heartbreak, loneliness, death? “How would you respond to this attack?” one of my sensei asked me when he was teaching me one morning, and he grabbed my wrist. I performed a pivot and locked his wrist, using the grip against him. “And this one?” He punched and I countered, punching back, turning his strike aside with my blow and stopping my fist on the spot just to the side of his chin where it would cause the most nerve damage if it connected. He paused and looked at me. “And how about this attack?” he asked. “How about if you have a child someday,” he said, “and the doctors tell you he has an incurable case of childhood cancer. How would you handle that attack?”