10,000 Cuts

Iaido is often considered to be a repetitious

martial art where the practitioner spends most of their time swinging a blade practicing cuts, one after the other, while maintaining good posture and footwork. This is correct! When you begin to feel like your training is too repetitious, remember when Bruce Lee said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” This applies to any martial art, especially iaido.

Feeling inadequate?

“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”   

Zen du Jour

However deep your

Knowledge of the scriptures,
It is no more than a strand of hair
In the vastness of space;
However important appears
Your worldly experience,
It is but a drop of water in a deep ravine.

-Tokusan

Thought for the Day

Sun Tzu once said that to confront the enemy with annihilation, they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory. Please remember this when sparring with your opponents. To rush in with the intent to destroy, or to taunt them into a deadly situation you will likely be the one to perish. Keep your cool!

Sensei's Movie Recommendation: The Hidden Blade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33a3yQIc-8

The Hidden Blade

Directed by: Yoji Yamada

A Japanese warrior is forced to leave his family in the care of two other samurai when he complies with a request for his services in another town. They do their best to protect the family when they come under attack during his absence.

Holiday Special

Iaidoka,

The holidays are here! For many of us this means time with our families, excuses to drink hot chocolate, and private iaido lessons with Sensei. Every year the dojo offers discounted private lessons and accepts donations to help raise money for the New Year. To sign-up, review the scheduled times below and email me at least a week in advance.

Cheers,
Sorensen Sensei

Dates/Times

Wednesdays 8:00pm-9:00pm

November – 23, 30

December – 7, 14, 21

Saturdays 8:00am-9:00, 9:00am-10:00am, 10:00am-11pm, 11:00am-12:00pm

November – 19

December – 3, 10, 17

Holiday Prices

$25/1 hour

$35/1.5 hours

$45/2 hours

Do!

Miyamoto Musashi once said that tomorrow's battle is won during today's practice. These words have never been more true than in today's society. Let them permeate into the deepest part of your brain and think about all the times during a day when you should be doing something to prepare for tomorrow. If it is work, or a school assignment we can often find every excuse in the book (not our school books) to put it off because it's not very much fun or will require too much mental effort. Todays challenge: Do!

Do not overthink the things you must do today to be ready for tomorrow, just do them. This dedication will help cultivate good habits and prepare you for a lifetime of success. As a martial artist, this ability to do and not procrastinate are essential.

Losing Your Mind

It is essential to lose the mind [in order to free it]. -Shao Yang

No First Strike

"A sword must never be recklessly drawn" was the most important tenet of conduct in the daily life of a samurai. It was essential for the honorable man of the day to bear things to the very limit of his ability before taking action. Only after reaching the point where the situation could no longer be tolerated was the blade drawn from its scabbard. This was a basic teaching of Japanese bushido. -Gichin Funakoshi

Experience Over Devotion

Buddha said, my follower should not accept my teaching out of devotion, but rather your own experiment. Even Buddha himself, in order to get final enlightenment needed hard work -Dalai Lama

No matter who the teacher, the subject, or past commitment you must know for yourself. This is very important in martial arts. If your teacher tells you to do something and you do not understand the concept or technique, you had better discipline yourself and practice until you know for yourself. The hard work and dedication will pay off in the end when you yourself have had the experience. You will become a better martial artist.

11.11.11 Challenge

Sakura Martial Arts Festival, near Kyoto, Japan (Toyama Ryu Iai Do Kai Honbu Dojo)

Today's practice:
11 minutes of meditation
11 minutes of cutting makko giri, migi/hidari kesagiri, morote-tsuki, gyaku kesa giri, suihei giri.
11 minutes of kata practice

"Kaisu O Kasaneru!" (Develop your skills through mindful repetition)

If you complete this, please comment below (must be on 11.11.11) and you will receive a free thirty minute private lesson.

Zen du Jour

    The one who is good at shooting does not hit the center of the target. -Zen saying

Don't forget to rei!

When we bow in and out during class, this is what is said by either the teacher or senior student, please learn the responses to the third rei when bowing in and out:
I.  Shomen ni rei
II. Sensei ni rei
III.Otagai ni rei (everyone else will say: yoroshiku onegaishimasu
(Pron: yo-row-she-coup own-a-gaee-she-mawss)
Bowing out:
I. Tou rei
II. Sensei ni rei
III. Otagai ni rei (Everyone will say Arigato Gozaimasu)
(Pron: Awe-ree-gah-toe go-zaee-mawss)

Zen Koan

One Zen koan, or story, tells of a man hanging by his teeth from a tree branch dangling over the edge of a cliff. A man approaches him and says, “Why did Bodhidharma travel from India to China?” If the man refuses to answer, he will fail the test. If he answers, he will fall to his death. What should he do? The answer to this koan (and all koans) lies beyond logic and must be perceived on a deeper level.   –Eva Adamson

Take a moment and reflect on this koan. I have come to the conclusion that if the man in the tree danging by his teeth were to tell the wandering observer that he could care less, this might emulate the appropriate answer. This is an appropriate Zen response. I would agree with the man hanging by his teeth because personally I do not care why Bodhidharma came from India to China.

Be good

"Just practice good, do good for others, without thinking of making yourself known so that you may gain reward. Really bring benefit to others, gaining nothing for yourself. This is the primary requisite for breaking free of attachments to the Self." - Dōgen

In the dojo we strive to maintain an atmosphere of good, as a student of budo, do good to your fellow classmates. When you're outside the dojo strive to do good to those close to you, especially those you may be meeting for the first time or those whom you dislike. This is the samurai way.

"Osu!"

The roots of this slang are filled with a lot of mystery as the people who say it typically don't know where it came from. More often, martial artists will claim that it may have come from the word onegaishimasu. Wherever it came from, Westerners have become very fond of using it any chance they can. Traditional styles think its a joke, and from the video above, so do the Japanese. To maintain etiquette in the dojo, "Hai" or "Ei" are more appropriate responses (hai being more formal). Osu!

Miyamoto Musashi

"The Way is in Training"

Beginner students, advanced ideas

Students ask me from time to time what the most important thing is that they should learn. In regard to iaido, I stress that beginners spend a lot of time learning how to properly execute nukisuke and focus on footwork. Sincerely practicing these will create good habits. If you're lazy now, and do not take these simply things seriously, you'll create habits that are hard to break as you advance in your training.

Luckily, you should always have a beginner's spirit, so we practice these everyday!

Confucius-of-the-day

Do you want to know what knowledge is?
When you know something, recognize that you know it,
and when you don't know something,
recognize that you don't know it.
That's knowledge.
The Analects of Confucius
Book 2, Chapter 17