176. Musashi's Lessons

"No, no you're thinking. Your thought is stopping your flow. Be spontaneous, Spontaneous!!" Shiva Sensei says to one of his dozen or so students who have paired off to practice sword techniques. Then he steps in and demonstrates again, fluidly and so easily how to both disarm and take down the opposing swordsman.

A few weeks ago Sensei Shiva was kind enough to allow me to sit in and observe his martial arts class. Listening to him explain to his students reminded me of Takuan's letter to Yagyu Munenori on Fudoshin, (immovable mind). Here it is in his own words, an extract from the letter...

As the beginner knows nothing about either his body posture or the positioning of his sword, neither does his mind stop any- where within him. If a man striked at him with the sword, he simply meets the attack without anything in mind. As he studies various things and is taught the diverse ways of how to take a stance, the manner of grasping his sword and how where to put his mind, his mind stops in many places. Now if he wants to strike at an opponent, he is extraordinarily discomforted. Later, as days pass and time piles up, in accordance with his practice, neither the postures of his body nor the ways of grasping the sword are weighed in his mind. His mind simply becomes as it was in the beginning when he knew nothing and had yet to be taught anything at all.

The very same Takuan also had a profound effect on Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the greatest warrior the world has seen. Musashi believed that a warrior needed to be well rounded and learn from all the arts. He taught himself Sumi-e painting, a spontaneous way of painting with ink and brush, and from those I can SEE how he may have wielded his sword. Quick, spontaneous and as one.

This is what we'll work on today. Try holding the brush vertically (As though you're making a candle, stand...) and hover over the paper without supporting your elbow and arm. Be quick and spontaneous with your strokes. Like Shiva Sensei says, a single thought will stop it dead.

Here are a few paintings by Musashi that I found online...

Hotei watching cocks

A cormorant

A shrike on a branch watching a caterpillar climb it

A scene painted on paper screens

As you can see, Sumi-e painting requires extreme fearlessness and confidence. A wrong stroke cannot be taken back, hidden or disguised. Just as with the sword. The concept of Notan is also key, light and dark, perfectly balanced just as with the sword. Position and placement is also important, again just as in a sword fight.

Here's a video of a Sumi-e painting...

Now... watch Mochida Moriji, kendo master execute his moves...

See the parallels? Now you know why Musashi uses the analogy of the arts when teaching his heiho, in his "The book of five rings". Though it was written to teach the sense of spirit and will, Painter's can learn much from this book. Download it here...

Happy painting!

Tags: bujinkan, ink, japanese, musashi, stroke, sumi-e, sword

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dinesh Francis on June 7, 2011 at 1:35pm

Pure Awesomeness, Maastah! Will HAVE to do this. Banzai!!

Permalink Reply by Ashwin Mohan on June 7, 2011 at 3:16pm

at the heart of mushin (no-mind) is the concept of emptiness, how everything depends on something else and has no inherent existence of its own, so one tries to feel the various forces and pressures and reacts to them in real time rather than after analysing it, recognising that there are no inherent forces allows you to recognise the ambient ones. creation happens spontaneously, unpretentiously.

Permalink Reply by George Supreeth on June 8, 2011 at 12:01am

That makes sense ashwin!! We had a great session at the studio today and this was proved over and over.

Permalink Reply by Ashwin Mohan on June 8, 2011 at 9:30am

However this quote by Shihan Shiva needs some pondering. 'You have to have form to lose it'

Permalink Reply by George Supreeth on June 8, 2011 at 9:58am

makes a whole load of sense. For instance when teaching minimalism on the program we tell participants that to subtract you have to first have something to subtract from!

I see what you're saying. The difference between the newbie and the expert as Takuan puts it is that one never had form in the first place, and the other discovers it and then happily looses it. No?

Permalink Reply by Ashwin Mohan on June 8, 2011 at 11:09am

yes precisely. these is a big difference between the two :)

Permalink Reply by Akhila Akhlix on June 9, 2011 at 2:33pm