人類だけが火の使い方を知っている
Jinrui dake ga hi no tsukaikata wo shitteiru
Only man knows how to use fire
Charles Darwin said, “The art of making fire is probably the greatest discovery, excepting language, ever made by man.” From Darwin’s statement, we can infer that using fire and language marked the beginnings of human civilization. Fire symbolizes one’s passion or “self-power” or jiriki (自力) in Japanese. In swordsmanship, when we raise the sword overhead, we assume the jodan no kamae (上段の構え) stance or “overhead stance,” but this is also known as the hi no kamae (火の構え) or “fire stance.” The use of the word fire in this sense refers to the courage and fortitude that one must have to raise the sword overhead and cut someone down. When they say, “Only man knows how to use fire,” they are implying that the technology of fire is what makes humans superior to animals. From the standpoint of swordsmanship, I would argue that it is not fire, but a human being’s ability to be discerning and channel their fire which makes them superior. Fire and language might be the beginnings of civilization, but the pinnacle of civilization is in our ability to choose to be hibouryoku (非暴力) or “nonviolent.” Examining the kanji for budo (武道) we see that bu (武) or “military” is made up of the radicals for stop (止) and spear (戈). Although, our training may begin with the desire to destroy, it ends evolutionarily in jiriki where we let go of that desire and this happens symbolically as we put the sword down and choose non-violence. We can conclude that the highest teaching in the martial arts is non-violence and that’s why they say that “True budo does not kill.” It’s not the fire, but the knowing which makes us civilized and thus makes us human. Humans get to choose what they want to do, when they want to do it and why or in other words a warrior gets to choose how to use their fire - animals do not.
Today’s goal: How will you choose to use your fire today?