能ある鷹は爪を隠す
Nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu
The talented hawk hides its claws
In the old days of martial arts, if a person wanted to make a name for themselves and start a dojo, they would dojoyaburi (道場破り) or “dojo storm.” By storming a person’s dojo and beating them, they could inherit some of the students and take out a rival competitor. After beating the teacher, they would symbolize this by “yaburi” or by breaking the school’s kaban or sign in half. Prior to the 1860s, because of dojo storming, most martial arts schools or teachers did not give public demonstrations of their art. It was thought that if they did, a rival would be able to see their abilities and find a strategy to beat them. Fast forward to today and most people don’t have to worry about dojo storming per se, but one’s development is still supposed to be private. Furuya Sensei called this “secret work.” Secret work are the crucial efforts that nobody ever sees. A dojo runs based upon secret work and we develop ourselves as part of secret work too. Calling it secret work is perhaps Sensei’s nod to the old practice of concealing one’s efforts. In Aikido, much of our development is not done on the mat even though it may seem that way. Yes, we have to come to class, but the student who develops the fastest is the person who puts in the work outside of class. Rev. Kojima said something interesting at dinner the other day. He said, “The teacher only develops the student 50%.” With his assertion we can see that our “secret work” is crucial in bringing the other 50%. After putting in the time on and off the mat, one day it just magically all comes together. To others it seems magical because they don’t see the day to day efforts. Violinist, Pablo de Sarasate once said, “For 37 years I've practiced fourteen hours a day, and now they call me a genius!” The best warriors always put in the secret work.
Today’s goal: Think about what secret work can you do to make yourself or others better.