“One must train their eyes to catch the sword and not lose their attention no matter how fast the sword is moving. This is not something that we can understand intellectually - it comes only from constant, diligent training.” - Rev. Kensho Furuya
What is the difference between students in the past and the students of today? I personally don’t think that there is any real difference per se between the student of old and the student of today. Regardless of the era, both types of students have to learn how to “see.” Learning in traditional martial arts training is referred to as minarai keiko (見習い稽古) or “To learn by watching and copying.” In fact, minarai means “to practice seeing.” Learning how to see as well as what to see or learning to “separate the wheat from the chaff” is a crucial part of learning. Long ago, it was customary for the teacher to give the student very little information and that created a certain amount of mekura (盲) which means “blindness” but in this case it can also mean “ignorance.” Students of today also have a certain type of blindness, but theirs comes from a certain amount of opacity that comes from having all the information. The student of old is blinded by what they don’t know, and the student of today is blinded by what they think they know. In order to overcome one’s blindness and “see” requires that the student, regardless of era, be diligent. Diligence means being willing to put in the work to, in this case, learn to “see” the correct thing in order to go in the right direction. The difference between old versus new can be in how they viewed learning and a clue to this is in the word they use for diligence. In the old days, it was said that diligence was to have chuujitsu (忠実) or “faith,” but now we they say diligence is to be mame (まめ) or “conscientious.” Both place the ownness of learning in the hands of the student’s ability to put in the work whether by faith or conscientiousness. I know that there is a lot of talk about how traditional training is dying and that perhaps students are weaker today, but I am not sure that is true. Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there, 80 are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.” Heraclitus lived over 2500 years ago and his calculation seems to be adding up the same way today. The real student is one out of a hundred. Thus, there is no real difference between the students of yesterday, today, or tomorrow; they all require that they be diligent in order to overcome their blindness and learn their martial art.
Today’s goal: How can you be more diligent today?
Watch this week’s episode of the Aiki Dojo Podcast to better understand training in the past versus training today.