While hunkered down in quarantine, I watched the movie Sanjuro with Toshiro Mifune. There is a great line of dialogue that the Chamberlin’s wife says to Sanjuro: “I hesitate to say this after you so kindly saved us, but killing people is a bad habit. You glisten too brightly, like a drawn sword. You’re like a sword without a sheath. You cut well, but the best sword is kept in its sheath.” Thinking about her assertion, I remembered that the flash of light that is reflected off the blade of a sword is called shiden (紫電) which can also mean “a flash of lightning.” While researching the Japanese word for a flash of lightning I came across the Buddhist term nyoronyoden (如露如電) which translates to mean that “Existence is as mutable and incorporeal as the morning dew or a flash of lightning.” I remembered that Furuya Sensei had a sword that was named Morning Dew and I always wondered about origin of the name. Reading about nyoronyoden, I understood why the swordsmith could have named the sword Morning Dew. The name Morning Dew might have been used to remind the wielder about the tenuousness of life which is as fleeting as a flash of lightning or disappears as quickly as the morning dew. In swordsmanship, supposedly, the shiden from the opponent’s blade is the last thing a person sees before they are cut down. Understanding the gravity of the consequences of drawing one’s sword, it is said that a warrior should never draw their sword recklessly. Sensei liked a swordsmith from the 1840s named Arikoto who would inscribe all of his swords with this poem: Yaki tachi wo saya ni osamete, masumasu masurao no kokoro wo togari keri or "Before you draw your tempered blade, keep it in its saya and polish your soul first of all.” A sword is nothing more than a tool. The flash from our blade can be used to kill others but that is too juvenile. The best warriors use their swords to destroy their own egos and that is why “the best sword is kept in its sheath.” The true shininess of our blades doesn’t come from our ability to kill but from our ability to show restraint.
Today’s goal: What can you do to let your blade shine without pulling it out?
Click the picture to see the scene of the Chamberlin’s wife admonishing Sanjuro.
