“The spirit must be forged or polished through training!” - Rev. Kensho Furuya
As the year comes to an end, many people are making their plans for the coming year and that includes resolutions. A normal person sets goals and wishes for things like cars, promotions, or weight loss. A good martial artist only wishes for fortitude. From a martial arts sense, fukutsu (不屈) or “fortitude” is the inner strength to keep going when we have nothing else left. People often think that excitement, passion, or motivation are the keys to success and on a certain level it is true. We can be successful when we get excited about something, we can feel motivated and get things done or we can get fired up with passion and make things happen. However, the problem with those traits is that they are externally influenced and can easily run out. Excitement tends to fade over time, motivations can wane in the face of adversity and the fires of passion can be extinguished with defeats. When excitement, motivation and passion run out, then the only thing we can rely upon is our inner fortitude. Webster’s dictionary defines fortitude as “The strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage.” Fortitude is one of those traits that we learn when we study a martial art. However, fortitude is not something that a teacher or an art can teach us because it is something that we must learn for ourselves. Our fortitude is solidified or forged within us every time we confront adversity. Every time we stand up and put ourselves out there, we solidify our inner fortitude. Furuya Sensei discussed fortitude and often likened training to the creation of a samurai sword. He once wrote: “The samurai sword begins as nothing special, just an ordinary pile of iron sand which is melted together to form a clump of iron called a tamahagane. The tamahagane is separated and is folded into layers over and over to create a thousand layers of iron which actually crisscross in a mesh and, in the future, will give the sword its great strength and resiliency. The swordsmith works the metal into what will be its final most crude “sword” shape. A sword is not born with a keen edge, only its potential. Its true value and beauty only comes forth with the help of polishing and sharpening. It is under the skill of a master polisher (teacher) that a sword can realize its singular strength, beauty and sharpness — a work of art, whether it is a sword or one’s life.” Martial artists are human beings and just like normal people, our inner strength ebbs and flows. Understanding this, a martial artist’s New Year’s resolution isn't for cars, promotions, or weight loss but for fortitude - the strength to carry on when they have nothing left. Sir Francis Bacon said, “Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armor of the will, and the fort of reason.” The martial arts are the only path where one hopes that when the time comes, they will have the courage to act and the fortitude to succeed. We won’t know how much fortitude we have until the time comes and that is why a good martial artist only wishes for fortitude.
Today’s goal: For the New Year, remember, as Furuya once said, “The only key to success is to just embrace your practice and continue to polish yourself.”
Watch this video of Furuya Sensei discussing incorporating Aikido into your daily life