善戦苦闘
Zensenkutou
Regardless of the odds, put up a good fight.
A good martial artist never plays the odds. In the Empire Strikes Back, CP30 tries to tell Han Solo the odds of success of flying through an asteroid field. Han Solo shouts out, “Never tell me the odds!” Han Solo didn’t want to know the odds because he wanted to rely solely on his skill and he knew that knowing the odds could somehow negatively influence him. The odds are the “chances that something will happen.” Sunzenshakuma (寸善尺魔) is a Japanese idiom which means that “In evil, there are odds.” Evil would like us to take chances or play the odds, but being pragmatists, warriors rely on what they can do rather than focus on the chance of being lucky. When Furuya Sensei was young, he was able to take Kendo and Iaido lessons from Tiger Mori (Mori Terao) who was a famous Kendoist and arguably one of the best swordsmen of the 20th Century. Sensei said that after Kendo class, Tiger Mori would often do Iaido with some of the students. At one point, they brought out wara or “bundles of straw tatami mats” and started to do cutting practice. Sensei said that Tiger Mori put a sword on each side of his obi so that they sat crosswise in his belt and then took up a stance between two bundles of wara. In an instant, Tiger Mori drew both swords simultaneously, cut both of the wara in half and then re-sheathed them just as smoothly as he drew them. Drawing and cutting with two swords on opposite sides of one’s hip simultaneously is hard enough, but the odds of re-sheathing them is almost impossible. Sensei said that the room went dead silent, and everyone just stood there with their mouths open in awe. Sensei commented that Tiger Mori’s technique was very smooth, quick and was completely without fumble. To get to Tiger Mori’s deft level requires devoted training, and it cannot be achieved by playing the odds. In Aikido, we believe that every life is precious, especially ours, and so we daiji wo toru (大事を取る) or “to take no chances.” In life and in Aikido, we are successful because of the power of our will and what it is we are capable of doing but skill requires training. We train because we can’t rely on chance and that’s why a good martial artist never plays the odds.
Today’s goal: Rely on your skill and don’t rely on the odds.