打たれ強い
Utarezuyoi
You have to be able to take a hit.
A good martial artist has grit. Grit is defined as “courage and resolve” or “strength of character.” In Japanese, one way to say grit is konjo (根性) which means “willpower” or “fighting spirit.” Someone on the internet said that GRIT is an acronym which meant “Growth, Resiliency, Initiative, Tenacity.” I thought that their explanation of grit was apropos for a martial artist. As a student or a teacher, we must be constantly seeking growth. Becoming better is a function of one’s growth internally and externally. We must also be resilient because growth is often accompanied by failure and failure is oftentimes the best teacher. Martial artists must also take the initiative or have the wherewithal to act because growth only occurs when we put in the work. Most of all, a warrior is tenacious and won’t back down no matter how big the goal or how bad the odds. Grit is having a versatile mindset focused on growth but also the temperament to be consistent and constant regardless of the situation. Unfortunately, grit is one of those things that teachers can’t teach us but we can learn on our own. Throughout our training, we are learning grit without even knowing it. For instance, one of the first obstacles that one must surmount in their training is learning how to roll comfortably. People can tell us how to do it and even show us but that still won’t make our rolling anymore easier. The only way the roll gets better is if we put in the work to make it that way. With consistency and constancy, our roll eventually becomes better and without even knowing it we have begun to teach ourselves grit. On a certain level, this is utarezuyoi (打たれ強い) or the learning “how to take a hit” method which teaches us to have grit. In life and in martial arts training, things will happen and many times it doesn’t go in our favor. The average person will give up at the slightest difficulty. However, a martial artist is not a normal person. Things will happen and sometimes they go in our favor and many times they don’t. Regardless of the outcome, having grit enables us to get up and try again. What makes a warrior good is merely having the grit or the mindset to get up, dust ourselves off and keep on going no matter what.
Today’s goal: What things can you do to teach yourself to have grit?
Watch this video to better understand Grit