武士はみな誤りに陥りがちだ
Bushi wa mina ayamari ni ochiiri gachida
All warriors are fallible
A good martial artist embraces their fallibility. This may seem like an odd statement to make because most people think that a martial artist strives to be perfect or is a person who is beyond reproach. The perfect martial artist might be thought of as someone who is infallible, indestructible, invincible or doesn’t make mistakes. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. Truth be told, a true warrior is someone who is not only fallible but is also defeatable. It is in knowing that we are not perfect which is the catalyst which drives us to improve ourselves. Improving ourselves physically is easy and only requires reps. Improving ourselves internally is much harder and thus to the true warrior, the perfection that we seek is within. That is why O’Sensei advocated masakatsu agatsu (正勝吾勝) or that “the true victory is self-victory.” William Butler Yeats confirmed this when he said, “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.” Understanding that the true journey is within, one aspect which is sometimes the most uncomfortable is to examine our own mistakes. Our mistakes demonstrate our true level of ability - they show us where we need to put in the work. Facing our mistakes or shortcomings can be painful but change is not easy nor is it comfortable. Johnny Cash said, “I learn from my mistakes. It’s a very painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there’s no gain.” So true indeed. When we see someone who is accomplished, we only see the end result and we don’t see all the struggle, suffering or mistakes which made them into the person who stands in front of us. When it comes to being a martial artist, there is no such thing as being a prodigy. No matter who we are, the road to mastery is paved with mistakes and so every person has to struggle and struggling is all about making mistakes. We should take care to remember that there is a difference between a mistake and a failure. Mistakes are errors that we learn from which become the foundation of later successes. Mistakes that we don’t learn anything from become failures. Our fallibleness is what makes us genuine, they make us unique. A person who is incapable of making a mistake is not only not a human, but they are also a person who isn’t growing either. Don’t shy away from your mistakes. They are one of the few things which are completely genuine and authentic - they are the things which make us human beings. That is why a good martial artist embraces their fallibility.
Today’s goal: “Make mistakes, be rebuked, stand corrected, and learn.” - Soshitsu Sen XV
Watch this video of Denzel Washington’s speech on failure.