Victory In The Sheathed Sword
I have taken up iaido to complement my kendo experience.
Unlike kendo, which is the Japanese analog to fencing, iaido focuses on drawing a sheathed sword, rather than beating each other up with bamboo ones. Of course, if we sparred each other with real swords, the club membership will deplete fast. Even though we go through our techniques with an imaginary opponent, we don't use real "live" blades. Instead, we use iaito, practice swords with blades made of a rust-proof alloy rather than steel. They do not have sharp edges and are not suitable for cutting, even though the tip of the blade can still be dangerous. Although still cheaper than real swords, they can still be pretty expensive, so I haven't invested in one yet.
But why focus just on drawing the sword rather than fighting with it? Historically, a sword duel can be as fast as a Western gunfight. As with guns, that first moment when the sword is drawn is perhaps the most crucial - first blood could also mean last blood. This is especially true for surprise attacks, when the enemy is close to you.
So in my first class, the sensei taught us, right off the bat, of the expression saya no uchi no kachi, which means "victory in the sheath" in Japanese. It is a philosophy of iaido and can be achieved through practicing iaido. Basically, this means to defeat your opponent withougt having to draw your sword. This is kind of like Sun Tzu's The Art of War, which describes supreme victory as when you make your enemy submit without a battle, without shedding a single drop of blood. So why are we still learning how to draw a sword for a quick kill? Kind of a paradox, isn't it?
I rationalize that if it is necessary or inevitable that the sword must be drawn, then it is better that the opponent be dead and me alive. Or, because he (or she, as we're in the 21st century!) is no longer worthy, unable to wield a sword because of a sudden limb shortage. Or better yet, no longer having any limbs at all, yet still showing an amusing Monty Pythonesque tenacity to continue the fight by attempting to bite off my kneecaps. Anyway, if you live long enough as a samurai, then you could earn a notorious reputation (spawned by the help of all those armless people you just made) that would discourage anyone from fighting you. If that's not victory in the sheath, then I don't know what is.
So background aside, yesterday was the second day of an annual weekend iaido seminar, which includes skill-ranking examinations. The keynote figure was a high-ranking master of iaido from Japan, probably second only to the headmaster of the entire martial art. He has attained 10th dan ranking which is the highest skill level attained under the Japanese ranking system (which doesn't just apply to Japanese martial arts, but other skills like Japanese calligraphy). This makes him pretty old, but he seems to be in good shape to teach us. Being the vice-president of Japan's iaido federation is another item he has in his impressive resume.
After the seminar, there was a social event at The Old Spaghetti Factory, a nice and spacious Italian restaurant in the Gastown district. We had people coming from Victoria to as far as Boston for this seminar, so this was a good chance to mingle, even though each class sat at their respective tables. Dinner was from a set menu, so everyone pays the same price and so no one will have to bicker about the check, or suspect the restaurant of padding the bill (This has actually happened to me before in a Japanese pub. Even though my colleague was good buddies with the owner.).
Unfortunately, the set menu didn't include their delicious sauteed mushrooms. So I had to keep complicating things by begging the waiter to add sauteed mushrooms and put it on my check. The waiter was kind of hesitant, because their usual policy of not allowing additions to the set menu. It was a bit of a hassle, but I assured the people at my table that the sauteed mushrooms were worth the pain. They were skeptical, and some were even drunk enough to show their annoyance at the lengths I would go to get my bowl of sauteed mushrooms. What can I say? The Old Spaghetti Factory's sauteed mushrooms are fucking good.
My co-diners finally got sick of my persistence, to the extent that the guy sitting across from me made up an excuse to the waiter that I came here all the way from North Vancouver just to eat their sauteed mushrooms. Fortunately, the waiter was a nice German guy, and so he at last made an exception for me. When the sauteed mushrooms finally came, everyone could smell the wine, herbs, and spices that the mushrooms were sauteed in. I let them all have a try, and the moment the mushrooms went into their mouths, they agreed that it was worth all the trouble.
Thus, I basically got an entire table of people skilled in the way of the sword hooked on The Old Spaghetti Factory's sauteed mushrooms. And I won them over without drawing my own blade.
Victory in the sheath.
Unlike kendo, which is the Japanese analog to fencing, iaido focuses on drawing a sheathed sword, rather than beating each other up with bamboo ones. Of course, if we sparred each other with real swords, the club membership will deplete fast. Even though we go through our techniques with an imaginary opponent, we don't use real "live" blades. Instead, we use iaito, practice swords with blades made of a rust-proof alloy rather than steel. They do not have sharp edges and are not suitable for cutting, even though the tip of the blade can still be dangerous. Although still cheaper than real swords, they can still be pretty expensive, so I haven't invested in one yet.
But why focus just on drawing the sword rather than fighting with it? Historically, a sword duel can be as fast as a Western gunfight. As with guns, that first moment when the sword is drawn is perhaps the most crucial - first blood could also mean last blood. This is especially true for surprise attacks, when the enemy is close to you.
So in my first class, the sensei taught us, right off the bat, of the expression saya no uchi no kachi, which means "victory in the sheath" in Japanese. It is a philosophy of iaido and can be achieved through practicing iaido. Basically, this means to defeat your opponent withougt having to draw your sword. This is kind of like Sun Tzu's The Art of War, which describes supreme victory as when you make your enemy submit without a battle, without shedding a single drop of blood. So why are we still learning how to draw a sword for a quick kill? Kind of a paradox, isn't it?
I rationalize that if it is necessary or inevitable that the sword must be drawn, then it is better that the opponent be dead and me alive. Or, because he (or she, as we're in the 21st century!) is no longer worthy, unable to wield a sword because of a sudden limb shortage. Or better yet, no longer having any limbs at all, yet still showing an amusing Monty Pythonesque tenacity to continue the fight by attempting to bite off my kneecaps. Anyway, if you live long enough as a samurai, then you could earn a notorious reputation (spawned by the help of all those armless people you just made) that would discourage anyone from fighting you. If that's not victory in the sheath, then I don't know what is.
So background aside, yesterday was the second day of an annual weekend iaido seminar, which includes skill-ranking examinations. The keynote figure was a high-ranking master of iaido from Japan, probably second only to the headmaster of the entire martial art. He has attained 10th dan ranking which is the highest skill level attained under the Japanese ranking system (which doesn't just apply to Japanese martial arts, but other skills like Japanese calligraphy). This makes him pretty old, but he seems to be in good shape to teach us. Being the vice-president of Japan's iaido federation is another item he has in his impressive resume.
After the seminar, there was a social event at The Old Spaghetti Factory, a nice and spacious Italian restaurant in the Gastown district. We had people coming from Victoria to as far as Boston for this seminar, so this was a good chance to mingle, even though each class sat at their respective tables. Dinner was from a set menu, so everyone pays the same price and so no one will have to bicker about the check, or suspect the restaurant of padding the bill (This has actually happened to me before in a Japanese pub. Even though my colleague was good buddies with the owner.).
Unfortunately, the set menu didn't include their delicious sauteed mushrooms. So I had to keep complicating things by begging the waiter to add sauteed mushrooms and put it on my check. The waiter was kind of hesitant, because their usual policy of not allowing additions to the set menu. It was a bit of a hassle, but I assured the people at my table that the sauteed mushrooms were worth the pain. They were skeptical, and some were even drunk enough to show their annoyance at the lengths I would go to get my bowl of sauteed mushrooms. What can I say? The Old Spaghetti Factory's sauteed mushrooms are fucking good.
My co-diners finally got sick of my persistence, to the extent that the guy sitting across from me made up an excuse to the waiter that I came here all the way from North Vancouver just to eat their sauteed mushrooms. Fortunately, the waiter was a nice German guy, and so he at last made an exception for me. When the sauteed mushrooms finally came, everyone could smell the wine, herbs, and spices that the mushrooms were sauteed in. I let them all have a try, and the moment the mushrooms went into their mouths, they agreed that it was worth all the trouble.
Thus, I basically got an entire table of people skilled in the way of the sword hooked on The Old Spaghetti Factory's sauteed mushrooms. And I won them over without drawing my own blade.
Victory in the sheath.
posted by Cosmic Ocean at 1:37 AM
2 Comments:
I dunno man.. you paying extra for sauteed mushrooms but giving away most of it? Hmm.. doesn't sound so victorious to me. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe moral victories mean much more to other people than they mean to me.
Or maybe it only applies to me when it comes to food, quantity of.
I didn't have to give away that many. Besides, there were already so many mushrooms in the bowl that I didn't really notice.
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