Proving the Obviously Untrue

I recently had a conversation with some people who wondered if there could be any place for compassion in the martial arts in general, and certainly in Iaido, or Japanese swordsmanship in particular.

It may be useful to start by considering the idea of Bushido, or "the Way of the Warrior". A lot of people have heard about Bushido, but often through a very distorted perspective. This is not least because the ideas have been smeared by the inexcusable behaviour of some Japanese in the Second World War. These individuals were not, by the way, samurai. That class had long since been dissolved in the Meiji Restoration.

The closest analogous concept for us in the West is that of Chivalry and the word has similar linguistic roots. Now, we do not believe that Christian knights always behaved in a way that was above reproach, do we? Certainly not, but we do not throw out the baby with the bath water. The legend of Arthur is a romanticised and idealised idea of chivalry but one that has inspired many to better conduct.

Bushido lists seven virtues (some say the seven folds in a hakama represent these), which I will borrow the listing of from wikipedia rather than mess with the kanji myself:

• Rectitude (義, gi^?)
• Courage (勇, yuu^?)
• Benevolence (仁, jin^?)
• Respect (礼, rei^?)
• Honesty (誠, makoto or 信 shin^?)
• Honor (誉, yo^?)
• Loyalty (忠, chuu^?)

Do you find any of this list surprising? It might temper your view of how a warrior might see himself. Perhaps you did not expect respect and benevolence to make such a list.

I think it's a nice list to consider with a martial art like aikido which is a modern budo that seeks to avoid gratuitous damage to the "opponent". For the practitioners of such an art, it provides a compass for our behaviour. I constantly emphasise the importance of compassion in aikido when I teach, and strive to embody it in practice. There are actually pragmatic and selfish reasons why this behaviour is martially more effective; you do not damage joints you need to effect control; you do not provoke responses you need to contain and so on. Some might argue if compassion with self-interest is still compassion. The concept of cause and effect, or karma provides a strong incentive for acting appropriately, isn't it a bonus that it is not merely "right" but also effective?

But the sword is not a weapon designed to control or subdue but to kill. There is a Japanese word katsujinken, the sword that gives life. What can that mean? It can have many meanings. It could mean to not use the sword when not necessary, to fight without fighting.

Compassion requires the love of others. I feel I have long understood that. It has taken me longer to realise it also implies the love of one's self, and I still struggle with the consequences of that. Compassion can manifest itself in many ways. Exercising compassion may require hard and apparently brutal choices to avoid greater suffering caused by another path. Such choices can be be traumatic for the one who acts as well as to those whom it appears to affect the most. Reconsider the list of seven virtues in that context if you will. The samurai were required to take quick, just decisions, and see them through, with all that entailed.

To assist another as they commit Seppuku was (it is now illegal in Japan) an act of respect, benevolence and compassion. There are many stories of samurai acting as seconds for both their closest friends, and their defeated enemies to shorten their suffering. To regretfully, but decisively take a life to protect one's own can be an act of compassion (to one's self), and in many cases as an act to protect the lives of many innocent others.

A final thought from the modern era. If you found yourself in a hijacked plane post 2001, with the split second opportunity and means to kill the hijacker, would it not be a compassionate act to swiftly and decisively kill that person before they could take any action to kill so many others? Might it not even be an act of compassion towards that person and their family?

If you seek mastery of the sword, seek first sincerity of the heart, for the former is but a reflection of the latter.

Iwakura Yoshinori

Posted by Colin Turner

Ok, ok, bear with me here .

Allen Baird and Rory O'Connor will be offering a personal development seminar in Belfast on the 17th October, but with a twist. Like a previous event that Allen has offered, the whole thing is steeped in metaphors related to the Star Wars movies, in order to put over some serious ideas in an accessible and fun way.

The event will explore lots of concepts like non violent communication, body language, assertiveness among others. I will be offering a slot at the end with a little aikido, to explain how it physically embodies some of the other concepts in resolving conflict with a minimum of force. And I'll be helping John Donaldson demonstrate some iaido, and finally we'll have some fun (I hope) with the lightsabers Allen and Rory are giving out to to the delegates as part of the package.

And then, we will go home and rethink our lives.

Posted by Colin Turner

For those not acquainted by martial arts. The title is a bit of a weak play on words, since "ukemi" means something like "receiving through the body". Uke is generally the receiver of a technique and thus the attacker in aikido, whereas the nage is the thrower to use one possible word.

Ukemi is important in Aikido. You will spend literally half your training time attacking and then "receiving" the technique, and all of these aspects can be lumped under the title of ukemi. It's a difficult balance to get right in aikido. It is learned in a very cooperative nature, and so the idea (for some) is be an "appropriate" attacker for each training partner, tailoring your attack to each. Thus, for a student on their first night, you might actually move the student's arms to help them learn the "throw".

Issues tend to arise more in pairings between non beginners. Some advocate that as an uke you can learn aikido by blending completely with the nage. I personally prefer an approach of attacking in a way I believe is probably appropriate for a "normal" attacker, and then protecting myself and blending in the aftermath. I'm probably slightly above average height, weight and strength and so a good model of an attacker, and perhaps somewhat harder to throw.

Having said that, I do not prevent people from throwing me. I just don't strive to throw myself, blending so completely that every throw seems to "work" perfectly no matter what.

Recently I received a fair amount of verbal and non verbal (expressions and so on) criticism from a student of about a year's experience about the "awkwardness" of my ukemi. I think in retrospect I should have indicated that unhelpful, non constructive criticism is as unpleasant and counterproductive for me as to anyone else. I did however, rather unhelpfully, suggest "you might want to consider that I am not the whole problem". I was exasperated at the fact that this person thought I was trying to stop her from throwing me, when in fact I was trying to help her explore where things were going well and where they were not. The exasperation was not helped by my conviction (rightly or wrongly) that if I really wanted to stop her from throwing me, I could have done so very easily.

The reality is, there are very, very few people to whom I would give concerted "awkwardness" to stop them throwing me, and those are among the people whose aikido I respect the very most, and it would be something I would do rarely, and as a gift to that person (and because it can be a great deal of fun once you are comfortable with another person!). If you're reading this, you know who you are! If I'm trying to be "awkward", you'll know about it.

When I hit 3rd Kyu (around the middle of the white belt grades), I took a decision I simply wasn't going to worry about awkward ukes any more. It's my problem to deal with the uke, not theirs. And now a good few years later (about nine) I find myself teaching Aikido, I emphasise this point to all the students in our club, and it's very much our philosophy. Nevertheless, there are times I am training with another when I don't "finish" a technique when I feel their ukemi doesn't allow it. Those are times when I feel I would have to be profoundly unkind to do so, or potentially injure someone, especially when the person is (in my opinion) unaware of their own danger. Mostly however, I believe in the importance of finishing, providing I'm not putting my ego above the uke's safety.

But I believe awkward (but realistic) ukemi is a gift to receive gratefully, that some people I train with, though I like them very much personally, are so intent on blending perfectly with everything I do before I do it, that I am deprived of a chance to learn from my mistakes. I suppose I should have, with humble sincerity, explained this to my training partner. Better luck next time.

Posted by Colin Turner