Charles


Good points about why the weapon arts--specifically katana--are so focused on what seems to be "little things."

Interesting about the "Zen being necessary part of martial arts training."

As you are no doubt aware Zen is somewhat of a "late comer" to Japanese koryu.

Some koryu are Shinto, Taoist, or otther more esotric forms of Buddism, based.

Charles,

You didn't seem at all defensive to me. I found your posts on the subject to be both interesting and informative. I learned from reading them.

I can certainly see your point about weapons arts and empty hand arts being totally different as far as intensity of concentration demanded, although I have never had the opportunity to experience this first hand. I guess the closest thing I am familiar with would be close quarters pistol shooting. You would be amazed how many people have shot themselves through the hand attempting to practice this. Then again, given your background, maybe you wouldn't. It's just not hard to do if you are not extremely conscious of your muzzle discipline.

While empty hand combat does carry the possiblity that someone may not make it home alive, sword combat carries the certainty. While I sometimes feel that training empty hand against the knife is very mentally demanding, we don't do this with a live blade. In the end, it only demands as much attention as we are willing to give it, as a rubber knife in the belly is not the end of the world. It's not at all like working with tools where one momentary lapse of concentration can leave you maimed for life.

At any rate, thank you for taking the time to share some of your information with me. It's people like you who make it worth wading through the trolls to get the occasional nugget worth filing away for my own benefit.

Take care.

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