Friday, June 25, 2010

stalemate.....

--green samurai by craig mullins


"An episode in the doctrine of kenjutsu, concerning two swordsmen who had evidently delved deeply into the theory and practice of this principle of application, is instructive. When these men met, they both felt an irrepressible urge to test each other's respective skill in swordsmanship. They selected a quiet spot for the encounter, girded themselves for battle, unsheathed their weapons, assumed basic stances and guards, and ... waited. Whenever the one or other would change his posture of readiness to another he felt was better suited to a specific sword attack, the other man would change his posture accordingly. This process of coordinating postures, of adapting to the opponent's strategy and thereby of controlling and neutralizing it from moment to moment, continued until dusk--at which time (or so the story goes) both men burst out laughing, sheathed their swords, and, as peers, went back to town to celebrate a new friendship."

-- as told in Secrets of the Samurai by Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook

1 comment:

  1. Whether real or not, I can't help loving these stories" :D

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