9—Reflections on a Katana – The Japanese Pursuit of Performative Mastery

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Shigematsu (1981, 23).

2. Laozi (1996, chapter 11, 32).

3. Deshimaru (1991, 78).

4. Of course, as happens with generalizations, this is easily falsified, we need only think of Shikibu Murasaki’s Tale of Genji (源氏物語 Genji monogatari), touted as the world’s first novel. There are, however, recognizable patterns that sustain these generalizations.

5. See Perrin’s (1979) Giving Up the Gun for an account of the Japanese reversal from the gun to the sword. Japan is the only culture that has deliberately given up technologically advantageous warfare technology, and this due to a number of normative factors that included aesthetic, martial, and ethical considerations. See the next essay for further elaboration in the context of situatedness.

6. I am very grateful to Fukasawa Koyo for his explanations regarding this complex terminology and his patient consideration of all my questions.

7. Following Japanese custom, family name is given first; with some historical figures first name is used afterward.

8. Yuasa has developed the most sophisticated analysis of shintai, in recent Japanese thought. Nagatomo Shigenori’s Attunement Through the Body (1992) gives a clear and thorough account of Yuasa’s views. Nagatomo’s own views are expressed in this book as well. Space limitations preclude integrating his otherwise original and insightful ideas.

9. Context helps determine the sense in which to read different kanji with the same pronunciation, as here with shinshin; alternatively we can have the same kanji but different words and concepts, as with shin 身 and mi 身.

10. I happily learned about this coincidence with the much more elegant Japanese changeable emphasis once I had adopted the bracketing convention for bodymind. I am thankful to Aramaki Ai for pointing this out, as well as for her help with ensuring the correctness of the kanji concerning the bodymind terms.

11. Interestingly, in consideration of the role that swordsmanship plays below, Mi, in addition to the body as one’s self and station or condition of life, also takes the meaning of the edge of a sword blade (Hepburn 1873, 164). Mi bun refers to social position in the sense of rank or condition (Ibid.).

12. He directly influenced Foucault’s ideas on the care of the self (1988) and power (1979, 1980) and Bordieu’s on the habitus (1984). See Ilundáin-Agurruza 2008 for an analysis of the Athletic body and the bodies of athletes in terms of aesthetics and power relations.

13. To further contrast, West and East consider the issue of the mind/body relationship as it relates to free will. The Occidental view of this relationship places it on the empirical level, neuroscience probes the brain for clues to our mental life, and free will is seen as either being present or not: your choice to read these words right now is conceptualized in terms of whether free will is operative depending on whether causality is binding at all levels. The Japanese stance finds a correlative interaction between mind and body that implies there are degrees of freedom, whether you are more or less compelled to read this hangs on a number of factors, foremost among these being whether you have good or better reasons to justify it (this essay being really interesting being a very good and self-serving one for both of us). See Nishida (1990) for a contemporary elucidation of this.

14. Yuasa (1987) expounds on their views in chapters six and seven. See also the last essay and the appendix for further analysis of fasting of the self.

15. These concepts are deeply intertwined with Chinese practices, and these in turn derive from Indian Hindu and Buddhist ones. This is too complex to discuss presently. See Ilundáin-Agurruza and Hata (2015) for a discussion of related issues in the context of Eastern and sport philosophies.

16. Some claims of ‘superhuman’ strength or ability, such as the ‘unraisable body,’ where three people cannot lift the sensei, can be explained through physics. What may seem mysterious is simply good technique aligned with the forces of physics. See Daniel (2004).

17. ‘Swordmanship’ covers both genders presently. Unlike other adaptations such as ‘sportspersonship,’ the epithet ‘swordspersonship’ proves too cumbersome even for the most open ears.

18. In Japan, each different part of the sword is crafted by a different person, with a swordsmith forging the blade, the polisher sharpening and giving it the mirror finish, another person making the saya (鞘) scabbard out of wood, etc. Yoshihara was a maverick that mastered all the arts and could make a complete sword. Michael Bell is another consummate artist who also makes the whole katana, from blade to accouterments such as the koshirae 拵え. I have been fortunate to forge two blades with him and learn much about the making of katana and its rich tradition. For samples of his splendid work, see http://dragonflyforge.com/photo-galleries/katana-photo-gallery/.

19. This has been attributed to a number of people, such as Benjamin Franklin, George Bernard Shaw, and others. Apparently, the original source is Karl Groos. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Growing_old (accessed October 12, 2014).

20. Tengu were mythical creatures, half-human half-bird that inhabited the forests and came in different degrees of mischievousness, from the prankster to the dangerous. They were famous and feared for their martial skills.

21. Courage is here seen as a central virtue that permeates our whole character, with bravery in the physically active portion being instrumental to it (I follow McNamee [2008] in this).

22. This distinction is relevant for the discussion of the articulation of experience in essay 10.

23. From early on, Nishida emphasizes religion, among many reasons, because it is a phenomenon familiar to all (1987a). But his views apply deeply across the board. His coinages are difficult to translate, and there are various versions for many of them. Presently, I choose those that best fit the underlying argumentative tenor of this project or that are clearest for the concept at hand. When citing, the translator’s choice is used.

24. See Ilundáin-Agurruza, Fukasawa, and Takemura (2014) for a discussion of Nishida and sport philosophy.

25. Becker has a fairly critical view of Suzuki on account of historical inaccuracies and for muddling terminology (1982, 24 & 28 fn. 6). This is true to some extent. But Becker’s (at times caustic) demeanor is prone to throw the baby with the bathwater. Outright dismissal is not advisable either; there are insights to be gleaned from a cross-sectional analysis of his words with those of other writers as well as conceptual analysis, as done presently.

26. See Ilundáin-Agurruza (forthcoming-a) for an analysis of risk activities in terms of self-knowledge in an East–West comparative framework.

27. Shrewdly, Mike McNamee remarks how, after all the subtle conceptual distinctions, this is the same word as when counting the numerical; rather than a different or specific ‘one’ attuned to organic complexity.

28. For more in-depth discussions of mushin in relation to flow, see Krein and Ilundáin-Agurruza (2014); in connection with Eastern philosophy generally, see Ilundáin-Agurruza and Hata (2015); and in relation to choking in sports, see Ilundáin-Agurruza (forthcoming-a).

29. This is a short but complex text of notoriously difficult translation. See Takuan (1985, 1986, 2005). Sato's translation (Takuan 1985) has a commentated translation; Cleary’s (2005) translation is also annotated. Much the same applies to Yagyū Munenori’s treatise, of which the following are recommended (1986, 1993, 2003, 2005, 2008). Suzuki (1993) translates most of Takuan’s work and paraphrases many of Munenori’s key ideas. Similarly, for Musashi’s book recommended translations are 1993 and 2004, and Tokitsu's 2011 translation.

30. Asian thought and praxes have broad theoretical affinities with a radically enactive view of cognition as contentless that stays close to our experiential dynamics. It has traditionally been suspicious of language as an adequate method toward the truths of experience. This does not mean that we should do away with attempts to articulate experience, as essay 10 discusses. Also, we need to distinguish between an account of these experiences and of highly refined skills themselves in terms of nonrepresentational capacities, and the very articulation of this, which, of course, is propositional.

31. The underlying assumption is that non-thinking or lack of content needs to be subpersonal, unconscious, and automatic. This is that false dichotomy again. Unsurprisingly, and like Suzuki, he says in the very next page that, ‘Only consciousness can seize upon the opportunity for action, the empty space in which one must act’ (Ibid., 33). Deshimaru also makes the erroneous claim that martial arts happen in a flash while in sports there is a moment of doubt (Ibid.). Wertz corrects this (1991, 132).

32. They consider how engaging in martial arts promotes moral character, no-violence, and leads to enlightenment. They associate the latter to Samādhi and satori, which they relate, problematically, to the analytic clarity of the Cartesian methodology (1979 27–28), since the overly rational process they describe leaves the bodymind behind.

33. In his 1991 book, he incorporates expanded versions of both.

34. See Tamaki’s (2010) interview of Kono Yoshinori for his interesting and iconoclastic reflections on this.

35. For an alternative comparative consideration of sport and martial arts, see Ilundáin-Agurruza and Hata (2015). To summarize briefly some of the more pertinent differences not mentioned presently: the West emphasizes physiological quantitative approaches and psychological techniques inclusive of neuroimaging, and there is a preponderance of explicit instruction. It also stresses training (keikō), and flow states are ancillary and secondary to results in competition (or health is chief for many non-competitive sportspeople). Emotional control and temperance are secondary to performance as outbursts by amateurs and professionals alike show; sometimes these are means toward victory, i.e. consider trash talking and verbal intimidation. On the other side, Asian traditional ways center on shugyō, see results as less important than the process, and bodymind integration prevails. Additionally, spiritual meaning and emotional control are crucial for the martial arts, see Yuasa (1993).

36. The recent 2011 scandal in sumo wrestling is an exception that also validates Morgan’s analysis in the Japanese scene, since finances were central. Interestingly, yet unsurprisingly, given the Confucian communitarian values in Japan, it also differed radically from the more individualistic Western model in that many of the fixed matches were arranged to help opponents either move up or not lose their standing or job. In a way, this also then stands in contrast to Western prevalent mores and may signal how Western sporting, individualizing, and free market values may be a pernicious influence as Morgan contends.

37. Incidentally, this can be fruitfully contrasted with Kant’s ideas on genius.

38. We could compare martial arts to other sports in terms of number of injuries and their seriousness. Martial arts are on the whole safer and less injury prone than other sports. In mixed martial arts, ‘The injury rate in MMA competitions is compatible with other combat sports involving striking. The lower knockout rates in MMA compared to boxing may help prevent brain injury in MMA events’ (Bledsoe et al. 2006). This can easily be extrapolated to other combat forms in martial arts. There are always risks associated with injuries from sprains or misdirected hits, but this is not the kind of danger Bäck is considering, as his target are dangerous sports.