Amatai no Shugo-ryū: Goals, Ki, and State of Mind

  

      Achieving our two essential goals in the practice of Amatai no Shugo-ryu, that is the cutting of an opponent while avoiding being cut and the perfection of character, require an keen awareness of both the physical and mental aspects of each interaction between training partners or opponents.  Equally important is the ability to feel the exchange of energy, ki, between the participants.  One’s state of mind is critical to this; for, a negative state of mind will interfere with one’s ability to achieve the purpose of each exercise in practice.   Anger, impatience and selfishness can limit one’s awareness and prevent them from determining their opponent’s intent.

      On the other hand, proper practice does have a significant, positive effect on one’s state of mind.  By putting one’s body and mind into action through the practice of kata and drills, while being focused on the key elements and asking one’s self questions about one’s strategy, the tendency is to disrupt anger and promote patience and cooperation.  Happiness, patience and cooperation:  all make the smooth flow of ki between training partners possible; therefore, each person is better able to react properly.

      The more one is able to live in the moment and put aside all irrelevant thoughts and respond intuitively to perceived subtle changes of strength or weakness, the more one is able to sense the ki.  To achieve such a state of mind is not easy; however, once one is really aware of the ki component in Kenjutsu, one can then begin to learn to control their attacker’s intent.

      This is a valuable goal and it is not by chance that the same qualities one develops in the dojo will help them to become better people outside.  Those who truly seek enlightenment, the “Way”, as Miyamoto Musashi put it, try hard to develop specific qualities within themselves:  to live within the moment, to put aside irrelevant thought, and to allow intuition to guide them to correct action.  As one studies Amatai no Shugo-ryū, they can attain a similar state of mind both inside the dojo and when they leave at the end of the day.