The other schools get along with this as a performance art, as a method of making a living, as a colorful decoration, or as a means of forcing flowers to bloom. Yet, can it be the true Way if it has been made into a saleable item?
Wind is about other martial arts schools and a critique of them. To know The Way you must know others in contrast. Musashi calls out McDojos, and trainers generally, in thinking the martial arts are about weapon handling, techniques, moves. The true Way is about understanding, strategy, tactics, disposition. He believes you cannot learn to win by learning technique alone.
This chapter is a critique of the other styles and why Musashi believes his is the unfailing Way. I believe we’ll find those criticisms analogous to the modern training industry, YouTubers, and gun-world fads. We’re warned to avoid convolution in technique as superior to something simple and effective. Wisdom is in heeding Musashi’s warnings.
Carrying a Long Sword The long-sword is the tachi, sometimes called a daikatana. A 2-handed, long sword that is somewhat the Japanese version of the Claymore. A scaled up katana wielded on the battlefield in open spaces. Musashi tells us that practitioners of martial arts requiring the tachi depend on the length of their swords to gain advantage. One of Musashi’s famous duels, and his last formal duel, was against a swordsman famous for his longer than usual sword, using that reach to keep outside of his opponent’s striking range. On the journey to the island where the duel was to occur Musashi carved an oar into the rough shape of a sword, just slightly longer than the longsword master’s. Upon reaching the island Musashi clubbed his opponent to death with the former oar rather than drawing his own sword. The reliance on the length of his weapon left the longsword master vulnerable to someone playing his own game even unpracticed.
Musashi’s description of the mindset of one who prefers the long sword over a short one, is that of the narrow mind. It’s a reliance on equipment and avoiding situations where your preferred equipment does not function well. Acting like those situations cannot occur and with no game plan if they do. He describes situations where the longsword fails and is unwieldy where one using a shorter sword will have the advantage. Musashi doesn’t have a problem with the tachi as a weapon as he uses one himself. He dislikes narrowness of mind and one sidedness in a martial art. For us, I think of people who insist they will stay at long range and never need to clear a building. The shooter that states confidently “I’ll hit em at 600 where that flashy gee wiz shooting doesn’t matter”. Or, that their DMR rifle is just fine at all possible tasks thrown at it, there is no reason to learn to wield a bullpup or short rifle generally. Maybe use a handgun as a clearing tool. There’s no end to examples like this and they are the height of fuddery. We’re encouraged to investigate this thoroughly.
Using the Sword Forcefully “There should be no such thing as forceful or weak strokes with the sword.” Handing your weapon with a forceful frame of mind will be rough or you will try to use unreasonable strength. For we gunfighters, think flinching and pulling shots around the target. Think the gun when it takes you for a ride, you grip more forcefully, tighten up, but it gets worse. We over-think what we are doing and we miss. We should think of placing rounds and then they arrive naturally. The goal is to recognize there will be an equal reaction to anything you do, including over-reaction thus equalizing out whatever excessive efforts you make with an over-reaction of it’s own that you must equalize. Do not over-do anything.
Using the Short Sword Another discussion of the varying lengths of swords and the faults in the thinking of someone that unreasonably prefers one over another. Often with a belief in a fantasy scenario that has not occurred or will not occur. It reminds me of a lot of the arguments on the internet over specific types of rifles. This is the one-sided thinking. The perfect scenario to justify your preference, brand loyalty, or necessity of buying a particular piece of kit. Especially one very specialized.
“Aiming at unguarded moments can be considered the same as being constantly on the defensive.”
Thinking you will rush into an area with a light, small maneuverable weapon and take trophies of more well (and appropriately) kitted opponents is fantasy. You become entangled dealing with the weaknesses of your loadout and cannot really take advantage of the strengths. You find yourself leaping around constantly on defense as you are underpowered. Musashi’s martial art has you attacking directly, and decisively, crushing your opponents quickly with vigor using the correct tools for the job. Musashi wants you to push around opponents and subjugate them, not be pushed around by them by parrying, evading, withdrawing, dodging. Consider how these ideas may relate to modern day and modern tactics. Consider how movies, video games, and TV show and encourage this, where real life punishes it heavily.
Using Many Techniques Many techniques makes a style into a saleable item. Many techniques and tricks is impressive to the beginner. Having too many methods confuses the mind in the moment the techniques are needed. Simplicity is key. Another plus for ECQC with Craig Douglas. A million perfect techniques is inferior to one good one. In the moment of contact you do not have time to observe, select, and execute from a million. If your one is effective, you can essentially skip D in OODA as there is no decision to make. “In this world, there are no extraordinary ways of cutting someone down.” Musashi tells us to bend and warp our opponent, particularly their minds, not ourselves when using our weapons. Attack in a straight-forward and decisive way. Investigate this thoroughly. Think of how this applies to landing projectiles in an opponent in an effective way. What of the techniques and styles we are taught are over-complicating matters in order to make something saleable?
Using Other Stances Musashi’s way is the Stance-No-Stance. There are no hard rules of where to position, how to stand, how to hold your weapon, how to move from there. There’s no choreography, no direction. Only flexibility, adaptability, and speed. If you rely on stances, if you rely on placement, rely on a particular move at the right time to take you to a certain place, you are always on the defensive and over-thinking. Even in your offense, you are on the defensive. He mentions not relying on flat ground, hard ground, places clear of obstacles or obstructions. If your fighting style requires a particular stance then a change in environment or footing will be your undoing.
I believe for a gunfighter the first time we feel Stance-No-Stance is when we figure out that we can remove pieces from the five fundamentals of fire and still stack rounds. The only piece I have not figured out how to remove is a superior grip. With a strong, well built grip, trigger control can be terrible, sights are unnecessary at many ranges, foot placement does not matter (you can be in a full run and still hit what you want), and follow-through happens on its own by nature of the gun not really moving in the first place. Of course I can remove grip, but then follow through, trigger control, and sights are important. The only piece that seems to not matter after novice phase is where the feet go. Which is great because this means I can move and fire whenever I wish or need. Musashi encourages us to be unexpected. By having no stance we will do things like fashion or exploit improvised weapons in our environment. We will not think we are supposed to use only the weapon brought with us, or the one currently in our hand if disadvantageous. We will not narrow our minds into how we expect things to go and stand in place using our techniques exactly as required to practice on the range. Of course we are encouraged to investigate this thoroughly.
Fixing the Eyes The big picture is what is important. At the beginning this section reads as “do not tunnel”. Styles that tell you to watch the hands, or the eyes, the feet, your opponent’s weapon are all wrong. You need to do all of these things simultaneously as well as looking at the environment around you, and into your opponent’s mind. As the section continues we’re instructed further to see and sense the big picture. To observe not see. Focusing narrowly on fine detail will cause one to miss the big picture, become confused, or obsessed with that detail and be robbed of sure victory. I believe culturally we are conditioned to over-focus on the fine through stories of people that photographically observe a whole scene and recall specific details when prompted. We are told to be impressed by the detective that noticed one tiny small detail. While this can be a useful skill, and sometimes necessary, this over-focus on detail often causes you to miss more than you find. In reality one tends to find their undoing on focusing on something that does not matter, or over-focusing on trying to find details and miss something obvious that is important. Investigate thoroughly and put it into practice.
Use of the Feet To continue the convoluted nature of other styles, Musashi describes how different ways of stepping are taught. Leaping, rapid-fire, skittering, and more. The correct way to step is stable, natural. If you think about how you move your feet or how you will leap or stutter step, you concentrate on that rather than how you wield your weapon and the actions of your opponent. Try this the next time you’re able to shoot and move. Fire on the target while walking forward directly at it. Pay attention to the duck walk to make your sights as stable as possible. Next walk naturally. Not fast, not slow, naturally. Fire on the target when you believe you will strike it. One will feel easier, and likely more effective. It’s probably the natural one. It will be neither too fast or too slow. It may feel too fast but concentrating on slowing down will make it difficult to shoot again. We’re advised once again it is key to move such you see the moment of your opponent’s collapse and strike decisively giving no opportunity to collect himself.
Speed “Concerning speed, we say that something is fast or slow depending on whether it misses the rhythm of things.” A trained person will not appeared hurried, nor will they be slow. Moving incredibly quickly for the sake of speed alone is a circus trick. Many cliches fit here such as slow is smooth, smooth is fast; economy of motion; you cannot miss fast enough. It is a good tactic to hurry your opponent, or make them believe that you are much faster than they are and it is essential they take action right now or they will die. Of course when they do this they walk right into your sights in a hurried and reckless manner. With a sword if you cut too quickly you will not cut at all, so too is true with our firearms. If you shoot too quickly, especially breaking your first shot too soon you will miss, and continue to miss as you attempt to catch up to your previous misses causing a compounding problem. We’re told to put ourselves in the mind of Pressing Down the Pillow (Fire Chapter), and we will not go slowly at all but still the correct speed. We are cautioned to not allow ourselves to be hurried by an opponent. Especially one deploying indiscriminate speed. We must become tranquil, avoid his bait, and smite him.
Interior and Exterior Not related to fighting in and around structures. Instead the concept of secret techniques and secret Ways that exist in a Martial Art. Techniques and abilities for the beginner and those for the advanced or initiated, sometimes differing. Musashi thinks this is stupid. He believes the true master can take a beginner in the Way, teach them true principles, and the student will know victory. The principles for the beginner are built upon and remain relevant and true forever. That the deeper principles will come upon the acquisition of wisdom, skill, and true knowledge. That the more complicated and esoteric become accessible by experience, not ritual, passage, or especially payment. Musashi airs his dislike of teachings coming with contracts of retribution and swearings of oaths. I think Musashi insinuates that the true masters give of their knowledge freely. Not using this knowledge as a teaser to sale a product or service, but genuinely trying to put their knowledge into the world and help those coming up. The Book of Five Rings and Way of Walking Alone are Musashi living this belief.
Observing the strength of knowledge of the person studying this Way, I teach him what is correct, have him discard the failings of the various other styles of the martial arts, and direct him naturally into the True Way of the practices of the warrior with no doubts in his mind. This is my way of teaching the martial arts.
Musashi finishes in that he did not name any styles on purpose, as he expected he would be read in the future and things will change, but the principles do not. The focus on the true nature of combat as if it were Natural Law is why this work about sword fighting in feudal Japan applies to 21st century gunfighters in the United States just the same. He adds that one should not be narrow or pledge allegiance to a particular school or way, as even those within it will differ in their opinions. Some of these opinions more correct than others, yet simultaneously all too narrow.
There is no ultimate technique, no ultimate stance. No one is invincible, undefeatable, or immortal, including you.
Upon reflection on this chapter I realize it makes a direct critique to a critical problem of our time. People who see expertise as certification, oaths of loyalty, participation in courses or classes, being in good standing with the establishment… probably have something to sell you or are justifying their own expenditure of wealth. It’s genital measuring with pieces of paper and receipts for money spent, because actual ability may or may not be present. A professor tells you that you absolutely cannot know their topic, because you haven’t taken their class or a class from someone they respect. No possible way you could have expertise not derived from theirs. There are whole industries, maybe our whole society at this point set up as you are not good enough if you do not own this item, take this course, and burn hours/days/months/years of your life with approved organization(s) dedicated to these purposes (Military, Police, University, etc).
Next Void (Emptiness).