Transparent Power

Published by MAAT Press, South San Francisco, California, USA

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Excerpts

“Through the process of tempering my body, I realized that in abandoning my quest for power, my true strength emerged. I temporarily named this power the Transparent Power.”

“Aiki probably looks mystical because it completely transcends common sense. Without Aiki, all the techniques are simply ordinary and don’t appear in the least mystical.”

“There are all kinds of people in this world. Some give up because something is too difficult, while others become even more engrossed by the challenge and keep searching for a solution.”

“If there’s anyone out there that you can’t beat easily, assume the fault lies in your techniques. You must constantly review them. Never assume your techniques are good enough. Never assume you can simply continue what you’re doing. And never consider yourself a master. The minute you do, all progress will halt.”

“No matter how outstanding someone may be, no one is perfect. Never unquestioningly accept whatever anyone says as the truth. To do so is dangerous because it will make you lose the desire to generate your own ideas. Even when you learn from another, you must engage in critical thinking to develop it further.”

“The worst thing to do is to abort a technique because it’s not going as planned. That’s something you can only do if you forget about the importance of winning. Even if you make a mistake, you can’t do it over again in real combat. If you’re human, you’re bound to make mistakes at times. You must follow through to completion. ”

“Lots of places do something called Aiki, but they are all merely copying the outward form. I haven’t found any places like my dojo that make you use your strength to the maximum—and then defeat you, regardless. That’s because you can’t do that without having real Aiki.”

“You don’t receive the opponent’s force, you prevent him from using it. You don’t let him impinge on you. You don’t bear the brunt of his power. Because of the way this art works, you can use it even when you are old. Aiki completely transcends age, but without Aiki, you can’t perform well when you’re old.”

“You won’t get anywhere by simply repeating the same actions. What good does it do to repeat your mistakes? You must modify technique through self-reflection and figure out why a technique doesn’t work when you’ve done it exactly as you’ve been taught. It’s important to examine and change the parts that don’t work. Just putting in a lot of practice will never do. But people who become good do put in a lot of practice.”

“Bujutsu is not something that you’ll necessarily become good at after a number of years, nor is anyone else going to make you strong. You must tell yourself that you will never allow anyone to defeat you; then you must back up that conviction with training. It won’t do any good to simply repeat the forms of the techniques. They should be steeled with your intention to defeat your opponent. Ultimately, it boils down to a battle between souls. This is true no matter what you do. No matter how much a fainthearted person practices, when push comes to shove, he’s completely helpless. When it comes to actual combat, it’s a matter of cutting or being cut. If you’re timid you’ll be cut right from the get-go.”

“The moment you think you’re good enough you’ll hit a wall; your thinking and progress will stop. By always thinking that you haven’t got it quite right and you need to work more to advance your art, a lot of productive ideas will arise. You must never think that what you have done so far is enough”