Thread: Ueshiba quote
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Old 09-03-2004, 09:29 AM   #9
saltlakeaiki
 
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Re: Ueshiba quote

Quote:
josh phillipson wrote:
David - May I ask what the quote was?
Sorry for the delay. The quote comes from a book called The Japanese Art of War: Understanding the Culture of Strategy, by Thomas Cleary - a very interesting book. From p. 76
Quote:
Yagyu (trans. Cleary) wrote:
Throwing down your sword is also an art of war. If you have attained mastery of swordlessness, you will never be without a sword. The opponent's sword is your sword. This is acting at the vanguard of the moment.
The part that struck me when I read it, and which I would like to be able to quote in Japanese , is the 2nd sentence of that. Yagyu goes on:
Quote:
It is not a matter of insistently trying to wrest away what is being deliberately kept from your grasp. Not to grasp (the opponent's) attempt to keep hold (of the sword) is also "swordlessness." Someone who is intent on not having (his sword) taken away forgets what he's opposed to and just tries to avoid having (his sword) taken away, so he can't manage to kill anyone.

Swordlessness is not the art of taking another's sword. Its purpose is to use all tools freely. If you are even able to take away another's sword when you are unarmed, and make it your own, then what will not be useful in your hands?
.

Dave

If it wasn't for the goat, you couldn't get in here for propaganda!
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