but they will never use.
The second part of the morning ritual consists of exercises in the art of swordsmanship.
The Japanese call this Iai Jutsu, the art of drawing the sword.
Even now life in Japan is lived on the floor,
so it's natural to start fighting techniques from a kneeling position.
Also, at night a kneeling person is harder to see.
While he practices, Master Itaki always imagines that there is an attacker before him,
and aims his blows at precise points of the attacker's body.
His sword strokes are aimed to kill.
After each group of strokes, part of the technique is to shake the blood from the sword
before returning it to the scabbard.
He never takes his eyes from his imaginary enemy.
The exercise is a plan to counter an attack from any direction.
To be effective, the art must be used by a warrior who has developed his willpower.
I was looking for a tiger, and I was wandering in the jungle every night.
Then I saw a tiger sleeping in the jungle.
I thought, this must be the tiger that killed my lover.
I shot the tiger, and it was a
chair that was often laid down by the tiger.
The villagers were surprised by the chair.
They said, let's try it again.
I said, no, I can't do it again.
I knew it was a chair, so I couldn't do it again.
I was so angry that I threw a gun at the tiger.
All samurai sought perfection with the sword,
not only in the fighting techniques, but in the weapons themselves.
The samurai and the swordsmith worked together to develop the exquisite, deadly Japanese sword.
Sword making reached its peak of skill by the 14th century.
The process starts with a lump of crude iron.
It is purified by hammer blows and by pouring a liquid made from ash over it.
There are six men working in Japan now who can make swords to the standard of perfection of the old masters,
and Yoshihara-san is one of them.
Making a sword is a religious act, a blending of faith and skill,
and the result is a work of art.
A blade made by Yoshihara-san is worth about 10,000 pounds.
Most of them are bought by collectors and, to his regret, put straight into bank vaults.
The art of making a Japanese sword lies in the folding of the metal.
It is folded up to 30 times, which makes millions of layers.
Out of this process comes the lightness and strength of the blade.
After the folding, the lump is beaten into its final shape.
The swordsmith makes only the blade.
Other craftsmen finish the polishing and sharpening and make the scabbard, hilt, and guard.
Master Atake's own sword is 600 years old, and the guard is 400 years old.
Both were made by famous craftsmen.
The whole assembly is held together by just one small bamboo peg.
Everything about the sword is practical.
The beauty of its shape exists because an elegant curve is strong and cuts well.
The groove is cut into it to lighten the weapon without weakening it,
and to prevent suction gripping the sword in a wound.
All teaching sessions at the school start with practice in the art of the sword.
The students practice the exercises in their own time, but always watched by Master Atake.
It takes many years to attain speed and precision to get the control needed to stop the sword instantly in a focused cut.
Perhaps the hardest of all is to learn the relaxed balance that allows the body to spin so quickly.
To practice the techniques of combat, the school uses wooden swords, bokken, so that a mistake does not cause injury or death.
Their teaching is based on the weak points of Japanese armor,
which for the sake of flexibility did not protect the blood vessels on the insides of the arms and legs.
Their purpose is very different from the sword-based sport of kendo,
where the strikes are aimed at the protected part of the body.
On the omi Ma Sa major opposite of the lower back, the moves have been artistic, but are alsoBra schedules.
So you cut it like this.
EI!
Yes.
EI!
You take the one that comes to you and put it in your neck.
You do it like this in the training.
You take it and...
The body of a human is the inside of the
all the
body of a human is the inside of
the
the whole.
So you cut this.
This is the rusted iron plate.
This is rusted iron.
So you put this in between.
This is the part that falls.
Yesterday, when I was
rusted and my foot was taken off the ground,
I cut my eye, so I was angry.
So you stand up,
and you dodge, and you do the face.
And then you turn your head and come to your waist.
You dodge the body and you do the face.
You can do one more.
You see?
You take this and come to your neck.
You do this. You take this and you do the face.
You are in a circle.
Now you do the face.
EI!
You dodge the body,
and you do the face.
You take this and you do the face.
EI!
This is the part that doesn't come back.
It takes Otaki Sensei many hours to explain fully the meaning of one pattern of cuts,
and 13 seconds to do them at proper speed.
To enable contact training without striking their training partner,
they redirect some cuts to engage their partner's sword.
Each strike is simultaneously attack and defense.
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
The students practice many different sequences of strokes.
Each sequence is called a kata.
They never practice free sparring due to the danger of serious injury.
They always aim the blows at the weak points in the armor.
Although they don't wear armor except on special occasions.
EI!
YAH!
EI!
Master Otaki has two sons.
This is the eldest, Nobutoshi.
Both have been trained all their lives and they are now both very skilled.
The first katas they studied employ single swords.
They learn the basic types of cuts, slashes and parries first.
Then move on to the finer skills in the more difficult katas.
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
YAH!
EI!
or the fact that they defeated many people.
There is a boom in the number of people who are born with a disability.
But most of the people who are born with a disability are writers or novelists.
They are all fiction.
90% of the people who are born with a disability are fiction.
In reality, it is not publicized.
There are no formal teaching sessions.
The students work in pairs.
There being only room for two or three pairs at a time.
Each pair works through a series of cartas, and then their place is taken by another pair.
All teaching is individual and is by demonstration.
There are many schools in Japan that teach the samurai martial arts, more than a thousand of them.
However, in most of these, the techniques are so ritualized that it is hard to see them being used in a real fight.
At this school, the oldest of them all, they are still truly martial.
The students are not allowed to forget that men died to learn what they are being taught.
The status of the school depends upon the ability of the teaching master.
This means that Master Itaki must be at the center of focus in any study of the school.
Yet he dislikes such a concentration on himself.
For him, it is the school that is important.
He sees himself as the servant of the teaching and knowledge preserved by it.
The school has great status in Japan.
It is an intangible cultural asset, a sort of living national trust property.
Once, most of the students used to be farmers from the area.
Now, many come from nearby cities or even Tokyo two or three times a week.
They come from a range of occupations, teachers, dentists, businessmen, accountants.
There have never been many of them.
At the moment, there are only about 50 active members.
The school has always accepted any student who was prepared to study seriously.
Though all the teachings were one secret, there was never any question of limiting the training to the Japanese hereditary samurai class.
Students pay a small fee to join and an equally small regular contribution.
New members must sign an oath before joining the school.
The rules of the blood oath are, do not lie, be discreet even amongst your family,
do not argue or fight or be impolite, avoid bad places at all costs, do not fight until qualified,
and keep your oath or be punished by the god of the temple.
The rules of the blood oath, like everything else about the school, were laid down by the founder, Master Choei Sai.
Master Choei Sai was buried here in 1488 at the age of 102.
Around him are buried many generations of the masters of the school.
The tomb is set amongst trees close to one of the great shrines of Japan.
When the founder retired from active fighting, he came to Katori shrine, and there he started the school.
He said that the teachings came to him by divine revelation after long meditation.
Katori shrine is one of the most important centers of Japan's oldest religion, Shinto,
which is deeply involved with the worship of nature, especially as in the spirit of trees.
It was in the open spaces of the shrine that the founder taught, and it's from the shrine that the school gets its full name,
Tenshin Shodan Katori Shinto Real.
The founder was a Buddhist, but there is no conflict for a Japanese in worshiping at both Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
Master Otaki is the teaching master of the school, but there is also an hereditary headmaster, the direct descendant of the founder.
Twenty generations separate him from his ancestor.
His house is built beside an ancient dojo, now used once a year ceremonially by the senior students.
In it are the statues of the founder and his wife.
It's rare for such an old wooden building to survive in Japan in private possession.
For Master Otaki, the continuity of the school proves the rightness of the founder's teaching.
The founder had served and fought for a great family for many years, but when their fortunes declined,
he decided that there was much wrong with a way of life that had no future.
When he retired to Katori shrine, he taught that the art of the sword is the way to peace.
His main teachings are on three scrolls that have been copied thousands of times by the masters.
The teachings are secret, to be given to the students only when they reach high enough standards.
The master gives the first scroll after about five years, the second after ten years,
and the third is given only to the most advanced and dedicated students after more than fifteen years.
But then only if they are more than forty-two years old.
The scrolls are not just about fighting techniques, but include religion and philosophy.
All these are combined in a comprehensive strategy for life that governs everything,
advising even how to choose the position of your house.
In the art of the sword, the place where you live, the place where you will build your house,
is where the trees are green and the land is deep.
Otherwise, no business will be established.
Therefore, the north is the mine, and the north is the place where you will build your house.
The north has to be high.
The north has to have a high mountain.
This is the protection of the north.
Then, the east.
The east is the water.
The flow.
This is the protection of the north.
Then, the south.
The south has to be wide.
The south has to have a mountain.
The south has to have a white light.
The south has to be wide and the sun has to shine.
Then, the south has to have a big cave.
The south has to have a big cave.
Then, the south has to have a big cave.
Master Ataki chose the building site for his own new house by these principles.
He was uprooted by the building of the huge international airport for Tokyo,
and the government helped him to buy a new site.
It was not easy to find somewhere that followed the rules, but he succeeded.
To the east, there is a small stream.
To the north, a hill.
There are open fields to the south.
While to the west, there is a road.
The same rules were used to determine the site of the emperor's castle in Tokyo,
and many other important sites in Japan.
The school has always drawn strength from its country setting.
It has not depended on the whims of great men.
It has been separated from the affairs of state.
One reason, perhaps, why it has survived.
Master Ataki himself was a farmer until he retired to concentrate on the school.
When he was forced to move his house, he brought two important things with him.
One was the training hall, the dojo, taken apart and reassembled on the new site.
The other was the ornamental trees that he had trained in the traditional Japanese manner,
branch by branch, into the perfect informal shape.
He is a deeply traditional Japanese, and therefore his new house is built on the ancient pattern.
He lives in it with his wife, a son and his wife, and a grandchild.
The young Ataki began to study at the school during World War II.
As a young Japanese, he knew that he would be asked to die for his emperor,
and he did not know if he had the strength to do that.
He heard about the school and went there as a student to see if they could teach him this sort of courage.
After a rather dull and brief military service, he returned to the farm and continued as a student of swordsmanship.
His master taught him the samurai code of honor, bushido, the way of the warrior.
For master Ataki, the popular idea of bushido is over romantic and misleading.
The word bushido is found in the word die.
So it is said that the word bushido is a sign of anger,
but it is a sign of abandoning your duty and committing suicide.
It is easy to regret. But it is not good to die.
If you fail to do what you have done, you will pay for it and die for your own sake.
Then you will not be able to do anything.
Then there is no such irresponsible talk.
If you fail to do what you have done, you will not be able to live and show your shame.
You will not be able to live and show your shame.
The samurai reached extraordinary levels of skill in fighting.
They also believed that honor was more important than life,
so they fought without fear and were formidable because of that.
Their code was harsh, but at its best it led to lives of courage and deaths of great dignity.
To be a great swordsman required more than physical skill and willpower.
Amongst the subjects that they studied was a special mystical form of Buddhism.
They used it in a practical way, weaving spells to cure illness and to defend against death in battle.
Master Ataki is well known as a healer. Many people come to him for treatment.
When patients come to see him, he makes a spell suitable for their particular illness.
The drawing is a shorthand for a complex set of gestures.
In the Society of Japanese Merit, cicada is probably enthroned.
This is the nine traditionallla.
This is a nine-pointed
Enzo. This is from the Yen-do temple.
This is called Mudra. It's a sign.
Ren.
Each of these has a spell.
On by Shramanta Yasowaka.
On by Ishanaaya Yantara Yasowaka.
All of these have a spell.
It's a spell.
Ren, Pyo.
Each position of the hands is another prayer.
And all nine together make the spell.
Kai, Jun, Reitsu, Za-i, Zen.
This is the nine-pointed Enzo.
And this is the To-en.
The En of the Tsu-ken.
There are two ways of making the spell.
Either by making the hand prayer shapes,
or by drawing lines.
Each line representing one of the hand positions.
It is then necessary to focus the spell.
And that is why the tenth character is used.
This is the ten-pointed Enzo.
The ten-pointed Enzo.
For example, when you're on a boat.
Even if the boat turns over, you're safe.
That's it.
So for protection against drowning in a shipwreck,
the warrior drew the spell on his hand
and then wrote a tenth, water character.
In battle, the warrior did the same to protect himself.
Master Ataki thinks that the idea people have
of fighting warriors as Zen Buddhists is quite wrong.
To follow Zen is to spend many hours in contemplation,
which he feels is quite unsuitable for fighting men.
They needed a practical religion that could put them quickly
into the right frame of mind to fight.
To complete the cure, the magical spell is stroked over the patient.
She must then take it away, place it on a riverbank,
and walk away without looking back.
The training session for advanced students
covers all types of weapons.
For each weapon, there are special exercises.
After the sword sessions, they move on to single sword
against short, short sword.
These were the weapons carried by the samurai
until just over a century ago.
They could, of course, choose to draw only one of their swords,
but once both were unsheathed,
special coordination had to be learned to use them effectively.
Crossing the two blades is a way of blocking an attack
without damaging the blades,
and from there, either sword can be brought in
to cut the opponent down.
Many fighting arts use a staff called a bow by the Japanese.
It is a brilliant weapon when handled by a master.
The problem for a swordsman fighting against a longer weapon
is how to get past it and reach his opponent.
A well-placed blow from an oak staff
can shatter a sword blade or a helmet,
but the sword can make a lethal wound by the lightest of touches.
Encircling the sword blade with the tip of the staff
can flick the sword out of its owner's hands.
The fighter with the staff must, however,
always stay out of reach of the swordsman
since he has no close quarters defence.
Father and son practising sword against halberd.
These are the most spectacular and elaborate carters of all.
The halberd is a deadly weapon.
Heavy, as sharp as a sword,
and able to reach the weak places in armour from a distance.
No good swordsman would permit this,
and yet he must move in to attacking range.
Because of the length and weight of this weapon,
it is held in the middle for balance.
To counter these powerful strokes
demands great skill from a swordsman.
He only has a slight speed advantage,
and the halberd has the butt end of its shaft available to parry blows.
The warrior's problem when fighting the long spear is different.
The man hoarding a spear will always try to use it at a distance,
and the problem for the swordsman
is to prevent its powerful momentum striking him.
The warrior must attack past the spear point,
but his opponent can draw it back quickly.
Master Otake uses his full willpower and energy
to fight his way through,
but even then it is difficult to close with the spearman who retreats.
There are certainly many other techniques
that the school thinks are too secret to be shown to outsiders.
They would include unarmed combat using particularly dangerous techniques
since they were designed for the battlefield.
Yet at the heart of the teaching,
in spite of the concentration on the art of killing,
the founder's message is one of peace.
He taught that fighting is the last resort,
and to kill is evil.
When he asked for a sword,
he taught the Kuma-Zasa-Nui-Nu-Uza,
and the Cho-I-Sai-Sensei,
and they would not fall down.
They would just slide down and say,
here you go.
The swordsman who learned this,
just by learning it,
his hair would grow long,
and he would fall down.
The Cho-I-Sai-Sensei would not fall down,
and he would just sit down.
He could not do that.
Master Itaki despises the samurai who went around searching for fights
and triumphantly killing.
He thinks that they led distorted lives,
and that it is wrong for them to be admired.
They left nothing.
But the founder of the Katori Shinto Ryu
left a family that continues after 20 generations,
and a school that has made no compromises in its teachings
since the 15th century,
and yet retains relevance for its 20th century pupils.
The balance between the art of killing
and following a moral way of life
is one that many masters of fighting arts maintain.
For them, and for Master Itaki,
the arts of war are also the way of peace.
.