Young Samurai_ The Way of the Sword - Chris Bradford [69]
33
MUSHIN
‘I’m going to kill you!’ roared the samurai.
Jack didn’t know what to do. The sudden attack had taken him off-guard.
Sensei Hosokawa had gone crazy, his dark eyes merciless and intent on murder. He was charging directly at him with a razor-sharp katana and Jack realized that in the blink of an eye he’d be sliced open like a pig, his guts spilled out across the dojo floor.
Only a few moments before Jack had been training with Tadashi in the Butokuden in preparation for the Circle, barely a month away. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jack had caught a gleam of steel and had spun round to see Sensei Hosokawa bearing down on him, his sword drawn.
Sensei Hosokawa struck with lightning speed, the katana emitting a high whistling sound as it carved across Jack’s chest and down past his stomach.
Jack shakily looked down, afraid of what he might see. But his entrails weren’t spread all over the floor. His belly remained intact. He was completely unharmed. The only thing cleaved apart had been his obi. The belt, sliced in two, fell to the floor in a defeated heap.
‘You’re dead,’ stated Sensei Hosokawa.
Jack swallowed back his shock, unable to respond. Gradually it dawned on him that this attack had been a ruthless lesson in martial arts.
‘You were thinking too much,’ Sensei Hosokawa continued, resheathing his sword. ‘You allowed yourself to be scared and it caused you to hesitate. If you hesitate in battle, you die.’
Sensei Hosokawa looked at both his students, ensuring they understood the warning.
‘B-but I thought you’d gone crazy,’ stammered Jack, suddenly regaining his voice. He trembled with a combination of shock and shame at being the victim of a sword stunt in front of his new friend Tadashi. He felt belittled. ‘I really thought you were going to kill me!’
‘No, but next time the attack could be for real,’ replied Sensei Hosokawa gravely. ‘The three evils for a samurai are fear, doubt and confusion. You just displayed all of them.’
‘So I’m not good enough? Is that what you’re telling me?’ snapped Jack, his frustration at his progress boiling to the surface. ‘Am I ever going to be? It seems there’s always something wrong with my technique. Why aren’t I getting any better?’
‘Mastering the Way of the Sword is a long road,’ explained Sensei Hosokawa kindly. ‘Rushing it only hastens your death. Ichi-go, Ichi-e. Have you heard that phrase before?’
Jack nodded, remembering the calligraphy on the scroll in daimyo Takatomi’s golden tea room.
‘One chance in a lifetime. That is all you ever get in a sword fight.’ Sensei Hosokawa looked Jack in the eye. ‘I want to give you that chance.’
Jack studied his feet, embarrassed by his outburst when his teacher was only trying to help.
‘The Gauntlet was all about fudoshin,’ Sensei Hosokawa continued. ‘You were being tested on whether you were able to control your body and mind under the pressure of an impossible battle. You proved yourself capable of fudoshin then, but fear and confusion during my attack now made you hesitate. You must learn to stare death in the face and react without hesitation. No fear. No confusion. No hesitation. No doubt.’
‘But how could I have known that you would attack me? I was concentrating on sparring with Tadashi.’
‘Mushin,’ stated Sensei Hosokawa.
‘Mushin?’
‘Mushin means possessing a state of “no mind”.’
Sensei Hosokawa began to pace the floor as he always did when he lectured a class. ‘When a samurai is faced by an opponent, he must not mind the opponent; he must not mind himself; he must not mind the movement of his enemy’s sword. A samurai possessing mushin doesn’t rely on what move they think should be next. They act intuitively. Mushin is a spontaneous knowledge of every situation as it occurs.’
‘But how should I know what’s going to happen in a fight? Do you mean samurai have to see into the future?’
Sensei Hosokawa chuckled, amused at Jack’s suggestion.
‘No, Jack-kun, though it may appear that they do. You have to train your mind to be like water, openly