Use the links below to browse our Archive of Articles
Archive Categories
Martial Arts Related Articles and Interviews
Legal Concerns & Resources for Martial Artists
Contribute Content for Possible Publication
Archives
Staff Contributions
A Letter from the Boss (Editorial) - A Few Thoughts on The Last Samurai
(Originally Published 12.11.03)
The summer of my fourteenth year was a very important time for me. It was
then that I began to play guitar, take my artwork seriously, study Martial
Arts and in that year I was introduced to the concepts and philosophy of
Bushido. Over the years since I've studied many many other systems, but
there are lessons that I learned that year that left a lasting impact on
my approach to training and teaching.
My education began with the Musashi Novel (which I read three separate times in highschool), The Zen Way to Martial Arts by Taisen Deshimaru, Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams, The Go Rin No Sho by Musashi, Sun Tzu's Art of War, the Tao Te Ching, writings by David Lowry, Ginchin Funakoshi, and Richard Kim. These books and others served to mold my experience in the Martial Arts, giving me a connection to a very old tradition. I have spent a good portion of my time making these resources available to my students so that they may learn from my teachers as well as from me.
Over the next few years I was fortunate to have teachers who have also contributed to my understanding of Bushido, and some extremely important lessons in Martial Arts, which I consider to be universal. Since then, there have been experiences in books or films that have reminded me of my experience, and impressed upon me what aspects of training should be passed down to future students and learned well by future instructors.
In the film The Last Samurai, the character played by Tom Cruise is taken through a transformation in which he begins to understand, appreciate and later adopt the traditions of the Samurai during the Japanese Modernization. He comes to that land as an American, a drunk and a man ashamed of his past. He learns how to live with honor and self-respect.
I found myself once again questioning the contribution I've made to date, whether I've taught the right things, or enough of the right things to leave this impression on my students so that these concepts and experiences might live on. Lately, several films have come out which focus on the character development that occurs when one trains in arts like Kenjutsu, which has inspired students' interest in these Arts. For that reason over the next few months I am going to discuss the elements of Bushido that I find to be universal to Martial Arts of all systems.
The following are a list of essays that will be published in this space, check back for active links to the essays. It would do students well to research these concepts:
Mushin/Wu Hsien
Kime and One-Point Concentration
Zanshin
Consistency, The Forge and The Art of Repetition
Shiho, The Stages of a Martial Artist
Ki and The Hara
Kokoro, Solo Practice and the Search for Perfection
Shin, Tai, Waza
Commitment
Ma, Ma-ai and Kokyo
Stillness, Non-Attachment and The Unfettered Mind
Ego, the Way and its many vessels
The Enemy in Training
Study This.
- Anthony Sell
Dec. 11, 2003