Protective Arts

DAGGERS

What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake was writing about a tiger (tyger) but we are speaking of daggers. The dagger is made with a fearful purpose and a beautiful symmetry.

The dagger is defined by its symmetry around the long axis and by its emphasis on the point over the edge. Daggers have two points, the point of the blade and the butt of the hilt. Edges are secondary. Where a knife is a multi-purpose tool, a dagger is a weapon. There is no disguising its lethal intent.

Examples of modern daggers

The Sykes-Fairbairn stiletto inspired the V-42 (of the Devil’s Brigade) and the Gerber Mark series that won fame during the Vietnam war.

Modern daggers with sharpened edges in contrast with historical rondels that were often spikes to slip between armored joints of a downed knight: the mercy-kill or misericord [Middle English, pity, from Old French, from Latin misericordia, from misericors, misericord-, merciful : miserērī, to feel pity; + cor, cord-, heart].

Starting with an historical review – Fiore’s manuals are well presented >here< and include nice dagger plays (and there are more links in the Sykes-Fairbairn post).

Moving to modern interpretations, the dagger is reserved for the silent killers. The OSS and later ‘special forces’ used the dagger because it is an entry device – not a multi-purpose survival tool like a knife.

The dagger was designed for efficient killing and killers have long recognized the primacy of the point over the edge. The edge vs point debate, I suspect, will never have a decisive conclusion. Both the Styers and Fairbairn methods have been covered previously and it should be evident from reviewing the history and manuals that there is a marked difference between a fighting system and the killing techniques. It isn’t that one is better than the other as much as the purposes are different and therefore the design of the blade is as different as its use.[1] Each has its purpose and we should understand and appreciate those differences.

Master Keating recently reviewed the basics of double dagger plays.

Always know the laws pertaining to the legality of daggers (for they are reviled in many states)

A dagger has a time advantage in knife play. Because it has two live edges, the dagger does not need to turn the live edge to make an angle change, a timing advantage of a half beat or more when playing a game of malicious deceptions.

The dagger disappears more readily than the knife when aligned with the central vision blind spot – its symmetry makes it harder to perceive.[2]

Some unique features of a dagger: When held in a foil grip (thumb hidden by the blade), the flat of the tip is toward the opponent rather than the edge. A ‘popping’ hit will therefore leave a distinctive ^ shape cut. This presentation of the blade can also be used to ‘strum’ the ribs which reportedly creates exquisite pain without severe damage (no organs punctured).

Like all knife plays – mental attitude is primary. We train to be bold! You cannot fear the cut and blade familiarity is a must. Dexterity drills – knife twirling and manipulation is a prerequisite and a means to learn the weapon.

Every elbow technique is the dagger held in reverse (ice pick) grip. Study that and think again about the implications of elbow shields.

The dagger is about points: daggers have two: The blade has a point, but so does the butt which was often formalized as a skull crusher – the use of the punyo.

Because daggers are tools of destruction think again about the area of combat – when your life is in jeopardy the geometry is the circle. Destreza – Carranza and the famous circle. The Arena, the bull ring, and the original boxing ring wasn’t a square: the dance of death is not played on a strip, hunters seek the flank and wary prey avoids – circling.

o sensei diagram — Others have seen this too

As we circle the feet must be light with the balance closer to the heel as in fencing. With the weight on the ball of the foot the move is already committed and the knife requires increased mobility. When the weight moves to the ball of the foot, then there is no further range to achieve. Of course one must stay light. When examining the foot print of a fighter, if the heel print was too deep, a master knew that the duel would be short – the inexperienced fighter would be hampered by a heavy gait. A knife fighter does not walk directly, he circles in.

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RESOURCES

Visual context Italian – Italian knife fighting

Filipino curriculum

Ray Floro – Floating heel – rock back – light heel – a deep heel print means death. Need to glide.

The Piper Knife fighting method.

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GRIPS

Foil grip, the V42 has thumb grooves above the guard specifically for this grip (see picture above). Thump on the flat, backside of blade. Flick it, pop it at targets – leaves nasty triangular, punctures. Rake it down the rib cage, strum the ribs – old OSS interrogation method on Nazis.

Reverse grip – thumb caps the end. Dagger held flat side toward adversary. Same flicking action. The dagger pulls the body.

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EXERCISES

6-Part Dexterity Drills – This is the rotation of a blade on the horizontal and vertical planes. Allows for quick grip adjustments as well as attacks. Be able to do this will all blades. Do with a blade in both hands.

NOTE: Master Keating prefers his right hand grip to be foil or standard grip, his left hand is in reverse grip.

Guard – Point the dagger at the eyes – It is a promise of death – this basic guard will back most down.

Solo practice – dagger in foil grip – drop the butt down onto an imaginary thrust, then up.

Parry outside, dexterity drill and stab. Repeat on the other side of your body.

Dagger in hammer grip – fan back and forth to understand defense on the right side, the front, the left side.

o Pole (jo) and tea cup drill – move the jo like the tea cup drill and find where and how you would slash with the dagger. Start with one dagger, add the second. Figure out how to control the jo. Move it outside in and the other direction. Learn how to “lose your hands,” learn to cradle – these are traps. Thumbs, wings, the pockets of the body.

o Cloudy hands – both hands moving inside-out, outside-in circles, “wax-on, wax off” motions with daggers. Start by emphasizing just the points and move to complete articulation of the daggers. Walk with them and feel the body begin to move with them. Your body will want to turn. This becomes a form of “shadow boxing.” Count the number of hits on yourself. Teaches split coordination, multi-tasking. Double dagger is doing many things at once – working timing and split coordination. Stay relaxed.

Solo exercises: dagger held in reverse grip – hidden

First: Flick the point up the ocular cone toward your opponent’s eyes. Allow the dagger to pull your body forward in true time: weapon, hand, body, foot. Snap to return.

Second: on the horizontal plane, double cut – forward, reverse, then stab

Third: as in second but on the vertical axis.

Fourth: strike with the butt, retract with the point on the outside of the forearm (nails away), then repeat but return with the blade on the inside line (nails toward face) to strike forward then behind.

Fifth: fish tail the knife – warding/harassing cuts. Three quick wags of the blade to the side, middle, opposite side.

Partner exercises.

First: Traditional thrusting triangle – tap (one dagger only) but remember the pull cut on the retreat. Perform all matrix combinations (R/R, R/L, L,L and foregrip, reverse, one foregrip, one reverse).

o Start tippity tap on only one line until partners become efficient. Progression training at its finest – Move to include all three lines – the 5, the 6, the 7. Incorporate dexterity drills. Do right vs right. Do right vs left. Do left vs. left. Don’t forget the cuts that the Kali triangle exposes. There are takeways as well. As partners start to get comfortable with the patterns, they will begin to move and cover space.

o Double dagger drill – Feed 6 and/or 7 drill. Start with cover and slash = foundation. Can add pikiti tersa pass later. One partner feeds a 6. The other partner receives this with the left-handed dagger in reverse grip. Execute an outside-in intercept that forces the 6 down to the right-hand dagger in standard grip (grips can vary, experiment!). The right-hand dagger can be moving up like a roofing action and cut under the incoming 6 hand. Then, return your right hand along the 6 line so your partner can practice.

o The 7 line feed allows the other partner to receive with the right-hand dagger. Execute an outside-in intercept that forces the 7 down to the left-hand dagger in reverse grip. Pass the dagger above the incoming 7 and return your own 7.

o For any of the above, the point is to experiment. You can receive with either hand and feed to the other. Moving your body off the line may help to see what is logical.

Second: sinawali done foregrip and then reverse grip.

Third: Cloudy hands, stir with the knife, reverse and flat (point forward) variations.

Solo double dagger exercises.

Tea cup: using a pole (jo) to augment double dagger training. Replicate the actions of a scissor attack to an extended limb (or neck).

Shot glass: pass the shot glass from tip to tip – spearing it smoothly from one to the other to practice the point. Use the flat to pass playing cards.

5 Double Dagger Katas

#1 “Priest Dive.” Starting double daggers hidden – double strike up the ocular cone (priest method), double roll out, double lift (punyo strike/drop), then double strike to the chest.

This is the Generic opening for all – Both daggers – butts out, points toward you. Both hands execute outside dissolves. Bring both daggers up and bring down into opponent.

#2 – Generic opening – right arm up, reverse, sweep leg

#3 – Kokyu Ho

#4 – Daggers in clavicles

#5 – Side sinawali

double tap from inside / outside = forehand and back hand as auxiliary skill

trick – lop sao exercise tile head into notch of throat

Prayer entry – Snake A – stay on outside / snake B come to close (clap)

Disarms – make the man eat his dagger. Against a straight R thrust. Slap L feed R, then clasp you hands at opponent’s elbow to feed back

Combat tricks. Even a fast strike can be caught by the opponent – we have good hand-eye coordination. To defeat that strike with broken rhythm – on the descent, waggle the blade, this will draw the opponent’s attempt to block or catch the strike early. Then continue the strike to its target with impunity.

Auxiliary Skills to Help Dominate – this is not about exchanging blows.

Double tap drill – yokomen like strike is delivered. Partner, on the inside line, taps with one hand, taps with the other and returns either a palm up or palm down judo-like chop. Flow drill.

Control technique – one hand to the back of the head, the other hand – two fingers into and down the throat. Tilt their head forward.

Dagger disarms = Winding disarms – Kali stick disarms – Snake A and Snake B

Salute system – for inside and outside lines. Combine with the double tap drill. Hammer and anvil the bicep and judo chop to the face. Partner receives the chop and double taps and feeds you. You repeat one salute to get to the outside line, a second salute with the other arm brings your elbow up into their tricep. Then, same arm cups the tricep you just hit and becomes the “anvil” for the third elbow you are about to deliver to the bicep.

Scarf – Kerchief defenses

Disarms – Take and keep, project/eject, returns, discards. How many do you know?

Return punch – punch comes in. Tenkan. One arm over, one under. Lock hands. Tenkan back to front and scissor.

Canon punch – Shoulder and forearm form a “v” at the elbow. Palm is up and back of fist is parallel to the ground.

Piper System from Africa – flurry side to side and then hit. Fakes.

Card passing on blades. Point control with a shot glass.

Stool Drill – Four leg Panchar – traditional silat entry —- + drill – teaches sweeping and locking.

Elbow shields – think about these and how they work with double daggers

Defense against kicks – kick comes in. Catch kick in the bend behind your knee….basically raise your heel to your butt, catch kick and draw knife and stab knee. A kick to the shin, simply raise front leg relaxed, stab kicking leg.

Get a Mental Advantage

Theatrics matter – Fake an injury – set the stage for deception.

Ritual taunts to create doubt in the mind of the opponent. Verbal commands add power and put the opponent in a different state of being. Insults – Basically, talk shit. Plant the seed of doubt.

Verbal commands – speak tactically, be relaxed.

Verbal leads to create misdirection. “I am going to kick you in the balls,” but punch in the face.

Laugh in the face of death, it lightens the spirit. Reverse any energy drop. The deadlier the ground, the need for a lighter spirit. Feel up the spirit. Relax, not tense.

To steel your nerves and counter an opponent’s verbal power. Laugh. Don’t dissolve with fear – sardonic laughter re-sets your internal polarity. The deadlier the ground, the lighter the spirit must be – so relax: you are going to die anyway so be light-hearted.

Your spirit precedes you – it is your advance team.

Instill terror to command: be brutal, be quick.

The double dagger emphasizes that in Kali there is no defense, only attack.

The ribs are the spear to the heart – ie you break the rib then push the broken rib into the heart.

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[1] The Gurkha sentry elimination technique gives primacy to the edge because the kukuri is a heavy blade – decapitation works equally effectively when done correctly. Read broadly about the Nepali Gurkha and you will be rewarded with incredible stories of valor. Or enjoy a classic movie The Man Who Would Be King (Sean Connery, Michael Cain in the same movie!) to see Saeed Jaffrey as Billy Fish – a warrior to the very end.

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[2] Our binocular vision puts us firmly in the class of predator. We are not polite hairless apes constantly worried about our flanks. We need focus on the prey we stalk to gauge its distance and keep it in our sights. Binocular vision also means we have a hard time tracking something coming for us ‘right between the eyes.’ Exploit and be wary of that physiological limitation. In addition we all have a retinal blind spot:

On a piece of paper, make a small dot with a black marker.
About six to eight inches to the right of the dot, make a small plus sign (+).
With your right eye closed, hold the paper about 20 inches away from you.
Focus on the plus sign with your left eye, and slowly bring the paper closer while still looking at the plus sign.

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The dagger as athame: a magic talisman. Iron commands spirits.

PUNCH TO THE FACE

A punch to the face is what Mulligan sensei called a high affect encounter – jodan tsuki scares most people. Jodan and jodan tsuki are both covered in earlier posts.

This morning presented the classic Karate punch, meaning the fist is twisted at the final contact and the elbow is turned point out, forearm parallel to the ground. Martial artists will debate the specific variations and reasons for executing a punch with its myriad of variations – learn those details, the details are critically important. Nevertheless the basic distinction today was the fist thumb down, fist parallel vs. the thumb up, fist perpendicular – shorthand labels: Karate vs Aikido.

Solo exercise – jodan tsuki in place, then advancing across the mat, alternating L/R for bilateral development.

[Additional solo training follows a jodan, chudan, gedan pattern – the odd number count means you will be alternating L/R at each of the striking levels]

Partnered orientation – one partner strikes, the other slips advancing irimi sufficiently to avoid the strike but not deeply. The purpose is to inure each other to over-reacting to the punch. Train to condition a controlled action and overcome the flinch or startle response. Once the players can calmly assess an incoming strike and avoid being hit, then introduce indexing with both the front and back hand tap.

Intercepting hand – train to tap the incoming strike with either the front or back hand so as to assist the slip and simultaneously develop sensitivity and indexing. Sensitivity because the tap needs have sufficient power to prevent the strike from continuing to the target, but cannot be too strong that it changes the angle or adds energy to the strike. Indexing because by using both the front and back hand, the players are familiarizing themselves with all combinations: L/L, L/R. R/L, and R/R. (FMA gunting.)

Ikkyo – because the Karate punch puts the elbow point out, the flow to ikkyo will feel slightly different. Emulate the grace and smooth entry demonstrated by Tissier sensei >here< to develop the connection Aikido aspires to focus on. From the punch, enter with a traditional back hand rising intercept while the front hand thrusts past to uke’s back. Nage should be able to touch uke’s striking arm’s scapula and then with a wiping control take the triceps to control. The wiping action of the palm to the triceps while the back hand remains connected to the initial striking hand is makiotoshi. The action is on the outside line – meaning nage is entirely on the outside of uke’s striking arm. This morning I demonstrated the technique with a hip rotation (aka ura) but could just as readily presented a frontal entry (aka omote) but the distinction on how the lower body moves relative to uke does not change the dynamics of the upper body. The upper body executes the ‘technique’ whereas the lower body positions – hence there is no ura.

Irimi nage – by using the front hand to intercept the back hand rises to cut uke down irimi nage. Ikkyo is a back hand intercept. The rising intercept is akin to suriage or brushing action with the sword, but because both hands are free, nage’s front hand finds and taps uke’s fist which clears the path for nage’s back hand which will strike uke. This is a two-beat direct irimi-nage. From here we can explore the subtle variations. Blend with the hips sufficiently to lead uke forward to add connection in the hara to make the counter less ballistic (a simple response). Nage must drop the weight to break plane and drop uke’s center of balance. Nage’s back hand can now roll to present thumb (mune) down which now creates a one-beat encounter with the hands performing two actions in one beat.

Bunkai (1) – move to a three-beat: nage uses a front hand intercept and uses a back-knuckle (uraken) strike to the back of uke’s striking fist, then uses a back hand trap to keep the path clear for nage’s front hand to continue to irimi-nage. (FMA’s – de-fanging the snake because uke’s fist could always be loaded with a blade.)

Bunkai (2) – staying with a three-beat, nage strike back of the attacking hand, then traps with the back hand and now rather than the initial front hand flowing to irimi-nage, nage folds his front arm to a downward elbow strike. FMA’s – hammer and anvil strike to the biceps. The combative application would use a rolling strike to drive the tip of nage’s elbow into uke’s median nerve and brachial artery, with Aikido’s emphasis on kimusubi, the strike becomes a connection point – the axis of the encounter – so that once the connection is made, nage shifts the balance point to the dead angle to break uke’s balance for the throw. What other arts would use as limb destruction, Aikido will use as a point of connection. But you must know how to properly target!

Split entry – thus far, ikkyo, irimi-nage, and the destabilization exercise are all approaches from the outside line. Next we moved to a split entry where nage kept one arm outside the striking hand and the other inside. As uke strikes, nage uses the front hand to shoot low to high whilst tapping uke’s strike with the back hand. This will direct uke’s strike just past the intended target and allow nage to trap the striking hand with the shoulder to throw irimi-nage direct. In the event the throw is ineffective, the fall back play is to then trap uke in a side choke. The side choke has the advantage of trapping uke’s striking hand and because nage’s radial bone will roll and compress uke’s neck and carotid artery, the choke is very effective. Be careful when training – avoid too vigorous applications and avoid the shearing action by rolling the forearm.

Inside entry – we did not get to cover the inside line in the first class, but we did explore an option the following Monday with a variant of Yokomen uchi sumio toshi. To explain the concept with a familiar technique, the inside line is met like yokomen direct (where nage remains bodily on the interior of the strike because uke’s attack is oblique). Nage’s back hand receives while entering and the front hand intercepts the elbow for the standard sumio toshi, or if nage enters more deeply, then the front hand can take uke’s striking arm shoulder/neck for a more dramatic version. But as a concept, the Aikido shorthand for the inside entry is ashi-sabaki. The FMA application is a gunting using the front-hand back knuckle to the median nerve while tapping with the back hand to keep uke’s strike from landing.

The inside line is a direct entry – for the Aikidoist, the play concentrates on a connected re-direct of uke’s attack with nage’s forearm and uke’s humerus – the bodily entry will take uke’s balance offline. FMA/JKD will stay online to focus on the limb destruction and trapping entry. Very similar bio-mechanics but with a philosophical difference in approach. Steal from the masters because the other arts are instructional – teaching proper targeting and application.

Because these are concepts to explore, the inside/outside/split entry is a referencing tool: what opportunities are afforded to me when I am in this relationship with my partner? Therefore, these are not techniques, rather they are keys to understanding. While this post discussed a highline straight attack (a punch to the face), every attack can be met on the inside, outside or with a split entry. Explore!

MIYAMOTO MUSASHI

In an interview, Nishio sensei unapologetically labeled Musashi as “the lowest form of human being.” Understandable. Nishio looked at how little human emotion and human engagement Musashi exhibited; he never married, never started a family, and spent a life dueling to test his skill and mettle. Musashi manifested a coward’s response, by developing skill from a fear-based approach to life: Life denying skill vs life affirming skill.

Nishio sensei’s is an easy conclusion to make, given that in The Book of Five Rings, Musashi admonishes:

Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail and extricate yourself by your own wisdom. [1]

Musashi rejects all the trammels of society and suggests breaking its laws to be put in jail. Why? History was not kind to him. Musashi fought on the losing side against Tokugawa Ieyasu whose Shogunate effectively unified the nation by destroying regional authority and power. He is a man who desperately clings to his martial prowess as the only valid means to define himself:

The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win

Musashi is a warrior adrift, without purpose or cause to serve. So he turns inward to define himself:

There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself

The external world is a testing ground, opponents are a means to an end (violating a Kantian imperative) to perfect his art.[2] But Musashi is perfecting the art of fighting during the Shogunate when violence is centralized to the state. He is a man out of time.[3]

Therefore, while I understand Nishio’s characterization, Musashi’s writings merit study. The Book of Five Rings are the reflections of a warrior who has refined the lessons of combat to principles.

When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools’ strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realize the Way of strategy when I was fifty.

The Way of strategy is not a compendium of techniques. It is not a fechtbuch. Musashi is claiming to have discovered something more universal

The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.

These maxims are easy to gloss over because they are concise and can seem perfunctory, or obvious:

If you wish to control others, first control yourself.

The problem is that we all too often forget these lessons, so Musashi shows us how to be mindful: A hyper-vigilance to external sensory information (Cooper) and to internal processing leading to sangfroid:

Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm. Meet the situation without tenseness yet not recklessly, your spirit settled yet unbiased.

Control and calm in the midst of chaos is Mushin.

Mushin: the term is shortened from the Zen principle, ‘Mushin no shin’ (無心の心). It refers to the state of ‘no-mindness,’ when the mind is not fixed, or cluttered by thoughts or emotion. How do we achieve the Way? First the grounding principle:

Do nothing that is of no use.[4]

Precisely! But it is brilliantly difficult to know when we are doing things that are of no use. It is all too easy to cede the responsibility of knowing what is of use to an authority – the teacher – and in the early stages of every journey we all need a guide. Musashi’s biography teaches us that pain and experience are great teachers.

And as important as learning, pain, and experience are, the highest key to understanding is meditative reflection:

It is difficult to realize the true Way just through sword-fencing. Know the smallest things and the biggest things, the shallowest things and the deepest things.

A poetic way of reminding us to think! When we practice a martial art it is all too easy to focus on the physical aspects of learning; how do I move my arm, what is the timing and sequence of operations, because these are necessary to learn. But we must learn to make the broader connections – among the movements and with our partners from the simple act of rotating (camming) your forearm. Moving your hand as if you are turning a door knob, a simple act we repeat many times a day, is camming, which is makiotoshi, which is ikkyo, and ikkyo solves for the infinite. See the smallest things in the biggest things, the budo is not at the surface. By seeking and seeing the connections we can,

From one thing, know ten thousand things.

There are not infinite techniques. There are only limited expressions of the body that can then generate a large number of responses in a large combination of encounters. I look at it like chess – a game played on a fixed matrix with a defined and small number of rules that generates an incredible number of combinations. Do not get blinded by mathematical possibilities! Not all possible moves are valuable. Thus, by knowing principles you can know all the responses you need. And because any given possibility must be instantiated to be real, you are only ever dealing with precisely one encounter and one response at a time. Each encounter also is with a person with their own limitations that we must exploit, therefore, Know the limitations of the body. But more critical is to know the limitations of the mind:

In battle, if you make your opponent flinch you have already won.

Musashi reminds us that we are playing an opponent, therefore mental combat is even more important than physical engagement. Musashi informs Bruce Lee’s later “Be like water” taken directly from the water section:

With water as the basis, the spirit becomes like water. Water adopts the shape of its receptacle, it is sometimes a trickle and sometimes a wild sea.

In the fire section, Musashi outlined three methods to forestall the enemy:

Forestall by attacking
Forestall by responding to his attack by feigning weakness, then attacking
Forestall by attacking when he attacks and meeting him head on

Bruce Lee expanded these to the five methods of attack – which I covered in >this< earlier post. These lessons are explicit in many arts but not well-integrated in many Aikido dojos despite O’Sensei employing them (“Control the encounter before it is enjoined”), or;

In contests of strategy it is bad to be led about by the enemy. You must always be able to lead the enemy about.

Afterall, the distillation of combat is goal oriented: to win. And to win will often require an attack, which is a mind-set embodied physically:

When you decide to attack, keep calm and dash in quickly, forestalling the enemy…attack with a feeling of constantly crushing the enemy, from first to last.

Because Musashi wrote when violent encounters were likely and because he was a swordsman, the language of winning is combative. Combat is life, you cannot keep them separate:

In all forms of strategy, it is necessary to maintain the combat stance in everyday life and to make your everyday stance your combat stance. You must research this well.

The Book of Five Rings enjoyed currency as a business text and I am sure it will continue to flux in and out of vogue. The point is winning does not necessitate violence red in tooth and claw but it does require decisive action. You cannot win by defending is perhaps the most important lesson for a martial artist who aspires to non-violence.

Which leads to my favorite conclusion for deep consideration:

No man is invincible, and therefore no man can fully understand that which would make him invincible.

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Resources

The Book of Five Rings

Searchable PDF The Book of Five Rings

Heiho of Musashi

Additional meditations on Musashi’s Book of Five Rings and >here<

Visit Ganryu-jima – the uninhabited island where the duel between Musashi and Kojiro was fought.

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[1] Note the similarities with Plutarch’s description of Spartan training – agoge (ἀγωγή).

[2] Mark Manson on Kant.

[3] I wonder if The Book of Five Rings wasn’t a job interview in the same way Machiavelli wrote The Prince to ingratiate himself to the Medici.

[4] “Do nothing of no use” – O’Sensei echoed Musashi in his Secret Teachings of Budo, poem #29. “What use to learn this sword work or that! Cut off all thought of useless things.”