Focus on your one purpose.
-- Japanese Motto
On occasion, we may have had a difficult time focusing on the task at
hand. Sometimes we are being distracted by people, friends or family.
Other times, it's business or our own inner turmoils that distract us from
doing what we must. As you know, this issue of Maestro is long overdue.
It would be easy to make excuses, but I won't. What I am going to do is
say that I have been focusing on things that needed to get done. We are
back on track now...
In the strategy of the sword, we must learn to correctly focus our
attention. With your life on the line, it is not a good idea to become
distracted with uncertainties and nonobservance.
When the lesson comes around to learning where we must put our
attention ("where to focus the eyes when facing an opponent?") we
begin by considering the various alternatives:
Some teachers tell you to focus on your adversary's sword, while others
say that focusing on the person's hands or elbow will tell us all that we
need know. This is not, however, how we do it.
We begin by looking at the person in the face and then let our peripheral
vision keep us aware of our surroundings. Soon our gaze "loosens" and
we see beyond our adversary. Instead, we are simply aware of our
surroundings.
The Japanese refer to looking at your adversary as Ken. Ken is
observing his movements, his body dynamics and his cutting trajectory.
They refer to the seeing of your opponent, the surroundings, and the
instinctive knowing of his movements as Kan. Kan is what we Westerners
would call "sixth sense". Intuition. Awareness.
How do you develop these skills? Once, when I was hanging out with a
friend he said, "Keep an eye on the subtleties." Pay attention to detail,
keep yourself focused on the task at hand and don't let yourself be
distracted by trivial matters.
