Do you have the quality all great masters possess?

In the midst of the images of destruction in Japan, I was surprised to see an interview with actor George Takei, Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu. He had been on TV a lot lately, but always as an over-the-top gay character. So I couldn’t imagine what he could possibly contribute to shed additional light on the horrific events in Japan.

Thankfully, he was very serious and dignified and, as a proud Japanese-American, spoke about what enabled the Japanese people to endure such events. It was a quality he called gaman. I had never heard the term before and immediately looked it up.

Although the definition has many additional meanings, one dictionary simply defined gaman as “perseverance”.

I’d imagine those of us who have been in the martial arts for many years know gaman intimately, although we never had a name for it nor likely even knew there was a quality for which we needed a name. But when asked in a magazine interview a few months ago what one quality I thought most important to a martial artist, I said perseverance. (I didn’t yet know the word gaman or might have used it.)

It has been the pluggers (those who persevered), not the natural athletes (for whom everything was easy), that went the furthest at my dojo. Without gaman, it is impossible to reach the highest levels in the martial arts. You reach the top not by a giant leap but by millions of small steps. So, if you just keep training, day in and day out, you will be amazed at where it will eventually take you.

(For a great, much more indepth write-up on gaman, check out Goodin Shihan’s article on the following link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/charles-c-goodin/gaman-to-bear-the-unbearable/10150166974430127)

Thanks again for reading my humble ramblings.

The Two Edged Sword

As some pointed out in response to my previous post, it is sad that Hanshi Hagaonna chose to deny himself this simple pleasure because of someone who was not just a jerk but a stupid jerk. The guy probably never knew how close he came to the beating of his life.

Hanshi Higaonna with Tsuruoka Sensei. Two great men and martial artists.

But what do you think is the likely probability that this was the first time the driver had done this? Generally only successful behavior is repeated. So it was likely not his first such incident. How many people had this guy injured in the past? And how many did he possibly hurt afterwards?

Others would likely have chosen another of the many ways of dealing with situations such as this. One option might have been by welding what the Japanese call The Two Edged Sword – the sword that takes life, also gives life. If someone had killed Adolf Hitler early in his rise to power, millions of innocent people would not have lost their lives. So, the gun that killed this one man would have saved the lives of many, many others. It would have taken a life but, by doing so, given life to others. In the situation with the taxi driver, one way of looking at it would be that Hanshi Hagaonna might have done society a favor by applying what Soke Kubota used to call “an attitude adjustment”, and prevented this same guy from beating up others who were likely less able to defend themselves.

We must all decide the path we will follow relative to our beliefs. Hanshi Higaonna chose to follow one that was probably far more difficult and lofty than most of us would have followed. But, as Sensei Massie and others pointed out, it is very sad.

I consider myself very fortunate to have been allowed to spend a fair amount of time with or around Hanshi Higaonna when he lived here. He is a very kind, gentle, and humble man and great, great martial artist. As I said in one of my previous comments, I’ve known many (if not most) of those considered the greatest martial artists of our time. Some of them have been great martial artists but not so good as human beings – and especially after several water glasses of sake. Some I’ve met were truly great human beings but not so good as martial artists. But Hanshi Higaonna is one of a small handful who were truly great human beings and great martial artists.

What are your thoughts? Would applying The Two Edged Sword have been a better option? (This is not to in any way deprecate what he did. I certainly don’t know what is best, and most certainly not what would have been best for a far better man than I. I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate.)

A True Man of Peace

A few years ago, a reporter approached the teenage son of actors and liberal activists Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. They asked the boy if he agreed with the very liberal views of his famous parents. I don’t remember what the teenager said. But after Robbins heard of the incident, he angrily stormed up to the reporter and told him that if he ever spoke to any of his children again, he would beat the living snot out of him. A comedian quipped that night on TV that Robbins would have beaten the reporter right then but couldn’t as he was late for a peace march.

Most non-martial arts have the mistaken belief that martial artists (and many in the military) love violence. They think it’s what attracted us to get involved in the martial arts, or join the military. But those who know the true and horrible costs of violence and war are often the most strongly against it.

An Okinawan man I know loved riding his bicycle, although his busy schedule only allowed him to do so on Sundays. He looked forward all week to his Sunday trips into the countryside, where he could peddle happily through the sugar cane fields, smelling the aromas of nature and feeling the wind in his face.

On one particular Sunday, he was peddling through a very busy Naha intersection on his way out of town. While attempting to make his way safely across, a taxi almost hit him. The driver slammed on the brakes, as did the bicyclist. The driver jumped out of his taxi, cursing and wanting to fight the bicyclist. The bicyclist was a humble man and apologized, then continued on his way.

But this would be his last bicycle trip. Because riding his bicycle had almost caused a fight and gotten someone badly hurt, he gave up riding his bike, to make sure the next incident didn’t end badly for someone.

That bicyclist was Hanshi Morio Higaonna, a true man of peace.

Morio Higaonna and I at Las Vegas tournament.

More great info from Val Mijailovic

I just watched this clip again and found a lot of very useful and insightful information, far more than just on the subject of sweeps. He talks about timing edges, off-side techniques, etc. This is the continuation of the clip I posted yesterday. Again, his entire sweep dvd is available through Masters Magazine.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw_o9w1Flz8

This is a link for ordering his sweep dvd: http://www.em3video.com/em3%20DVDs/Masterclass%20Sweeping%20Techniques.html

Val Mijailovic on Sweeping

Val Mijailovic, as you saw in the clip footage from the 70s that I posted yesterday, is a master of sweeps, including free-standing sweeps, where your opponent is not grabbed as they generally do in judo. Many karateka have tried to use judo sweeps in competition and on the street with limited results. A couple of years ago, Val produced a sweep dvd. I was one of the first to purchase a copy. (It's available through Martial Arts Masters magazine.) Here's a clip from his great dvd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrBZIimnKls

One of our most powerful - but lesser known - fighters

When people talk about powerful fighters, they seldom mention one I consider one of the strongest - Val Mijailovic. I met Val when he was a young teenager, training at Soke Kubota's Hollywood dojo. Through the years, he fought very successfully in many major traditional tournaments, representing the U.S. in international competition on several occasions. He is now one of the most respected and loved of Soke Kubota's students. The following is a clip of Val in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_SkqjDxiI0

How do you handle people who try to cheap shot you?

I just posted this on Facebook in response to a statement by Shihan Judith Marx, a fellow long-time student of Soke Kubota. She brought up the subject of "cheap shots". It jogged my memory of an event that happened many years ago, where a guy tried to cheap shot me in a tournament.

"Used to get people trying to cheap shot us at tournaments, more than in the dojo. (Only had one guy try to cheap shot me at Soke's dojo, some weird guy who had transferred in from some other organization.) I was fighting a guy once in one of Ron Marcini and Leo Fong's tournaments. I had beaten him before - at the Manteca tournament in the photo I posted (of myself fighting Frank Rameriz). As soon as I got a lead on the guy, he started trying to hit me, figuring I guess that he could save more face that way - I didn't lose, I was disqualified because of excessive contact, because I was too strong for those guys, etc. On his next attack, he lifted his hands up like people do when they want to hit you in the face. So I sunk down and caught him first with a well controlled middle level reverse punch. A split second later, he popped me in the mouth. I tasted the blood and immediately caught him hard in the solar plexus with an inverted punch (uppercut). He spun around and dropped to his knees, sounding like he was going to throw up. I stood over him for a couple of seconds to see if he intended to continue, then stepped back. I never saw him again nor did he probably try to cheap shot anyone again."

Here's a copy of the photo that I posted on Facebook of my match with
Frank Rameriz. Ron Marcini and Robert Halliburton were the officials.

How do you guys/gals handle people who try to cheap shot you?

How rough should training be?

In the old days, one of my instructors told us he wanted to see blood at every workout. And he did... along with a lot of broken bones. I got my best friend involved in the school. After a month or two, someone asked him what he would do if he were attacked, since he hadn't trained for long. He said "I get beaten up by experts three times per week. What can the average guy do to me?"

I've always tried to remind myself of the following when supervising the training of my students: A student should never get more badly injured while trying to learn how to protect himself on the street than he would had he not trained and actually gotten beaten up on the street. What's your thinking on this?

Bunkai, Kyusho, and the Death Touch – Part X

Take a look at the following clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4BC5vrxxHo

What do you think about it? An arm point is struck and the person drops, out cold. Are such things medically possible?

Well, Dr. Kelley claims soft touch knockouts to distant points such as this are based on sound medical evidence. In his book, Death Touch, he explains why he believes this.

I’ll just hit the major points of Dr. Kelley explanation and leave a complete, more in-depth one for those interested enough to read his book. And even my explanation will likely get a bit confusing, at least partly because the names of all of the important elements end in “nervous system”.

From a neurological standpoint (having to do with our nerves), we are made up of two major subsystems – the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS is made up of our brains and spinal cords. The latter system (the PNS) is comprised of all nerves beyond those within our brains and spinal cords (the CNS). Their main function is to connect our brains and spinal cords (the CNS) to our limbs and organs. But unlike the brain and spinal cord, which are located inside hard, bony structures (our skulls and back bones), the nerves of the PNS are largely unprotected, making them much more vulnerable to strikes and kicks.

According to Dr. Kelley and others, it is 1) their greater vulnerability, 2) the way in which the two systems (CNS and PNS) connect with each other, and 3) the structure of a subdivision of the PNS called the Autonomic Nervous System that creates the possibility for the type of knockouts seen in the clip.

Scientists hold that we are the result of 4+ million years of evolution – of adaption and change. Throughout that time, those who had certain qualities survived and those who didn’t, didn’t. One of these is what is called the Fight or Flight Syndrome. When someone or something appeared in our environment that could possibly prove threatening to us, we became wired to either confront the threat and immediately attack or to quickly put as much distance as we could between us and them.

The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS), one of the two divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System, is responsible for this, for preparing us to flee or battle. Once activated, it automatically constricts (narrows) and pulls blood vessels deeper, making them more difficult to damage. It speeds up our hearts and raises our blood pressure, increasing blood flow, carrying greater amounts of oxygen and necessary nutrients to working muscles, while also carrying away waste products, enabling our muscles to work at an optimal level. It also shuts down our digestive systems to conserve possibly critical blood flow. And in extreme cases, it can also cause our bladders and bowels to empty, making us lighter on our feet.

The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS), the other half of the Autonomic NS, creates changes that are the opposite of those created by the SNS – it undoes the Fight or Flight changes so our bodies can recover. It slows down our hearts, dilates (enlarges) our blood vessels, reduces our blood pressure, and slows down our breathing, enabling us to rest and recover.

Excess Sympathetic NS activity (which can be created by strikes to nerves – such as those along the so-called Heart Meridian on the arms – that connect to the same level of the spinal cord as those related to the SNS) can result in heart failure. Excess Parasympathetic NS activity (also vulnerable to strikes to similarly placed nerves as with the SNS noted above) can lead to a variety of problems, including unconsciousness and heart arrest.

According to Dr. Kelley, strikes to the right pressure points, including those on our arms and legs, have been medically verified to produce reactions within our Autonomic NS – either the Sympathetic NS or the Parasympathetic NS – which can cause our blood pressure to rise too high or drop too low, causing internal sensors to shut everything down and leading to unconsciousness.

Have you ever wondered why people having heart attacks often feel pain in their left arms? Well, it’s kind of related to all this. According to Dr. Kelley, it’s due to a process known as convergence. The nerves from the heart enter the spinal cord at the same level (between the same vertebrae) as do nerves from the arm. Reportedly, the pain transmitted from a failing or damaged heart converges with the nerves to the arm, so pain is felt there too. According to Dr. Kelley, the reverse can also occur – not just to the heart but also to other organs. This is the method by which strikes to the arms can reportedly affect our blood pressure and so on and cause a knockout or organ failure.

This is not easy stuff to explain. Hopefully, I got it close to right.

I’ll likely finish this series up next time with my thoughts on what all this means to the average martial artist. Thanks for bearing with me through all this. Please feel free to share your thoughts and corrections.

Interesting workshop with Hanshi Shinzato

I posted this several months ago on my Facebook page but it contains some interesting information so reposting it here. It's by Hanshi Katsuhiko Shinzato. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZOgFABxEEw&feature=related

Hanshi Oscar Higa on kime

Here is another clip on Hanshi Oscar Higa. I liked it because he gets more into proper hip and hara action to develop kime, especially as it applies to kobudo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ7_k03UxkI

For those struggling to keep your schools open

I’ve received several pm’s and emails about my statement that my dojo had lost money for the first 24 years of its operation. I want to clear things up. I realized around that same time that that couldn’t continue. I had always focused on being fair to my students, often leaning over far backwards to achieve this. (One student even said I was the only person he knew who he had to chase down to pay. I was embarrassed to take money for teaching.) But I had failed to be fair to my family and to myself. The pressure of trying to keep the doors open was taking a toll on my health and my marriage. So I decided changes had to be made and I took a more professional approach. And by “professional”, I don’t mean “commercial”.

What is the difference? Well, a doctor is a professional man. Most love medicine and love their patients but must do things right from a western business standpoint in order to continue to offer their services. If they could make more money doing something else, most would still choose to be doctors as it’s not about money. Many today run commercial schools. By that I mean they are largely financial operations. If many of them could make more money doing something else, they would close their schools in an instant and follow it – and some have.

A professional martial arts instructor makes money so he can teach the martial arts. A commercial martial arts instructor teaches the martial arts so he can make money. Big difference in my mind.

After restructuring my dojo on a more professional model (which was no easy feat), it has paid its way ever since as well as allowed me to meet my personal expenses, enabling me to focus solely on the martial arts.

At some point in the near future, I will discuss how I was able to achieve this in hopes of better enabling those of you who love teaching the martial arts but are struggling to keep your schools open.

Sage advice from aging martial artists

Professor Sig Kufferath was a wonderful man who never appeared to age. He was a great judo/jujitsu grandmaster, a direct student of the legendary Professor Henry Okazaki, who produced other greats, including Wally Jay and Willy Cahill. He was one of our early USNKA Living Martial Arts Treasure Award recipients. His daughter, Leslee Kufferath, hosted a very nice memorial event a couple of weeks ago for what would have been her father’s 100^th birthday. Professor Kufferath was so well-loved and respected that the event was a huge success. Masters and students came from around the globe to teach and be taught.

Professor Kufferath was such a knowledgeable and gentle soul, I always treasured the time I was able to spend with him. On one occasion, he told me a story that put age into proper perspective. While in his middle 80s, he returned to his native Hawaii to visit his handful of surviving childhood buddies. He and one of them went to the beach, where they saw many beautiful, young women in very skimpy bathing suits. He told his buddy, “What I wouldn’t give to be 70 again”.

In the following clip, Hanshi Mochida Moriji, 10^th dan in kendo, talks about the effects of age on a martial artist and how he dealt with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XHSZ-sLG3I

Should you follow a martial life?

I haven't forgotten my series on Bunkai, Kyusho, and the Death Touch. I'm working on the next installment. But it requires some neurological explanations and I wasn't happy with how I had explained it. It was too confusing. While I rewrite it, here's my thoughts on the value of following a martial life.

Many, many years ago, I came to a crossroads in my life. For the first 24 years of its operation, my dojo lost money. I had to pay the rent out of my own pocket, which eventually forced me to consider the intelligence of continuing. I was, afterall, paying to have people study with me. Not much of a complement. In fact, it was a very a discouraging situation and extremely difficult to justify, especially to my wife.

I ran over a long list of pros and cons. In the end, the pros thankfully won out. I thought it would be good to put myself into a situation where I had to continue to train and learn new materials throughout my life in order to stay ahead of my students and keep myself in top shape. It would also commit me to living my life carefully so as to always be a proper role model for my students. I also hoped to be able to continue to serve a useful purpose and enjoy greater self-sufficiency in my old age, in a country where old is bad and new is good, where our seniors are considered a useless burden.

I am now 68 and things have worked out exactly as I had hoped. I would highly recommend everyone follow a similar path.

Yet another great Naihanchi/Tekki video

I know I said the last one was the last, but I came across another interesting clip on Naihanchi/Tekki kata. This one is by Hanshi Minoru Higa's cousin, Hanshi Oscar Higa. In it, he corrects the kata of one of his black belts. I don't speak Spanish but, although a translation would be helpful, none is necessary. We can hear with our eyes, as most of us have done through the years with instructors whose English was not great. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MJpFiU3eEI&feature=related

Hanshi Minoru Higa

Hanshi Minoru Higa is considered one of the greatest masters now teaching on Okinawa. According to Hanshi Dan Smith, he practices 2,000 punches every day and has for many years. Even at an advanced age, he can hit from any angle and do significant damage. Here's a clip on him teaching a seminar in South America and includes a section in which he teaches Naihanchi Kata. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjfZGJQ27MA&playnext=1&list=PLC05F1C7827912056

Chotoku Kyan's Bo

Hanshi Dan Smith just returned from Okinawa, where he's working with his instructor, Hanshi Zempo Shimabukuro, on a new book. While there, he witnessed the presentation of legendary karate grandmaster Chotoku Kyan's personal bo to Zempo Sensei by the Kyan Family. Hanshi Smith wrote a nice piece on the presentation on his Seibukan Blog. It has a great video clip on the bo and Hanshi Shimabukuro describing how it was constructed, facts about size and shape of old bows, and demonstrates its use. http://www.seibukan.us/Blog/EntryId/18/April-Visit-to-Okinawa-Kyans-Bo.aspx

Bunkai, Kyusho, and the Death Touch – Part IX

There’s an interesting theory that kyusho points were kept secret throughout history by high level martial artists because knowledge of vital points gave them an edge in their senior years against challenges from much younger (and generally much faster and stronger) students.

The story has it that kyusho (or at least the most dangerous points) would only be taught to an instructor’s most trusted and most senior student, his uchi deshi, generally near the end of the instructor’s life. I don’t know if this is true or not but we do have some evidence that would indicate it could be.

We know, for example, that students weren’t taught anything beyond the omote (or surface or public) techniques until they had proven themselves trustworthy. Then, they were taught the lower level okudan (secret teachings). This has been well documented. We also know that only very select students were ever taught an instructor’s most secret information or techniques or allowed to read or copy a high ranking instructor’s extremely secret and treasured copies of works like the Bubishi.

Also, I have unfortunately had a couple of black belt students over my 55 years in the martial arts whose egos, after becoming black belts, began to soar astronomically, reaching far higher than their IQs, their loyalty, or their integrity (forcing me to boot them). So I can understand the appeal of something like this as I get older. People are people and I doubt if mentally/spiritually weak people have only appeared on the scene during our time. As such, I’d image many others had similar experiences through the centuries. But what do you think?

Another great performance of Naihanchi kata

Okay, a last clip of a great performance of Naihanchi kata. Be sure to have your sound on. You can close your eyes and know you're listening to something very powerful. This is by Hanshi Zempo Shimabukuro. His father was Zenryo Shimabukuro, senior student of the legendary Chotoku Kyan. I had the great pleasure of spending a good deal of time at his dojo in Okinawa, while there twice with Hanshi Dan Smith, who's trained with Zempo Sensei for over 40 years. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHUJAn4XhO8 How does his performance of this kata compare to the others and what thoughts does it bring to mind?

Another lesson from a master in hip/hara action

I posted this many months ago on Facebook but many didn't see it then. It's a film clip of Hanshi Katsuhiko Shinzato performing Naihanchi kata. Compare it with the one I posted earlier of Michiko Onaga doing the same kata and please share your thoughts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DEVYxsihlE

More fascinating clips by Hanshi and Michiko Onaga

Here are another couple of fascinating clips by Onaga Hanshi and his daughter, Michiko, who are considered among a very small number who still practice the ancient Okinawan art of ti/te.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AswojIiuJCg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqA1t1GC5Ao&feature=related

Man who was reportedly beaten to death in martial arts school

Many of you may have already seen this. It's making the rounds on the internet. The clip shows actual footage of a man who apparently went into a martial arts school and claimed to be a 10th dan, promoted he says by Jesus. The instructor has one of his black belt students fight the guy, with horrible consequences - horrible from what happens to the man but also horrible in how the instructor and his students react to it. This footage was shot in 1984, I think. Be warned, this is very graphic. The second link leads to a clip of a recent newscast on a case possibly being filed against the instructor and all those who watched and did nothing. The sheriff also points out that they are investigating to make sure the event is true and was not merely staged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsPmHZjK_ZA&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wObjWdQBeA4&feature=related

More pressure point attacks to the neck

Here's another link for a clip on pressure point attacks to the neck. Although I like the animation and believe there's probably validity to what he presents, there's some things unsettling to me. But I could be off-base. What are your thoughts? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHtLlzw5zAE&feature=related

Erle Montaigue's Most Practical Dim Mak Points

I came across this clip from a series on dim-mak by Erle Montaigue, considered by some to be one of the most knowledgable of these practioners.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozSJukiiTEM&feature=related

Onaga DVD

I found a source for the dvd containing footage on Sensei Onaga and others. This is a link. I just ordered one for myself.

Old style Okinawan ti/te

I've posted these before on my Facebook page. But I'm reposting them here for those who didn't see it before. The second clip is supposed to have subtitles but doesn't any longer, for some reason. These are by Hanshi Onaga and his daughter, Michiko, who are among the few remaining knowledgable of old style Okinawan ti or te. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqIL_Wx4AnA&feature=related
.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKwO5-ji1rQ&feature=related

Bunkai, Kyusho, and the Death Touch – Part VIII

In the early 70s, one of my tougher brown belts, Steve Andrews, brought one of his biker buddies to the dojo. His buddy was a black belt in some open system and came in with a very cocky, arrogant attitude. He started immediately with “Well, in my style…” The rhetoric between the two friends quickly intensified until they decided to have a “friendly” sparring match to settle the matter.

The black belt opened with a spinning back kick, but was far too slow. As he spun, Steve lunged forward and punched him lightly in the back of the neck. The black belt’s knees buckled. He was out cold. But his momentum kept his body turning. As his head came around, Steve roundhouse kicked him square in the face. The guy fell to the floor, blood leaking from his nose. He quickly came to and pinched his nostrils shut. He stumbled to his feet, intending to head to the bathroom. But Steve grabbed him, threw his towel in his face, and told him to clean the blood off the floor first, which he did with a much more humble attitude.

The assessment of the amount of power applied in a technique usually differs vastly, depending on who you talk to. The person landing the technique always says “I barely touched him”. The one hit often thinks otherwise. (I generally, but not always, view the receiver as the best judge in the matter.) But in this case, I was standing nearby and saw that Steve’s punch to the back of the neck was very light, although highly effective.

As I’ve said before, we all understand this type of technique. The neck and throat are very vulnerable areas. It’s those knockouts, where people smack a couple of points along their partner’s arms and they drop to the floor, that creates doubt in many people.

In addition to Bruce Everett Miller’s material, a book I highly recommend everyone read who’s interested in this subject and how such things can occur is Death Touch: The Science Behind The Legend of Dim-Mak by Dr. Michael Kelly. Dr. Kelly is an Osteopathic Physician. To become a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), he had to undergo the same education and training as did your family doctor. And he’s medically qualified and licensed to do the same things, including practicing medicine and prescribing medication. My personal osteopath for several years was also an orthopedic surgeon. Until his retirement, he was team physician for the Oakland A’s baseball team.

So osteopaths know as much about the human body in general as do MDs. However, they know more than most about the skeletal and neurological systems, due to receiving far greater training in those areas. This makes Dr. Kelly very qualified to discuss this particular subject, which he does strictly from a western medical standpoint, while also pointing out where it and traditional Chinese medicine coincide.

“… the concept of attacking an internal organ by stimulating a point on the skin seems like a feat of magic,” said Dr. Kelly. “However, if one can accept the idea that a dim-mak point is an avenue for attacking the nervous system, then it becomes easier to understand how the points can affect the internal organs. There is an area of the body where the peripheral nerves connect with nerves from the internal organs. This connection is well known in neurology and known as convergence. … medical research has shown that stimulating the peripheral nerves can adversely affect the internal organs. Thus, stimulating an external nerve through a dim-mak point can stimulate the nerves that are connected to the internal organs, resulting in damage.”

Next time, I’ll more about this view and what it all means for us. Thanks again for your continued support.

An eye witness to seppuku

When they were all seated in a row for final dispatch, Sakon turned to the youngest and said- “Go thou first, for I wish to be sure that thou doest it right.” Upon the little one’s replying that, as he had never seen seppuku (disembowelment) performed, he would like to see his brothers do it, and then he could follow them. The older brothers smiled between their tears:-“Well said, little fellow. So canst thou well boast of being our father’s child.” When they had placed him between them, Sakon thrust the dagger into the left side of his abdomen and said-“Look, brother! Dost thou understand now? Only, don't push the dagger too far, lest thou fall back. Lean forward, rather, and keep thy knees well composed.” Naiki did likewise and said to the boy-“Keep thine eyes open, or else thou mayst look like a dying woman. If thy dagger feels anything within and thy strength fails, take courage and double thine effort to cut across.” The child looked from one to the other, and when both had expired, he calmly half-denuded himself and followed the example set him on either side.

From Dr. Inazo Nitobe’s Bushido, The Soul of Japan