A MARTIAL WAY IS NOT A SCIENCE On the technical plan: It’s the Sword that creates the working conditions. The quality of its work will have an immediate impact on the learning of the Jo. For example, the Sword must learn to Receivethe technique of the Jo before being able to undergoit; you must understand how to receive the force that is proposed to you and so understand where it takes you. Refusing to play the game leads to a change of conditions that does not permit the Jo to continue its techniques under the right conditions. Never forget that you effect the Rolesdefined in advance and that if the sword changes something that is not specified in the kata, the Jo could do the same equally. The real Martial Way must be more than a Martial Technique and not simply something else, that is to say it must keep the same efficiency and the same finesse to allow us to develop, to transcend. On the philosophical plan: The Martial Way evolved in a Buddhist setting. It’s about the Paths of self-fulfillment. In the Techniques, we are rather preoccupied with what the other might eventually do. The Martial Way does not bring virtues but it takes virtues to practice them… These are the classic virtues of Buddhism: patience, effort, wisdom, ethics, silence, the gift, perfection, concentration, respect… these things are implemented when the path is practiced: patience to acquire the right gesture, the duration of that patience. The gift: we do not do the disciplines for ourselves, or for preserving ancient techniques, we want to share the knowledge and not consider them as reserved for a pseudo elite… in such a case we curl up on ourselves and cannot acquire a mastery. Concentration: by focusing attention on something specific, the consciousness opens. Focus on one side and open the consciousness of the other. In studying properly the Martial Way we enter a process of awakening… what Buddhism ultimately seeks. All of this speaking to the world of phenomenon’s, that’s to say the world of shapes is what defines form which informs aesthetics: the mastery of the gesture is therefore in the domain of aesthetics. It’s a return to a simplicity that comes when the fruit has matured, because a form is perfect when there is no longer effort in doing it… Back to natural.