Kage Read Online Free PDF Page B

nodded. It used to
    be that he gave me a great deal of verbal direction. He said he
    was compensating for the damage done to me by all that study-
    ing for my Ph.D. in Asian History. He didn’t need to say much
    to me anymore.
    I called the class to order. They sunk attentively to the left
    knee, which permits everyone to see the instructor and hear
    his words. “OK,” I said. “You’re looking good.” Many of them
    looked like they had been soaked with a garden hose, but they
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    John Donohue
    were all hanging in there. I liked that. “Relax for a minute.”
    They settled in a rough circle around me and sat with crossed
    legs on the hard floor.
    “We’ve been working this morning on various things—
    movement, sword work, some nerve points. In lots of ways,
    it’s a sampling of a continuum of aspects in the system we train
    in here.” I winced inwardly at the word continuum. Over the
    years, I’ve tried to lose some of my pointy-headedness, but I
    guess Yamashita is right—I have been damaged. I saw one guy
    smirk slightly at my choice of words. I didn’t respond to it, but
    an idea was forming in the back of my mind.
    “Most modern martial arts forms tend to focus their train-
    ing on a limited range of techniques,” I told them. It was noth-
    ing new to them. I could see that in their eyes. “At the higher
    level—where many of you are—you’ve got to expand your prac-
    tice to include the integration of other techniques, other per-
    spectives.” I held up my hands, fingers splayed, and then joined
    my hands together. “Meld them.” I began to walk around the
    circle a bit, making some eye contact with individuals.
    “The exercise we practiced this morning that was based on
    mae,” I continued, “is a case in point. Depending on how you
    play it, it’s got elements of sword-drawing and weapons use, of
    aikido- like entering techniques, and then the potential for an
    almost limitless series of applications using strikes or locks or
    throws.” I watched them carefully as I spoke. There’s a well-
    honored dictum in the martial arts world that people who
    talk about technique can rarely do technique. First, I had used
    an egghead word like continuum. Now I was going on and
    on, making some points that had to be patently obvious to
    people with their experience. So I watched their eyes. Some
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    Kage
    were expressionless, but I saw one guy—the same person who
    had smirked—looking at me with just the type of aggressive
    skepticism that I needed.
    “Now let’s take a look at the application, OK?” I saw a few
    satisfied nods around the circle and got the message— it’s about
    time. When I gestured to my smirking friend, he rose eagerly to
    his feet in a smooth, powerful motion. His look told me that he
    had been waiting for something like this all day.
    I made the rest of them back up and widen the circle. There
    was no telling how this would go. My opponent and I sat about
    one and a half meters apart from each other, just out of attack
    distance. As we settled down into the formal sitting position
    known as seiza, I held up my hand. “You want to wear kote? ”
    I asked my opponent. They’re the padded mitts that protect
    the hands and wrist in arts like kendo . They come in handy
    sometimes.
    He looked at me pointedly. “I don’t see you wearing any.”
    I nodded.
    He smiled tightly. “I’m fine, then.” He was probably in his
    late twenties. His hair was cut short and you could see power-
    ful cords of muscle anchoring his head to his neck. This guy
    was built. He was also taller than I was—not a surprise, since
    most men are. He thought that when I offered the kote that
    I was asking him a question. Maybe he thought I was being
    overly conscientious. Or perhaps I was trying to needle him.
    There was probably some aspect of all these things at work.
    Mostly, however, I was just playing for time, getting a good
    look at him, registering the length of his arms and legs,