HEIHO KADENSHO

There is something said of old: “Weapons are instruments of ill omen; it is the Way of Nature to dislike them. To use them only when it is unavoidable is the Way of Nature.” The reason that weapons are instruments of ill omen is that the Way of Nature is the Tao that gives life to beings, so to take to killing instead is indeed an instrumentality of ill omen. Thus the saying has it that what contradicts the Way of Nature it dislikes. Nevertheless, it also says that to use weapons to kill people when it is unavoidable is also the Way of Nature. It may happen that a multitude of people suffer because of the evil of one person. In such a case, by killing one man a multitude of people are given life. Would this not be a true example of the saying that “the sword that kills is that sword that gives life?” … and so begins this timeless classic of Swordsmanship, Strategy, and Zen by Yagyu Munenori, Kenjutsu master, bodyguard, and personal advisor to three Shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty.