Kigurai

While I was in Japan this year, I got to sit next to one of my sword heroes. His name is Suzuki Kunio sensei. If you ever watch the old Nakamura Ryu DVD's you'll see him. Usually with a mustache nowadays.

During the event, I asked him what he thought about kata. He went onto give me a long speech in Japanese about kata and outright destroyed most of the competitors as well as myself about kata. He criticized things like lazy kamae, cuts, grip, man he was strict. But at the end, he told me to focus on kigurai.

For those of you who don't know what kigurai means, it translates roughly into pride in your technique and confidence. Sure it might sound like something close to arrogance. But far from it. You can see it in some teachers, they just project it so well.

Me personally, I found it very difficult to project it at first. This is because I always had this attitude that I was always the junior. Plus I'm so young, what can I possibly be so proud about?! However this was quite wrong. No matter how young I am, I have put plenty of time and sweat into what I project and show. Whether it's kata, tameshigiri or gekken, regardless of result, I will always show confidence in what I do.

I always tell all the dojo guys, that when you leave the dojo, I could care less if you leave with the most perfect technique, but if you can project and show confidence, then I can say I will be satisfied. This is something that people can carry over into other things and help just as much.

So it's not just about power,technical points, speed etc. Sometimes it's just having that pride and confidence in yourself and what you do. I think that's an element of budo that more than translates into everyday life.

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