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I stumbled across this book called 『武道極意』 or budô gokui by 内田良平 Uchida Ryôhei, which to some forum members might be known as the creator of the first(?) book on jûdô (circa 1902).
There's a number of pretty interesting things in it, but the thing that immediately caught my eye was the chapter on jû yoku gô wo sei-suru. I might do some different things later, as this stuff is pretty cool except for when Rhôhei goes on tangents which requires me to use all my powers of Google-fu just to find a single word from a 7-line sentence.
Here's a translation I've been working on for a couple of days. It's by no means perfect, so I'm also adding the original text, but at least it's an attempt to give people a feel for pre-WW2, right-wing people thought about budô.
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Chapter 24 "Jû yoku gô wo sei-su" (pp. 65-69)
That thing which makes jû able to control/get the better of gô is ki. This ki is the same ki as talked about in Mencius' "I am skillfully able to nourish my universal life force" (note1). The character used for ki (気) is pronounced the same way as ki (季 season; year), ki (期 time period), and ki (機 chance; opportunity), and is essential for grasping the essential points of budô. Ki (気) is the ki of Heaven, and it is by receiving that ki that Man is born. It is breath. It is spirit. For that reason, one should say that Man lives and moves due to ki. Ki (季) is the four seasons as brought forth by ki (気), and the essential meaning of the character ki (季) is "hitherto; still; not yet" (note2). This implies eternal changes. Ki (期) is something decided, like the seasons. However, even that which is decided, when its time comes to the brim, it always changes. Change is one of Nature's underlying principles, and ki (機) rises from this. Ki (機) when discussing ki (気) is like the eye inside yin, like wind and rain, always moving, never stopping. The movements of ki (機) abide by Nature, and when it does, there is victory. If it resists and go the opposite way, there is defeat.
In short, it is due to the mysterious influence of the rule of Heaven (note3) that jû gets the better of gô. There is no certainty in jû defeating gô, in the same way that there is no certainty in gô defeating jû. Victory and defeat exist only by the skill of application of changes between unconventionality and conventionality. Even though the people of old used to say that "jû is yang, and gô is yin", it is more correct to say that jû is the yang inside yin, and that it is the extreme form of yin that has been transformed into yang. In the same way, gô is the yin inside yang, more specifically the extreme form of yang that has been transformed into yin. Again, people of old said that "the changes of extreme yin into yang and extreme yang into yin are just like the flow of the four seasons". As winter's yin overflows and turns into the yang of spring, the force of which plants and vegetation sprout may look superficially weak, but it is impossible to restrain. In summer, all things grow with yang, and it may resemble a shape of great strength, but already around autumn harvest it turns into yin, again a change that is impossible to stop no matter how. In similar fashion, as there is always movements and changes within ki (機), if one applies ki (気) in the proper direction when there is a change in energy/power, one obtains the "jû yoku gô wo sei-suru" (soft gets the better of hard). The path of riding (i.e. following) changes in power requires a fortification of the heart, which results in loosening of the body. In the densho of the jigô tenshin-ryû jû-jutsu it is explained as: "if one does not fortify one's heart, it is impossible to intelligently discern the great from the tiny. If one does not loosen one's body, it is impossible to find relief in swift motions. For that reason, we do not simply call it nyûwa (gentleness), but also call it jigô tenshin (self-hardening heavenly truth)." The "Kenchô" (questions about the sword) cited below also explains things in similar fashion.
Wei Liaozi (note4) collection #12: "Successful warfare resembles water. Here water is extremely pliant. Thus, when it goes against a mound it will surely break. There are no exceptions. Control its attributes and it becomes truth." (note5)
The core of this quote is that an army that attacks and defeats its enemy should be like water. Whatever it touches upon crumbles and becomes broken. Now, this/that which we call water might be extremely fragile and delicate, but that which it drains up is surely broken down like the masses of the hill. For that reason, those which wholeheartedly seek to become like the attributes of water becomes pure. Warriors should prepare with these things in mind. Those who become people of the crafts nowadays, whether or not they confront their opponent, they show right and strike left, show the hem (of the underskirt worn under the kimono) and strike the neck. Without exception all they do is deceive and cajole everyone. Consequently, if one does not cleanly penetrate my opponent's stomach with proper blood-thirst, this then causes a lack of focus, where both are doing just whatever he feels best. It is just sad. Like this, one's life becomes the harshness of frost and the suffering of snow; and in the end one becomes just a case of idling one's life away with no hope of getting ahead in any area. I yearn that, like the logic that something with the attributes of water can cause even a mound to collapse, we will awaken and perceive the truth, and with a proper heart adhere to proper things. If one arrives to that beautiful place of free and spontaneous action, on would be at a "shining place of discernment, where opponents cannot face you." What illuminates the eyes of the public cannot even compare.
note1:
The Japanese text reads: "我れ善く吾が浩然の気を養ふ". This comes from a dialogue between 公孫丑 Gong Sun Chou and Mencius, and the relevant parts of the original text reads:
丑：「敢問夫子惡乎長？」 "I respectfully ask, Master, wherein you surpass [告子 Master Gao]."
曰：「我知言，我善養吾浩然之氣。」 "I understand words. I am skillfully able to nourish my universal life force [lit: great and prosperous ki]."
丑：「敢問何謂浩然之氣？」 "I respectfully ask what you mean by 'your universal life force'."
曰：「難言也。其為氣也，至大至剛，以直養而無害，則塞于天地之閒。其為氣也，配義與道；無是，餒也。是集義所生者，非義襲而取之也。行有不慊於心，則餒矣。我故曰，告子未嘗知義，以其外之也。必有事焉而勿正，心勿忘，勿助長也。無若宋人然：宋人有閔其苗之不長而揠之者，芒芒然歸。謂其人曰：『今日病矣，予助苗長矣。』其子趨而往視之，苗則槁矣。天下之不助苗長者寡矣。以為無益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之長者，揠苗者也。非徒無益，而又害之。」"It is difficult to explain. This is ki: it exceeds big/great, and it exceeds strength, being nourished by earnesty/excellence and never harmed, it fills up all between heaven and earth. This is [also] ki: the servant of righteousness and dao; without this, man starves. It is born and accumulated naturally from righteous deeds, not to be taken from righteousness by force. If the heart does not delight in doing [repeatedly] these things, consequently [the body] starves. I therefore say: 'Master Gao has never tried to understand righteousness, because for him it is something external'. There must be the constant practice of this righteousness, but without the object of thereby nourishing the passion-nature. Let not the mind forget its work, but let there be no assisting the growth of that nature. Let us not be like the man of Song. There was a man of Song, who was grieved that his growing corn was not longer, and so he pulled it up. Having done this, he returned home, looking very stupid, and said to his people, "I am tired to-day. I have been helping the corn to grow long." His son ran to look at it, and found the corn all withered. There are few in the world, who do not deal with their passion-nature, as if they were assisting the corn to grow long. Some indeed consider it of no benefit to them, and let it alone - they do not weed their corn. They who assist it to grow long, pull out their corn. What they do is not only of no benefit to the nature, but it also injures it."
note2:
It is hard to see in the original text whether it is written未 ima-da, which has the meanings laid out above, or末 sue/matsu, which both can mean "finally; following; future" and "the end".
note3:
天理の妙用 tenri no myôyô, tenri can also mean simply "natural laws"
note4:
The theoretical treatise called 尉繚子Wèi Liáozi was written during the Warring States Period (403-221 BC), and is considered one of the seven military classics of ancient China.
note5:
I get the gist of it, but Chinese is far from my preferred language to translate from. If someone would venture a better translation, here is the original Chinese text: 『勝兵似㆑水。夫水至柔弱者也。然所㆑觸丘陸必爲㆑之崩。無㆑異也。性專而觸誠也。』
There's a number of pretty interesting things in it, but the thing that immediately caught my eye was the chapter on jû yoku gô wo sei-suru. I might do some different things later, as this stuff is pretty cool except for when Rhôhei goes on tangents which requires me to use all my powers of Google-fu just to find a single word from a 7-line sentence.
Here's a translation I've been working on for a couple of days. It's by no means perfect, so I'm also adding the original text, but at least it's an attempt to give people a feel for pre-WW2, right-wing people thought about budô.
---
Chapter 24 "Jû yoku gô wo sei-su" (pp. 65-69)
That thing which makes jû able to control/get the better of gô is ki. This ki is the same ki as talked about in Mencius' "I am skillfully able to nourish my universal life force" (note1). The character used for ki (気) is pronounced the same way as ki (季 season; year), ki (期 time period), and ki (機 chance; opportunity), and is essential for grasping the essential points of budô. Ki (気) is the ki of Heaven, and it is by receiving that ki that Man is born. It is breath. It is spirit. For that reason, one should say that Man lives and moves due to ki. Ki (季) is the four seasons as brought forth by ki (気), and the essential meaning of the character ki (季) is "hitherto; still; not yet" (note2). This implies eternal changes. Ki (期) is something decided, like the seasons. However, even that which is decided, when its time comes to the brim, it always changes. Change is one of Nature's underlying principles, and ki (機) rises from this. Ki (機) when discussing ki (気) is like the eye inside yin, like wind and rain, always moving, never stopping. The movements of ki (機) abide by Nature, and when it does, there is victory. If it resists and go the opposite way, there is defeat.
In short, it is due to the mysterious influence of the rule of Heaven (note3) that jû gets the better of gô. There is no certainty in jû defeating gô, in the same way that there is no certainty in gô defeating jû. Victory and defeat exist only by the skill of application of changes between unconventionality and conventionality. Even though the people of old used to say that "jû is yang, and gô is yin", it is more correct to say that jû is the yang inside yin, and that it is the extreme form of yin that has been transformed into yang. In the same way, gô is the yin inside yang, more specifically the extreme form of yang that has been transformed into yin. Again, people of old said that "the changes of extreme yin into yang and extreme yang into yin are just like the flow of the four seasons". As winter's yin overflows and turns into the yang of spring, the force of which plants and vegetation sprout may look superficially weak, but it is impossible to restrain. In summer, all things grow with yang, and it may resemble a shape of great strength, but already around autumn harvest it turns into yin, again a change that is impossible to stop no matter how. In similar fashion, as there is always movements and changes within ki (機), if one applies ki (気) in the proper direction when there is a change in energy/power, one obtains the "jû yoku gô wo sei-suru" (soft gets the better of hard). The path of riding (i.e. following) changes in power requires a fortification of the heart, which results in loosening of the body. In the densho of the jigô tenshin-ryû jû-jutsu it is explained as: "if one does not fortify one's heart, it is impossible to intelligently discern the great from the tiny. If one does not loosen one's body, it is impossible to find relief in swift motions. For that reason, we do not simply call it nyûwa (gentleness), but also call it jigô tenshin (self-hardening heavenly truth)." The "Kenchô" (questions about the sword) cited below also explains things in similar fashion.
Wei Liaozi (note4) collection #12: "Successful warfare resembles water. Here water is extremely pliant. Thus, when it goes against a mound it will surely break. There are no exceptions. Control its attributes and it becomes truth." (note5)
The core of this quote is that an army that attacks and defeats its enemy should be like water. Whatever it touches upon crumbles and becomes broken. Now, this/that which we call water might be extremely fragile and delicate, but that which it drains up is surely broken down like the masses of the hill. For that reason, those which wholeheartedly seek to become like the attributes of water becomes pure. Warriors should prepare with these things in mind. Those who become people of the crafts nowadays, whether or not they confront their opponent, they show right and strike left, show the hem (of the underskirt worn under the kimono) and strike the neck. Without exception all they do is deceive and cajole everyone. Consequently, if one does not cleanly penetrate my opponent's stomach with proper blood-thirst, this then causes a lack of focus, where both are doing just whatever he feels best. It is just sad. Like this, one's life becomes the harshness of frost and the suffering of snow; and in the end one becomes just a case of idling one's life away with no hope of getting ahead in any area. I yearn that, like the logic that something with the attributes of water can cause even a mound to collapse, we will awaken and perceive the truth, and with a proper heart adhere to proper things. If one arrives to that beautiful place of free and spontaneous action, on would be at a "shining place of discernment, where opponents cannot face you." What illuminates the eyes of the public cannot even compare.
note1:
The Japanese text reads: "我れ善く吾が浩然の気を養ふ". This comes from a dialogue between 公孫丑 Gong Sun Chou and Mencius, and the relevant parts of the original text reads:
丑：「敢問夫子惡乎長？」 "I respectfully ask, Master, wherein you surpass [告子 Master Gao]."
曰：「我知言，我善養吾浩然之氣。」 "I understand words. I am skillfully able to nourish my universal life force [lit: great and prosperous ki]."
丑：「敢問何謂浩然之氣？」 "I respectfully ask what you mean by 'your universal life force'."
曰：「難言也。其為氣也，至大至剛，以直養而無害，則塞于天地之閒。其為氣也，配義與道；無是，餒也。是集義所生者，非義襲而取之也。行有不慊於心，則餒矣。我故曰，告子未嘗知義，以其外之也。必有事焉而勿正，心勿忘，勿助長也。無若宋人然：宋人有閔其苗之不長而揠之者，芒芒然歸。謂其人曰：『今日病矣，予助苗長矣。』其子趨而往視之，苗則槁矣。天下之不助苗長者寡矣。以為無益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之長者，揠苗者也。非徒無益，而又害之。」"It is difficult to explain. This is ki: it exceeds big/great, and it exceeds strength, being nourished by earnesty/excellence and never harmed, it fills up all between heaven and earth. This is [also] ki: the servant of righteousness and dao; without this, man starves. It is born and accumulated naturally from righteous deeds, not to be taken from righteousness by force. If the heart does not delight in doing [repeatedly] these things, consequently [the body] starves. I therefore say: 'Master Gao has never tried to understand righteousness, because for him it is something external'. There must be the constant practice of this righteousness, but without the object of thereby nourishing the passion-nature. Let not the mind forget its work, but let there be no assisting the growth of that nature. Let us not be like the man of Song. There was a man of Song, who was grieved that his growing corn was not longer, and so he pulled it up. Having done this, he returned home, looking very stupid, and said to his people, "I am tired to-day. I have been helping the corn to grow long." His son ran to look at it, and found the corn all withered. There are few in the world, who do not deal with their passion-nature, as if they were assisting the corn to grow long. Some indeed consider it of no benefit to them, and let it alone - they do not weed their corn. They who assist it to grow long, pull out their corn. What they do is not only of no benefit to the nature, but it also injures it."
note2:
It is hard to see in the original text whether it is written未 ima-da, which has the meanings laid out above, or末 sue/matsu, which both can mean "finally; following; future" and "the end".
note3:
天理の妙用 tenri no myôyô, tenri can also mean simply "natural laws"
note4:
The theoretical treatise called 尉繚子Wèi Liáozi was written during the Warring States Period (403-221 BC), and is considered one of the seven military classics of ancient China.
note5:
I get the gist of it, but Chinese is far from my preferred language to translate from. If someone would venture a better translation, here is the original Chinese text: 『勝兵似㆑水。夫水至柔弱者也。然所㆑觸丘陸必爲㆑之崩。無㆑異也。性專而觸誠也。』
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It would probably be worth the time and effort to keep from chasing all over the place.
