The Essence of Swordsmanship: Part 2

[sirdarksol]

There was a samurai who knew nothing of battle. In fact, he was so terrified for his own life that he had never picked a weapon up. His father, of course, was humiliated that his only son knew nothing of martial way, and seemed to be a coward.
Finally, the samurai worked himself up to going out and finding a teacher in order to make his father proud.
He found an old samurai who lived in the wilderness, making what living he needed from training young samurai. This man was a well-known warrior in the region, and the young samurai thought he would do well to train with such an experienced warrior.
The old man asked why the younger man had never learned to use the sword, which would be the norm for a samurai his age in that era.
"Because," the young samurai replied, "I was so afraid of losing my life that I avoided battle."
"And what has changed things?"
"For so long I have felt fear that I have become used to it. I am still afraid for my life, but the fear has been such a constant companion that it no longer influences my decisions."
"You have understood the essence of being a samurai, there is nothing more that I can teach you," the older man replied, retrieving his writing implements to write a certificate of mastery.


Incidentally, almost all of the stories that I have are about samurai and swordsmanship, but this does not mean that they can only be applied to such. Most martial arts concepts are not specific to one art.