Warrior training

Some time back, I followed an internet discussion, one that degenerated into something of an argument, about what constituted "warrior training" in the martial arts. Does kata have a place in the training of true warriors? What makes someone a warrior?

My first experience with warrior training involved instruction in sword fighting. Our dojo was a back yard. Our swords were made from picket fences. OK, we were just little kids at the time, but we took our sword fights very seriously...sometimes too seriously. I learned many valuable lessons, some of which I have just recently been reflecting on.

I learned that you never turn your back on your opponent and that you never, ever drop your weapon, even if a mighty sword blow has just struck your knuckles, causing you to cry out in pain, "Unfair! Don't hit my hand!" Without a weapon, you are quickly dead --- a lesson which I then tried to use to my advantage by attempting disarms of my own.

There were numerous sword techniques I learned, most of which I've long forgotten, which is probably all for the best. I don't have much reason, these days, to go about armed with picket fence swords.

But the most valuable lesson I learned is that the battle is never over until your opponent is soundly defeated, to the point that he can fight no more. My opponent in those days, who was also my instructor, possessed the amazing ability to fight on and on, no matter how mortal his wounds. With his "last dying strength", he was able not only to run me through with his sword, but to vanquish an entire army. It was amazing. Every death he died was more heroic than the last.

Of course we were just little kids then. Our wounds really weren't fatal, and very little real blood was shed. There were no armies. The great planetary civil war was only in our overwrought imaginations.

Years later, my brother trained as a real warrior in the United States Army Infantry, while I dabbled in jiujitsu.

Even more years later, after earning my black belt in Keichu-Do, I used the focus and self-control I'd learned in the martial arts to give me the calmness I needed in order to deliver a eulogy at Sam's memorial service.

He was a warrior. He never fought in a real war, one against an actual human army. But he fought in that great cosmic battle of good versus evil that swirls around us whether we want to admit it or not. The last nine years of his life, he fought bravely against cancer.

Sam had the amazing ability to fight on and on, after others would have given up. His strength and courage were beyond anything I could personally comprehend.

His last death...it really was more heroic than all the others that went before.