Zen and the Way of the Sword by Winston King

AN enormous number of people are fascinated by the Samurai sword and the stories about the sword. A man of letters, if I may, has now penned his deep thoughts about a subject which is close to his heart.

MANY people from different boundaries and cultures have written about Zen.
Much has been expounded and elaborated on this Eastern philosophy and
religion. Zen & The Way of the Sword, adds to the collection of centuries
of written text.
The title is as intriguing as it is interesting. Winston King, Professor
Emeritus of Vanderbilt University, has made a courageous attempt to cut
across centuries of samurai history in the Land of the Rising Sun to
enlighten and delight.
For those who shy away from and shun all that is martial arts, this book
will be as interesting as staring at an austere Japanese Zen garden from
dawn till dusk. For the limited numbers whose lives revolve around the
dojos and who ponder over the forgotten texts of martial arts, King's work
shines like a torch into some of those nooks and crannies of a Zen temple
which would have otherwise eluded most of its visitors.
For centuries, the samurai has been very much a misunderstood warrior
and swordsman to those outside the country of the cherry blossom. King
traces the birth of this philosophy/religion to its source, and that is
Tao (Way of Heaven). There is a samurai maxim which says: "A man who has
attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action." Another
states: "To know and to act is one and the same."
With those ancient sayings, the gate opens. References like Koan
(statement/saying), Hagakure (18th Century text on samurai code), Bujutsu
(martial skills), Giri (Duty), Bushido (Way of the Warrior), and Kamikaze
(Divine Wind), among others, abound as one plods steadily from page to
page.
King quotes extensively from D.T. Suzuki who "opened" Western eyes to
Zen in his classic text, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, in 1949.
Consider Suzuki's explanation: "Zen finds an inexpressibly deep thought
even in holding up a finger, or in saying `good morning' to a friend. Zen
is mystical. Zen is provocatively evasive. In the eye of Zen, the most
practical is the most abstruse, or vice versa."
It is no easy task to catch a glimpse of that willow tree on a cold
misty morning, but King has clearly managed to spot a couple of willow
leaves.
To understand the samurai is to first learn about Zen. From the annals
of ancient Edo come legendary swordsmen like Yagyu Muneyoshi (founder of
the Sword of No Sword technique), Tesshu Yamaoka (swordsman/Zen disciple),
Sasaki Kojiro (founder of the Ganryu School of Swordsmanship), and
Miyamoto Musashi (samurai-monk, author of A Book of Five Rings). All these
names may sound as foreign as karate to a tribesman living deep in the
Amazon jungle but the path of Zen has been marked significantly by these
swordsmen in the hallowed halls of Japan's history and inspired followers
right up to the present day.
To aid the reader in understanding some intricate sword-fighting
techniques, King has added pages of graphics to illustrate his points. A
map of a Shogun's castle and drawings of fighting scenes serve to capture
the realism of circumstances.
The "soul" of the samurai, which is the katana (long sword), has its
origins unravelled by King's meticulous research. Drawings educate the
novice on the types of blades. In the hands of a master swordsmith, a work
of art and a superior killing weapon can emerge from a different mix of
metals subjected to a specified number of foldings during forging.
Added to this, detailed descriptions of the various heat patterns of the
cutting edge will surely fire the imagination of an interested party.
These steel legacies of ancient Japan are still prized as priceless
treasures today.
Just as the katana is the symbol of Japan and its culture, Zen embodies
the samurai psyche and what is believed to have been passed on to present
generations of samurai descendants. The sword, the martial arts and the
elusive, all-encompassing Zen personify the samurai, King covers all these
aspects and throws in the ronin (masterless samurai), the Shogun and the
wandering swordsmen for good measure.
Armed with this spirit of samurai, Japan sought to impose its political
will across a wide swath of Asian nations in those terror years of the
1940s. It was the slogan inherited from centuries of militaristic regimes
- "never live to be humiliated as a prisoner of war" - that drove
thousands to fight to the death on the sands of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and
Saipan towards the end of World War II. The book explains to some extent
the tragic phenomenon of Japanese citizens leaping to their death together
with their families rather than risk the shame of being captured as
prisoners of war.
It also illustrates splendidly the samurai spirit that raised Japan from
the ashes of defeat to the ranks of an economic superpower 30 years later.
This book's excellence as an academic study and documental contribution
is beyond doubt. However, to fully comprehend the samurai psyche, perhaps
it would be wise to delve into the pages of Yukio Mishima's book Sun and
Steel as well.
Mishima (there's a passing mention of him by King), one of Japan's most
gifted writers, was a fervent follower of Hagakure, the Code of the
Samurai. He lived as he died - a samurai. In November 1970, Mishima
performed seppuku (self-disembowelment) and was promptly beheaded by a
kaishaku (final beheader) as the ancient suicide ritual demands.
Mishima will fill the gaps left by King, who has not been able to
penetrate the Zen domain exclusive to Japanese of the samurai class. Sun
and Steel is Mishima's autobiography and epitaph. In it, he gives an
explicit account of his fascination with pain and death. King reinforces
this point whereby the samurai lives basically for two purposes: to serve
his master at all and any cost, and to always be prepared to die at any
moment with the greatest of dignity as befits the warrior class.
Besides mentioning Mishima in Zen and the Way of the Sword, King also
draws heavily from records about Miyamoto Musashi, the swordsman of
swordsmen. Musashi's reputedly dishevelled and unkempt appearance has
spawned many a popular Japanese samurai movie in recent decades. His
classic, A Book of Five Rings (1645), was credited with giving modern
Japanese entrepreneurs the competitive edge with its ancient strategies
over rival nations. The book will fill another gap in the massive jigsaw
of facets that forms the samurai.
Zen and the Way of the Sword should find avid readers in martial arts
exponents and those whose favourite pastime is walking through the dojo
with the ghost of the samurai. King slashes, cleaves and stabs his way
from the 13th through to the 20th Century in his search for the "holy
grail" of the samurai.
It is a commendable effort. In his quest, he may not have quite attained
kensho (awakening) or satori (realisation) as a Zen master would have, but
for brief moments, he comes pretty close.