“The question is not whether to be strong. Of course you should be strong. The question is what strength, developed how, expressed through which training, so that it enhances the art rather than interfering with it. Bulk that slows you…
> “The tanto is not a small sword. This mistake — treating the tanto as a miniature katana, applying sword principles to blade principles — produces practitioners who understand neither. The tanto has its own logic, its own range, its…
> “A technique that has never been tested against resistance has not been learned. It has been memorized. Memorization produces the appearance of skill. Testing produces the reality of it. The two look identical in a cooperative drill and nothing…
> “The student who thinks of the guard as a defensive position has not understood it. The student who thinks of the guard as an offensive platform has begun to understand half of it. The student who understands that defense…
> “The ninja of history was not the black-clad acrobat of your cinema. He was a specialist in information — a gatherer of intelligence, a master of concealment, and when necessary a practitioner of violence by means that were efficient…
> “The student who trains only the body builds a weapon without a hand to wield it. The student who trains the mind alongside the body builds something more dangerous: a practitioner who is present, who is not moved by…
“Champions are not made in the hands. They are made in the feet. A man with beautiful technique and poor footwork is a man who cannot reach his target. A man with mediocre technique and superior footwork is a man…
“The man who trains only empty-hand has understood one language. The man who trains weapons has understood the grammar that underlies all languages. When you understand why the sword moves as it does, your empty hand begins to understand things…
“The man who can only strike fears the clinch. The man who can only grapple fears the space. The man who understands the transition between them fears neither — because he sees that striking and grappling are not two arts,…
“A weak grip is a broken technique. The hand that cannot hold will not throw, will not control, will not submit. Grip is the beginning of all things in grappling — and for most practitioners, it is the place where…
