The cutting edge

Amerikanjin-ron

Military-industrial companies like to sell their products as “cutting edge”.

Little boys are always playing with toy weapons organizing little wars with the neighbors. The Americans have not risen beyond that. Boys with Toys.

Weapons are more than weapons— they are expressions of culture and preference for certain kinds of weapons tells you a lot about the society that created them .

Japan

Here in Japan, the Japanese sword (katana) is very much a symbol of all cultural mythology – expressed in Bushido.

I am constantly surprised at how little the Japanese know about their own history and where their customs come from —and what they mean. Especially, how little they know about samurai traditions, which are not quite what you may have thought they were.

You should not have any special fondness for a particular weapon, or anything else, for that matter. Too much is the same as not enough. Without imitating anyone else, you should have as much weaponry as suits you.  — Miyamoto Musashi The Book of Five Rings.

So said Japan’s greatest swordsman of all time.

For Musashi, the most important weapon was awareness—not sharp steel… And this awareness was a spiritual attribute.

He thought outside the box. And therefore always won.

The most famous duel Miyamoto Musashi fought while on his musha shugyo was against Sasaki Kojiro in 1612, who at the time was the Shogun’s martial arts teacher and the most feared and respected warrior in the land. Kojiro was seen as the ideal warrior who looked and acted the part of the samurai as laid out in the bushido code to a tee. Musashi on the other hand was the complete opposite who was less concerned with his image or how society perceived him and more concerned with beating anyone who faced him in battle. The two agreed to meet on an island and unsurprisingly Kojiro turned up in a timely manner, sporting the best clothes and swords money could buy. 

Musashi however made his opponent wait knowing that his turning up late would anger him, thus having a negative effect on his concentration and focus; Kojiro’s anger would have only increased when his opponent did finally arrive sporting his usual dirty rags instead of attire befitting a man of their social class. 

Kojiro had his swords made just a little longer than the average sword length to give himself reach advantage over his opponents however it seems Musashi knew this and devised a strategy to combat it. It is believed that he fought with a bokken that he fashioned out of an oar on the boat ride to the island, making it longer than his opponent’s sword in order to beat him at his own game. 

Most Japanese of course have not read Musashi’s writings – and —if they have—don’t understand them.   

But this is a society whose foundation is custom and tradition, redefined every generation, to provide not only cultural continuity but stasis, doubling down on convention. Truth is following what other people think. JHistory is TV dramas and movies.

In this sense, today’s Japan is as static as that of the Edo period.  Perhaps more so.

Do not act following customary beliefs. Miyamoto Musashi

Musashi was, as I have indicated, an outlier.

When a society reaches a certain level of cultural, social and technological development it often seeks to consolidate hierarchy and social relationships for stability— stasis —doubling down on conventional belief in all areas—even the tools of war.

Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese katana was not superior to European swords of the same period -- not in the way it was made, despite what people say-- nor in its effectiveness in battle.  

Let us keep in mind that the samurai mostly fought on horseback with bows and arrows—but the bulk of the fighting before the relative calm of the Edo period was done by foot soldiers using firearms.   The samurai gave up using the longer more cumbersome “Tachi” (nodachi) sword in favor of the lighter, shorter “katana” for convenience— and symbolic value – since it was expensive to make!

The Japanese movies, however. show single swordsmen defeating hordes of enemies. Their swords cut through everything and they never get dull. 

The Western media have picked up on this too.

Magical Thinking

This kind of magical thinking did not help Sasaki in his fight with Musashi.   Sasaki followed convention: Musashi did not. A broken oar defeated two sharp swords.

Still, whatever the reality, in Japan the katana was, has been and is a kind of wonder weapon.  Every country has something like that. For every country has its own magic!

In the West, we have replaced the six-shooter with F35’s, ATACMS missiles, Patriot missiles and so on. Abracadabra!

Like the katana, Western weaponry is expensive to make and hard to produce in quantity— and mostly for show — or for killing peasants.

In a modern war, against a peer level adversary, these hi-tech marvels are just about as effective as katana, and too often instruments of revenge when we find ourselves losing.

These magical weapons are sold by military-industrial companies relying upon the myth of American technical superiority – not so different from the Japanese myth of the katana as being superior because of its artisanship.  “Nobody but us Americans can do this !” “Nobody but us Japanese can do this”.

In Japan this is part of what is called Nihonjin Ron— the exceptionality of the Japanese . In America, it is Americajin Ron.

Katana? F35? They take a lot of time to make and only a few can do it and it costs a lot . Of course,  it requires a lot of training to use them correctly. And then, there is upkeep .  Exceptional weapons for exceptional people.

You get the idea. Human beings are suckers for status symbols. Not so much, Musashi.

Do not sleep under a roof. Carry no money or food. Go alone to places frightening to the common brand of men. Become a criminal of purpose. Be put in jail, and extricate yourself by your own wisdom.

self portrait of Musashi

Musashi used whatever worked. He adapted from whatever he had at hand.

The Russians do the same —adapting tanks, aircraft, missiles drones, and electronics to their needs.  Like Musashi, they would use a boat’s oar if need be. With an electronic seeker.

A $1000 drone taking out a $10 million tank.  A $20,000 Houthi missile  taking down the $30 million reaper drone. Ironies abound.

Musashi was a minimalist .

He believed in Zen — and that in the end, simple is better.  

But the West doesn't think that way

It has its own samurai delusions.

Pets and not

I write a lot about animals including zoo animals and wild animals. One thing you learn immediately and working in a zoo is that wild animals are not pets, even if they bond with you.

Attempts to make “pets” out of wild animals often fail and cause misery for someone. You should only adopt a wild animal if absolutely necessary and if you can give it the kind of environment that it deserves – which most people can't.

We don't know how our relationship with dogs and cats (and ferrets) started – but it appears that they adopted us —rather than that we adopted them. At first, our relationship was symbiotic— and then they moved in and took over. Kinda like your last boyfriend or girlfriend.

Please “bear” that in mind!

If you liked this article please buy me and my resident grizzly, Ichi, a coffee. Still working on the special article. It is gradually taking shape, with some new ideas. You buy me a coffee I will lead you to the list. Click here or on the picture above.