The Void

For some reason it was not working, and for the past hour of training I couldn’t figure out why.

We were exploring the waza (technique) called Koku and honestly I was frustrate. This was one of the techniques that I was rather confident with. I had seen it a number of times, practiced it with a few different master, and studied it at home, outside of the dojo for a few years now.

In short I felt confident with it, even to the point that if a shihan (master teacher) had called me up to demonstrate it, I felt I could represent it well.

It was a good thing there were no shihan here tonight in the dojo watching me.

Sometimes in class the lesson is way beyond ones pay-grade, and in cases like this sometimes the best one can do is keep going in class and do they best that they can, as there is a lesson in this developing correct warrior heart.

Continuing to the end and never giving up.

Sometimes a class *is* intentionally hard to the point where none of the students can do it, or rather a test of cultivating the correct heart in the safe environment of the dojo.

But this was not that time, and I could not use that as an excuse.

It took to the end of the class to figure it out, and at that point and time I was too late- although I would not make that mistake in training again in the future.

The mistake?

One of the ways that the warrior lessons are transmitted is by modeling. The teacher demonstrates a waza followed by the class pairing up with a partner and practicing it. Along the way corrections may be made, or additional points added.

When the teacher showed Koku at the start of class, my mind was not fully present. I immediately through to myself this is Koku, and recalled the steps and points- mistake.

It *was* Koku, but the distance was changed a bit.

I made the mistake of not approaching EVERY waza when demonstrated as if one had never seen it before, as if it was the first time seeing it no matter the years in on training.

I missed the henka (change), and no wonder it was off.

Warriors, don’t make a similar mistake!