Fighting Spirit

by E.J. Harrison

In the martual arts, of course, death is a constant presence. The whole activity revolves around it. Attack, defense and counter-attack are all performed as if a true life-or-death situation were involved. With proficiency, the vigour of the actions increases and, if one is using weapons, one may employ, for instance, a 'live' (naked) sword instead of a bamboo or wooden sword; all of which make the situation genuinely dangerous. The confrontation with death is perhaps the most important element of spirituality. First, death reveals the ego. That part of us which grasps and holds on, which attempts to crystallize the flow of life and box it into separate entities, is totally panicked by death. Fear is the basis of this holding and contracting, and death, or the thought of death, brings out this fear. In fact the fear we feel at the thought of death is not created by the situation but only brought out of hiding; it was there all along in our life, underlying all the rigidities, the pettinesses and the little neuroses (as well as the great neurosis which makes all of us think of ourselves as beings fundamentally separate from our environment and from other people). That fear, which is the lynch-pin holding the whole rigid structure in place, is revealed in the face of death, and can then be looked into and dealt with.

Genres: Martial Arts, History

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Ernest John Harrison was a journalist, author, and judoka. He wrote many books about the practice of judo, some of which were among the first books in English on the practice.

Harrison began his career as a journalist, working for newspapers in England, British Columbia, and Japan. He enjoyed wrestling, and while working for the Japan Herald in Yokohama, he began training in jujutsu. He later moved to Tokyo, and in 1911, he became the first foreign-born person to achieve shodan (black belt ranking).

In World War I, Harrison served in the Labour Corps of the British Army, and later transferred to Military Intelligence. Following the war, he became the official press attaché and ELTA correspondent in the Lithuanian legation to the U.K. in London. He published several books about Lithuania. During the Second World War, Harrison worked as censor in the British Post Office. After the war, he wrote and translated judo books.

Reviews

[Thomas Müller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good no-nonsense budo story. I liked the chapters on Zen, Kenjutsu and the role of females.

[mithrilmaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed an old and tattered copy from a libray in a dojo in Okinawa. I read it during my commute on the bus on the island from one town to the other. This book is part philosophical and part informational. It talks about the mindset of a fighter, but also touches on the different martial art forms in Japan, their history and evolution. It talks in length about karate, aikido and judo. I really enjoyed learning about specific fighting concepts that have definite terms in Japanese. For example, "Kurai" is the state of mind of a person afloat on a boat, or "Fudochin" is imperturbability of a mind in a state of emergency.

[Momin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about the beginning of Judo and Kodokan which also expertly skims the surface of the esoteric aspects of the art.