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"Do not cut. Do not be cut. Step out of the way, and attain a blissful victory."

Nakayama Hakudo's philosophy of Iaido

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"The most important thing for a human being is not what is between his or her ears; it is what is in his or her heart. If the spirit is strong, one can accomplish anything."

Tempu Nakamura

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"The I-Ching states 'Without thought, without doing, naturally settled, the Way activates itself throughout the universe.' Swordsmen who understand this principle are close to the Way."

Neko no Myojutsu

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"When the heart is full of things, the body feels constrained; when it is empty, the body feels expansive."

Kokoro no maki

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"Many died for name and profit. The first thought is of doing something for fame; the second is to think of establishing a name, and later of receiving land and coming up in the world... It is not rightmindedness."

Takuan Soko

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"When Holding a sword one should be in the same mood as holding a fishing pole."

Ishuin Yashichiro

Jigen Ryu Headmaster - late 1800's

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"If one will fix his heart in such a way and assist the world and its people, he will have the devotion of the men who see and hear of him."

The Message of Master Gokurakuji

Hojo Shigetoki (1198 - 1261)

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"Immature strategy is the cause of grief"

Miyamoto Musashi

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Narutomi Hyōgo said, “What is called winning is defeating one’s allies. Defeating one’s allies is defeating oneself, and defeating oneself is vigorously overcoming one’s own body. It is as though a man were in the midst of ten thousand allies but not a one were following him. If one hasn’t previously mastered his mind and body, he will not defeat the enemy.”

Hagakure

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"The angry man will defeat himself in battle as well as in life"

Samurai Maxim

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“Instead of trying to do everything well, do those things perfectly of which you are capable. Although most expert martial artists have spent years mastering hundreds of techniques and movements, in a bout, or kumite, a champion may actually use only four or five techniques over and over again. These are the techniques which he has perfected and which he knows he can depend on.”

Bruce Lee

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"A man who has attained mastery of an art reveals it in his every action."

Samurai Maxim

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"People in other schools use their tactics to earn their living and thus convey an outward appearance of glamour, embellishing it and commercializing it; therefore they are completely removed from the true way"

Musashi, Miyamoto (1584 - 1645)

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"You will never be able to perform a technique 'Perfectly',

but you should die trying.