[seooptiman]

"Bujutsu is not something that you'll necessarily become good at after a number of years, nor is anyone else going to make you strong. You must tell yourself that you will never allow anyone to defeat you; then you must back up that conviction with training. It won't do any good to simply repeat the forms of the techniques. They should be steeled with your intention to defeat your opponent. Ultimately, it boils down to a battle between souls. This is true no matter what you do. No matter how much a fainthearted person practices, when push comes to shove, he's completely helpless. When it comes to actual combat, it's a matter of cutting or being cut. If you're timid you'll be cut right from the get-go." - Sagawa Yukiyoshi

"See! This is why you are no good. You don't do something simply because so and so said so. If you simply go through life by simply thinking you can copy people you'll never get anywhere. The only person that can do this is you. You must create your own understanding for yourself." Sagawa Yukiyoshi

"You must take what you learn, and then innovate it based on your own ideas. ... No matter how much you learn something, if it is simply taught to you, you will forget it. However you will never forget something you acquire for yourself. It becomes you. In other words, teaching is simply a matter of giving the right hints. You must acquire that thing for yourself." Sagawa Yukiyoshi


"The training and discipline common to all the Ways, martial or cultural, consist of three levels of mastery: physical, psychological and spiritual. On the physical level of mastery of form (kata) is the crux of training. The teacher provides a model form, the student observes carefully and repeats it countless times until he has completely internalized the form. Words are not spoken and explanations are not given; the burden of learning is on the student. In the ultimate mastery of form the student is released from adherence to form." Taitetsu Unno

From Noma Hisashi's Kendo reader:

"When thrusting thrust with the feeling of thrusting two or three feet through the back of the
opponent. In jujitsu-keiko you will have difficulty in throwing your opponent if you only think
of throwing him to the mat. It must be through the floorboards and three feet into the ground.
Kaiho Hanbei, of the Itto-ryu once said that when striking the men of the opponent from
jodan you should strike it with the feeling of cutting right through to his anus."

"If you are here for self defense, go study Colt .45" Stanley Kiyonaga