Saya no Uchi

What is "Saya no uchi de katsu"?

The very essence of any martial art lies not in the weaponry or the carefully practiced techniques, but in the constant discipline of mastering one’s self. It’s a long, arduous journey that often lasts a lifetime. There is no rank. You don’t get a colored belt to prove your experience – or inexperience – at life. There are no titles. There is only the satisfaction of a job well done and knowing that you did your best before moving on to the next challenge.

“Saya no uchi” (the shortened version of “saya no uchi de katsu“) means “Victory in the scabbard of the sword.” The ultimate victory for any samurai was to win a conflict without ever having to draw his sword.

I know, I can hear you saying “How can you win a battle without drawing the blade? What’s the point?”

I will tell you. Iaido, and many forms of martial arts, starts before your adversary is engaged. You might say that your biggest adversary is yourself. Some people fight themselves. I’ve done it and I’m sure you have, too. We don’t want to change, we don’t want to stop unhealthy habits, we don’t want to step outside our comfort zone even if we know it’s better for us in the long run.

For an iaido practitioner, the blade is a focal point. Each and every movement, every time the sword is drawn, each strike, each block, is an opportunity to free the mind and engage the spirit.

True victory lies in forgiveness and understanding of yourself and others. It’s avoiding a fight, even though you know you could take down your opponent with one cut. Saya no uchi de katsu is maintaining grace, dignity and compassion in the face of conflict.

This site isn’t just for martial artists. It’s for anyone interested in achieving their own victories. It’s practical application of the martial arts and iaido philosophy I’ve learned over the years and I’m hoping some of you will share your own stories as well.

The War Continues

June 13, 2010 - Written by Deb Dorchak

Last week on Life’s Little Inspirations, my dear friend and biz partner Wendi Kelly wrote about her war on clutter.

I was there when the war began in earnest. It started with a flooded basement. Or maybe the flood was the catalyst that kicked her war into high gear. Nothing gets a body into action faster than coming home after a relaxing semi-vacation and having to deal with salvaging tons of stuff from an indoor lake that decided to make its home in your home.

Kudos to Wendi for getting everything back to normal as possible in a short two weeks. I’m here now visiting her and if I didn’t know the chaos that had ensued for the last two weeks I never would have guessed what kind of shape the house was in before I got there.

Needless to say, I’ve been recruited in this war. At first it only hit on a superficial level; I started cleaning out clutter of my own. I got rid of all the junk in my kitchen, cleaned out some file cabinets and started tossing out other stuff I hadn’t looked at in over a year (that’s my key requirement for an item getting tossed – If I haven’t missed it for a year or more, I probably don’t need it anyway).

Deeper Than Clutter

The War on Clutter goes much deeper than getting rid of physical objects. It’s not about the excess of knick knacks (dust collectors as Mom calls them), books, outdated clothing and piles of notepads with reminders, ideas and logins for sites done over 15 years ago.

The War on Clutter also means de-cluttering your body, mind and your spirit.

And in this respect, I have been a very, very lame samurai.

Oh yes, it’s true. I’m not perfect. I know well what I should be doing. I know how I should be doing it, too.

I just don’t do it because it’s easier not to.

The process goes something like this:

Wake up in the morning, think about changing what I want to change; figure I’ll do it right after I check email. Email gets checked, and that leads to putting off the Great New Routine to Perfection yet another few hours.

Noon rolls around. Finally awake and on a roll with projects.

Still got time to do that exercise and drink that water, right? Sure.

Is this starting to sound familiar? Do you do the same thing day after day? …