Antony Cummins - How to Be a Modern Samurai

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How to Be a Modern Samurai

Antony Cummins

This edition first published in the UK and USA in 2020 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House

89-93 Shepperton Road

London

N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2020

Text and artwork copyright Antony Cummins 2020

Poem translations copyright Antony Cummins 2020

The right of Antony Cummins to be identified as the Author of this text has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a review who may quote brief passages in a review.

Commissioning Editor: Fiona Robertson

Managing Editor: Daniel Culver

Editor: Sue Lascelles

Design: Glen Wilkins

Production: Uzma Taj

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78678-354-7

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International

www.watkinspublishing.com

The book is dedicated to all students
of the samurai school Natori-Ryu, past,
present and future.

Build your own path.

If you postpone achievement today, intending to perform with excellence tomorrow, you will simply find old age waiting for you.

Rokurozaemon

CONTENTS

THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI

AN ANCIENT PATH

If you believe life has a purpose and there is any meaning at all to our time here on Earth, then it follows that there are right and wrong paths to take through life and that it is necessary to choose a Way. The ancient Japanese knew there are many Ways to enlightenment: the Way of the Artist, the Way of the Teacher, the Way of the Scholar, the Way of the Monk. This book is a manual for following the Way of the Samurai. It offers the authentic techniques and training that for hundreds of years guided the Japanese samurai and enabled them to hold power over everyone else.

The Way of the Samurai also known as the Way of the Warrior is not an easy path. It is stoic and virtuous, and requires complete dedication and an iron-clad will. At times the challenge can be extreme, testing your mental strength to breaking point. However, for true followers of this path, the rewards are immense. The Way of the Samurai will arm you with fierce determination and complete self-control. It will make you the best possible version of yourself. It will guide you to mastery of your art and will enable you to become the leader of a loyal following. Beyond this, it will open up the hidden depths of your culture, your tradition and your spirituality. It will make the experience of life more profound, bringing you to unimagined realizations.

I know all this because it is the Way I follow myself. This is the truth of my life and my own path.

The teachings in this book are based entirely on historical research and primary evidence they describe what the samurai actually did. If a samurai from the ancient waring days of Japan were to step through the fabric of time, he would send our modern parody of a samurai running for the hills.

Read this book and decide if the Way of the Warrior is for you. Maybe in the end you will decide another path is more suitable, but you need to understand this Way before you can reject it. And if this Way is for you, and you decide to dedicate yourself to it, then from that point on you will begin to journey through the gate that is gateless. There are no barriers except those thrown up by your own lack of determination.

Best of luck.

Antony Cummins
Wales, March 2020

INTRODUCTION

FINDING THE PATH

As a human being, it is never the case that the Way is not present. The righteous Way for a human is: jinbenevolence, girighteousness, reicourtesy, chiwisdom and shinfidelity.

The Book of Samurai

An old parable explains the process of enlightenment. It likens the population of the world to a mass of people bumbling about at the bottom of a deep, dark pit, endlessly circling in the blackness but ignorant of their lack of direction, and, to a certain extent, content with their existence. Above them shines a distant light, a pinprick in the darkness.

Set near the sides of the pit are ladders, tall and slender, reaching up from the ground to that glimmer of light. From time to time, a human being will bump into a ladder and explore it with their hands, not knowing at first what it is, but gradually coming to understand that the ladder offers an escape route out of the void, even though this state is seemingly blissful. Upward the individual climbs, alone through the dark, away from the warmth of others in the struggle to reach the light.

If we unpack the parable, the darkness of the pit represents the contented ignorance of an existence without true purpose of the daily grind, of hospital appointments, of work, going to the pub, picnics and playing games. It is to exist unaware of the struggle necessary to break free of drudgery. The light above symbolizes enlightenment, the ultimate destination for the essence of each person, yet one that remains beyond our current human understanding. The ladder is the means by which we can ascend from the mundane to spiritual heights.