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Shugyo is a Japanese word that means “hard training.” In a deeper sense it means training that is not only hard, but long, too. Also, it can involve much repetition of exercises and techniques.
Training can be hard physically. The first thing that comes to mind is something like doing a hundred push-ups and sit-ups. While those things are hard to do physically, I think a better example of hard training would be training that is regular and thorough. Something like this involves not only physical effort, but effort that is applied over and over, on days when we feel like training, on days when we don’t feel like training, and on days when other activities seem more attractive to us than the same familiar exercises we do every day.
Physical training that is hard has other purposes, too. Regular training conditions our bodies to be prepared for self-defense purposes and for general health. After just a few days without exercise, our muscles begin to lose tone. To know techniques is not enough; we have to be physically capable of executing them, too.
Training can also be hard mentally. I think that more people are probably defeated mentally than physically in the things they set out to do. A person who is strong mentally can do things that are very hard for him physically, but a person who is weak mentally may fail even though his body is capable of success.
Like many things in life, the proper attitude is necessary. While it seems some people are born with good and strong attitudes, most people must work at staying positive and focussed on their goals. For this reason, mental training is also necessary on a daily basis.
The final thing that shugyo means to me is exercise that is long and repetitious. I once read about a sword teacher who practiced 1,000 cuts at a time. Doing something like this would tire anyone out, and what he found was that as his body repeated the cut over and over, he started to hurt. As he started to hurt, his body automatically looked for ways to do the cuts more easily, in a way that didn’t hurt. What he discovered was that in looking for the least painful way, his body found the most efficient way, which turned out to be the perfect, correct way to do the sword cuts. His body had taught him the technique.
A similar example for us might be the eight-directional exercise. This isn’t just something we try to race through so we can get to aikido techniques -- this is something that makes all our techniques work. I try to learn something new every time I do it, which is sometimes hard.
At first, the eight-directional exercise taught me to do the triangular stance over and over. Then I used the repetition of it to bend at the knees in a deeper stance. Gradually I started to roll my wrists, which would help me in ikkyo. Then I used it to straighten my posture so that I didn’t lean forward as I did the movements. Once I straightened up, this helped me to sink my weight, which helped in all my techniques for centering. As I sank my weight, my triangular stance improved and my knees bent better. Then, I focussed on my breathing, beathing in and out with certain of the eight-directional movements. Another goal is to make the movements smooth, not choppy. Along with this I learned to move strongly, but with my arms and legs relaxed. Now as I move relaxed, I try to focus on flowing my ki through my arms when I raise them upward, and to keep my feet rooted to the ground.
Perhaps this is the secret of shugyo -- we train hard and long not just for the physical benefits, but because this is the only way to unlock the secrets contained within our techniques!
All material copyright © 2000 Thomas J. Hosmanek.
All rights reserved.
Shodan Essay #2
Shugyo
by Tom Hosmanek 5/20/1995
Test judged by
Masayuki Kaneshi-Mesa Shihan, Aikido, rokudan