Hello all. Just wondering what Takamatsu's painting meant by: "How difficult is life when one is not suprised by anything but laughing everyday" (Essence of Ninjutsu) Maybe give your own interpretation.. Thanks in advance and happy training
I can't see the painting real well, but I interpret the message to mean: When you don't let problems or unexpected events disturb you, and you keep a light heart, life is much easier.
Life's more fun and one appears more combat effective when they are in a good mood. Want to manipulate someone? Take it away from them. Sorry: ninpo mikkyo, it's a secret. That is to say it is not a fact which would be well received in polite discussion. I was mentioning to my friend, who has schizophrenia and has been out of work for some time, the other day that an interesting observation is the most opressive condition about poverty was its prohibition of humour. You're not allowed to crack those jokes you normally would without offending everybody around you. You can't poke a bit of fun at yourself without a secret society of vagrants coming out of the cracks in the pavement like an army of flesh eating zombies, throwing tantrums and determined to stalk you to your deathbed or otherwise a state of dominated acquiescence, and those are just the community welfare workers! Life is hell, people are satan. Then again have those times when you and your friends seem untouchable, the jokes run free and are all good, smart humour. Everybody's jumping around, dodging each other's playfighting without even thinking about it... Don't go forgetting too quickly a Grandmaster is capable of taking to disciplinarian like a duck to water. Takamatsu was a tough and I would speculate a very, very hard man. But he was good humoured, friendly and genuine as best I can determine. He could bounce your baby niece on his lap and yet break every bone in your body. He inherited Samurai and Ninja traditions dating back a thousand years. In short, it's a likely thought he was a schoolmaster with a very thick cane. He was capable of running an entire subculture and in times past he would've, the way he handled his own rarity was by going through the motions nevertheless. And look at the presence of historical ninpo today, it survived (incredibly) both the Meji (martial arts) reorganization and the commercial 80's intact to become a budo discipline of prodigious proportions. I'll leave you with this thought. Study the martial art, don't study it, but don't go thinking ninpo politics is anything but brutal compared to contemporary democratic rights. It's a medieval social organization. Take insights from wherever they appear, there's positive in all things but you don't have to go converting yourself or slipping off on some complacent tendancies.
