May 6, 2007 Sakura Matsui

The Bonsai and the The Cherry Blossom

This weekend ( actually 2 weekends ago ) I went to Sakura Matsui at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It was ironic that I took off from sunday jujitsu class in order to go, yet wound up learning about jujitsu.

The Bonsai.
At first looking at all of the plants I was really overwhelmed. I have been to a few gardens but I really have never seen anything like this. I walked over to the bonsai, and emily told me that when you approach a bonsai you have to look at each one and determine where it wants to grow.

I thought recently about my consultation with Horizakura for my tattoo. He stood me up and looked at me before he started sketching the design on me, he explained why it would need to be in a certain place because of the way my body is. I also thought about what my sensei(s) have said to us about our techniques. Some of us our strong, some fast, some both. Some of us are aggressive, passive, irratic.

As I learned about the bonsai, the gentleman I was speaking with told me that once it is determined where it will grow, you have to "pin" the opposing areas back. This really struck me because if the bonsai wants to grow to the side, eventually it will collapse under it's own weight if the root is not strong enough. I related this to my instruction from sensei(s). I remember once I tried to drop into an armbar with youval as a pin and Sensei Coleman said "Matte! that is for competition, not for self defense!" In a way, I have been pinned back.

The Cherry Blossom.
Walking along the paths I did what every new yorker did that day. I stopped at a tree and took a picture. Looking through the view finder I realized that the cherry blossom by itself, is just a flower, with other cherry blossoms the individuality is lost. Against something separate, or contrasting there is a dynamic.



Hard vs. Soft, Safe vs. Dangerous I thought of how jujitsu works. I have read that jujitsu translates to "the flexible way" I have also read "giving way" like when a branch can not bend any more, gives way and breaks. I like the second definition better, though I feel both can be correct. Looking at the cherry blossom I thought of what are training for. We train for self defense, but do we train to fight? Yes! I mean no! Wait, huh? In my confusion I realized, we train to flee. By turning our back and running allows the attacker to just stab you and move on, by engaging, performing, and locking we are enabling our ultimate flight.

Hard vs. Soft, Safe vs. Dangerous, Fight vs. Flight