Bojutsu Gokui: How to Get Hit Over the Head by the Void.

We were in the middle of a bojutsu class and I had an epiphany. I was trying to explain how to hold the staff. "You must hold it lightly. Yet firmly connected to your kamae and spirit." My words failed me.

Yet, I was feeling something with the rokushakubo I wanted to communicate. I tried demonstrating various aspects of the movement and grip on the bo. And none of these things held the idea I felt. Luckily, I remembered a quote from Hatsumi Sensei and I dropped it on the students:

In a verse of the gokui: "striking the void, if there is a response in your hands, that is the gokui." You must have the enlightenment of the Buddha of the void (koku-bosatsu), whose heart was as infinite as the void itself. Thrusting the bo into the mist is in truth thrusting one's heart and mind, and this is one method of koku - void training.

Yes! I was feeling it. You have to hold the bo very lightly to feel the response from the void. The response I felt was like creation.

Not long after this exciting insight I was hit on the head by my uke's bo. If you mess about in the void you might get hurt. That's one thing I love about training- the immediate feedback that keeps me humble.

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