Weapon Malfunctions Can Turn Into Tactical Failure

Don't malfunction yourself.

What if your gun jams, or you sword breaks, or even worse, you have a complete tactical failure? The first two are are easy problems, the third is more difficult, but can be dealt with naturally. Let's consider all three in turn.

If you have any firearms training at all, you already know that you should train for malfunctions. A malfunction in this case is confined to the weapon or the ammunition itself. It is a malfunction of the tool you are using. A stove-pipe, a misfeed, or the worst, a broken firing pin - are all situations that must be trained for. One common malfunction that we don't even consider as a malfunction is running out of ammo. Why is this not a malfunction? The weapon is essentially useless. We don't see it as a malfunction because this is something that we very naturally expect to happen. We train to reload. You should train for those other malfunctions just as you train to reload smoothly and with as little interruption to your defense as possible.

And of course this training must include making a hasty tactical withdrawal (retreat)!

On several occasions I have been training with Hatsumi Sensei and he has used two swords that have red saya. These swords never draw properly. He at first blamed it on them being new. But I saw this occur again years later. Maybe the saya have a poor fit or something. The cool thing was, that he didn't let the malfunction slow him down at all. He made use of the half drawn sword. In one case he said,

"It's OK if the sword doesn't draw. What's important is this aspect of the sword not drawing. You can't have the idea that the sword is always going to draw. You must have the expectation that the sword won't always draw."

So lets consider tactical failure. Whether with a gun, a sword, or with your tactics, use yourself in a way that you don't become an obstacle. Don't malfunction yourself.

Don't get caught up in the malfunction so that you yourself malfunction. The failure will spread like a virus. Soke went on to say something simple yet profound about using weapons,

"All these things are connected and you have to have this connection within the weapon."

So if you want to overcome tactical failure, there is a natural solution to the problem. If you understand Sensei's kuden up to this point, you will know that having a natural posture and natural heart is the secret. Soke refers to his teacher Takamatsu Sensei who said that nature lies in a sincere spirit. And that nature will bring about the destruction of your opponent.

If this doesn't help you, remember this is kuden. It is something I've learned and experienced directly from Soke and my teachers. You need to find a teacher to experience it from. You can't learn it by reading about it.

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