In martial arts we spend a lot of our time trying to make the body fast however, self defence also requires training the senses. Sensei would sometimes tell us stories of his early training years and nights where they'd practice kakie, bunkai and randori outside in the darkness. This kind of training would be used to sharpen their vision, hearing and kinesthetic awareness and later when he moved to Tokyo he'd try to 'catch' writing or images from speeding trains. Apparently, Chojun Miyagi was always seeking to improve his vision and hearing in these ways. He'd train the muscles in his eye by looking out at sea and then focusing on objects at close distances, and in the morning when his wife would open the bedroom door he'd try and work out which of his senses (sound or sight) perceived the change fastest.

In class Sensei would sometimes point to a line of the Kempo Hakku "Me wa shiho o miru wa yosu - The eyes must not miss even the slightest change". He'd explain that in self defence scenarios, the eyes must 'quickly catch' all the details of a new scene or environment – drunk, rowdy or suspicious people, exits, potential weapons and other dangers etc. In training it'd also be important to 'soften' the eyes so as to also take in the surrounds and make use of peripheral vision – a point also made by Musashi in his Book of Five Rings:“In using the eyes, do so in a large and encompassing way. There is observation and there is seeing. The eye of observation is strong. The eye of seeing is weak. To see the faraway as nearby, and the nearby as faraway is essential to the martial arts. To know your opponent’s sword, yet not to “see” it at all is very important in the martial arts. You should make great effort in this.” (Miyamoto Musashi, 1645, p.67).

And if you think your awareness is pretty good, you can put it to the test:



* There also great post this topic (and the awareness test above) on KungFu4Women

Just wanted to share a little home remedy recipe for black eyes courtesy of Kuramoto-Sensei.