SAMURAI CULTURE

The field of martial arts is particularly rife with flamboyant swordsmanship, with commercial popularization and profiteering on the part of both those who teach the science and those who study it. The result of this must be, as someone said, that 'amateuristic martial arts are a source of serious wounds." -- Miyamoto Musashi (16C?)

The warrior does not care if he is called a beast or a dog; the main thing is winning.-- Asakura Norikage (Soteki) (1474-1552)

       A man who has thoroughly mastered the art does not use the sword, and the opponent kills himself; when a man uses the sword, he makes it serve to give life to others. When killing is the order, it kills; when giving life is the order, it gives life. While killing there is no thought of killing, while giving life there is no thought of giving life; for in the killing or in the giving life, no Self is asserted… One who has attained this freedom cannot be interfered with by anybody on earth. He stands absolutely by himself. – Takuan

      Fate is in Heaven, the armor is on the breast, success is with the legs. Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. When you leave the house determined not to see it again you will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always determined. -- Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578)

Women in Warrior Societies usually do not fare well, and Kagan brings this up on p. 270 -- something worth considering.