To anticipate the opponent’s intentions and predict gaps in his defense before they appear is part of the lore of budo. How do we train it?
Here is a perspective on the traditional Japanese understanding of the issue as represented in Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film The Seven Samurai.
An armed gang rides down from the hills to prey on a poor village. They are harassing and robbing the people, who are already terrified and starving. Life is unbearable. The villagers cannot protect themselves. They will be killed if they cannot pay off the gang.
The villagers come up with a plan. Their hope is to hire some ronin, unemployed warriors, to defend them.
At that time Japan was in a state of chaos. This was in the 16th century. The great civil war between military factions ended, bitterness persisted, huge private armies disbanded. Some former fighters formed gangs that lived by threatening people or killing them and taking their stuff.
There were many unemployed samurai available for hire walking the streets of the nearby town. But even when the villagers found one willing to fight for them, all they had to offer for the warrior’s service was a handful of rice. Each time the samurai told them to get lost.
The samurai lost their livelihood and their status when they were released from military service. They were destitute themselves. They were hopeful when they met the villagers: maybe a good opportunity had come their way. They might appear greedy, heartless and arrogant to us, from a distance. But for them it was another in a long string of disappointments. Why risk death for half a meal?
Finally as if by chance the villagers meet Kambei Shimada. He says he’ll take the job. He was once employed by a powerful samurai family, but now in light of the hard times, he says yes, he is willing to work for them.
We can see in his dignity and composure that he knows his role in his society is to protect his employers and their interests. If his employer happens to be a bunch of poor peasants, well, so be it. This man is calm and strong. Humble and noble. He has the character of a warrior, of a virtuous man.
They come to an understanding. The Mission: Free the village from the cruel exploitation of the robbers. Fee: One bag of rice. Deal. Let’s go. There is no time to waste.
Step one: He needs to recruit samurai for his team. He cannot afford many. He can hardly afford any. They will have to be highly skilled. And they will need the commitment to noble ideals of the warrior life – the unusual quality of character that would incline them to take a job like this: dangerous, anonymous, rewarded with nothing more than gratitude.
Kambei sits in the center of a room, framed by the doorway, visible from the street. The street is crowded with unemployed samurai making their way from the battlefields, looking for their next job. How to appeal to them? How to choose? How to test them?
He stations his young assistant just behind the threshold, inside the doorway, invisible from the street. The young assistant holds a wooden sword, a bokken, above his head, ready to strike down on anyone entering the doorway.
Test number one: Kambei, sitting in the room, attracts the attention of a strong, young samurai walking by. He gestures to him to come in. The man approaches. As he enters, the assistant concealed behind the door brings the bokken crashing down. Startled, only a quick parry at the last second kept him from getting hit.
Furious at the trick the man curses these two and runs off.
Kambei composes himself. Still seated, once again framed in the doorway, he is visible as he looks out onto the crowded street.
Test number two: Another, elegantly dressed, athletic looking samurai comes walking down the street. He glances into the room where Kambei is sitting, as Kambei gestures, inviting this fellow to come in.
The man approaches. Just as he steps over the threshold, he senses the bokken poised to come slashing down on him. Before the hidden samurai has time to launch his strike the man entering deftly parries, pre-empting the attack. He steps back, angry. Kambei waves him away.
Test number three: A minute later a third samurai comes walking down the street. His bearing is calm and dignified. Kambei catches his eye and gestures him to come into the room. The young assistant with the bokken is again standing hidden behind the threshold, ready to strike. The samurai approaches the doorway but just before he enters, he suddenly stops, sensing the presence of someone concealed just behind it.
He looks at Kambei, and a little smile crosses his face, as if to say hey, what’s with the guy behind the door? Seeing this reaction Kambei gets up, delighted, bows respectfully to this skilled samurai, recognizing one other in a sense, although they have never met before. Kambei calls the young assistant away from the door and invites the samurai in.
He has found his first qualified recruit. No test of technique needed. That was a test of awareness, experience, confidence and poise. Those traits come only from mastery of skill.
That high level of awareness is ‘sen sen no sen’, a phrase used in traditional Japanese budo to connote “transcendent awareness”. The first samurai’s response represents ‘go no sen’ – “observation”. The second samurai’s level of response can be called ‘sen no sen’ – “subtle perception”.
Kambei feels compassion for the poor villagers. His purpose in life as a warrior is service.
The three samurai that he tested represent three levels of accomplishment. The first, who blocks at the last second, is a good fighter and can react quickly, but he is performing behind the action/reaction curve, and can be defeated by someone of higher physical skill.
The second can feel the intention of the attack before it is physically executed and can pre-empt the strike with one of his own. He is still reactive, but he is reacting to subtler cues.
The third can grasp the whole situation, beyond a limited subjective point of view, beyond immediate sense perception, he can perceive the potentiality in a situation globally. To someone at this level conditions are apparent, before action is manifest.
He is not surprised, not careless, not hasty or hesitant, not lured into conflict initiated by the opponent, but spontaneously foils the enemy’s plan. He remains in the center in action.
That is very high skill. It is not a trick and it is not an obscure or esoteric oddity. It is the maturing of mental stability, clarity, presence and knowing, achieved by cultivation of technique.
In Japanese martial arts lore this is the critical threshold. It is not limited to budo, to Asia, or to history. It is consummate skill, used in battle, sports, business, politics, every competitive arena, and in everyday life. It is only accessible through training.
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Excerpted from the The Good Fight, by Jeffrey Brooks, used by permission.
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Post copyright © 2025 Jeffrey Brooks, MountainKarateNC.com, Yamabayashi Ryu, Mountain Karate Dojo, in the mountains of western NC.
Photo by Evgeny Tchebotarev via Pexels
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read True Karate Dō by Jeffrey Brooks
“One of the best books I’ve read in years, inviting and compelling. Jeff Brooks moves effortlessly from martial arts to Buddhism to consciousness studies, self-transformation, and related fields in this wide-ranging and Illuminating study that has much to offer both novice explorers and veteran practitioners. A splendid achievement.”— Philip Zaleski, Editor, The Best Spiritual Writing series