The Dojo

'Dojo' is a Japanese word. It is made up of two characters do (道) which means 'way' and jo (場) which means place so the dojo is Place of The Way. The concept of 'The Way' originally comes from Taoism and if you are interested here is a site that gives you Taoism's main text the Tao Te Ching in the original Chinese along with three different translations.

My favorite line describing the concept of The Way in the Tao Te Ching is from the Penguin version , it goes (from memory):

Man models himself on Earth

Earth upon Heaven

Heaven upon The Way

And The Way, upon that which is naturally so

Today I went to our Dojo in Artarmon like I do every Sunday. The usual attendees couldn't come so I practiced alone. Big storm outside.

I did the usual pracice - All the Iai katas that I know, then Nakamura-ryu and Toyama ryu katas,then the three Renzoku Wazas. Then the Daikido footwork, then Go-soku-ken and then the bo katas.By the time I was finished the sun had come out again - here I took a photo of my shadow - (After practice Sensei,not during.)

Anyway, as I said a the dojo is a place of The Way. Here are some other ones: Check out this place - Sensei's dojo in Japan, the Yokosuka Arena.
Here's the actual room we use. Can you dig it? Comfy eh? Nice soft tatami-like floor...

Here's Sensei's other dojo in Yokosuka - not so comfy - outdoor, rocky.


And the hard part about this dojo is ...... the stairs, doing katas going up and down.

Here's Sensei on the stairs.

Here's a nicer, kinder dojo we saw in the grounds of the castle at Aizu in Northern Japan.

Here's a shot of the castle - wish I had a castle like that.

Perhaps the most important 'place of The Way' in Japan is a big rock in a cave near Kumamoto. It was in this cave, on this rock, where Miyamoto Musashi meditated and wrote A book of five rings in 1645.

The last chapter of A Book Of Five Rings is the Book of Emptiness and contains these lines:

Until you realise the true Way, whether in Buddhism or in common sense, you may think that things are correct and in order. However, if we look at things objectively, from the viewpoint of laws of the world, we see various doctrines departing from the true Way. Know well this spirit, and with forthrightness as the foundation and the true spirit as the Way. Enact strategy broadly, correctly and openly.
Then you will come to think of things in a wide sense and, taking the void as the Way, you will see the Way as void.

You got that?