Swordsmanship Quotes

“I'm going to teach you the art of swordsmanship-or in other words, how to totally kill someone with a sharp, pointy thing.”
― Michael Buckley, The Council of Mirrors

“Even if you strive diligently on your chosen path day after day, if your heart is not in accord with it, then even if you think you are on a good path, from the point of view of the straight and true, this is not a genuine path. If you do not pursue a genuine path to its consummation, then a little bit of crookedness in the mind will later turn into a major warp. Reflect on this.”
― Musashi Miyomoto, A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy

“Sometimes, reality is the illusion, and the truth only visible where our eyes can’t see.”
- Lady Lalaigne”
― Jeanine Henning

“All bleed who fight with the sword. All confront, with greater or lesser difficulty, the worship of their own flesh. The swordmaiden faces particular obstacles in this matter: she will have seen, in the temples and elsewhere, many images of unscarred women.”
― Sofia Samatar, The Winged Histories

“A good swordsman is more important than a good sword.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“This, then, is what counts: a lightning reaction which has no further need of conscious observation. In this respect at least the pupil makes himself independent of all conscious purpose.”
― Eugen Herrigel

“He might have perfect form and better swordsmanship, but I had one thing on my
side that stacked the deck in my favor. I was absolutely crazy.”
― Katherine McIntyre, An Airship Named Desire

“The sword doesn't change. So you have to adapt to the sword. You can't change your surroundings. They only change once you have changed.”
― Bjørn Aris, The Cutting Edge. The Martial Art of Business

“It is the genius of life that demands of those who partake in it that they are not only the guardians of what was and is, but what will be.

—Thomas Nō Kannon, The Lady and the Samurai +”
― douglas laurent, The lady and the samurai

“Fafhrd, his back to a great oak, had his broadsword out and was holding off two of Rannarsh's henchmen, who were attacking with their shorter weapons. It was a tight spot and the Northerner realized it. He knew that ancient sagas told of heroes who could best four or more men at swordplay. He also knew that such sagas were lies, providing that the hero's opponents were reasonably competent.”
― Fritz Leiber, Swords Against Death

“Samurai: I have searched for you a very long time.
Kari: Do not waste breath, kill. It is our way here.
Samurai: Not before I have my say, Corpse-eater.
Kari: No wonder you took so long to find me.

on Valkyrie Kari,, Garden of the Dragons, Vol, iiii”
― Douglas Laurent

“A vast canvass had been stretched across the back of [the stage] and painted to look like an idealized vision of Golden Square stretching off into a hazy distance. Before it, model town houses had been erected to perfect the illusion. It tricked the eye very well until a bloody, slashed-up man vaulted over the parapets and rolled to the ground in the deep upstage. He looked like a giant, thirty feet tall, fee-fie-fo-fumming around Golden Square and bleeding on the bowling green, which was most inexplicable, until a moment later, the very fabric of the universe was rent open, for a blade of watered steel had been shoved through the taught canvas upstage and slashed across it in a great arc, tearing the heavens asunder. Through the gap leapt Jack Shaftoe, and then giants dueled in Golden Square.”
― Neal Stephenson

“The tenacious delicacy of genius is often found in the most obscure corners of the world.

--Thomas Kannon, The Lady and the Samurai”
― douglas laurent

“The Lady and the Samurai

Gibran was right. Love had beckoned her to follow his steep path and had embraced her. And true to his words, “the sword hidden among his pinions” wounded her that she may know the secrets of her heart, “and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.” Thomas was correct as well. Love’s katanainoru “swordpray” was as it should be, fabulously bedaʐᶎling. The Samurai were on board thought she, when they made their seven-fold Code of Bushidō–benevolence, courage, honor, justice, loyalty, politeness and sincere veracity.
She would not be a love void cymbal, a kymbalon that tinkled away in the dark night of her soul anymore. She was whole now, a woman, more, no, “greater than the sum of her makeup” according to Aristotle, and in her completeness she, as Archimedes suggested, was strategically going to secure a lever immense enough to move the world . . .”
― douglas laurent

“Garden of the Dragons (The ’Halla, Vol. # 3)
Chapter Ten Excerpt (original editing)

...
Hachiman, surveys he the woe,
Wipes his brow, hate does flow.
A ruined life, heh, a loss of face,
He must have her now, to his disgrace
(Wed to Kari now, locked in time and place).

Battle over, moon still shines,
Lilies float soft in quiet time.
Scented visions and memories sear remains,
Of this terrible night of what was feigned.

Visuals lithe, of sword and blade,
Disguise the carnage and the pain.
Petals soft, they hide our gaze,
And cover the ground and its grave.

Flowers and moon in water light,
T'winkills the calm of a zen-burst night.
Now to life, the poem to seek repose,
And bury beneath those riddles she holds.

Nectars sweet, precious flowers,
A fragranted grave that allures and empowers.

Heart~beat, heart~beat, tells the way,
Of things long remembered and a far lost day.
How many memories, Kari knew,
That stain with age, being so few.

Samurai remembers - feels it as a man,
Clutches he his fist; wind in hand. . . .

". . .I have searched for you a very long time."
"Do not waste breath, kill. It is our way here."
"Not before I have my say, Corpse-eater."
"No wonder you took so long to find me."

"I have had a lot of time for thought," quietly he,
"- T'is a shame we could not agree."
"No more room for that," forcefully he snapped,
"You dishonored me twice and now, I will take one back."

"- Not enough? Hachi," said cordially she,
"If you are going to - cut the artery, please."
Tilt she her neck, exposed but her vein,
Samurai frowned, decidedly vain.

Looked he at his hands -
"They're already too bloody for today."

"Hummph. Such trite man'ers are atrocious.
For yourself you are much too engaged."

("Yet, a moment and it is done," thought he,
"But to gain it thus, a hollow travesty.
I must face her in all her strength,
The bladed Valkyrie, the one called great").

"I could kill you now, but I'd rather not,
This room is too unbecoming for the proper job."

"Charmed that you still think so highly of me."

"- Only then of your haunted beauty, I shall be free."

Feeling that weight, slowly dropped he his blade,
Time enough - rituals to cleanse and to pray.
Tossed his sword, pined her down -
Smooshed her face to the floor, Pinching it to a frown.
"Oh no, my little angel, you have it all wrong!
I mean only to kill you when you are strong.
Do not fear, I won't let anyone harm you in strife,
In the meantime, try not to flirt with your life.
Stay healthy - then we shall settle our love, unrequite."

A biting grin creased Samurai's scarved face,
"Let us fix it properly, according to my r'ace."
"Bushido," mouthed Kari, her voice empty as the word.
"And there will be no running away this time -
Rest assured."

Slowly withdrew he and left the room,
"Bastard," spit Kari, caustic of his doom.
The girl breathing vexiously, then calmly in the dark,
The door closed, silent, the light dribbling out.

Sounds below, drip mute in time,
Reality presses, she makes her fate thind.

And Skuld drinking, contemplates she her sibylline,
It was her hour now, the night of the wolverine.”
― douglas laurent