Badass flower arrangements

In my previous post, I alluded to one of my favorite stories about an unassuming, stealth badass, and I'm very happy to be able to share it with you. This story is taken from Eiji Yoshikawa's epic novel, Musashi. Highly recommended if you want to learn more about Miyamoto Musashi, one of Japan's iconic badasses, and author of the Book of Five Rings.


The story begins in 17th century Japan, with a guy named Lord Sekishusai Yagyu. This is a man who fought in countless wars, and decided for personal reasons to give up warfare at forty-seven, despite repeated entreaties from shogan Ashikaga Yoshiaki, as well as Nobunaga and Hideyoshi to join forces with them. Instead, he tended his fifteen-thousand-bushel estate in such a way that it could be handed on to his descendants in good order. Despite his advancing years, he retained the appearance and manner of a well-bred samurai.

When Sekishusai was younger (thirty-seven or so), he was visited by Lord Koizumi, who was traveling the country seeking out experts in the martial arts. They had a legendary set of matches over the course of three days. On the first day, Koizumi declared where he would attack, and proceeded to take the match doing exactly as he said. The same thing happened on the second day, and Sekishusai, with wounded pride, concentrated on figuring out a new approach for the third day. Upon seeing Sekishusai's new stance, Koizumi merely said, "That won't do. If you are going to do that, I will do this." And he defeated Sekishusai in just that manner.

It was at this point that Sekishusai gave up his egotistic approach to swordsmanship, and glimpsed the true Art of War. He convinced Koizumi to stay and take him on as a student, and over six months, he studied with single-minded devotion. When Koizumi finally left, he told Sekishusai, "My way of swordsmanship is still imperfect. You are young, and you should try to carry it to perfection." He then left Sekishusai with a Zen riddle: "What is sword fighting without a sword?"

For a number of years, Sekishusai contemplated this question, considering from every angle and finally reaching an answer that satisfied him. When Lord Koizumi visited once again, Sekishusai greeted him with clear, untroubled eyes and suggested that they have a match. Koizumi evaluated him, and said, "No, it would be useless. You have discovered the truth!"

He then presented Sekishusai with a certificate of mastery of the Shinkage Style of swordsmanship, along with a four-volume manual of military techniques written by Koizumi himself.

Now, there were a few ambitious fellas from a school called Yoshioka, started by a well-regarded swordsman, Kenpo. However, his sons were not of the same quality, yet the existing reputation of the school carried the next generation. One of the sons, Denshichiro, insisted on 'paying his respects' Sekishusai, despite his polite refusals. Paying respects is code for challenge. Sekishusai, uninterested in engaging, decided that the best thing to do would be to appease Denshichiro by making him feel like he's being treated as the son of a great house. So he sends Otsu, a beautiful maiden, with a letter and a simple white peony that he had himself arranged in a vase. In this letter, he states "Forgive me for sending my greetings in a letter, rather than meeting you in person, but unfortunately, I have a slight cold. I think a pure white peony will give you more pleasure than the runny nose of an old man. I send the flower by the hand of a flower, with the hope that you wil accept my apology. My ancient body rests outside the everyday world. I hesitate to show my face. Please smile with pity on an old man."

To which Denshichiro sniffed with contempt, stating there was no choice but for them to give up. He then returned the peony. When asked if he wanted to keep it, he responded incredulously, "He meant it to be a souvenir? This is ridiculous. We have peonies of our own in Kyoto!" So Otsu gave the peony to a lady working at the house.

This lady had a fancy for Miyamoto Musashi, who happened to be staying in the same hotel. Something about the peony caught his eye, and he began to take increasing interest in the cut end of the flower. Asking the lady to hold up the stem, he whipped out his short sword, and with a vigorous cry, slashed through the stem. Taking a look at the two ends of the stem, he was certain that the first cut had been made with a sword. And since peony stems are lithe and supple, only a very determined stroke would have made so clean a slice. He immediately recognized that whomever made this stroke was no ordinary person, and he was immediately aware that his own cut was by far inferior. At this point, Miyamoto Musashi makes his way to the castle to inquire as to the origins of the flower.

When Otsu returned to Sekishusai, he asked if the Yoshioka boy looked at the peony. She said yes, but that it was just handed back. He then asked if he looked at the stem, examined the flower, or said anything about it. She told Sekishusai that Denshichiro had done no such thing. To which Sekishusai replied, "It's just as well that I refused to meet him. He's not worth meeting. The House of Yoshioka might just as well have ended with Kenpo."

This story, and the character Sekishusai, perfectly embodies for me the unassuming, stealth badass. He's so badass that he can communicate his badassness through flower arrangements. His mastery of swordsmanship is not only on an entirely different plane, but it has become less of a skill, and more of a philosophy and approach to life. Here we see a critical element that I did not identify in my first post about badassness. Mastery. Mastery with gentlemanly restraint. Now that's truly something to aspire to, and that's what being a badass gentleman is all about.