“My Little Bokken” by Bruce Baker

“I have a number of sticks I use for my practice, and one of them is my little bokken I made out of an ax handle that I had John Stevens put his thumbprint on during one of his seminars in Philadelphia. I put three coats of poly-urethane varnish on it, so I expect the thumbprint will be there until the varnish wears off despite the abuse and use it gets now and again.

Some people think it is the spirit of some unseen entity that resides in their swords, or in objects, but I think each object has it’s own set of vibrations in the universe and our mind interprets those vibrations at some other level than our conscience mind. I would like to think there is some magic in that little piece of wood I shaped, and have used for seven or more years, but in fact, the only magic is in the hands of the person that uses it for practice. Sure, it may have a particular feel when one holds it, or it may set off a particular resonance of vibration when it strikes another piece of wood, and it may indeed shatter one day shattering my hopes of dreams of it being a special piece of wood not just an ordinary one, but when I use it, I imagine I am infusing it with my spirit, my moment in space and time.

I am absorbed into the present moment of where I am and the person standing before is supposedly absorbed that I am either to attack or defend in some way for the practice technique call for by the instructor. If my little bokken is taken away, or it breaks, I am not thinking about it, but about how I can survive or turn the situation to my favor so I can end it without causing undo injury to myself or my training partner. I am not seeking to be master, or servant, but take something away from the practice session that will help me to adapt when or if I am ever attacked.

There is no magic in that little stick of wood, and yet, I sure could say nothing and lead some people on to believe there is indeed a deep magic in it. The true magic is the confidence of our ability to manipulate the forces available that will benefit us for this particular situation.

Maybe on a simple level, there is magic?

Have you ever picked up twenty of the same style of something, tried it, handled it, and somehow one felt different from the rest? It felt better in your hands? It seemed to have an affinity with your body your mind? Somehow, it was just better than all of the others.

Whether you realized it or not, everything in the universe is alive. Maybe not in the way we are, an maybe not on a level we can recognize because our minds are too narrow and too small to grasp the larger picture. To begin to grasp this larger picture realize we are living on a drop of water in a vast ocean. We are born from elements of that ocean, and so too does other things in this world have some of the elements of our being, some of the vibrations we find friendly to our mind, our body, our soul .. if you want to take it that far. Just remember to come back to ground if your mind gets too far out there, huh?

We see this attachment to certain pieces of clothing or to particular objects all the time. But, at the end of the day, they are just tokens of us. They represent our insecurities, our hopes, our dreams, our expectations of what we would like to be, or not like to be. At the end of the day, my little bokken is just a representation of a place in time and space.

A few years back, I was watching the biography of Roy Rogers, and Roy was commenting on some of the movie clips of his old movies. “THERE GOES OLD ROY AGAIN” which means, there was the old me of days gone by, not the old me of today who is but a shadow of that fellow on film. You just do what you do and hopefully some piece of that energy will be infused into people, places, and things along the way.

Well, in some ways, all of us dream that someday we can look back on the person we once were with fond memories as we are still doing something to enjoy our old age. Maybe that is why we gather these items around us as time goes by. Each and every memento of our lives will eventually turn to dust as they go back into the elements of the earth, or are transformed chemically in the evolution of chaos and change.

Nowadays, my little piece of wood spends most of it’s time in an umbrella stand with other bokken and jo in my hallway than it does being used for practice. And yet, for the time that it comes out of retirement from it’s holding place with the other jo and bokken. It is once again transformed into it’s magical moments of practice at seminars with John Stevens. I remember how oddly out of place it was at practices with Chet Griffin at LBI, and getting strange looks when I used to go to seminars are various locations.

Once again I am that old fellow I once was. Once again, I am younger and stronger as it gives me strength as I draw upon it’s magical vibrations that tell me to be here in the moment as my mind flashes to the past.

There is duality in these moments. Our world is not the world of Roy Rogers riding the range, nor of samurai wielding swords, it is a world of laws, guns, and strategy. It is a world that becomes more complicated as you grow older and wiser, and yet, it can be as simple and as comforting as picking up your little bokken and practicing a few simple movements learned at a seminar or class long, long ago. Sometimes I see the faces of my old practice partners as I go through my paces, and sometimes it is the faces of teachers who showed up at a seminar who I have not seen but one time, none the less, they are in the background as I focus on adding the energy of “HERE” of “NOW” into the memories of my little bokken.

More often than not, I recall the words of Remy Presas who told this story of being asked what those sticks were as he was trying to get through customs. “Oh those? Those are my dancing sticks. I use them when I dance.” I think that is my new explanation for why take my little bokken with me more and more these days. Yep. I do a dance with that when I exercise and stretch these days. You can join me if you would like to dance too?

I am gonna have to make a couple a more. I two more ax handles waiting to be shaped and turned into little bokken. You can never tell when people are in the mood to dance.

Maybe that is all it becomes as time passes, a dance. But, oh what dance it is!!