Comment on Wood Breaking

You must get into the habit of thinking only in terms of victory, whatever aspect of your life is under review. You can practise winning in daydreams. It should finally be impossible for you to imagine not winning, even when you dream in your sleep at It's perhaps appropriate that we should reserve a short chapter near the end of this section for the aspect of karate that so many people think is karate!

Although not so important as these people think, 'tameshiwari' is not practised purely as exhibitionism. It provides the more serious student with additional indications of the progress he's making. It helps us appreciate how powerful and effective a given attack is when it is not withdrawn short of impact, as it must be when the target is part of a fellow-student's anatomy.