The Importance of Taking Time

I have been practicing body training since last autumn.
It's a genre like old martial arts, I suppose?

Since I am still a beginner,

I can only perform movements that are like simple health exercises,
but it seems that as you become more advanced,
the martial arts-like movements increase.
There is a ranking system,
and I am still one rank above the beginner level.

Yesterday, there was a promotion exam.
I have been practicing in my own way for the four months since I reached my current rank,

but as a result, I did not get promoted.

I was disappointed, but when I listened to the feedback from the teacher,
it made perfect sense, and
I actually felt that I hadn't mastered my current level yet...

(I was hoping they might overlook it somehow (laughs))
Although I wasn't promoted,
the teacher gave me some words of praise.
The master said that when I first came to the dojo,
I looked so frail that they thought,
Oh no, such a delicate person has come!

What should I do...!!
It seems I looked that weak.

Not just in appearance, but probably my aura as well.

Compared to that,
the teacher said I have become much more solid now.

I didn't know I was that weak.
I'm glad that I seem to have improved at least a little.

If I were to express the theme of my life using the stars of Four Pillars of Destiny, it would be

Hiken Kenroku

.

Hiken is the star of independence.
It is a star that pursues oneself to the end and tests one's own strength.
Kenroku is

the star of continuing steady and tireless efforts.
It is the image of taking time and observing oneself without ever slacking for a single moment.

I will spend this life
pursuing this theme.

Body training is one part of that.
When moving the body,

it is about observing the sensations that occur inside in detail.

How accurately can I make my movements?
What should I do to perform movements without even a millimeter of deviation?

It is about observing in detail.
The movements I practice are very simple and easy, but
I am working to drastically increase their precision.
My goal is to instill the correct way to use my body and

become able to use it 100%.
You cannot become able to do it just by doing it a little.

It requires a lot of time.

However, although I have only been doing this for a little over half a year,
I feel changes in my daily life.

I entered this world out of a simple admiration for how cool old martial arts are, but
once I started,
it was incredibly
Hiken Kenroku.Even without being conscious of it,

life seems to flow
according to the stars on its own.
All I have to do is not resist that flow and

honestly engage with what is right in front of me.
To continue engaging with it carefully over time.
The next promotion exam is in August.

By then,
I will thoroughly correct the points I was told about this time
and I want to get promoted next time! I'll do my best!!!