I heard the term a few times in class, but I never asked.
If it was important to know, the teacher or one of the senior students would let you know.
Until then, you let it remain a mystery and focused on what you had already been shown and were responsible for.
A 100 day man.
When one of the senior students asked if I was one, that was my opportunity to ask.
What is it, and no I am not one.
In the tradition, when the time is right, one undertakes a shugyo- a type of personal training with the aim of refining both body and mind.
Apparently now was my time.
100 cuts for 100 days in a row.
Miss a day, miss a cut and the clock resets and you start over.
Stand with the sword in your belt, draw it out to the overhead position and cut down.
Return to the overhead position.
Focus for a moment.
Repeat 100 times.
How hard could it be?
The discipline of finding the time and physically practicing 100 cuts was not the issue, at this point in my training I was dedicating time each day for regular training.
Going through the cuts was the hard part.
Not just 100 cuts.
100 acceptable cuts in a row, without hesitation.
You had to be honest and open with each cut.
Was it your best.
100 days turned into 150 or 200.
The refinement was part of the shugyo.
The first few dozen cuts were a focused warm up.
Was the sword grip correct? Was the body posture correct? Did the cut start and end at the correct position.
Was the angle of the sword blade as it sliced through the air correct.
Body calculation.
Halfway through that is when the state started to shift.
Now the body was moving on auto-pilot, drawing on repetitions from class and practice outside of class built up through years of training.
Counting the cuts in the mind fades to the back and the mind separates.
The mind is now observing the body cut with the sword from a distance.
A kind of unthinking.
One comes back changed after the hundred days.
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