(16 points)

After the martial arts exercises, you can start the training of sword skills. Everyone practiced basic swordsmanship with knives on wooden tools, and it is worth mentioning that the knife here is a bamboo knife ordered by Masayo. Nowadays, wooden knives are generally used, but this wooden knife is still very dangerous, and if you don't get it right, you will be broken by a wooden knife, the most typical example is that Miyamoto Musashi later smashed the latter's head with a wooden knife in the decisive battle with Sasaki Kojiro. It is said that the first person to invent the bamboo knife was Nobutsuna Kamiizumi, but this was after the late Warring States period. Now Masato invented this bamboo knife in advance. Of course, these things must be strictly controlled, and they can only be circulated in the Luo family's territory.

In addition to these, Masarashi also added some games, such as dividing these apprentices into two teams and playing a joint battle game. The losing team has to extend the training time.

Of course, it was impossible for Masato to watch here all day, so he found a suitable candidate for the teacher substitute.

This teacher generation is Yoshida Shigemasa.

Why did Shigemasa Yoshida agree to Masarashi's invitation? This is where we start from the beginning.

After receiving an invitation from Masara to visit the Luo family's territory, Yoshida Shigemasa toured around the Luo family as a guest while waiting for Kinoshita Masanao to recover from his injury. After returning to the lord's mansion, Masara originally thought that he would stay in the village outside the mansion to take care of Kinoshita Masanao, but when Masara was about to go out to inspect the territory, he automatically asked to follow Masara to go with him, in the name of enjoying the scenery of the Luo family.

Masato agreed to his request without thinking about it. In fact, Yoshida Shigemasa has maintained a vague response to Masayo's solicitation. Masato just took advantage of this opportunity to solicit again. Of course, if Yoshida Shigemasa still insists on leaving after reaching the worst point, then don't blame Masa's conscience for being ruthless. In order to prevent some of the territory's skills and circumstances from leaking, Yoshida Shigemasa is preparing to live a period of "captivity". For this reason, Zhengliang has already arranged for Black Eagle to secretly prepare, and he will definitely not be able to leave the Luo family's territory at that time.

During the inspection, in their spare time, the two will also try each other. The current Yoshida Shigemasa's close-quarters combat effectiveness can be described as very average, and he is not Masayo's opponent at all. The close-quarters combat effectiveness is not as good as Masayo, so there is only hope for archery that he is proud of, but Yoshida Shigemasa soon found that even his old book, in terms of actual effect, is not as good as Masayo, the most direct embodiment is that the two of them compete in archery through hunting, and the result is that Masayo's harvest greatly exceeds Yoshida Shigemasa's. In this regard, Shigemasa Yoshida was a little disappointed.

In this regard, Masahiro secretly laughed. The current Yoshida Shigemasa is only barely a master of archery, but he is still far from the level of becoming a master of archery in the future. The reason is very simple, if you want to achieve something, you must go through some experience and understanding. The current Yoshida Shigemasa is just a fledgling young man, and he is definitely inferior to Masarashi who can be quickly promoted without learning archery.

After being frustrated for a while, Yoshida Shigemasa took the initiative to ask Masato for advice on archery, and of course the prepared Masashi conscience was happy, but on the outside, he pretended to say in a deep voice: "Shigemasa, do you know what the road is?" ”

"What His Highness said, but the avenue of the Zen family?" Shigemasa Yoshida asked suspiciously. He grew up near Kyoto since he was a child, and he has a wide range of knowledge, and he still knows something about Zen Buddhism.

"Exactly," Masarashi said, nodding, "Zen is 'normal mind,' as the Zen masters say, and 'ordinary mind' means 'eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're sleepy.'" When the bow, the arrow, the goal and the self are all fused together, and we can no longer separate them, and we don't need to separate them, this is the highest level of archery, that is, the avenue of archery. Ironically, this is what Zen masters call the 'ordinary mind'. ”…,

"This..."Shigemasa Yoshida was puzzled by a passage from Masayo.

"To comprehend the highest level of archery, you must first reach at least three realms," Masarashi said solemnly.

"What are the three realms?"

"Shoot with the heart, shoot with the heart, shoot with the heart," Masarashi continued.

"Please Your Highness do not hesitate to teach" Shigemasa Yoshida was obviously entangled by Masayoshi's words.

"When the bow is fully drawn, it includes 'everything'", Masarashi picked up the bow in his hand, stood in a solemn and solemn posture, and flicked the bowstring several times, making a sharp string sound and a low string sound. Then he fastened an arrow to the string and drew the bow to the fullest.

"Archery is not for forging chain muscles. Don't use all your strength when drawing the bow, but only use your hands, and your shoulders and arms relaxed, as if they were just spectators. Only when this is done can the preliminary conditions be completed, and the drawing of the bow and the release of the arrow will be spiritualized", Masaroshi shot the arrow with a "whoosh", and then turned his head to Shigemasa Yoshida. I saw that the arrow shot accurately hit the trunk of a small tree with a diameter of less than 10 centimeters in the distance.

"Is that so?". Yoshida Shigemasa picked up the bow and arrow as Masarashi had just done, buckled the arrow, raised his hands above his head, his arms almost flat, and pulled his arms evenly to the left and right, the bow gradually pulled away, and the hands gradually moved down until the left hand holding the bow reached eye level, the arm was straight, and the right arm of the string was bent slightly above the right shoulder, so that only a little tip of the three-foot-long arrow protruded from the edge of the bow - forming a very large bow. He had to hold this position for a while before releasing the arrow. This particular method of drawing the bow made his hands slowly begin to tremble, and his breathing became a little heavy.

"Do you feel it?". When Shigemasa Yoshida finally shot the arrow out, Masarashi said, "Your hands are shaking, it's because your breath is incorrect." After inhaling, gently press the qi down to make it tense here", Masara patted his abdomen, "hold back the breath for a while, and then exhale as slowly and evenly as possible, pause for a while, and then inhale quickly." Just keep inhaling and exhaling, and naturally form a rhythm. If you can do it correctly, you will feel that archery is getting easier and easier every day. Because from this breath, you will not only find the source of all spiritual power, but it will also make this spring more abundant and smooth into your limbs, making you more relaxed. ”

"Hold the bow, tie the arrow, raise the bow, draw the bow and stay at maximum tension, then release the arrow. Each step begins with an inhale, then the breath is held in the abdomen, and the last breath is exhaled", Masarashi picked up the bow again and demonstrated, "The result of this is that the inhalation naturally cooperates, and when you persist for a period of time, you will form your own unique archery technique, your individual position and hand movements will be fixed, and according to the different individual inhalation movements, all the movements will be woven into a rhythmic process." This is what it means to shoot an arrow with the mind. ”

Shigemasa Yoshida listened carefully, and he was completely caught up in Masarashi's point of view. In the past, he had learned some archery skills at home, but it was the first time he had heard of such a novel and seemingly effective archery method, and he thought it was too unbelievable.

"When we reach the first realm, we can go to the second realm," Masarashi turned around, looked at the trees in the distance, and said quietly.

"Archery without archery?" Shigemasa Yoshida, who was behind him, asked. For this realm, he was even more puzzled. Archery was originally meant to hit the target, but now it is said that it is not for the sake of archery?

"You shoot an arrow first," Masarashi said.

Shigemasa Yoshida picked up the longbow in his hand as he said, drew the bow again and prepared to shoot an arrow. I saw that when he drew the bow, his thumb was wrapped around the string, attached to the arrow, and buckled into the palm of his hand. Three fingers pressed tightly against the thumb while holding the arrow firmly. To release an arrow is to open the finger holding the thumb and let the thumb go. Because the string is pulled with great force, the thumb will be straightened violently, and the bowstring will shake, and the arrow will fly out. Ordinary samurai and ashigaru would tremble violently at this action, which affected the stability of their bows and arrows. Therefore, it is impossible to release the arrows smoothly, and needless to say, some arrows must be shot crookedly. Now because he has been carefully informed by his family since he was a child, Yoshida Shigemasa basically does not have this problem, but it can still be seen that his shoulders are trembling slightly. …,

"You come to see me", Masarashi raised his longbow again and began to demonstrate. All the movements are the same as those of Yoshida Shigemasa, but if you look closely, you will find that although Masayo's right hand bounces back due to the release of tension, it does not shake his body at all. His right hand was at an acute angle before the arrow was released, and when the arrow was released, it was bounced away, but it was softly stretched back. The unavoidable vibrations are completely absorbed by the cushioning. If it weren't for the sharp "tense" of the trembling bowstring and the penetrating power of the arrow, no one would have felt the power of the arrow. On Zhengliang, releasing arrows seems so easy and ordinary, it's like child's play.

"Why is this happening?" ，

"Don't think about how you do it, don't think about how to get it done! Only when the shooter himself is caught off guard will the arrow shoot smoothly. The bowstring felt as if it had cut through the thumb. You must not deliberately let go of your right hand. Masato said.

Shigemasa Yoshida still doesn't seem to understand.

"Like a centipede, if it suddenly wants to figure out the order in which its feet walk, what do you think will happen in the end?" , Masarashi asked.

"That must be a way to move your way," Yoshida replied after a moment's thought.

After that, Yoshida Shigemasa tried several times according to the method of Masarashi, but he was still not satisfied.

"You must hold the open bowstring like a baby holding the fingers that reach out to you. The force of his little fist was astonishing, and there was not the slightest vibration when he let go of his fingers. Do you know what the Tao is for? Because babies don't think: I'm going to let go of my fingers now to grasp something else. He moves from one thing to another, completely unconscious, without purpose. We say that babies are playing with things, and we can also say that things are playing with babies. Seeing that Yoshida Shigemasa was full of suspicions, Masarashi on the side said, "Do you know why you can't wait?" Why do I gasp before I release an arrow? The right shot never happens because you won't let go of yourself. You don't wait for completion, but you're ready to fail. As long as this continues, you have no choice but to summon something that should happen naturally on your own, and as long as you continue to summon like this, your hand will not be able to let go as properly as a baby's hand, and you will not be able to bloom naturally like a ripe fruit. ”

"It's... It's really something that can't be understood," said Shigemasa Yoshida, bowing his head.

"When you shoot an arrow, you have nothing to ask for, there is no target! The more stubborn you are to learn to shoot an arrow to hit the target, the less you will succeed and the target will be farther and farther away from you. What hinders you is that you are too hard-hearted. You think that if you don't do it yourself, things won't work

happens", Masarashi continued, "The archer runs through the sky with the upper end of the bow, and the lower end of the bow hangs the earth with a string. If there is a slight vibration when the arrow is released, there is a danger that the bowstring will break. For the scheming and irritable, this rupture is permanent, and they fall into a terrible situation where they cannot reach the heavens and the earth. ”

"This is archery without archery?" Shigemasa Yoshida asked, looking up.

"Hmm. Let go of yourself and leave yourself and everything you have behind categorically, until there is nothing left but an unintentional tension. This is the second realm of archery, archery without archery", Masaro nodded in response.

"Does this seem to be what the Zen scholars call a stage on the way to emptiness and transcendence?" Shigemasa Yoshida asked.

"Yes, this is the path to the avenue of archery."

"Then, Your Highness, the third realm of archery, what does it mean to communicate with the heart?" , Although he can't comprehend the first two archery realms for the time being, Yoshida Shigemasa still decided to understand the last one realm.

"This state must start from giving up all attachments and becoming completely selfless; Then the soul will return to the inner body, into the nameless, formless, endless primordial," Masarashi pondered for a while, and then said, "Unfortunately, it is not possible to reach this state below. ”…,

After receiving Masayo's guidance, Yoshida Shigemasa seems to have learned a lot. In the days that followed, he continued to accompany Masato to make rounds and practice archery, trying to understand the realm of archery that Masato said. Seeing this, Zhengliang secretly smiled in his heart. In fact, in terms of archery, Masayo's level is actually only a little higher than that of Yoshida Shigemasa. But what Masahiro is moving out now is from the archery theory that has been proven in practice in later generations, and of course the level is much higher. Masarashi intends to attract the other party through these advanced archery theories, so as to attract the other party again.

Seeing that the time was ripe, on this day, Masahiro pretended to inadvertently talk about the upcoming Luo Dojo, and even expressed his readiness to go around looking for swordsmen, archery, and spear skills as a teacher (equivalent to an assistant instructor in later generations).

Unexpectedly, Yoshida Shigemasa immediately expressed a strong interest. Zhengliang struck while the iron was hot, and invited him to be the archery teacher of the Luo family on the spot, and at the same time, as the normal representative of the Luo Dojo, he was responsible for the daily training of the archers in the territory and the archery guidance of those small surnames in the Luo Dojo. Of course, Masara also emphasized that he only needed to teach basic archery skills and arrow formations, after all, he ran away precisely because he was unwilling to teach the family archery skills to the young master of the Hexagonal family. What Masarashi values more is his basic archery instruction for the archers of the territory and the arrow formations in those battles, especially the "fan rain" arrow formation that Yoshida Shigemasa is familiar with. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to subscribe to the mobile network (.), reward, your support is my biggest motivation. )……，