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#HaikuADay #HaikuHive

I‘ve been at an executive retreat the past 2 days & part of the agenda was several sessions of sitting in silence from 20 to 45 minutes at a time. This morning‘s at 6:30 AM inspired this haiku.

There are no cameras/phones in the room while the practice is going on but I found this sunrise picture of our dojo‘s grounds.

Dojo at Sunrise

Bell sounds, rooster crows
Darkness eases into dawn
We sit in stillness

This struck me as overall fairly unsurprising? Beat for beat, it was what I would've expected to come next, every time. But it was fun all the same. A light “pick“.

“It is bad when one thing becomes two.”

There's hardly anything to read about the Japanese Ju-Jutsu. Most books are about the Brazilian version or Krav Maga. So I went to read this classic. It was quite fun to read how the English people (males, mostly) overestimated themselves and were furious about loosing to this tiny Japanese man. The pictures are interesting, but most tasks shown are for more advanced pupils than I am.

I like how this book dealt with not being “chosen”.

Years after his family is split up, Jun decides to take control of his destiny & fight in the competition to be the next Guardian. The stakes of the fights turns out to be more dire when a war mongering general wants to take control.

Intense! A little info dump heavy at times, a lot of violence, & an unresolved ending, but also an intriguing examination of propaganda, the monetization of violence, w/ really interesting characters!🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑

Separated from his mother and twin brother in childhood, Li Jun and his father are exiled from a land where martial arts are restricted to a land filled with schools who hope to win glory by training the Guardian of the Scroll, the best martial artist in the country. Jun defies his father to compete and finds himself entangled in power struggles beyond his imagining. This is a good if unevenly paced start to a new series. Hits shelves Jan 2025.

Closest thing we will ever get to an autobiography written by Bruce himself.

In the beginning Jun is impulsive and selfish. We watch as he gains maturity.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the tournament. This book doesn't shy away from violence and death. Some of the scenes are pretty graphic. I found the first few chapters a little slow, but the action soon picked up. I thought the breathmarked was a very interesting and creative idea. It will be interesting to see where the 2nd book goes.

Okayish