“A warning is not a threat, but a spoken threat is a foolish warning to give to your enemies. If a man is worth threatening, then he is worth killing. Cut him down before a word is spoken. Otherwise keep your tongue prudently sheather along with your sword.”
– Akiyama Munenoshi (1529ad – 1602ad)
Before we begin on what the quote is about, I thought it prudent to quickly mention who the above samurai was and when he lived as I feel it has significance.
Akiyama Munetoshi was a Samurai retainer for the Yagyu Family. He lived his life during the Sengoku Jidai (150 year civil war) and was responsible for introducing the Shinkage – Ryu school of combat to the Tokugawa family (spoiler alert) they ended up winning the war and Tokugawa Ieyesu was instated as Shogun.
Wow didn’t I digress.
The point I’m making here is that these are the words of a man born and bred into combat, who lived during and was a key player in one of the most brutal times in human history. His outlook will be obviously tainted and differ from that of Samurai from the Edo period (peace). Wise words none the less.
One of my own flaws and lets just call it one of the top 2 is that I don’t know when to stop talking, or more to the point I find it hard to get the message across how I wanted it to be. This ends up with my message getting misconstrued or by talking that bit too much, I end up with the extra to do etc. In today’s world we don’t walk around with Tachi (long sword) or Katana but with our words we can inflict just as much if not more damage. How many times have you said something in the “heat of battle” and as quickly as it came out you have regretted it just as fast?
I think what Munenoshi was trying to say was, don’t sweat on the little things. If you speak about the little things you are giving people a warning of your outlook. People also will see you as negative and rather a pain in the a#s* to be around. but if you feel strongly enough to open your mouth, make sure it is something worth saying. Otherwise keep your mouth shut.
I have yet to master this. Ask my wife………….
21st Century Ronin 