POST

Happy New Year2026

January 2, 2026

The word for this year is “残心(Zanshin)”.

From a text written in 2000 (Heisei 12) by Master Esaka Seigan,in Tengu Geijutsuron, under the section titled “Zanshin means not losing one’s true mind,” in response to the question, “What is meant by zanshin?”, he states:

“It simply refers to a state in which one is not bound by one’s own actions, and in which both mind and body remain unmoved. When mind and body are unmoving, appropriate response becomes clear. The same applies to daily life and human affairs. …”.

In summary, this means:
“Zanshin refers to not being carried away by one’s own techniques, but instead keeping the core of the mind unmoved.
Only when the mind is firmly settled can one respond correctly to the outside world.
This is equally true in social life as well.”
(Martial Arts and the Art of Combat, Tokuma Shoten).

As early as the mid-Edo period, amid the warrior society of the Kyōhō era, the spirit of the sword was already regarded as a guiding principle for conducting one’s life.