Physical Bearing in Martial Arts

“Generally speaking, it is essential to make your ordinary bearing the bearing you use in martial arts, and make the bearing you use in martial arts your ordinary bearing.”

• Miyamoto Musashi

A person’s physical bearing is important in everything they do. All of us make initial judgments of others based on appearance and bearing. It’s natural. A person can be considered weak and passive, or strong and confident, based on appearance and bearing. And while judgments may be inaccurate, often they are not. It is beneficial for safety reasons, as well as being successful in business and other ventures to have a confident, strong, and likable appearance and bearing. This is not new. Look at what Miyamoto Musashi said about physical bearing in The Water Scroll of The Book Of Five Rings:

“Physical Bearing in Martial Arts

As for physical appearance, your face should not be tilted downward, upward, or to the side. Your gaze should be steady. Do not wrinkle your forehead, but make a furrow between your eyebrows. Keep your eyes unmoving, and try not to blink. Narrow your eyes slightly. The idea is to keep a serene expression on your face, nose straight, chin slightly forward.

The back of the neck should be straight, with strength focused in the nape. Feeling the whole body from the shoulders down as one, lower the shoulders, keep the spine straight, and do not let the buttocks stick out. Concentrate power in the lower legs, from the knees down through the tips of the feet. Tense the abdomen so that the waist does not bend.

There is a teaching called ‘tightening the wedge,’ which means that the abdomen is braced by the scabbard of the short sword in such a manner that the belt does not loosen.

Generally speaking, it is essential to make your ordinary bearing the bearing you use in martial arts, and make the bearing you use in martial arts your ordinary bearing. This should be give careful consideration.”

One of the benefits of studying martial arts is the confidence one gains. And that confidence is often portrayed through better appearance and bearing. Walking tall, head up, and not afraid of the word. But it’s not an exaggerated boastful appearance of a braggart or bully, but a calm confidant appearance of the person who trains and knows who they are, but doesn’t have to put themselves above others to feel important.

There have been studies where criminals choose which people they would target based on their appearance while walking down sidewalks. The choose those who looked timid, weak, and unsure of themselves. There have been studies done on successful executives, and often they are more confident and carry themselves as such.

This illustrates that even if you never have to use your martial arts training to defend yourself, the confidence you gain and the way you carry yourself because of that training may keep you safe without you ever knowing it. That same training may help you succeed in other areas of your life as well, and that’s a double win, or maybe even a triple or quadruple win, as I believe there are many benefits of training in the martial arts.

Keep training, and remember, as Musashi said, your physical bearing should be give careful consideration.