Nanbudo Worldwide

Nanbudo nanatsu no chikara is a longish verse in Japanese and English, in which one spells out all sorts of great things about oneself. I understand this in the light of self-contained mental training. We chant all these cool features. It's better to create positive "yes I can" image instead of letting the internal voice speak. In my case it anyways tends to just whisper "you're full of shit."

The central idea of Nanbudo nanatsu no chikara is infinity - the lack of limitations. In real life I understand my resources to be (very) limited. When a situation comes in which the limit of capability is encountered, it usually feels like this is far as it's possible to go. Note, however, that the actual limit is not necessarily yet met (if such a limit even exists anywhere outside one's own mind). What was met was an image of the limit. If one has a bad day the imaginary limits are very tight. It would therefore be a good idea to try to move these imaginary borders further, because at the same time the actual real life capability is increased. In the beginning this is very challenging and therefore steps will be small, but laterboundaries on the aim is set further - all the way towards infinity. This is what imaginary training about the lack of limitations is all about.

Kalle Lönnroth 15/06/2008

The Japanese word yuki means snow, where as _yuuki _means courage. In Mitsu no chikara of Nanbudo, the latter one is referred. Pay attention when pronouncing courage, yuukida, use long "u".

Sometimes Nanbudo is written as Nambudo. Altought this is not the official way to write is, but as the name is pronounced like the latter, the confusion is expected. This is due a rule in Japanese language, in case letter "b" is followed by letter "n", the "n" is pronounced as "m".

The final part in each sentence of Nanatsu no chikara holds words motte imasu. It means to have something at that moment. While pronouncing it, the last "u" letter drops out and the sentences all end with the "s" sound.

This page provides translations to the cornerstones of the mental training in Nanbudo.

If you would like to contribute a translation to your language, your help is more than welcome. Please send e-mail to: jukka.paasonen@nanbudo.fi. Thank you!