Thread by @mykola

I received a package yesterday, some stuff I forgot at an ex's in another state many years ago. It's been through some hands since then. One of the items is my old shinai -- my kendo stick.

I was a swordfighter in college.

I haven't held this thing in decades, but I pulled it out of the box and it was like 20 years evaporated in an instant. It is light and fast and balanced and feels good in my hands and is discovered with my own sweat.

I have defeated stronger opponents than me with that sword.

I approached kendo the way I approach most things in life - I kinda bumbled forward towards a vague goal of having a good time.

It was hard for me, but I stuck with it -- unheard of at that age.

I had a unique style, some people really hated it. I'm a big guy, an easy target for faster and smaller and more agile fighters -- but they need to be able to get a moment to line up a shot.

So you have to understand how scoring works in kendo.

A match is best of three points, so as soon as one fighter has two points the match is over.

You get a point from a clean, solid hit to the wrist, to the head, across the chest, or to throat. You can't just make contant, it has to be a killing blow executed well.

But there's another way points are allocated -- if you ever step out of bounds, your opponent gets half a point.

And there was my in.

I used my size and strength to constantly batter my opponents towards the edge of the ring, then pushed them out.

This was considered dishonorable by a lot of people, but I was playing a different game. I was scoring points according to the rules -- I wasn't there to appropriate an honor culture that I didn't feel belonged to me, I was there to have fun and win.

So I competed in a few tournaments and unlike my wrestling days I would win a few matches, sometimes making it into the finals. I'd never win a tournament, I would always be defeated by someone with better technique -- but I did okay.

I learned this technique from watching a scary fighter who was just this kindly older Japanese guy when not wearing his armor but who was Darth Vader the minute he put it on.

He would simply move to a spot, and if his opponent had been in that spot they'd be displaced. Power.

Anyway, I share this story because holding this shinai in my hands again I feel like I've regained some power that I lost or gave up years ago.

I've got my sword back, and with it came a bit of my old power. That's neat.

(And because that trick, where you simply change reality such that you now occupy a different space, displacing anything that was there?

That's magic. It's storytelling with bodies. It's a form of communication and it informs a lot of how I approach the world.

Take up space!)

Displacement magic is powerful, relies on will and presence, and if you're not careful it's easy to hurt someone by displacing them.

It's appropriate when you're displacing false idols or kendo opponents, less so in arguments with loved ones or nuanced work situations.

There's a variant on displacement magic where the goal isn't to move someone else, but simply to get out of their way.

I say I pushed people out of bounds, but it wasn't that simple. A lot of the time I just sidestepped their attacks and they overstepped without realizing.

This is "using your opponents strength against them" and is the essence of asymmetrical warfare, too.