The Demon & The Butterfly

Takamatsu Toshigutsu, Dr. Hatsumi's teacher and 33rd generation Grandmaster of the togakure ryu, had a dream one evening which proved to become the foundation of his philosophy in the martial arts. In this dream, a demon and a butterfly engaged in battle; quite an uneven conflict, as most readers would agree. The demon was strong, huge, and had great powers. The butterfly was small and appeared to have no capabilities other than those of the average insect. And yet, when the enraged demon attempted to swat the flitting butterfly, it easily avoided his charges. Dancing here and there, ever out of reach, the butterfly fit completely into the demon's motion. His strength useless, and choking on his own anger, the demon fell to the ground dead while the butterfly floated away, free and unharmed. Needless to say, this combat strategy brings to mind the rhymes of a once famous heavyweight boxing world champion.

This is taijutsu. To be able; in other words, to adapt to your opponent's energy and movement so completely that he has no capability to injure you, or ultimately, to affect you in any way.