WHERE ARE YOU?

In the late 1960s, Donn F. Draeger represented shinto muso ryu at a prestigious public demonstration in Tokyo. Many of Japan’s oldest martial arts — its classical koryu — were demonstrated. It was one of the first times a non-Japanese had been invited.

- DAVE LOWRY

Draeger was demonstrating the art with Shimizu Takaji, his teacher. Draeger was using the jo, or stick, and Shimizu the wooden sword. During one kata, Shimizu’s strike caught Draeger’s weapon at just the right angle to take it out of his grip. It went spinning off merrily behind him.

Moments like those, of course, say everything about one’s training. If it’s inadequate or poorly done, the practitioner is apt to lose composure and become flustered. At best, he’ll instinctively turn his head to see where his weapon went and then go off to retrieve it.

Correctly trained martial artists will do exactly what Draeger did: He stopped, maintained equanimity, and remained vigilant and alert. Then, slowly, almost as if it had been planned, he nodded a bow and, without losing eye contact with his opponent, moved back far enough so he could see the dropped weapon and pick it up.

In the demonstration, the stick bounced on the tatami and went off in a weird direction. Somehow, though, Draeger — never taking his eyes off Shimizu — walked calmly and deliberately backward and, without looking down, knelt and retrieved it. Shimizu followed, keeping his distance.

Many in the audience were astounded. It looked as if Draeger had eyes in the back of his head. How could he have seen where the jo landed?

Given his reputation in Japan as a martial artist, some assumed Draeger’s powers of perception were such that he’d heard the sound of the weapon landing and was able to somehow “echolocate” it. It was a moment in the history of demonstrations that’s still talked about today.