Mountain Samurai
World Famous Free Climber Alex Honnold professes an affinity for what he calls warrior mentality — the extraordinary focus and sacrifice required by samurai.
One of my favorite books is the epic samurai tale Musashi. Originally a collection of stories publish in a Japanese newspaper it is a fictionalized account of Miyamoto Musashi, the greatest samurai and master strategist of Japan. The story revolves around Musashi’s quest to become the greatest swordsman to ever live. The tale begins with his humble beginnings and early failures at the battle of Sekigahara. It’s from this struggle that he fully devotes his life to the way of the sword and purging his thoughts and desires of any obstructions to his journey. The book follows his path as he duels and outwits other sword masters, bandits, and assassins while improving his martial skills and cheating death before succumbing to old age as lone monk in a cave.
Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.
— Miyamoto Musashi
Sword fighting requires the highest level of calm and self mastery. To lose is to die. Musashi embraces this as the Way of the warrior. Musashi writes, “Generally speaking, the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death.”
Im reminded of Musashi as I watched the recent documentary “Free Solo” of climber Alex Honnold. The film follows the build up to Honnold attempts to become the first to free climb (rock climbing without ropes) the infamous El Capitan mountain in Yosemite Valley. The 3,000+ vertical foot climb with any assistant is equivalent to landing on the moon. One mistake would cause him to plummet to his death.
Because what makes free soloing interesting is it’s life or death. There are real consequences. Normal life is so removed from that.
— Alex Honnold
Like Musashi, Honnold’s dedication to his craft is unwavering. He doesn’t fear death but instead the film focuses on the fear those closest to him share as they watch him make his accent. Honnold says, “Because what makes free soloing interesting is it’s life or death. There are real consequences. Normal life is so removed from that.”
Honnold and Musashi train incessantly to prepare their body and shield their mind from fear. In fact Honnald’s MRI results in the film reveals that the area of his brain that registers stress has far less activity compared to most. When the time comes to face their challenge both are at peace. Both are warriors.
Not everyone is a warriors or a mountain climber, but the fear of failure can be the same as the fear of death. For Musashi and Honnold, the Way of the warrior requires relentless discipline to health and the art.
