Shuhari part 1 - the Japanese route to mastery

From tea ceremony to Heart of Agile

Shuhari is a Japanese term which is best known to describe the overall progression of martial arts training.

The Shuhari concept was first introduced for a Japanese tea ceremony. Then it was extended to dance in the 15th century and later it became part of the philosophy of Japanese martial arts.

Alistair Cockburn introduced Shuhari as a concept to learn all kinds of techniques, practices and tools for software development. Shuhari is also pivotal for the Heart of Agile from the same Alistair Cockburn.

Shuhari says that while we adhere to traditional wisdom as novice, we should break with it if needed, especially when we gather new knowledge which allows us to understand the essence of past success. What follows should be transcendence to a new expression, based on tradition.

The character Shu is composed of two parts, House and Law: the house of laws. It means "to abide by; to defend ".

The character Ha consists of two parts, Stone and a phonetic part. It means "to break" .

The character Ri consists of two parts, Bird and a phonetic part. It means "to leave; to depart".

Shuhari can be considered as concentric circles, with Shu within Ha, and both Shu and Ha within Ri, because the fundamental techniques and knowledge do not change.

My next post will be about applying Shuhari in software development.

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