Masaaki Quotes

#1. Kaizen is like a hotbed that nurtures small and ongoing changes, while innovation is like magma that appears in abrupt eruptions from time to time

Masaaki Imai

#2. When weak or injured always continue training as you should always be able to adapt in any condition.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#3. If you do something and it saves your life, it was good
taijutsu. In a real fight, you aren't worried about what's
pretty.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#4. Don't think that any one technique is the end. there is no end.
There is no perfect technique. Just when you think you've got
them, you're dead because you didn't.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#5. People who cannot respect others for their good qualities -
people who only look at the bad in others - are no good
themselves. By looking at only the bad points, you open
yourself up, and in a real encounter, will most probably be
killed.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#6. There are times to kill and times not to kill. Please bear this in
mind with grave consideration.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#7. You must throw away your bad habits to get good.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#8. Looking for the meaning of life, one man can discover the order of the universe. To discover the truth, to achieve. a higher spiritual state, that is the true meaning of ninja..

Masaaki Hatsumi

#9. Budo is simply the study of the best ways to kill.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#10. You can only understand if you've had the technique done to
you. It's like food. You can't describe the taste, but if you've
tasted it, you know what it is. You have to personally
experience it to understand.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#11. Always observe your opponent carefully. You need to use the
first seconds of every encounter to evaluate the length of their
blade, the length of their arms, etc.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#12. Focus on the future for 50%, on the present for 40%, and on the past for 10%

Masaaki Hatsumi

#13. The Kaizen Philosophy assumes that our way of life - be it our working life, our social life, or our home life - deserves to be constantly improved.

Masaaki Imai

#14. Ninja should have the benevolence to protect men of justice
since there are lots of good and respectable people in the
world.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#15. What I want you to do is just take it as it is. Don't think too much. If you get involved with thinking about it, the whole thing gets lost or loses its purity. Don't think during practice - DO! The more you think, the further from the truth of budo you get: Budo is NOT an academic subject!

Masaaki Hatsumi

#16. All of management's efforts for Kaizen boil down to two words: customer satisfaction.

Masaaki Imai

#17. From now on you must strive to cut out unnecessary
movement. Waste in movement is wrong and will get you
killed.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#18. Remember that for every technique you think you can fall back
on, there is a counter for it, or there are times when it cannot
be used. When real battle comes, you must remember that
some things will not be applicable. Don't think that any one
technique is quintessential.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#19. Those who desire only techniques will never understand this art. It is everything beyond that

Masaaki Hatsumi

#20. Don't have a fixed idea in your head (that you have to use
this or that technique). Use everything you've learned until
now.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#21. Learning a technique is not an end in itself, it merely indicates where you need to start.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#22. No more talk. I'm sick of people talking. Train.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#23. You've got to learn to utilize the space (between you and
your opponent). Distancing is very important.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#24. You must be on your toes constantly, yet be relaxed.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#25. Japanese management practices succeed simply because they are good management practices. This success has little to do with cultural factors. And the lack of cultural bias means that these practices can be - and are - just as successfully employed elsewhere.

Masaaki Imai

#26. Humans have yet to dwell upon the consequences of their
actions. People have yet to admit the bad that they do to
nature, for example. Actually, most people spend their time
finding fault in the action of others, rather than their own.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#27. The message of the Kaizen strategy is that not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the company.

Masaaki Imai

#28. Kaizen means ongoing improvement involving everybody, without spending much money.

Masaaki Imai

#29. If you do not let go of thinking about forms, you will not understand what I am showing.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#30. You are not punching them; it is your going into kamae that
punches them.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#31. You are not just fighting one opponent. You are fighting the
unknown.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#32. The simplest is always the most difficult.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#33. Separate yourself from the technique; separate yourself from
yourself.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#34. Your life is on the line, practice well.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#35. The first priority to the ninja is to win without fighting.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#36. You can't do kaizen just once or twice and expect immediate results. You have to be in it for the long haul.

Masaaki Imai

#37. Any place we can breathe, we can do Ninjutsu.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#38. Always be able to kill your students

Masaaki Hatsumi

#39. Move with your feet, the hands will follow.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#40. Progress is impossible without the ability to admit mistakes.

Masaaki Imai

#41. Nature is your friend; it helps you to win. Your enemy will have unnatural movement, therefore you will be able to know what he is going to do before he does it.

Masaaki Hatsumi

#42. Where there is no standard, there can be no improvement. For these reasons, standards are the basis for both maintenance and improvement

Masaaki Imai

#43. Breathe life into the weapon, don't take life away from it.
Keep walking, because walking is life.

Masaaki Hatsumi