己の敵は己

Onore no Teki wa onore

My enemy is myself/ I have

to fight against myself 

My SENSEI (師匠) said to me

" Brisket is an art  "

before he left Okinawa.

" art " ...

I am still thinking and trying to understand  what does

"art" mean .

What is the meaning of this

spirit that he tried to tell me?

Here's what I got.

I think that it leads to

Samurai way.

When Samurai fight against enemy,they have to recognize intuitively and quickly  size

of enemy, abilities, numbers, what kind of weapon they

have, land condition, weather condition, etc.

And then, They have to make strategies (戦略) immediately , and use tactics (戦術) and

forces (武力).

Sometime, they could be

needed creativity of fight

(奇想天外な戦法).

When  they got Backfoot,

they need a patient for

another chance (忍耐力),

Calm judgement (冷静な判断),  

Recovery from discouraging

situations on each time

(克服力).

Because they fight against

living things (生き物).

And most of all,

the important things is calm mind  that is to defeat from what they fear. (無心)

In other words,

They have to fight against

themselves.

My enemy is within myself.

I think we could be said

same thing with all processes of smoking Brisket.

For example,

fire management is biggest

issue.

Fire is a living thing.

we have to fight against it.

 七転八起

Shichiten Hakki

 
Fall down 7 times, stand up 8 / Failure is the mother of

success

My SENSEI spoiled me...

He taught me how to smoke Brisket politely and gently

when he was in Okinawa.

It's not strictly teaching at

all.

Now I realized that why he

spoiled me.

Because he didn't want  me

to hate great smoking world.

Smorking Brisket is not easy. Now I can say it's toughest

cooking in the world I have

ever known.

My SENSEI knew that it's a

long way for me to  overcome it, it's only way by fighting

myself soon or later.

唯一無二

Yuitsu muni

the One and only/unique

No two are the same.

Every single enemies is

different.

 We have to fight against

different characters, different abilities, different situations.

Depending on enemies, we

should use different

strategies, tactics, forces.

So do Brisket!

I believe that Samurai way

leads to Brisket.

My SENSEI might try to say

to me ,

"Brisket is an art"

Your enemy is yourself .

So, You have to fight against yourself .

Failure is the mother of

success.

The one and only.

No two are the same.

But, Don't be afraid!

Fire up!

 
Enjoy your art!

Am I right, SENSEI?

 
This is my family crest

Hidari Mitsudomoe

左三つ巴