Likewise, the more proficient one becomes in traditional Japanese budo, the more it is possible to sense and understand an opponent's intentions. Through correct and rigorous training, the martial artist should, ideally, arrive at a heightened state of calm alertness that allows him or her to accurately comprehend the opponent's mind. But this enhanced condition of sensitivity is meaningless unless it is accompanied by an attitude of respect toward the opponent's intentions. Forcing people rarely equals an effective or efficient use of ki in budo--and the same can be said of forcing plants in kado. When both understanding and respect combine, harmony is realized in budo, and in this harmonious condition a martial arts expert can freely lead and control an attacker.

Harmony is a central aspect of shodo as well. In that art, the condition of harmony is frequently expressed through a state of dynamic balance. Balance in shodo is asymmetrical, which produces an active feeling of movement within the characters. One could liken it to a picture of a sprinter whose inclined running posture has been frozen in time by the camera. Seeing such a picture, you instantly have a sensation of movement, but this sensation is different from what you experience when viewing a photo taken of a runner at the moment he or she trips and is falling forward. Both photos show bodies inclined in the direction in which they are moving; the difference between the two is balance.

Balance in shodo can also be witnessed through a natural alternation of heavy and light brush pressure, which in turn produces an oscillation of thick and thin lines of ink. If all the brush strokes are of equal thickness the work looks stilted, unnatural, and dead. Kado, likewise, requires a natural state of asymmetrical balance. The principle of harmony is a constant factor in all the Ways, though each art expresses it in its own unique manner.

Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical balance is used in kado to evoke a feeling of naturalness. Since nature involves the motion of continuous change, kado should not have a static feeling--exactly what is created by using a rigid, symmetrical balance. Instead, the utilization of unevenness is endlessly variable and calls forth a dynamic feeling of movement. Kado makes use of an unequal triangular balance that you will explore more completely in this and the following chapters. As discussed in Chapter 1, balance in kado has to do with the ten-chi-jin (heaven-earth-humanity) principle in which the three elements jin (humanity), ten (heaven), and chi (earth) are all represented.