The Old Man of Edo
During the Tempo Era (1830–44) there were reports of an old man traveling around the outskirts of Edo, using a broken bow stave as a cane. He successfully fought all challengers, giving the losers a sound thrashing and confiscating their swords. These incidents ran into the dozens, and the losers included several people who were later to become famous swordsmen.
Read more about this topic: Matsuura Seizan
Famous quotes containing the words the old and/or man:
“Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South, come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“In the beautiful, man sets himself up as the standard of perfection; in select cases he worships himself in it.... Man believes that the world itself is filled with beauty—he forgets that it is he who has created it. He alone has bestowed beauty upon the world—alas! only a very human, an all too human, beauty.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)