Kosho Reflections Issue #2: There Is No Body Contact
Feb 02, 2026
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To the Reader
Most of you reading this have spent years learning how to hit. You have practiced strikes, blocks, throws. You have conditioned your body. You have trained your reflexes.
I am going to tell you that the highest level of what you do requires none of it.
Sit with that before you continue.
The Teaching
In true self-defense, the high art of Kosho Ryu, there is no body contact.
This is not poetry. This is not philosophy dressed as combat. As Mitose taught, there is no higher form of true self-defense than that of no body contact. The objective in conflict is having no conflict. You escape. You control. You do not destroy.
Destruction is easy. Preservation is difficult.
If you get to the point of destruction, you have already failed. Everything after that is damage control. The fight you win without touching is the only fight you truly win.
Kosho Chronicles Issue #17
To the Reader
I had a student once who was a top tournament fighter. One of the best. Then he started losing. He came to me and asked why. I told him the truth. Because everybody knows what you are going to do.
He asked what he should do about it. I said, change everything. Change your base. Change your stance. Change your favorite side. He told me it felt awkward. I ...
Kosho Chronicles Issue #16
To the Reader
Most martial artists train to be soldiers. They drill techniques. They condition their bodies. They prepare for the moment of contact. There is nothing wrong with that. But in Kosho Ryu, the soldier is the last resort. Not the first. And if you find yourself acting as the soldier, something has already gone wrong.
The Teaching
Superiority in dealing with...
Kosho Chronicles Issue #15
To the Reader
Every time I sat down with Mitose's manuscript, I hit the same wall. He was writing about God, about Christ, about Buddha, about religion. I am a martial artist. I wanted combat strategy. I wanted the keys to the art. Instead, I got philosophy wrapped in theology wrapped in a riddle.
Then he explained what he meant by God, and the entire book opened up.
...
The Kosho Chronicles
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