How to Read “Swordsmanship takes ten years, spearmanship takes three years”
Kenjutsu jūnen, yari sannen
Meaning of “Swordsmanship takes ten years, spearmanship takes three years”
This proverb means that mastering swordsmanship requires ten long years, but spearmanship can be learned to a competent level in just three years.
It shows that even within martial arts, there are huge differences in technical complexity and difficulty of mastery.
Swordsmanship involves many elements to master. These include blade angle, distance, body movement, and reading your opponent’s psychology.
Integrating all these elements and using them skillfully requires long-term training. Spearmanship, on the other hand, centers on the basic action of thrusting.
Its technical system is relatively simple, so reaching a practical combat level takes less time.
This proverb teaches that some things take a long time to learn, while others can be picked up relatively quickly.
Today, people use it to express the difference in learning time between complex skills and basic skills.
It also reminds us to understand the nature of any skill we’re learning and maintain realistic expectations about time.
Origin and Etymology
The exact first appearance of this proverb in literature is unclear. However, it likely emerged from the actual practice of martial arts training during the Edo period.
Swordsmanship and spearmanship were both essential skills for samurai in the Edo period.
Why was there such a big difference in learning time? The answer lies in the characteristics of the weapons and the complexity of the techniques.
The sword requires mastery of many elements. These include blade direction and angle, distance, and body movement.
Beyond basic actions like cutting, thrusting, blocking, and parrying, swordsmen needed advanced judgment skills. They had to read opponents’ movements and respond instantly.
Furthermore, swordsmanship had many different schools, each with its own theoretical system. Becoming fully competent required many years.
The spear, on the other hand, has a simple structure as a weapon. The basics focus on thrusting.
Using the long shaft, fighters controlled distance while subduing opponents. Of course, there were advanced techniques.
But the path to acquiring practical combat skills was much shorter than for swordsmanship.
This contrast was shared as practical knowledge among martial artists. Eventually it spread to the general public.
This phrase succinctly expressed the difficulty of skill acquisition. It transcended the martial arts world to speak a truth about learning any skill.
Interesting Facts
The spear was the most important weapon in group battles during the Warring States period.
Foot soldiers received short training periods with spears before being sent to battle. This was only possible because the spear was a relatively easy weapon to learn.
Swordsmanship, meanwhile, developed mainly as individual combat technique for the samurai class. It was considered a martial art to perfect over a lifetime.
Edo period martial arts instruction manuals record that basic spear forms numbered only a few dozen.
Sword forms, depending on the school, could number in the hundreds. This difference in the number of forms provides evidence for the difference in learning time.
Usage Examples
- You can learn programming basics in a few months, but system design is like “swordsmanship takes ten years, spearmanship takes three years”—experience is definitely needed
- When creating training curriculum for new employees, I use the “swordsmanship takes ten years, spearmanship takes three years” approach, setting appropriate learning periods for each skill
Universal Wisdom
The universal truth this proverb speaks is that not all skills are created equal.
Humans seek efficiency, but we also instinctively understand that truly valuable things don’t come easily.
Why does swordsmanship take ten years? Because swordsmanship isn’t just technique.
It requires comprehensive training that integrates mind, body, and spirit. Each movement has countless options.
You must make optimal judgments instantly within the relationship with your opponent. This resembles life itself.
Spearmanship can be learned in three years because the technique is based on clear principles.
By thoroughly polishing simple principles, you can reach a practical level. This also reveals a truth about life.
Human society contains a mix of things that should be built up over long periods and things that can be mastered quickly with focus.
Our ancestors had the wisdom to distinguish between these. Spending the same time on everything is inefficient.
Trying to rush through learning everything is shallow.
This proverb continues to be passed down because it teaches us how to prioritize in life.
It shows us what to study deeply and what to learn efficiently. Time is finite.
That’s why the judgment of how much time to invest in what determines the quality of our lives.
When AI Hears This
When the human brain learns movement, the biggest challenge is called the “curse of dimensionality.”
This refers to the difficulty that there are infinite ways to move your body to achieve the same goal.
In swordsmanship, you need to simultaneously control more than eight axes of rotation. The shoulder joint alone has three directions of rotation, the elbow has two, and the wrist has three.
Take just the action of thrusting at an enemy’s throat. Should you use more shoulder, center on the elbow, or adjust with wrist rotation?
The combinations are mathematically infinite. The cerebellum must find the movement pattern that is most energy-efficient, fastest, and most accurate through trial and error from this vast array of options.
Neuroscience research shows that when degrees of freedom double, learning time increases by more than four times.
Spearmanship, on the other hand, centers mainly on forward thrusting movements. It’s completed within a limited movement space of body rotation and arm extension.
The degrees of freedom are constrained to three or four. The combinations of movement patterns the cerebellum must explore are dramatically fewer.
In other words, the path to reaching the “correct movement” with the spear is overwhelmingly shorter.
This difference of more than three times in learning time is evidence that ancient martial artists empirically understood the exponential complexity difference in joint degrees of freedom to control.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches you today is that learning requires an appropriate sense of time.
You don’t need to rush to master everything, nor do you need to spend long periods on everything.
Modern society demands instant results. Ads promise to master English in three months or learn programming in one week.
But fields that truly require deep expertise or creativity still take long periods to master.
If you don’t understand this and rush, you’ll end up with only superficial understanding.
On the other hand, basic skills and techniques based on clear principles can reach practical levels in relatively short periods with focused study.
Spending too much time here might actually be inefficient.
What matters is determining whether what you’re trying to learn is “swordsmanship” or “spearmanship.”
For the core expertise and personal growth that form the foundation of your life, be prepared to invest time patiently.
Meanwhile, learn necessary instrumental skills efficiently so you can use your time for what truly matters.
This wisdom is the secret to living your limited lifetime richly.
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