Panther was busy. Actually, he was crowded.
Now, I know it’s hard to imagine a cat, even a big cat at that, being crowded. It is even harder to picture Panther saying things as “I haven’t got the time”, delivered in an almost stressed tone, instead of the soft -and threatening- whisper of a normal panther.
Then again, a panther that practiced iai could not be just another panther. Or perhaps following iai was precisely what brought out Panther being, actually, a panther. I know little of panthers so I would never know for sure. What I guess is that the wild light behind Panther’s eyes, when explaining his being crowded, or a particularly complicated move of sword and body, that wild light told us more than many other words. About iai.
Iai, Panther seemed to be telling us, lives in between control and chaos. It is certainly not about brandishing a sharp piece of steel, or sharper claws, to bring destruction. It is neither about the perfect agenda, each move falling into a preordained box. I am tempted to say that Iai is something in between, something about destruction so controlled that becomes creation. But, after all, I do not know what Iai is.
I only know that Panther was crowded.
