He boasted of his skill in swordsmanship, saying that he was the foremost man in the art. The fellow passengers were eagerly listening to his blatant talk, while Bokuden was dozing off as if nothing were going on about him. This irritated the braggart very much.

He approached Bokuden and shook him saying ‘you also carry a pair of swords, why not say a word?’ Bokuden answered quietly, ‘my art is different from yours, it consists not of defeating others, but in not being defeated’. This incensed the fellow immensely. ‘What is your school then?” he asked. ‘It is the Mutekatsu school’. ‘Why then do you carry swords?’ ‘This is meant to do away with selfish motives and not to kill others’. ‘Do you really mean to fight without swords?’ ‘Why Not?” Bokuden answered.

The boatman rowed to land and as soon as they reached the land, braggart jumped off the boat and drew his sword. Bokuden took the oar from the boatman and pushing it against the land, gave a hard backstroke to the boat. There upon, the boat made a precipitous departure from the land and plunged into the deeper water safely away from braggart, who was stranded. Bokuden remarked ‘this is my no sword way'.

(Extract from Iai, the Art of Drawing the Sword by Darrell Craig)

One must learn to defeat one’s enemy through psychological weakness. The worst enemy each of us has is the one inside of us. This is the way of Iai.