Reflexes And Sensations

Murder Bound, viii.

Waller is holding a gun on Yamamura:

"Judoka reflexes were so deeply ingrained that they operated without thought." (p. 69)

Of course. We do not take time to think when we need to jump aside. But we might freeze or panic when faced with a gun.

"Yamamura remained balanced on his feet, at physical ease." (ibid.)

Physically at ease, mentally alert. We learn this in meditation even though most of us do not apply it to martial arts.

"His heartbeat jumped once, then resumed a slow rhythm which expected nothing and therefore was ready for anything." (ibid.)

See What We Expect.

"The conscious part of him focused past the gun muzzle, onto the gunman's bovine face." (ibid.)

The man is the threat, not his gun.

"Peripherally, he sensed..." (ibid.)

I will present Yamamura's peripheral sensations as a list:

wind;
water hitting pilings;
tar and gasoline fumes;
broadly spaced lamps;
darkness between them;
sheds;
Fisherman's Wharf;
autumn tourists leaving restaurants, buying seashells and postcards;
neon flares.

Wind felt and heard, water heard, fumes smelled, lamps and flares seen.

"But he didn't stop to consider them. For him there was only this darkness." (ibid.)

Darkness both outer and inner.

And that completes an analysis of the opening paragraph of Chapter viii.