which, forces us to make a
movement before the mind is able to decide upon it by means of reflection
or reasoning. The Shogun deals with it at length and defines it thus:

"Impulse is an almost direct contact between perception and result.

"Memory, thought, deduction, and, above all, reason are absolutely
excluded from these acts, which are never inspired by intellectuality.

"The impression received by the brain is immediately transmuted into an
act, similar to those acts which depend entirely on automatic memory.

"It is certain in making a series of movements, which compose the act of
walking upstairs or the action of walking from one place to another, we
do not think of analyzing our efforts and this act of walking almost
limits itself to an organic function, so little does thought enter into
its composition.

"In the case of repeated impulses, it can be absolutely affirmed that
substance is the antecedent and postulate of the essence of being.

"Substance comprises all corporal materialities: instinctive needs,
irrational movements, in a word, all actions where common sense is
not a factor.

"Essence is that imponderable part of being which includes the soul, the
mind, the intelligence, in fact the entire mentality.

"It is this last element of our being which poetizes our thoughts,
classifies them, and leads us to common sense, by means of reasoning
and judgment.

"He who, having received an injury from his superior, replies to it at
once by corresponding affront, is absolutely sure to become the victim of
his impulses.

"It is only when his act is consummated, that he will think of the
consequences which it can entail; the loss of his employment first, then
corporal punishment, in severity according to the gravity of the offense;
lastly, misery, perhaps the result of forced inactivity.

"On the contrary, the man endowed with common sense will reflect in a
flash, by recalling all the different phases which we have described. His
intelligence, being appealed to, will represent to him the consequences
of a violent action.

"He will find, in common sense, the strength not to respond to an injury
at once; but will not forego the right, however, of avenging himself
under the guise of a satisfaction which will be all the more easily
accorded to him as his moderation will not fail to make an impression in
his favor."

"There is, between common sense and impulse," says Yoritomo, "the
difference that one