Japanese sword schoolRonin: No master. No one making you. Practise anyway.
No master. Nobody makes you practise.
A ronin is a samurai with no master. Ronin is a habit tracker set in a Japanese sword school. Five practices arrive each morning, and the work carries you up eight grades, from beginner to Kensei, sword saint.
How a day works
Choose up to two of the five rings. Each morning, five practices are drawn with those in mind.
Do what you can. Each one forges your blade a little further.
Enough forging earns the next grade. A grade, once earned, is yours.
Techniques stay sharp, or go dull
Keep a practice for seven days and it becomes a technique. Skip it and it slowly dulls. It never disappears, and two days back makes it sharp again.
Real grades
The grades come from classical Japanese sword schools. The top one, Kensei, was the title given to Miyamoto Musashi. Reach it and you name your own school.
Your day, drawn as a blade
Your practice is drawn as a sword seen edge-on. It's thicker where you're strong. Steel on black. No neon, no confetti.
Words you'll see
- Practice
- A daily habit, like push-ups or sitting still.
- The five rings
- Five parts of life: Earth (body), Water (learning), Fire (effort), Wind (noticing) and Void (routine). From Musashi's Book of Five Rings.
- Tanren
- Forging. In the app, the points you earn.
- Grade
- Your rank. From Mukyu, no grade, up to Kensei.
- Waza
- A technique: a practice you've kept for seven days.
Free, every day
- Five practices each morning
- 65 practices, each with rising difficulty
- Eight grades that never fall
- Twelve technique slots in your school
The Forge
Optional subscription. Cancel any time in your App Store settings.
- Two more practices once the first five are done
- The two hardest levels of every practice
- Unlimited swaps and practices of your own
- Two instant repairs a month for a dulled technique
Questions
Do I need to know anything about Japan or martial arts?
No. Every word is explained in the app, and the practices themselves are everyday habits.
What happens if I stop a practice?
Its technique slowly dulls and earns you less. It never disappears. Two days back makes it sharp again.
Do I need an account?
No. Your practice is stored on your phone and the app works offline.
Is this therapy?
No. Roninuses behavioural activation, a method from psychology, but it doesn't diagnose or treat anything. How the method works.
If you want big numbers and flashy rank-ups, try The System. See The System.