Sushi Deshi, 1 year in Japan

The "Why" of cleaning....
I was having one more of these profound talks with Takashima Sensei, and it drifted to the tasks of the uchi deshi, one of the main being cleaning. He told me I had to question myself when I was doing it and why I had to do this, to find a purpose in this madness. It`s true that it can be sometimes a bit alienating.  So I let it sank for a while, trying to remember what he told me before, that in the old times the potential candidates for deshi would spend the first few months in the dojo, only cleaning, not receiving any teachings, only cleaning, and that O-Sensei would decide if they can join based on the examination of their work. He told me about how the Sensei would recognize who did the cleaning based on how it looked. Whether it's true or not, it gave me some matter to think.
And my answer is Intention. You have to learn to do things without intention. All these tasks are everyday opportunities to practice doing things without showing your intention. So at first maybe you have to hide them, but the ultimate goal is to not generate any. Not being in a rush, not avoiding it, just doing it.  Kind of doing a meditation on the scrubbing of the toilet bowl in a way.
Because if you show your intention and emotions to your opponent, he will see it coming and react accordingly. I think. You can say it's BS, fine with me. But I think it's cool to think you can settle your mind by swiping  the dust away...
Takashima Sensei also added that it was a good practice to sharpen your senses, and develop a habit of immediately getting if something is wrong in a situation. I'm not there yet.