BUDO - THE MARTIAL WAY

HISTORY OF BUDO

The origins of budo, the martial way, begin in pre 10th century Japan, where the samurai class emerged as a significant force in Japanese society. They rose through the centuries to become the ruling class of Japan, forming the basis for government and providing the moral code for the country.

The samurai ethic was bushido, the way of the warrior, consisting of strictly adhered to virtues including honour, courage, obedience, absolute loyalty, austerity, humility, discipline, and total acceptance of death. Their ready acceptance of death could be what made their spirit indomitable and made them such a driving force in the history of the whole nation.

The samurai weapon was the long sword, the katana, an awesome blade treated as sacred by its bearers. The art of sword fighting or kenjutsu has existed as long as the sword itself, evolving over time and forging many legends including Miyamoto, Musashi born in the sixteenth century, master swordsman and author of the Go Rin No Sho (Book of Five Rings) the ultimate guide to strategy. During the Edo Period through incredible battles between shogun families grappling for power, to the Meiji Restoration the samurai warriors developed their swordsmanship and code of ethics as well as displaying their ultimate loyalty with ritual suicide or seppuku, disemboweling themselves as a final act of courage and honour.

From the Meiji Restoration the government needed to control the use of the arts used by the samurai but wanted to uphold their ethics. The government changed the infrastructure of society by eradicating the feudal class system of the Tokugawa shogunate and took away the ability for the samurai to wear two swords. They also decided to incorporate the martial skills of bujutsu into the school and military systems. From the late nineteenth century all male pupils in school were taught Sumo (wrestling), Kendo and Judo, whilst all female pupils were taught the art of the halberd, Naginatajutsu.

In 1895 the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai was founded in Kyoto as the first government sponsored martial arts institution, the Greater Japan Martial Arts Society, based in the Butokuden, the Hall of Martial Virtues. The classical arts or Bujutsu, formerly ‘jutsu’ (art) evolved into modern Budo, utilizing ‘do’ (way) to explain the seeking of the path to enlightenment, incorporating Kendo (the way of the sword), Judo (gentle way), Kobudo (the way of classical weaponry), Iaido (way of the drawing sword), Karatedo (way of empty hand), Aikido (way of harmony), Kyudo (way of archery).

In Japan the sword is revered as one of the three sacred treasures, and its craftsmanship is as old as Japanese history itself. The practice of Heiho, martial strategy became a vital part of that history. The samurai’s sword was as one with his soul and kendo was therefore the primary martial way throughout the centuries. The Butoku-Den in Kyoto was built in 794AD near the imperial palace for the practice of the warrior arts in particular the sword and through the centuries that followed various schools of kenjutsu were developed and refined. These schools were affected by the philosophies of Confucianism, Zen Buddhism and Shintoism, leading to the ultimate acceptance of death by practitioners. During the Tokugawa shogunate the ‘shinai’ bamboo sword and protective armour (men, kote, do and tare) were developed to aid practice and reduce the number of fatalities occurring during training. Some of the most prolific swordsmen in history were around in this period and many duels were fought in the pursuit of perfection of the art. Go Rin No Sho which Miyamoto Musashi wrote after many years of solitude and study, made a significant impact on the thinking behind heiho and kendo and is used today as a guide to strategy by both martial arts practitioners and businessmen alike. After the Meiji restoration and the establishment of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, Kendo became part of the school curriculum and is now considered one of the most popular martial arts for developing mind, body and spirit. Iaido evolved alongside Kendo, as swift, accurate drawing of the sword was obviously crucial in battle, but also developed as mental preparation and concentration.

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Judo was developed in the late nineteenth century by Jigoro Kano who established the Kodokan Judo in 1882. Judo evolved from the

unarmed combat jujutsu, used by the samurai when no weaponry was available. It utilizes Atemi-waza (striking), Keri-waza (kicking), Shime-waza (Choking), Kansetsu-waza (locking), Nage-waza (throwing), Katame-waza (holding). Jujutsu aimed at controlling the enemy and making him submit and was considered a valuable asset to the warrior. Kano first studied jujutsu and developed from it a method of combat using the theory of minimum force will overcome greater physical force, gentleness (Ju) over strength, combined with shifting gravity and blending with the opponent using his momentum and force against himself. Judo uses randori (free exercise) to practice combat situations and has over the last century become an Olympic recognized sport as well as a classical art. Jujutsu itself has continued to be practiced as an art in its own right, developed through real combat situations and involving many components now separated into individual arts.

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Controlling Ki is the critical component of Aikido, developed in the early twentieth century by Morihei Ueshiba from Jujutsu combined with an intense spirituality. However historically the use of Ki energy can be dated back to the seventeenth century when it was part of heiho training, to learn timing and control. Ueshiba himself was trained in the Shinto religion and this view of being at one with the universe, harmony with all things, contributed much to the development of Aikido. Aikido uses the concept of cultivating and controlling Ki, blending and flowing, using the opponents force and motion to overcome him. It is perhaps the most spiritual of the arts and displays predominately defensive moves in line with its belief in harmony. Breathing and energy flow are developed as part of practice and Taisabaki, body movement is employed for escape and evasion, combined with controlling locking techniques.

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Another of these modern Budo has its own origins in the Ryukyu Island of Okinawa, for centuries battled over by both China and Japan and developing its own combat system called Karatedo.

Chinese boxing or kempo developed by the Shaolin Temple monks in Hunan province of China was brought to the Ryukyu Islands certainly over a thousand years ago and was developed into Okinawa-te the forerunner of modern karate. During the seventeenth century the Japanese Satsuma government confiscated all weapons in the islands, leading to the development of unarmed combat or self defense by the islanders, who kept their methods secret from their ruling Japanese masters. Even after the Meiji Restoration and abolishment of the strict feudal control over the Ryukyu Islands, the Okinawans kept a code of secrecy, teaching their arts by word of mouth, keeping no written records and having no professional instructors and dojos.

The founder of modern day Karatedo, Gichin Funakoshi, was born in 1868 in the royal capital of Okinawa, Shuri. He was taught by at least two masters of karate, Azato and Itosu, who provided Funakoshi with the base from which he developed modern day Shotokan and later Shotokai karate. A school teacher by trade, Funakoshi was asked to demonstrate karate to first the Crown Prince of Japan while on tour in Okinawa and then to Tokyo at the First national Athletic Exhibition in 1922. The original pictogram or kanji for ‘kara’ was Chinese, thus karate was originally Chinese hand. Funakoshi, contemplating the political implications, changed this character to another with the same pronunciation but meaning empty, thus karate became empty hand. This does not only describe the techniques as being weaponless but also implies no thought - Mushin No Shin, mind of no mind.

Funakoshi moved to Tokyo and began instructing at the university, eventually establishing the Shotokan training hall. Funakoshi developed the shotokan style assisted by his son Gigo, who continued in his father’s footsteps, developing the shotokai style. The name derives from Shoto, the pen name which Funakoshi used to sign his poems, literally translated as "pine leaves". Kai means "group" or 'method'. Shotokai's most prominent masters are Gichin Funakoshi with his top students Giko (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi, Genshin (Motonobu) Hironishi, Tadao Okuyama and Shigeru Egami. Egami defined the broad outlines of the new way of practicing that he developed as an efficient way of striking by executing the movement in a relaxed state of mind and body. This is the basis of Shotokai. It focuses on suppleness and relaxation, as opposed to tenseness that generates force. Shotokai refrains from competition because its founding master Gichin Funakoshi, who was also a Confucianist philosopher and a teacher, used to say that there are no contests in Karate.

As well as being a fighting art, karate is a method for building character and has its own code, following in the manner of the samurai virtues, called the Dojo creed of Bushin-Kan.

Other schools of karate developed in the last century include Goju-Ryu (hard/soft) style founded by Chojun Miyagi and the Wado-Ryu (peace in harmony) style established by one of Funakoshi’s pupils Hironi Otsuka. Kyukushinkai karate is one of the most popular sport karate styles, where students demonstrate their body conditioning and strength by competitive bouts and breaking boards and tiles.

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Budo has spread worldwide and has evolved in many ways from the aesthetic to competitive sport, but with its students still adhering to the martial virtues of courage, humility, dedication, loyalty, discipline, honesty and strength of spirit practiced by the samurai in past centuries. The Japanese themselves maintain their strict values in everyday life and the samurai attitude to death could most clearly be seen in the kamikaze (divine wind) pilots during the second world war, who flew their missions accepting that their death was inevitable. Although facing death with acceptance is unrealistic to most people in the twenty-first century, students on the path to the way still cultivate Ki (life force), show indomitable spirit and choose to practice Budo in a manner to make our forebears proud.