文武両道 - Sport & Traditional Budo

Last week's post was about what traditional Budo actually is in the modern world and that it can't be found in the style or the system itself, but in how you approach and think of the training.
I talked about how Budo isn't just about fighting, it's also about being a person of virtue (Bunbu Ryodo - the two fold way of pen and sword).


Within the last 100 years or so Budo has slowly changed. It has become modernised so that it can fit in with the modern world and the mindset of a modern practitioner.

When we talk about the modernisation of budo today, there is an additional element that has been added into the mix that has become an integral part of martial arts for many practitioners.

The large majority of modern martial arts clubs are making their focus on the sport and competition aspects of training.

When sport and competition was added into the equation, it creates a problem.
The problem being that the above venn diagram can't exist. There isn't a way to balance sport, fighting system & virtue at the same time.

I know that many would disagree with the above statement, but if you have a closer look you'll find that it's like trying to force a square peg into a round hole and for it to actually work you need to compromise something and that something is quite often the virtue part.

First we'll look at each aspect of the above diagram, I'll explain my reasoning.
The three main elements of the diagram are:

1. The Fighting System
2. Virtue
3. Sport & Competition

The fighting system is the martial art. It's all the techniques and knowledge. Everything that makes up the physical part of martial arts, as well as everything you need to learn and know about the art form.
The culmination of this being the skills, ability and understanding that can be used in order to deescalate a potentially violent confrontation.

Virtue is all about the character development stuff. Learning to be a better person and everything that entails. It's about setting high standards for who you are and having the strength & integrity to live by those standards in your daily life.

The Sport side of it (as far as I see it) can be divided up into two parts. The first part is taking the martial system and using it as you would any other sport. It simply becomes a physical activity with an emphasis on the fitness and ability.
The second part of sport is about utilising the fitness and abilities you have gained from training in competition with others.

These 3 elements should be pretty obvious for any Karateka. The issues arise when you analyse the sections of the venn diagram that overlap.

1. The Fighting System & Virtue makes Budo
2. Sport & Fighting System make Glorified Violence (or something worse)
3. Virtue & Sport makes some other thing

Budo is the fusion of the fighting style and the way of virtue. As I mentioned in last weeks post, this is what I think 'traditional' martial arts were in pre-modern times.

The 'Glorified Violence' section of the diagram, which is the combination of fighting and sport, has become two basic types these days.

The first type of fighting sport is what we know as UFC (and things like cage fighting). It's the world of Mixed Martial Arts. Where people train to be at the peak of physical fitness and learn techniques and skill with the aim of entering a competition to see if their skill and training is better than the skill and training of other competitors.
This is the epitome of the term 'Glorified Violence' when we analyse what this is.
A person literally trains with the ultimate goal of being able to get in a ring and pound the crap out of someone before that person is able to do the same to them.
Being a person of virtue can in no way be synonymous with this type of activity. For what reason would a virtuous person want to deliberately cause damage to another person?... None, there is no need to want to deliberately cause damage to another person (unless there is no other option, as is the case in a real self-defence situation)
It seems to me that the whole point of this type of fighting sport is to prove that your skill is better than the skills of others. A virtuous person is secure enough to not have any need to prove to anyone that they're better than anyone else, especially when it's really about making money as a show for spectators.

What does a person get out of this type of fighting sport?
Obviously someone who is successful gains money and the notoriety, two things that a virtuous person doesn't compromise their values for.
These people do learn fighting skill, so they are capable of defending themselves and others, but what mindset does it perpetuate in people (both the practitioners and the spectators)?
That violence is good? That being the best at hitting people is somehow worthwhile?
I think that many people develop a subconscious attitude of "If I have a reason to get angry and someone stands up to me, then it's ok to physically beat them until they can no longer stand." Disagree with me? Look up the stats on domestic violence. Here you go.
Clearly there are people out there that think their anger is a good thing and that they can solve problems with violence.
I'm definitely not saying that UFC fighters and fans are all wife beaters, but when violence is glorified, idolised and sold as a good thing, people who lack self-control would be more likely to justify using it - even against loved ones... There is absolutely no virtue in this at all.


The second type of fighting sport is the tournaments. The average Karateka doesn't enter UFC type cage fights but can still compete in a relatively non-violent setting.
Tournaments are more the "sport" part of the fighting sport, hence it's this type of competition that will be included in the Olympics.
Tournaments can be fun but there are some serious flaws. The first flaw being that what is considered 'good technique' for a tournament is not the same 'good effective technique' in real world confrontation. 
Generally tournaments have kata and kumite competition, both of these promote ineffective technique.
Tournament kata tends to ignore bunkai completely  (bunkai is the practical application of techniques). The technique you see are all about looking good. In many cases techniques that have actually sacrificed something that might be strong, stable and effective just so that it can impress judges.

If there is ever any bunkai in tournaments it also has been rendered ineffectual so it can look fancy but will never work in reality.

The kumite part of karate tournaments is different but just as good at promoting and instilling techniques that are ineffective. In kumite there are many rules, primarily for safety (which is fair enough), but in real life there are no rules.
I have seen practitioners taking part in tournaments that have rules about no contact to the head, that learn to not bother guarding their head. This is, of course, utterly ridiculous. What sort of martial artist doesn't worry about protecting the most vulnerable part of the body???
Changing the fighting techniques to suit tournament rules isn't the only issue with tournaments kumite. The other problem is with the way tournament kumite is performed in general. Put simply, it's not real fighting.

In this video you can see two practitioners jumping around and darting all over the place in an effort to disguise the telegraphing of offensive techniques. The techniques that are thrown are quite often over extended and lack any control.

Real martial arts have no time or room for such techniques. There's no jumping around and no big long extended punches. 

Tournaments might have their origins in martial arts, but they have become purely sport. 

What drives this need to change technique to become more and more ineffective over time?
Why do people feel the need to prioritise tournaments over a fighting system that really works as a fighting style?

Beyond promoting bad technique, karate tournaments also inherently instil a bad attitude, a culture of competitive pettiness and immaturity. 
This is the opposite of virtue, it's these type of things that martial artists should be above, rather than perpetuate.

As far as I see it, people are driven to compete out of a subconscious sense of insecurity, which ultimately comes from immaturity.
They feel that if they 'win' then it means something, if they 'win' it will prove their worth to everyone (including themselves). A secure person finds self-worth from within, they don't try to find it externally. Externally derived self-worth is shallow, temporary and fragile.
I've seen people put a great deal of importance on how they do in a tournament, as if the entire world hinges on the tournament on that day. It's not just kids (who might be to young to understand), I've seen Dan grade adults lose it, even cry, when they fail to get the "gold medal".
Being that one of the main purposes of Budo training is character development and becoming a better (well-adjusted) person, this sort of behaviour is obviously not a part of real budo and the clubs that foster the "importance of winning" mindset are not teaching martial arts, it's just sport.

You might say something like: "I do tournaments just as a test of my ability, I don't care if I win or lose." and you might think that this is virtuous. While it is indeed a more mature mindset than the 'sooky la la' I mentioned above.
There is still no virtue in competition.
Competition with others gives you no actual indication of your ability level. If you compete and win against 7 other people on a particular day but those 7 people are of a horribly crappy standard, then you might go home mistakenly thinking you're of a better standard than you actually are. The same it true the other way around too, if you lose against 7 amazing experts, then you'll go home mistakenly thinking you're worse than you actually are.

To compare to other practitioners is always arbitrary, there's no baseline or standard by which you can measure to give any idea of the standard level. It will give you false-positives 95% of the time.

You might say: "I just compete in tournaments for the fun of it."
Well, you should always do what you enjoy and if you enjoy the tournaments and fighting competition then you should do it. 
Having said this, don't fool yourself into thinking that it's Budo or even martial arts. It's sport, just like any other, it's no more budo than swimming or football.

Don't fool yourself into thinking that because you do good or bad in tournaments that it means you're a good or bad Budoka.

 

 

Bushi Matsumura (the greatest Karateka who ever lived, the man who influenced pretty much every style of modern Karate, your master's master's master's master's master [give or take a master or two]) once wrote:

If we investigate the martial arts, we also see that there are three distinct divisions or elements in them:

The first method, or division, is more like a game of psychology and tactics. It actually has no practical application in fighting, but it is more like pretty dancing. It is quite superficial.

The second method is nothing more than physical exercises. Its only goal is to win. In this there is no virtue. The practitioners of this method are contentious. Many times they bring injury to others and to themselves. Very often they cause dishonour to come upon members of their family.

The third method, in contrast, is always performed with conviction. The practitioners of this third method gain a solemn enlightenment, free of strife and depravity. It promotes loyalty among family, friends and country. It also promotes a natural demeanour, which develops a gallant character.

In my mind, both the UFC and tournaments are a mix of both the first and second methods that Matsumura mentions. As he says, there is no virtue in these methods. Hence why virtue and fighting competition are on the opposite side of the venn diagram.

This is also why fighting competition isn't Budo, as there is no virtue. in them.

The part of the diagram that is the combination of virtue and sport (opposite the fighting system) is 'Not Martial Arts'.

I'm not entirely sure that this section can exist, as I don't think there is any way to reconcile competitiveness and truly being a person of virtue.

If there is, it's not really relevant, as being that it's lacking the fighting system, it has nothing to do with budo anyway.

 

 

 

I'm fully aware that many people will disagree with some of the things in this post. I don't claim that any of this is absolute certainty, this is simply my opinion and my point of view (as is everything in this blog).

I don't imply that a person who disagrees with my views are wrong, they simply have different views to me and we are all free to believe what we like.

I believe that the popularisation of Budo in modern times has resulted in a change that is not for the better. That change being the introduction of the mainstream acceptance of a competitive mindset. In the process of making budo more 'sport like', we have sacrificed other important aspects of Budo, so much that I wouldn't describe what the majority do today as 'Budo'.

 

To my mind, real Budo is practiced by people who learn to train and perfect techniques that work (rather than look good) and they have no inclination to compare or compete in an attempt to disprove some subconscious feeling of insecurity.

 

 

 

Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have. J

Thanks for reading.
Derm

Ͼ

 

 



文武両道 - Traditional Budo

Terms like 'traditional', 'old-school', 'real', 'authentic', 'pure', 'ancient', 'old-style' and 'original' are thrown around a lot by martial arts clubs these days, especially in marketing for the recruitment of new students.
These terms are used to give the layperson an impression that their club teaches some untarnished pure original style that "Joe Smith" down the road won't teach you. Because of this overuse in marketing, words like these have become almost meaningless.

In reality there is no 'one traditional original source' for martial arts that one person might know that others wouldn't know. Karate itself can be traced to many more than 10 or even 20 original sources, spanning over many decades. 
So if you say that you practice the 'more traditional' form (just because it's different the other place down the road) mean's you're either ignorant, misinformed or simply lying.

Through my own experience and research I have seen firsthand many techniques, customs and forms of etiquette which are called 'traditions' but they couldn't be more than 30 or 40 years old. If it was devised within our lifetime, it's NOT an 'ancient tradition'.
A perfect example of this is a couple of things that we think of as quintessential traditions of karate; the grade ranking system, coloured obi (belts), and the do-gi (karate uniform). Each of these things were come up with in the early to mid 20th century, not hundreds or thousands of years ago as many assume.

So the things that the majority think of as 'old-style traditional Karate' isn't really that old and while many practices have become traditions today, they simply haven't been that way for very long. So they aren't as traditional as we would want to think.

With this in mind, how do you find out what actually is the older martial arts what they might have done in pre-modern times?
How do you learn the 'old-school' system that isn't only 30 or 40 years old?
How do we find what Karate was intended to be, before it was modernised.

The answer is simple in my opinion.

There are no 'traditional styles'!

It's not about finding the style or the club that does it the old-school way, because every Budo school around today, that I have seen, has been influenced in some way by recent modern traditions. 
So in reality 'traditional budo' is really found in a couple of things:

1. It's about YOUR approach to the training.
It's not found in traditions or uniforms. It's about your mindset, what you think of your own training and how you approach it. 
It's about how dedicated you are. Do you take it seriously? Do you think on lessons you should be learning (even meditate on something you need to learn)?

2. Use common sense.
If you're training solely for an upcoming tournament or worrying if your technique looks good, you probably don't have the same approach to your training that people did 300 years ago. True martial arts was devised to work in real life against a dangerous opponent. Looking good and scoring points was never the intended purpose of the techniques. 

3. Do some research.
Seek to learn about people that were coming up with and using the martial arts in the past and the world and times they lived in.
Information about the martial way does exist from pre-modern times. 
A couple of books immediately come to mind (among others):

• The Art of War (5th century BCE),
• The Bubishi (exact date unknown, but very old),
• The Hagakure (1700's), and
• The Book of Five Rings (1645)

In the Book of Five Rings, Musashi talks about the way of the warrior and what it should involve. 
He says "It is said the warrior's is the two-fold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways."

This two-fold Way of pen and sword has a proper term in Japanese:

"Bunbu Ryodo" 文武両道

In simple terms, it means that a warrior develops both martial skill and mental skills (so they are good with a sword and a pen). A true warrior is both smart and formidable with their abilities.
So, the 'old-school' way has two parts, it's not just the fighting system.

Also, in my opinion the 'mental development' doesn't include learning about the Karate (who the old masters were, history and meaning of the Kata and so on), these are an inherent part of the fighting system. 

I think that mental development is about learning WHO you are and developing yourself to become a better version of yourself, it's all about character development. 

A good starting point for this is with the virtues of Bushido. In reality living life is more complex than just seven character traits. So in general terms, once you've applied yourself to the code of Bushido, don't limit it to just these seven virtues, it's about having virtue, being virtuous.

The two-fold way of Bunbu Ryodo is the the old way of Budo training. 
Funnily enough, the term 'BUDO' means exactly that. As I explained in this post, Budo is made up of two characters 'Bu' 武 (martial) and 'Do' 道 (way).

The 'Do' 道 in Budo is the same as the Chinese Dao (or Tao) 道. As in the ancient text 'The Daodejing' (or Tao Te Ching) 道德經, which literally means "The Book of the Way of Virtue!"

So the name 'BU-DO' itself tells us that it's about the two-fold way.

To my mind this is a good definition of 'Traditional Budo': If you want to do it the old-school way you must incorporate an actual fighting system. A fighting system that works against a real opponent. 
If you can't rely on your system in the most serious of situations (when it comes down to either them or you) then it's not a fighting system. 
But that's only half of the 'Budo equation'. The other half is about developing who you are, to be a person of virtue!
As Gichin funakoshi said: "The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants." [I'm pretty sure he took this quote from the Bubishi]

This is what I think traditional budo is, before the 'modernisation' of martial arts. This is its surviving roots in the modern world.
It can't be found in the techniques or the etiquette and traditions. You can't find 'old-school' karate by judging the way a particular kata is performed and comparing it to other versions of the same kata.

It's found in your approach to it! It's in the way you train and how serious you are about it!

When we talk about the modernisation of budo today, there is another element has been added into the mix. It has become an integral part of martial arts today and it has changed the definition of 'good' budo in the eyes of many practitioners.

This will be the subject of next weeks post.




Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have. J

Thanks for reading.
Derm

Ͼ

Kata Focus - Saifa

Saifa is an intermediate Kata designed to be less complex than other Kata but still more practical than training Kata (like Sanchin or Taikyoku). 

With a straight forward uncomplicated bunkai and techniques, it is quite adequate for intermediate students. 

The origins of this Kata are found in Naha-te, the techniques were devised from the teachings of Ru Ru Ko, but it is unclear if the Kata itself was created by Chojun Miyagi or Kanryo Higashionna (in spite if what some books and websites will tell you).

We know Miyagi taught Saifa (as per the below evidence), but what is unknown is if he made the Kata from what he learnt from Ru Ru Ko in China or if he learnt it from Higashionna before that.

The Meaning of the Kata’s name, ‘smashing and tearing’, is simply the description of many of the techniques within the Kata. 

Some of the important lessons from training with Saifa include: Moveing in towards the opponent rather than pulling away, to counter attack by hitting multiple targets on the opponent’s body, using your own weight as an advantage and to 'receive' and attack and take control rather than simply parrying it away.

An interesting thing is that in Japanese the Kata is actually pronounced “Saiha” but everyone (even in Japan) uses the Okinawan pronunciation for name.

Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have. J

Thanks for reading.
Derm

Ͼ

10 Other Thoughts on Budo

Last week's post was 10 Thoughts on Budo.
So this week it's 10 Other Thoughts on Budo.



一Why train?
With training comes physical fitness & skill, these lead to confidence (of course make sure to avoid ego inflation). With the right mindset, this helps to bring perspective in daily life which leads to happiness and a feeling of wellbeing.




二Budo should be a cure for immaturity
The weaker traits of humanity are what has corrupted the martial way of the modern world. What are these traits?

• Arrogance
• Pettiness
• The need to prove that we're better than others
• The need to 'look' good (rather than training to 'be' good)
• Jealousy
• Lack of serious dedication (but still an expectation of the results that serious dedication brings)
• Impatience
• Lack of drive to seek understanding of the way
• Belief that ignorance is ok
• The expectation that all will learn and develop at the same steady rate
• Insecurity regarding the opinions of others.

Training in Budo is meant to help us remove these weaknesses from our character, but instead, the popularisation of Budo in modern times has lead the acceptance of each of these as part of Budo. 
Seek to be greater than the weaker traits within yourself and you will find the greater virtues of the way.




三The Way
‘Do’ 道 (the way) literally means ‘path’ or ‘road’. This implies that it is ongoing and not something you work towards. It isn’t a destination or a goal. It is the whole journey.
It is a habit... A Lifestyle…. a ‘Way of Life’.
So stop seeking something, stop chasing a 'goal'... just train earnestly and you will find the 'way'.




四Want to become strong?
Hojo Undo every day!




五Knowing is not enough
It is good to have knowledge, but to apply that knowledge is wisdom.
This is what makes us strong.
Seek knowledge AND seek to use it correctly.




六Wisdom
Wisdom does not come with time & age but with correct effort.
(Knowledge on its own is useless).




七"Those who speak do not know,"

"Those who know do not speak..."-Laozi

What’s the point in talking when you don’t have anything to say?
Yet many people seem to do this. Wisdom grows from listening & understanding, most of the time we can only do this by not talking.

八Resentment
Remove resentment from your heart by getting over the need to prove to others that they are wrong.




九When we achieve
When you feel that you've achieved something, it feels like the end of that. When you reach the end, you stop and you have to start something else.
I have no intention of ever stopping, so I don't set particular goals, don't aim for particular achievements.
Never stop learning; you never know ‘enough’, you never know ‘it all’. There is always more to learn, always opportunity to grow and understand better & deeper.




十Always remember
Once realising the way, don’t lose sight of it!




Comment below to share any thoughts or opinions you might have. J

Thanks for reading.

Derm

Ͼ