On Budo and Bushido

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A recent article spurred or inspired this article on budo and bushido. In that article it seems a lot of assumptions and agenda driven meme’s were used as well. Hmmmm.

Budo [武道] simply defined as, “Military arts; martial arts and makes reference to the term Bushido.” 

Bushido [武士道] simply defined as, “Bushido; samurai code of chivalry.” 

The terms didn’t exist in the feudal era of Japan. When referred to as a samurai code of chivalry the person making the reference actually used the title of the samurai when he wrote the book and coined both budo and bushido. As to its traditional roots, however that is defined, that is questionable as to historical facts or even truth. 

Budo and Bushido were first coined as terms in the book written around 1899 by its author Inazo Nitobe titled, “Bushido: The Soul of Japan.” I believe personally that his effort was an attempt to give some historical meaning to the feudal era with its colorful Samurai, chivalrous warriors of Japan. 

Even the current information on these terms states, without definitive proof beyond the times mentioned articles and books, that Arthur M. Knapp, a non-Japanese, who wrote, “The samurai of thirty years ago had behind him a thousand years of training in the law of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice.... It was not needed to create or establish them. As a child he had but to be instructed, as indeed he was from his earliest years, in the etiquette of self-immolation." 

I put forth this theory, the budo and bushido were created to give support to the continuance of the colorful history or stories of samurai toward fostering of a more modern morally driven social belief that would support the efforts of the Japanese in their continued conquests of surrounding countries/states such as China and Korea, etc. This also gave credence to the effort to train and condition the populace prior to WWII to create a mind-set of a warrior that met the needs of Japan in justifying the upcoming war. As some will recognize this is also why disciplines like Okinawan Karate were educationalized to teach and train Okinawan youth for membership in the military in support of Japan’s war efforts. 

There are hints toward what Nitobe Sensei wrote in his books but like most articles and books of modern times, for that particular era when it was written, the influences of the individual authors and their perceptions, perspectives, intent, and background along with all socially driven influences both societal and familial tend to lead the content of such writings toward an agenda that may or may not be conscious. 

I will admit that like many meme’s, etc., that the end result did generate an excellent tome or book that is, could and can be used toward self-improvement with the intent toward socially accepted self-enlightenment but as to its actual historical intent and meaning and to its actual application in the world of the Samurai, that is questionable and possibly just plain fictional. The Japanese are well know for their use of fiction to create hero’s that their society needed and wanted much like every other society of our world. When we need it we use or create or manufacture hero’s to move our military and society toward the accepted and dictated agenda’s accordingly. 

All of it is kind of a propaganda machine and is often cited toward generating an agenda by all humans including us. We tend to use it and quote it as a means of instilling a mystique like quality to attract students, students who pay for lessons and lessons to inspire more students, etc. 

In a nutshell the book on Budo and Bushido is just the cultural metaphor toward a goal and in martial arts it is to promote it giving it a life that hopefully will be passed down over the ages just like the Japanese passing down their samurai heritage toward a lasting cultural historical and social belief that makes their cultural unique and respected. In the end, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that effort, it is a part of our human nature toward survival.

Read more on, “The Cultural Metaphor.” http://isshindo.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-cultural-metaphor.html

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