Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

198 Japan
Toyotomi’s death and the eventual establishment of the Tokugawa
shogunate ended a long period of warriors’ patronage of the arts. Social
changes that led to the economic decline of many warriors and to accumulation
of wealth among townsmen and merchants produced new patterns
of patronage. Warriors were now following the lower classes’ tastes and interests,
rather than their own.
Conclusion
Japanese martial disciplines and traditions developed and evolved within
the larger context of Japanese society. Politics of the ruling elites, social
changes, and cultural trends strongly influenced the birth of identifiable
military schools in the medieval and early modern periods. Similarly, the
contours and customs of what have become military traditions were often
the result of religious influence, as well as influence from established cultural
traditions such as the tea ceremony, or from prevailing modes of
thought such as Confucianism. Just as these have evolved and changed
their characteristics to accommodate changing preferences, so have the various
martial traditions. Furthermore, a common characteristic that must be
emphasized is the constant sense of rivalry among schools of similar discipline,
whether schools of painting, tea ceremony, or military disciplines.
Among schools of military disciplines, such rivalry has occasionally ended
in violent encounters, but more often, especially in the modern period, has
resulted in wars of words.
Consequently, the absence in the modern period of the cultural
grounds in which martial disciplines flourished, the common view of martial
disciplines as an anachronism in a world of modern warfare, and the international
popularization of Japanese martial traditions have resulted in a
profound misunderstanding of these traditions. Although many Japanese
hold a misguided view of their own martial traditions, non-Japanese in particular,
lacking knowledge of the language and history of Japan, and having
been captured by a romantic view of an exotic culture, tend to misconstrue
the true nature of Japan’s long history of martial disciplines. Japan’s military
traditions remain a most important part of this nation’s history and culture.
Roy Ron
See also Aikidô; Archery, Japanese; Budô, Bujutsu, and Bugei; Japanese
Martial Arts, Chinese Influences on; Jûdô; Karate, Japanese; Kendô;
Kenpô; Ki/Qi; Koryû Bugei, Japanese; Ninjutsu; Religion and Spiritual
Development: Japan; Samurai; Sword, Japanese; Swordsmanship,
Japanese; Warrior Monks, Japanese/Sôhei; Wrestling and Grappling:
Japan; Written Texts: Japan
References
Adolphson, Mikael. 2000. The Gates of Power: Monks, Courtiers, and
Warriors in Premodern Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.