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Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

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A color woodblock print of a duel between Ario Maru and Karieo Maru created by Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi. (Victoria &<br />

Albert Museum, London/Art Resource, NY)<br />

considered systematized teachings, it was only in the Sengoku and early<br />

Tokugawa (seventeenth-century) periods that these experts formed clearly<br />

defined schools, with written records, sets of techniques, and established<br />

genealogies.<br />

<strong>The</strong> formation of schools was possible because warriors who participated<br />

in battles and were able to achieve high skills in swordsmanship as a<br />

result of their extensive battlefield experience could rely on the name they<br />

created for themselves to attract the attention of potential patrons and followers.<br />

Indeed, patronage by prominent warriors was not hard to find because<br />

of the demand for such teachers. Ultimately, the cause for a new emphasis<br />

on sword fighting was the result of the new firearm technology,<br />

which rendered mounted archery especially inferior and vulnerable, thus<br />

making foot soldiers carrying swords replace the mounted warrior. In addition,<br />

a culture of specialized schools of art, theater performance, and<br />

craftsmanship was already in place and operating long before the formation<br />

of distinct schools of swordsmanship. Consequently, when Sengoku<br />

and early Tokugawa warriors sought to establish swordsmanship traditions,<br />

they relied on those existing schools for a model.<br />

Two more factors contributed to the formation of specialized schools<br />

of swordsmanship. First, social mobility during the Sengoku period provided<br />

almost anybody with an opportunity to achieve recognition and advance<br />

to a higher social status. For many, swordsmanship was the way to<br />

realize their ambition. Those who mastered swordsmanship and made<br />

names for themselves on the battlefield or in challenge duels, even those of<br />

peasant origin who served as low-ranking foot soldiers, could look for re-<br />

Swordsmanship, Japanese 593

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