Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
Martial Arts Of The World - Webs Martial Arts Of The World - Webs
594 Swordsmanship, Japanese warding positions such as being sword instructors in the service of a daimyo. Thus, self-training and perfection of techniques became essential, and they were achieved by embarking on a musha shugyô (warrior training), an increasingly popular practice since the Sengoku period. The second reason was social and political reconstruction following the erection of castle towns as domain headquarters. The large population of warriors, now removed from the countryside and relocated in these towns, was fertile ground for the sword master, who could target a large number of potential disciples without having to travel. Furthermore, sword teachers hired by the daimyo were given a residence, a place to teach, and a stipend. The benefits of becoming a teacher included prestige and a stable income, which were especially valuable later in the Tokugawa period when many samurai had lost their stipends. The Tokugawa period (seventeenth–nineteenth centuries), during which Japan enjoyed countrywide peace and a single warrior government, had a dual effect on swordsmanship, making swordsmanship a more refined and complex martial discipline while detaching it from its battlefield context. As a result, it was transformed into a martial discipline for small-scale combat. Under new military and social conditions created by the Tokugawa shogunate, samurai were required to carry two swords, but mounted warfare or even fighting in full armor was for the most part completely abandoned. Warriors began wearing long and short swords tucked in their sashes in a tight and stable fashion as a status marker, which separated samurai from the rest of the population. Carrying swords for the purpose of engaging in battle was no longer common among Tokugawa samurai. In addition, formation of a rigid samurai class, removal of the samurai from the countryside and placing them in urban centers or domain headquarters, and changing their function to administrators significantly reduced the need to acquire high skills in any form of fighting. Nevertheless, though many samurai became administrators, others became part of a police and inspection force. They did not abandon their martial training. Instead, they had to develop methods and techniques to solve new problems and challenges. As a result, schools of swordsmanship had to adjust existing fighting techniques and develop new ones, such as fast drawing, to accommodate much greater maneuverability on one hand and violent encounters associated with urban life on the other. The consequences were far-reaching, as swordsmanship was no longer simply one martial discipline among others used in warfare for the sole practical purpose of survival. Tokugawa swordsmanship took on multiple forms to fit within the Tokugawa social and military context. One form of swordsmanship focused on predetermined codified sets of movements against an imaginary opponent (kata) and developed into modern iaidô.
Another form subscribed to combat simulation by conducting duels using wooden or bamboo swords in sportslike duels, which included exhibition matches and formal recognition of winners, eventually evolving into modern kendô. Yet other schools chose to try and preserve swordsmanship in its early Tokugawa form, that of a real battlefield fighting skill. Though schools of swordsmanship combined all of these forms in their teachings, individual schools emphasized one form over the others, allowing for a clear separation of swordsmanship forms after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the abolition of the samurai class. Another important feature of Tokugawa swordsmanship was the association of swords and swordsmanship with divinities and related religious practices. As mentioned earlier, the establishment of a school was accompanied by compiling written records concerning its origins. These records normally included the founder’s biography and some historical information relating to the school, but often they also included legends and myths of sacred secret transmission of knowledge from legendary warriors, supernatural beings, or from the divinities themselves to the founder’s ancestors. Such divine connection provided the school with authority and “proof” of superior skills in an increasingly competitive world of swordsmanship. More importantly, the divine link to Japan’s history and mythology, in addition to the symbolic role of the sword as a mark of a samurai’s identity, instilled the notion of the sword as the mind and soul of the samurai. Practicing swordsmanship, then, took on the added importance of being a way to bring back and strengthen samurai ideals of earlier generations of warriors. The Meiji Restoration (1868), which marked the end of warrior rule and the start of civil government in Japan, declared the Tokugawa practice of wearing two swords illegal. Centuries of warrior rule and culture came to an official end, sending traditional schools of swordsmanship into a decline, while swordsmanship itself evolved into a modern version in which the practitioners use sturdy protective gear and bamboo swords and follow prescribed rules of engagement in competition. When the Taishô (1912–1926) government added this modern swordsmanship (eventually called kendô) to the school curriculum, it immediately set it on a course to become a national martial sport. However, to preserve swordsmanship in its pre-kendô form, some schools of swordsmanship emphasized the sole practice of kata using metal swords that resemble real blades. The practice of swordsmanship by focusing on kata is now known to many as iaidô. Some kendô practitioners who reach advanced levels in kendô turn to iaidô as a higher, more realistic form of swordsmanship. At any rate, the preservation of swordsmanship in kata practice follows the example of many other traditions, namely ikebana and Kabuki, among Swordsmanship, Japanese 595
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594 Swordsmanship, Japanese<br />
warding positions such as being sword instructors in the service of a<br />
daimyo. Thus, self-training and perfection of techniques became essential,<br />
and they were achieved by embarking on a musha shugyô (warrior training),<br />
an increasingly popular practice since the Sengoku period. <strong>The</strong> second<br />
reason was social and political reconstruction following the erection of castle<br />
towns as domain headquarters. <strong>The</strong> large population of warriors, now<br />
removed from the countryside and relocated in these towns, was fertile<br />
ground for the sword master, who could target a large number of potential<br />
disciples without having to travel. Furthermore, sword teachers hired by<br />
the daimyo were given a residence, a place to teach, and a stipend. <strong>The</strong><br />
benefits of becoming a teacher included prestige and a stable income,<br />
which were especially valuable later in the Tokugawa period when many<br />
samurai had lost their stipends.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Tokugawa period (seventeenth–nineteenth centuries), during<br />
which Japan enjoyed countrywide peace and a single warrior government,<br />
had a dual effect on swordsmanship, making swordsmanship a more refined<br />
and complex martial discipline while detaching it from its battlefield context.<br />
As a result, it was transformed into a martial discipline for small-scale<br />
combat. Under new military and social conditions created by the Tokugawa<br />
shogunate, samurai were required to carry two swords, but mounted warfare<br />
or even fighting in full armor was for the most part completely abandoned.<br />
Warriors began wearing long and short swords tucked in their sashes<br />
in a tight and stable fashion as a status marker, which separated samurai<br />
from the rest of the population. Carrying swords for the purpose of engaging<br />
in battle was no longer common among Tokugawa samurai.<br />
In addition, formation of a rigid samurai class, removal of the samurai<br />
from the countryside and placing them in urban centers or domain<br />
headquarters, and changing their function to administrators significantly<br />
reduced the need to acquire high skills in any form of fighting. Nevertheless,<br />
though many samurai became administrators, others became part of a<br />
police and inspection force. <strong>The</strong>y did not abandon their martial training.<br />
Instead, they had to develop methods and techniques to solve new problems<br />
and challenges. As a result, schools of swordsmanship had to adjust<br />
existing fighting techniques and develop new ones, such as fast drawing, to<br />
accommodate much greater maneuverability on one hand and violent encounters<br />
associated with urban life on the other.<br />
<strong>The</strong> consequences were far-reaching, as swordsmanship was no longer<br />
simply one martial discipline among others used in warfare for the sole<br />
practical purpose of survival. Tokugawa swordsmanship took on multiple<br />
forms to fit within the Tokugawa social and military context. One form of<br />
swordsmanship focused on predetermined codified sets of movements<br />
against an imaginary opponent (kata) and developed into modern iaidô.