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A martial art can be a way to seek enlightenment, resolve conflict, develop character, or improve the quality of life. It can also be used to indoctrinate--in the case of the Meiji Restoration, it led Japan to a war that would eventually end with the dropping of the atomic bomb, but it also fired the Japanese industrial movement which continues to this today. Although practice in Budo requires much patience, if one perseveres long enough the wisdom of the samurai will be at his or her disposal, just as it has been for Japan.

The Benefits of Budo What research says about today's martial artists

Empirical research on the psychological effects of martial arts is weak, in part from the simplistic view of the martial arts by researchers and a general lack of knowledge in this area. (Fuller, p. 326). Another weakness may be a lack of cross-cultural comparisons in studies conducted on the martial arts. However, a few studies have reinforced some traditional views of the martial arts and cleared up some stereotypes.

According to a 1985 CPI scale study conducted by Knoblaunch (as cited in Fuller) of 103 male and females with less than one year's experience in an internal (hard) or external (soft) martial art, novice external martial artists appeared more dominate and competitive than novices in internal arts, but did not appear more aggressive. The novice internal stylists cited personal, self-improvement reasons for choosing their styles. There were no significant gender differences in the motivation for choosing a style, nor were there any gender differences in dominance, aggression, or competitiveness.

A 1981 study conducted by Nosanchuch on 42 traditional karate students (as cited by Fuller) found an inverse relationship between skill level and aggressiveness, which supports the traditional view that training in the martial arts reduces aggressiveness, contrary to what some social psychologists have theorized. Fuller supports the view that tactile communication between partners in the soft arts, especially Aikido, is important in reducing aggressiveness. This may because that in soft arts such as judo, jujitsu, and Aikido, partners learn how to manage and "feel" each other's balance, energy, momentum, and intent, while in external arts such as karate and tae kwon do(16 ), the emphasis is more on projection of strikes and less on a working partnership. This attitude can be explained with the concept of Ki (energy): soft style arts emphasize harmonizing Ki, while hard style arts emphasize projection ofki.

Ki and Inner Strength

Perhaps the most difficult topic to talk about in the martial arts is Ki (Chi or qi in Chinese). Kinot only forms the basis of Aikido and Chinese Tai Chi, but more importantly, "forms the crux of East Asian philosophies and religions." (K. Ueshiba, 1987, p. 25.) Ki is as fundamental to Eastern thought as the idea of Good and Evil is in the West. Ideas of Ki, as a refined metaphysical principle, came to Japan in the 7th Century (Locke, Olson, Seitz, and Quam, 1990) infused with Taoist and Buddhist philosophy. The idea of Ki fit in with Shinto views of nature, which implied the existence of a "life-force" permeating all substance and events.

Most martial art instructors purposely avoid too much discussion on the subject--the interpretation of Ki is usually left up to the student. Ki should not be mistaken for magic (Locke, Olson, Seiz and Quam, 1990, and McCann in Short, 1995)--it is a natural, simple concept which can be interpreted many different ways. Only a few interpretations of Ki will be introduced here, but this does not mean that these are the only interpretations.

A traditional Taoist-educated Chinese physician would probably say that chi (Ki) is a microbiomaterial which circulates through the body, maintaining life itself (Ho, 1995.). An Eastern philosopher might say that Ki is the matter-energy of which the Universe itself is made. In keeping with this line of thought, a physicist might describe Ki with the Big Bang Theory. According to Cosmologist Carl Sagan (as cited in K. Ueshiba, 1987, p. 28.), "Our bodies are made up of the dust from the stars. The same atoms that constitute the stars make up our bodies. . . . Indeed, we are the children of the stars." One can consider the dynamic energy generated during the Big-Bang as Ki or life itself. Ki can be conceptualized as both energy and matter, similar to the relationships expressed by Einstein's famous "E=MC2" and quantum theories.

At a recent Aikido seminar (Kokikai Fall Camp, 1995, Arizona State University), Kokikai Aikido founder Sensei Shuji Maruyama continually stressed that Ki should be approached as simply "a feeling." In Aikido, a feeling of correctness, good posture--a natural, relaxed yet active state(17 )-- not a mysterious magical element. He demonstrated the absurdity of "magical Ki" in several ways: once by pretending to exert an invisible force through his hand to stop an attacker, and another by mimicking a person desperately worrying about an Aikido test, hoping for divine intervention through Ki power.

Unity of Ki, mind, and body is the ultimate goal of Aikido (K. Ueshiba, p. 26). Sensei Shuji Maruyama uses a physiological example of Ki-mind-body unification: the adrenaline rush that a mother uses to lift the end of a car off her fallen child. Another example can be found with yoga, where one learns how to control heartbeat and blood pressure with, according to Skidmore, much better results than conventional bio-feedback therapy (p. 142).

Some may dismiss Ki as merely a placebo effect. However, unlike any other placebo effect, which the subject generally believes to be directed from the outside, with Ki, the subject believes it to be directed from within (p. 146). Whether Ki exists as an entity or not is left up to the individual; many martial artists are content to simply view Ki as an overall "blanket concept," or a tool for conceptualization. A personal definition of Ki can only be established with experience.

The Martial Ethos of Japan Bushido

Contrary to popular belief in both Japan and the West, bushido--the way of the samurai--was not a universal, stratified code passed down as law, as Inazo Nitobe hints at in his influential work Bushido: The Soul of Japan. According to Hurst, "in every way imaginable, Nitobe was the least qualified Japanese of his age to be informing anyone of Japan's history and culture." (1990, p. 511) Hurst points out that Nitobe was a scholar of Western culture who lived in an isolated Christian community in Hokkaido, far removed from the culture of Japan. His writings have been criticized as misleading and full of historical inaccuracies. When he wrote Bushido, he thought he had coined a new word, and was surprised when a Japanese pointed out to him that the word existed since Tokugawa times (p. 513).

Nevertheless, Bushido: The Soul of Japan reflects the views of many Japanese during Nitobe's time. He wrote Bushido at the turn of the century, during the whirlwind of the Meiji Period. The restoration of the emperor Meiji, which marked the end of Japanese feudalism and the beginning of a movement that would propel Japan into World War II, was sparked in part by the intervention of the United States into Japanese affairs. When Commodore Perry arrived in 1853 and forced the acceptance of an unwanted--and unfair--"treaty," it broke 250 years of stability in Japan. The Tokugawa shogunate collapsed under the political dissension caused by the Perry incident and an Imperial government was established. As Japan rapidly began its Westernization, the slogan "Restore the Emperor and expel the Barbarians!" was coined.

Nitobe's Bushido caught on during the nationalistic movement of Meiji Japan. It was the root of the propaganda that the Japanese carried with them to World War II. Hurst sums up Nitobe's Bushido as "merely an illusion created by projecting Puritanism, which he had learned from the West, on Japan." (p. 513) The samurai ideals of the Meiji Period are comparable to the Teutonic symbolism of Nazi Germany: propaganda drawn from ancient warriors to fit the needs of a nationalistic movement. But Nitobe was not the sole originator of Bushido propaganda; the accounts presented in the Hagakure and the Budo Shoshinshu were late sixteenth century portrayals of earlier [Heian] samurai (p. 514), much in the same way that sixteenth and seventeenth century Europeans painted romantic images of knights in shining armor that endure today. Even much of the great medieval war chronicles found in the Hogen monogatari, the Heiji monogatari, the Heike monogatari, and the Gikei were 13th-15th century glorifications of the 11th century Heian age (Friday, 1993, p. 1). The Japanese are not exempt from the human tendency to exaggerate and glorify the past.

To avoid these same exaggerations, the term Bushido in this paper refers to the loose collection of Pre-Meiji samurai ideals, not to be confused with the Bushido in Nitobe's work, or Bushido used in other contexts by other authors. Many authors have cited the Tokugawa period as the birth of Bushido, but this can be misleading. Although Bushido first appeared in print during the Tokugawa era (by Yamaga Soko in 1685), during the strict Tokugawa regime, many laws and codes were passed, including those covering the samurai class, such as the Buke- Shohatto (Laws of the Military House, 1615). Although these laws were influenced by the rich martial ethos of Japan's past, it was also influenced by the political agenda of the Tokugawa shoguns. To say that Bushido, or the "Way of the Warrior", is confined to a collection of Tokugawan laws and military regulations is just as misleading as saying Bushido is confined by the definitions in Nitobe's work. Both may represent the martial ethos of their time, but they do not accurately reflect the attitudes of the samurai before them. Although samurai ideals and samurai "codes" varied according to time and geography, approaching Bushido as a loose collection of warrior ideals and codes of conduct that began with the rise of the samurai class and ended with the Meiji Restoration (the official end of Japan's feudal age and, therefore, the end of the historic samurai) serves as a way to separate the martial ethos of the samurai from the political ideology of the Meiji Period--and the misconceptions that persist in popular culture today.

Budo

Budo(2) --Bu meaning "martial" and do meaning "Way"--is a more appropriate term for the Japanese martial arts than Bushido, since Bushido can be translated as "The Way of the Samurai." A practitioner of the Japanese martial arts can be considered a samurai only in the figurative sense; the purpose of Budo is different from Bushido (But the spirit of Bushido is certainly prevalent in Budo) Generally speaking, Bushido was the combined whole of the samurai lifestyle, a code of conduct geared toward developing military administrators, professional armies, and elite soldiers. Budo, on the other hand, is the application of samurai knowledge as a way to improve one's life, and the life of others. If Bushido is the "Way" of the samurai, then Budo is the "Way" of the modern Japanese martial artist.

The relation of Bushido to Budo is analogous to the development of acupuncture: during centuries of warfare, the Chinese collected massive amounts of data on the effects of puncture wounds on various parts of the body. Some of these turned out to beneficial. This information was put to use alleviate pain and promote health and healing. The same knowledge, however, can be used in lethal striking techniques. Similarly, Bushido, and the military sciences developed by the samurai, can be used for propaganda and violence, but it can also be put to positive use in Budo Benefits of Budonot only include psychological well-being, physical health, and self-improvement, but also the intellectual growth and spiritual enrichment of the Budo practitioner. Exactly how, why and when Budo was developed is a complicated issue which requires a historical examination of conflict in Japan.