Like any other things in this world, understanding number of disciplines that are based to some degree or another on various Samurai methods of war and personal combat is also about interpretation. In modern language, we usually use the term of “Martial Arts” to name those disciplines. Interpretation of martial arts influence not only how one discipline is understood but also on how it will be implemented and applied in everyday life. Aikido is one of many disciplines in martial arts which often multi-interpreted and therefore mis-conceptioned. Some understands Aikido as Bujutsu and some chooses to understand Aikido as Budo.
Misconceptions about the martial arts are overwhelming. Popular notions of Bushido (The Way of the samurai) and Budo (Japanese martial arts) are no exception. Although the samurai were not the only originators of martial arts in Japan, they were the most significant. By tracing the development of Bushido and Budo, people can reach a better understanding of the Japanese, on how the centuries of military rule has had significant effects on them, especially with a warrior class as large and influential as Japan's. More important, by studying the development of Japanese martial arts, a better insight on the nature of conflict can be gained.
Discourse on Bushido and Budo
The term Bushido in this paper refers to the loose collection of Pre-Meiji samurai ideals. 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, of course, the misconceptions that persist in popular culture today.
During the Tokugawa, Meiji, and Modern (Post World War II) eras, the nature of Japanese martial arts has changed drastically. Since World War II, the Japanese martial arts have spread, further complicating the perception of Bushido and Budo. Budo with Bu which means "martial" and Do which means "way", is a more appropriate term for the Japanese martial arts than Bushido, since Bushido can be translated as "The Way of the Samurai".
The purpose of Budo is different from Bushido; eventhough 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, where 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”. In short, a practitioner of Japanese martial arts can be considered a samurai only in the figurative sense.
The relation of Bushido to Budo can be understood by how lethal striking techniques can be used. 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 benefits of Budo, not only include psychological well-being, physical health, and self-improvement, but also the intellectual growth and spiritual enrichment of the Budo practitioner.
The Rise of Budo
Exactly how, why and when Budo was developed will not be elaborated in this paper since it requires a historical examination of conflict in Japan. But the historical background on the rise of Budo can be simply seen when with the advent of the Tokugawa Bakufu (=shogunate) in 1603, Japan entered a long period of peace under the iron hand of a succession of military dictatorships. This is known as the Edo period and it spanned more than two-and-a-half centuries before finally drawing to a close with the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Without the stimulus of war to serve as a focal point, the Bushi class, which now owed loyalty directly to the Tokugawa shogun, became restless and was forced to seek new outlets for its energies. It was under these historical circumstances that many of the combat-oriented bujutsu (=martial arts) gave rise to the so-called budo (=martial ways) forms conceived as vehicles for the attainment of self-mastery in an age of peace.
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