Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Introduction to Japanese Martial Arts

Japanese Martial Arts also commonly interchanged with “Budo” or “Bujutsu” literally means the art of war and/or the application of the Japanese Martial Art techniques in actual combat scenario.

It all started back in the Samurai eras where all the warriors are expected to master various combat weapons as well as unarmed combat, and that is around the time where the purpose of mastering and perfecting the skills of Martial Arts became a Philosophy of Achieving Spiritual Goals began.

Weapons for Armed Combat You might be interested in the type of Japanese Martial Arts especially with the wide range of weapon that the warriors has used, which the COMMON ones consists of:

Bo (Long Wood Staff)











Jutte


















Kama


















Katana
















Naginata



















Nunchaku
















Sai

















Shuriken (Flying Star)




















Tanto













Tonfa


















Yari











Yumi (Bow and Arrow)




















And yes, these are not the only weapons that the Japanese Warriors used, there are actually more, as the tools keep on changing due to the development of the combat techniques, and all these weapons are studied with great depth as the techniques evolved into perfecting the martial art itself.

Koryu and Gendai Budo

In Japanese Martial Arts, there is a slight difference with the rest of the Martial Arts in Asia. The difference is due to Meiji Restoration era where Martial Arts are generally divided into 2, which are Koryu and Gendai Budo.

Koryu is basically known as the “Old School/Traditional” way where the arts are founded before the Meiji Restoration back in 1866-1867. And Gendai Budo is the Martial Arts after the Meiji Restoration.

The Main difference between Koryu and Gendai Budo is Koryu martial arts are used for war and the tradition is preserved since then. And Gendai Budo is the martial arts that have been modified due to modernization where the focus is more to self improvement or self defense.

Images taken from:

Powayshotokan.com
Bubishi.com.au
Freewebs.com
Iconarchice.com
Okinawankarateclub.com
Trueswords.com
Bugei.com
Crimsontigers.com
Oriental-weaponry.co.uk
Weaponhouse.blogspot.com

2 comments:

  1. This basic movement could help me as my self-defense? A martial art is a combative system that usually has its own techniques, sets, ideas, philosophy and usually with some type of origin or origins. But having a weapon for my self-defense is a big NO!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have always been fascinated by Japanese martial arts. It just looks so elegant.

    ReplyDelete