KORYU vs GENDAI BUDO SENSEI Cecilia Salbuchi

KORYU vs GENDAI BUDO

Sensei Cecilia Salbuchi

Koryu vs Gendai Budo – From survival to quality of life.

We martial artists need to understand the history of what we do in order to take our right place in the present and correctly project the future. Let's start by highlighting that our discipline is not a contact sport, although there is a sporting aspect. It's Budo. Budo is a term that formerly encompassed much more than fighting techniques, but also a set of philosophy, ethical and moral standards, etiquette, etc. The kanji Bu 武 is made up of two characters that mean 止 “tome/ dome” (stop) and “hoko” (spear) 戈, meaning “stop the spear”. It represents a warrior destined to fight to stop the violence. The Kanji “Do” 道 means “way” and represents the Chinese Taoist philosophical and spiritual current, and has been extended to include other currents. This Budo is divided into two according to historical periods: Koryu Budo 古流 武道 ("ancient" budo) and Gendai Budo 現代武 道 ("modern" Budo), reserved for the arts that emerged from the 19th century onwards, which includes us. vast majority of modern practitioners: Karatekas, aikidokas, judokas, kendokas, etc. In the times of Koryu Budo, and strictly speaking of Japan, combat disciplines were taught in academies with a view to generating warriors to serve the feudal lord. In fact, they were financially supported by the fiefdom and by some noble families. The general public was not accepted and the training was totally aimed at developing techniques to annihilate the adversary. While our idea of self-defense is based on the premise that we can be attacked by a few opponents without any protection or weapons, these men trained to face each other armed with their armor and weapons, against others in similar conditions and probably for team fights. From these times comes the concept of Ichi Geki Hissatsu 一 撃必殺 (“one blow, one death”), since the greatest effectiveness was sought in what the warrior had to do: kill the opponent. And just as they went into battle prepared to kill this way, they also prepared themselves deeply to die this quickly. The eras went by… and the world changed completely. After the Meiji reform in Japan, in 1968, the families that supported these academies of war arts stopped receiving support from their former employers. Modernization included armies that had new technologies that could be operated by recruits with less training on the battlefield. Rifles and cannons made the katana obsolete. The combat systems that so many generations were maintaining to prepare Samurai now had no place in the new world. The academies had to be reconverted to survive, and the martial arts were structured with a view to receiving a different public. The era of the Gendai Budo begins. Japan saw how Karate masters arrived from Okinawa who were predisposed to work on updating their art to the new world. Paradigmatic cases were that of Anko Itosu, who formulated the Pinan katas to facilitate his

teaching in schools, and Gichin Funakoshi, who managed to enter the official educational system and relied on said structure to spread his Shotokan throughout the country. Budo teachers went from training warriors to teaching school children, high school students, and the general public. The change was not merely technical, something changed in essence. The new Bushi, like the previous one, is a man or woman who fights to dominate and perfect himself through the art of combat. But the difference is that now he will not fight as a team, he will not go after the command of a boss, he will not have armor or a weapon... and the opponent would transform into something much more abstract. Although it is trained for "one hit, one death", many elements are added prior to said instance. It would be a tragedy to train citizens who, to defend themselves from danger, or even just from an offense, would produce deaths so easily. Just thinking about the legal nightmares faced by a person who exceeds the right to self-defense makes me terrified. Emphasis is placed on prevention, on moderating violence, seeking to preserve one's own life without taking that of the aggressor (whenever possible). And then what is the purpose of the Gendai Budo? Like our predecessors, we train for life. It's just that now we don't have the opportunity to test the value of life on a battlefield, and we must put our skills to the test in different areas: the stress of an exhausting office job, the insecurity caused by crime, the threats of a very high cholesterol, and other vicissitudes of modern life. Fortunately, there are sporting events to "duel" safely with an equal and to find one more way to perfect our skills, seminars, exhibitions and all kinds of celebrations that allow practitioners of Gendai Budo to forget the everyday world and dedicate themselves fully to this activity that represents a hobby for some, a lifestyle for others.

Can warriors as powerful as those in Koryu Budo be generated? Ahh… that's a topic for another day.