Japan’s Martial Arts Build Self-Confidence, Courage

TOKYO – Martial arts are inseparably linked with Japan, even though there are martial arts traditions in many other countries.

Kung Fu is of Chinese origin. Taekwondo (Tie-kwan-doh) is Korean. Karate (Kah-rah-tay) was developed in Okinawa when that island was an independent kingdom, had its own language and culture, and regarded Japan as an enemy.

Stick-fighting was long a national art in Indonesia, and, of course, sword-fighting and the use of the bow had long traditions in Europe and other parts of the world.

Not only were the martial arts highly developed in China and Korea long before they became known in Japan, both China and Korea had classes of professional fighting men centuries before the appearance of Japan’s famous samurai warriors.

But it was, in fact, the appearance of the samurai in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D. as Japan’s ruling class that resulted in martial arts becoming a key factor in the lives of the Japanese. Samurai, literally “one who serves,” not only enforced the laws of Japan’s Shogunate government, they also became the administrators on every level of government.

Training in martial arts and extraordinarily strict discipline was the keystone of the education of all male members of samurai families. While less intense, females in the samurai class were also trained in a highly stylized and strict form of behavior, and for some, this training included the use of weapons.

Thus, over generations, martial arts became institutionalized and even ritualized in Japan’s ruling class, and the fact that the samurai prevailed in Japan until the latter part of the 19th century resulted in the arts surviving into modern times.

During Japan’s long Shogunate era (1185-1867), the most notorious of the country’s martial arts practitioners were the ninja (neen-jah), or “stealers in”-- men and women in certain clans who were trained from childhood to be assassins, secret agents and terrorists, and were for hire.

After the fall of the feudal Shogunate government in Japan in 1867, training in martial arts became even more widespread because it was no longer the exclusive preserve of the country’s upper class. The military forces, police forces, and both public and private schools conducted training in martial arts.

But following the downfall of the Shogunate system of government in 1867, a number of private individuals, not connected with the military or government, began to transform Japan’s most popular martial arts -- aikido, judo, karate and kendo -- into sports, aimed at developing healthy bodies and disciplined, moral minds.

With the transformation of Japan itself into a nation dedicated to peace at the end of World War II, the new versions of the martial arts quickly came into their own as sports. Movies, international tournaments and the Olympics exposed Japan’s martial arts to the world, making them the country’s most popular cultural export.

There are now thousands of dojoh (doh-joh), or martial arts gyms, around the world. Thousands of Y’s and schools also have martial arts programs. All of them teach not only the physical side of the arts but the ethical and moral side as well -- something that is sorely lacking in many public educational systems.

Parents should not be turned off by the term “martial arts,” which may suggest fighting and violence to those who are not familiar with the changes that have occurred in the last several decades.

All of the main arts -- aikido, judo, karate and kendo -- are now true sports, and parents who would like to give their children a good grounding in self-confidence, discipline and moral behavior would do well to enroll them in a martial arts program.

Of the four arts named above, kendo is the least known and least practiced outside of Japan, but it is one of the best of the arts for teaching courage, perseverance, and a disciplined lifestyle, for adults as well as children and for women as well as men. And it is great for relieving stress -- which contributes to mental and physical health.

[See my book, Samurai Principles & Practices that Will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers.]

Copyright © 2007 by Boye Lafayette De Mente
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Boye Lafayette De Mente has been involved with Japan, Korea, China and Mexico since the late 1940s as a member of a U.S. intelligence agency, student, journalist, and editor. He is the author of more than 50 books on these countries, including the first books ever on the Japanese way of doing business: Japanese Etiquette & Ethics in Business, first published in 1959, and How to Do Business in Japan, published in 1961.

To see a complete list of his titles [each one linked to Amazon.com’s buy page], go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.