Armed Martial Arts of Japan: Swordsmanship and Archery 9780300142976

Table of contents :
To the memory of Professor Nakabayashi Shinji
Contents
Preface
Introduction
CHAPTER ONE. Martial Arts and Japanese Culture
PART I. SWORDSMANSHIP
CHAPTER TWO. The Early Tradition
CHAPTER THREE. From Self-Protection to Self-Perfection in the Early and Mid Tokugawa
CHAPTER FOUR. The Sporting Element in the Late Tokugawa
PART II. ARCHERY
CHAPTER FIVE. The Way of the Bow and Arrow
CHAPTER SIX. The Quest for Records in the Tokugawa
PART III. ARMED MARTIAL ARTS TODAY
CHAPTER SEVEN. Swordsmanship and Archery: The Modern Transformation
CHAPTER EIGHT. The Martial and Other Japanese Arts
Epilogue
Notes
Glossary
References
Index

Citation preview

Armed Martial Arts of Japan

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G. CAMERON HURST III

Armed Martial Arts of Japan Swordsmanship and Archery

Yale University Press

New Haven & London

To the memory of Professor Nakabayashi Shinji

Copyright © 1998 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Designed by James J. Johnson and set in Bembo Roman type by Rainsford Type, Danbury, Connecticut. Printed in the United States of America. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hurst, G. Cameron, 1941Armed martial arts of Japan : swordsmanship and archery / G. Cameron Hurst III. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-300-04967-6 (alk. paper) ISBN 0-300-11674-8 (pbk.alk. paper) i. Martial arts—Japan—History. 2. Swordplay—Japan—History. 3. Archery—Japan—History. 4. Japan— Civilization. I. Title. GVi I00.77.A2H87 1998 796.86*0951—dc2i 97-47010 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Contents

Preface

vii

Introduction

i

CHAPTER ONE Martial Arts and Japanese Culture

7

PART I. SWORDSMANSHIP CHAPTER TWO The Early Tradition CHAPTER THREE From Self-Protection to Self-Perfection in the Early and Mid Tokugawa CHAPTER FOUR The Sporting Element in the Late Tokugawa

27 53 82

PART II. ARCHERY CHAPTER FIVE The Way of the Bow and Arrow CHAPTER Six The Quest for Records in the Tokugawa

103 125

CONTENTS

PART III. ARMED MARTIAL ARTS TODAY CHAPTER SEVEN Swordsmanship and Archery: The Modern Transformation CHAPTER EIGHT The Martial and Other Japanese Arts

147 177

Epilogue

197

Notes Glossary References Index

201 227 229 237

vi

Preface

This is the first of two volumes devoted to Japan's martial arts. The project had its genesis when Edward Tripp, editor at Yale University Press, contacted me about it, far longer ago than I now choose to recall. But I still remember the scene vividly. It was during the summer, and I was home eating lunch when Mr. Tripp called to say that Yale University Press was interested in a book on the martial arts. Would I be interested in writing it? I was taken aback, and my immediate reaction was to look for Allen Funt lurking behind the couch with camera in hand. "Am I on Candid Camera?" Yale did not publish karate books. Once I regained my poise, I established that this was indeed New Haven calling and Mr. Tripp was serious. I was interested because I had long considered writing a book on Japan's martial arts that might combine my study of Asian history with my training in karate and t'aekwondo. Initially, we both planned on a single volume dealing with the martial arts of China, Japan, and Korea. After some thought, however, I decided that my own practical knowledge and academic training were sufficient only to cover the traditions of Japan and Korea. So we agreed that the book would deal with those two countries. I assumed that it would be rather simple to research and write a book on Japanese and Korean martial arts for that elusive "informed reader." But the task turned out to be vast in scope. One basic problem was that although there are many English-language works on the martial arts, most are devoted

vii

PREFACE

to instruction and give only the most rudimentary historical and cultural analysis. Virtually all the available materials are popular in nature, aimed at an audience of martial arts practitioners. There was a dearth of academic works on which I could build. Another problem was that Japanese primary and secondary materials proved to be more extensive than my reading over the years had suggested. But the reverse was true for Korea: Primary and secondary materials were almost nonexistent. Not only were studies and original texts unavailable, but there was also the ticklish problem of dealing with the rising nationalist concern to prove Korean martial arts older than others. For those reasons, I decided to limit myself to the martial arts of Japan. After gathering much of the data, I began to write the proposed volume; but it soon became clear that the material was far too extensive for one book. At the suggestion of Mr. Tripp, I decided to divide the material into two volumes, the first one dealing with the armed martial arts of archery and swordsmanship and the other with the unarmed tradition. Thus do simple projects turn into nightmares. The book has been further delayed because it was placed on the back burner during several career moves. Two years in Korea as an associate with Universities Field Staff International, a year teaching at the University of Hong Kong, and two more serving as dean of Lehman Hiroshima College of the City University of New York all took more time away from researching and writing than was anticipated. One valuable outcome of such globe-trotting, however, was that a number of colleagues in the United States and Asia have listened patiently to different chapters of this book and offered their comments and criticisms. Thanks are due especially to friends and colleagues at the Universities of Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pittsburgh, and Washington; Stanford University and the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii; and the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Hong Kong, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, and Tsukuba University (Japan). As with any project, a few people need to be singled out for special mention. First, let me thank the students in the course that I have taught several times at Kansas and once each at the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania entitled "Japan in the Age of the Samurai," a course in which I tried out many of the ideas that ended up in this book. Part of my eagerness to write the book was a desire to provide a useful resource on Japan's martial arts to give those students, so their encouragement, patience, and suggestions are gratefully noted. Individually, no one has been more supportive and helpful than Karl

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PREFACE

Friday, student, friend, colleague, and fellow martial artist. In classrooms and conferences, in dqjo and coffee shops in three countries, Karl has listened patiently, nodded enthusiastically, shaken his head in disbelief, and urged me to get on with the project. H. Paul Varley has remained a sympathetic and understanding mentor over the years and has always been willing to read chapters and make valuable comments. It was Paul Varley's knowledge of and enthusiasm for medieval Japanese warrior society that aroused my own developing interest in the samurai in his classes at Columbia University so many years ago. A special note of thanks is owed to a newer friend, John Rogers, one of the most knowledgeable young scholars of martial arts, who made helpful comments on the manuscript, found important materials that I had overlooked, helped locate photographs, and offered warm encouragement. A number of anthropologist scholars of martial arts also made very helpful comments; David Jones, John Donohue, and Michael Davis deserve special thanks. Several scholars at the Tsukuba University deserve thanks as well. Seki Humitake, a marine biologist and head of the Kashima Martial Science Federation, gave me great support and provided important materials and introductions. Watanabe Ichiro, the dean of Japan's martial arts historians, often broke his heavy schedule to listen to my uninformed questions. Above all, I owe a great deal to Professor Nakabayashi Shinji and his graduate students at Tsukuba's Institute of Sport Science, where I spent a semester in research. I relied heavily upon his scholarship and friendship and was encouraged in my endeavors every step of the way. My greatest regret is that he passed away unexpectedly before this project was completed. Accordingly, I have dedicated this volume to him. In Nakabayashi-sewsei the world lost a talented scholar, devoted teacher, and excellent kendo instructor. I am extremely grateful to two organizations for financial support for the research in Japan that led to this book. Funding was twice provided by the Graduate Research Fund of the University of Kansas to support work in the summer, and a grant from the Council on International Exchange of Scholars facilitated my research at Tsukuba. I especially thank Carolyn Yang at the Fulbright office in Tokyo for making the Tsukuba stay so pleasant. I am grateful to Ed Tripp at Yale University Press for encouraging me and to Charles Grench, who succeeded him as editor in chief. The text itself owes whatever readability it now enjoys to the persistent efforts of Mary Pasti to rein in my verbosity. Being a technological incompetent, I am deeply indebted to typing and word-processing support from a host of typists at Kansas and Hong Kong Universities; Jerry Schultz, Pam LeRow, and Bertha Jackson top the list.

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PREFACE

As you grow older, you learn that time, not money, is the most precious commodity in the world. You can never have enough of it, nor allocate it fairly. The need to balance the demands of career and family life plagues all of us in the modern world. Far too much of my time has been allocated to academic tasks than to nurturing a loving family, although I like to think that time well spent with family has to some degree slowed the pace of this project. But without the support of my sons, Ian and Mark, my daughter, Lynn, and my wife, Chini, this work would never have been completed. I owe them all more than I can ever repay. One would think that with all this encouragement, expertise, and funding, the book would write itself. Alas, the unique job of synthesizing everything into a final product is the job of the author. In the end he is alone: alone with the mistakes and alone with the dread feeling of having ignored too many things that ought to have been included and including too much that could best have been dropped.

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Armed Martial Arts of Japan

a, or votive tablet, from Kamigamo Shrine, Kyoto. (From the author's collection.)

Ema from Kibune Shrine, Kyoto. (From the author's collection.)

Introduction

ORGANIZED FIGHTING is A universal form of sporting endeavor, enjoyed no less in ancient times than today. Although observers have for centuries lamented as inhuman and brutalizing our fascination with watching one combatant inflict pain upon another, it is uniquely human to derive emotional satisfaction from watching a Mike Tyson render an opponent senseless with a frenzy of powerful blows or to roar with approval as a Hulk Hogan hurls his foe to the canvas. Since time immemorial, people have organized combat between representative contestants to appease the dead, glorify courage, fulfill ritual needs, and provide vicarious pleasure for spectators. In spite of the evolution of culture, we cannot totally deny our biology of violence. Sport is a physical activity involving competition between opponents under specific, mutually accepted rules and regulations for purposes at least symbolically separate from the serious aspects of life.1 The high degree of diversity in the sporting traditions of societies far apart in time and space, however, suggests that the approach to sports differs significantly. Combat sports, for example, may have been nearly universal in human history, but not all societies have held similar views toward organized fighting. Contemporary Japanese are little different from Americans or Europeans in their voyeuristic approach to professional wrestling, but their ancestors knew a very different tradition from the one that developed in, say, Greece or Rome. Japan has a historical record going back to the fifth century A.D., and

1

INTRODUCTION

legends dating from several hundred years B.C., but combat sports were developed rather late in the nation's history. Sumo, for example, was a ceremonial court event by the ninth century but did not become a sport with mass appeal until the seventeenth century. In archery, a sporting tradition developed quite early, and by the eleventh century there were several forms of archery competition; but again, the sport did not develop widespread popularity until the seventeenth century. Fencing did not really develop out of combat swordsmanship until the eighteenth century. A modest tradition of sport developed in premodern Japan, but it did not leave a significant impact on the literary or artistic heritage. There is archaeological and textual evidence of hunting, hawking, wrestling, archery, and horse racing from rather early in Japanese history, but these activities did not become the focus of literary or artistic concern until well into the Tokugawa period (1600-1867). The scroll painting of Sugawara Michizane enjoying an archery match in the garden and the description of Fujiwara Michinaga's heated competition with his nephew Korechika in the historical tale Okagami are exceptions. Sport, as the English term implies, was regarded as frivolous. Martial activities, on the other hand, were very serious matters, generally associated with warfare rather than friendly competition. The most common modern Japanese word for "sport" is the English loan word supotsu. "Sport" or "athletics" can also be rendered with a venerable if stilted term borrowed from the Chinese: undo, which literally means "physical activity" or "motion." (It is the term used in Chinese to translate Newton's laws of motion, for example.) No native Japanese term evolved to convey precisely the meaning that "sport" has in English. Terms like asobi (play) or tawamure (amusement, diversion) did, however, appear in premodern texts and were used to condemn once-valued social practices when they appeared to be degraded or trivialized. Sometimes the words were combined into the compound verb asobitawamureru, meaning "to disport" or "to amuse oneself'; the same characters in Chinese pronunciation yield the term yugi. The great Japanese Confucian scholar Ogyu Sorai criticized eighteenthcentury competitive fencing as a "child's amusement" for both contestants and onlookers. The traditional Japanese experience differed significantly from the experience of the Greeks, who gave us such valued terms as "agonist," "athlete," and "stadium"; and the Romans, who, though skeptical of the Greek passion for sport, still glorified organized fighting for public exhibition. Virtually absent in premodern Japan were athletic festivals, gymnasiums, rings, palaestrae, coliseums, and other institutions and structures found in the highly organized

2

INTRODUCTION

sporting tradition of the ancient Mediterranean world. Japanese literature consequently lacks poems, inscriptions, and texts that lionize athletes, and tracts that condemn excessive compensation for professional athletes. Similarly, although the contemporary United States shares with ancient Greece the linguistic practice of applying combat sport terminology metaphorically in different contexts—I am thinking of common English phrases like "wrestle with a problem" or "bring someone to his knees"—such symbolic use of athletic terminology is comparatively unknown in Japan.2 Ancient Japan was not agonistic in the narrow sense of the term. Athletic contests between individuals were not widespread—not that competitions and contests were foreign to the Japanese. The nobility competed fiercely for the political, economic, and social rewards of high office. Heian nobles outdid rivals in urban construction, elegant dress, and land acquisition. Cultural sensitivities were tested in group contests (called awase) involving poetry recitation, the identification of subtle scents, or the pairing of singing birds. Medieval samurai took enormous pride in their combat record against opponents. But for most of Japanese history, competitions were not athletic: an individual was not praised above others because of an ability to run faster, to hurl a sphere farther, or to pummel an opponent to the ground. Japanese heroes were of a very different sort. Japanese history is replete with heroes revered for their combat prowess: Yorozu ("the Emperor's Shield"), Minamoto Yoshiie, Minamoto Yoshitsune, and Miyamoto Musashi. But these were men who distinguished themselves on the battlefield or in life-or-death duels. Their skill and courage were demonstrated in the heat of battle, not on a playing field. Although any Japanese today can list a number of sports heroes, from home-run king Sadaharu Oh to former sumo grand champion Chiyonofuji, it is doubtful that anyone could name one premodern sports hero. A seventeenth-century Edo (Tokyo) resident could probably have identified a wrestler or archer of acclaim, but Japanese source materials are largely devoid of references to, let alone exaltation of, athletes in combat or other sports. My treatment of Japanese combat sports is quite different from an analysis of European and American wrestling or boxing. Indeed, given the definition of sport offered earlier, it might be argued that combat sports never existed in premodern Japan and that today's martial arts—-judo, karate, kendo (fencing)—are not sports either. My assumption is that some martial arts are sports and others are not. Judo, for example, is clearly a sport. Both men and women judo players compete under international rules in the Olympic Games, receiving medals just the way sprinters do. And full-contact karate fighters, like

3

INTRODUCTION

boxers, have managers, trainers, and handlers; they are rated by professional organizations and receive money from gate receipts. These are sporting endeavors, but are they martial arts? Many activities included among the martial arts are not sports. A karate club established out of concern for the rising violence against women may be totally devoted to self-defense, with no sporting competition whatsoever. Most practitioners of aikido—except in those few schools where sparring is emphasized—are involved in an activity combining mental and spiritual development with graceful body movement. It is an effective self-defense technique, and some choose to study aikido for that reason. But rarely does someone learn it because of an interest in sport; it lacks the crucial element of competition. Aikido is a martial art but almost never a sport. For the suburban youth raised on a steady diet of Bruce Lee, Karate Kid, and Jackie Chan films, however, karate, with its competitive tournaments, may well be an alternative to Little League baseball. The youngster may fantasize growing up to be the next Bill Wallace or Cynthia Rothrock, just as the teenage ballplayer dreams of becoming a Ken Griffey Jr. or a Cal Ripken. Yet another martial art, Japanese archery—kyudo, often referred to outside Japan as Zen archery—falls somewhere in the middle: it offers both competitive sporting aspects and mental and spiritual development. The world of martial arts is fascinating because it presents a wide variety of approaches. There is something for everyone; seekers after sport, physical fitness, spiritual growth, discipline, and confidence can all find their niche. Whether an activity is a sport or not must ultimately lie in the mind of the practitioner. However rigorous the physical exertion, sport martial arts are distinguished from other martial arts by the presence of opponents and the competitive motive. Perhaps we should label judo and other sport forms as mania! sports and narrow the definition of martial arts. However, some consider it anathema to call any of the martial arts sports, as though doing so would diminish their value. Taisen Deshimaru asserts that sports "train the body and develop stamina and endurance. But the spirit of competition and power that presides over them is not good, it reflects a distorted vision of life. The root of the martial arts is not there."3 In the minds of such people—and Deshimaru is a Zen priest as well as a kendo instructor— the martial arts traditionally were, and ought to be, spiritual. Yet we could argue that even in such idealized, spiritual martial arts, there is competition— an internal struggle, an attempt to improve, fully understand, or even transcend the self. As common as negative attitudes are in works on martial arts, the atti-

4

INTRODUCTION

tudes toward competition and power expressed by Deshimaru should not be taken as orthodox even in Japan; they do not reflect some "truth" about a mystical martial tradition going back to the shrouded past. Japanese history is filled with archers and fencers who sought to excel in heated competition with others. Still, since early modern times certain individuals have idealized the spirituality and noncompetitiveness of these skills, their attitude having developed from their reaction to complex social changes—lasting peace and the concomitant decline of combat techniques—and their interaction with other cultural and artistic traditions. The organization and the teaching of the martial arts, and the philosophical assumptions behind their elaboration in late medieval and early modern times, are intimately linked to other art forms, such as the tea ceremony, flower arrangement, Noh theater, the blending of scents, and even culinary practices, all of which were heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism. This artistic dimension of Japanese martial arts both distinguishes them from non-Asian combat sports and supports the passionate disagreement over whether martial arts should be called sports. It also makes them an integral part of the Japanese cultural experience, not separate and apart, unrelated to the main flow of Japanese civilization, worthy of no more than a footnote in passing—which is essentially the way they have been treated by the academic world outside Japan. Circumstances have conspired to make the martial arts less understood and respected than they deserve. First, a negative attitude toward the study of sport has long been common among scholars. There is a deep-seated feeling that sport is not integral but peripheral to "real" human activity. The synonyms assigned to "sport" bear this out: "diversion," "amusement," "pleasure," "pastime," "enjoyment," "merrymaking." Although scholars from Huizinga on have stressed the role of sport, and play in general, in human culture, the prejudice persists.4 Second, although the Japanese scholarly community shows some appreciation for academic research on the martial arts, academics in Europe and the United States have all but ignored the subject. Japan scholars have long been fascinated by the world of the samurai—their rise to power, the administration of their lands, the transmittal of their property, and their ethical beliefs. The exquisite and superbly made samurai swords and even the decorated sword guards are considered worthy of study, as are warrior legal codes and literary works glorifying samurai exploits. Yet few scholars have shown interest in samurai fighting techniques, although it was largely by monopolizing combat skills that they dominated Japan for almost seven hundred years. Not surprisingly, the martial concerns of the Japanese warrior are essentially absent from

5

INTRODUCTION

the pages of nearly all scholarly works on medieval Japan—my own included. There has been a virtual conspiracy of silence.5 Ironically, probably more people today study the martial arts of Japan than study such academically respectable cultural forms as the tea ceremony and flower arrangement. Numerous books and articles are devoted to aspects of the martial arts; the authors are practitioners, but rarely do they venture successfully beyond the instructional level. My students often bemoan the glaring errors on the most basic aspects of Japanese history in some martial arts publications. Few practitioners seem to have acquired the linguistic and area-studies training necessary for serious scholarship in the field, and few Japan scholars have chosen to practice martial arts. The disjunction has unfortunately kept the worlds of Japanese studies and martial arts apart. What I am presenting here is a history of Japan's armed martial arts— archery and swordsmanship—that have a significant sporting tradition. I omit other armed martial arts, such as use of the spear, naginata (halberd), and other weapons, that have not developed sufficiently in that direction or whose practice is confined mainly to Japan. Because combat sports evolved only very slowly in Japan, I shall deal with both their history as martial arts and their subsequent development as sports. The emphasis will be on the transition from combat to sport, with as much attention devoted to combat techniques and forms of archery and swordsmanship as to sport forms. The presentation is thus essentially chronological. In the first chapter I define terms and present an overview of the martial arts in Japanese history and culture. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 deal with the use of the sword up to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, by which time fencing was a sport. Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the history of archery over the same period. In Chapter 7, I discuss the transformation of these two arts into modern sports after significant contact with the Western athletic tradition. In Chapter 8 I consider the organization, teaching, and philosophy of the martial arts in order to relate them to other Japanese cultural forms and at the same time suggest why the Japanese martial arts do not quite fit Western notions of sport. Throughout the book Japanese names appear in Japanese order, with family name first, except for a few modern names likely to be more familiar in typical English-name order.

6

CHAPTER ONE

Martial Arts and Japanese Culture

PEOPLE DIFFER, SOMETIMES PASSIONATELY, over the seemingly minor matter of whether to call martial arts sports. "Martial arts" is an English translation of several classical Chinese terms that were adapted to Japanese language and culture. The terms came to Europe and America primarily from Japan, not China, owing to the high level of development of the martial culture of Japan and its duration there, as well as to a greater Western familiarity with that tradition. The term is now used around the world, either in English or in local translation. What do people mean when they use the term "martial arts"? Outside Japan, it refers to Asian fighting systems generally: Chinese, Thai, and Philippine; kung fu, karate, and t'aekwondo; ancient and modern forms; combat techniques and sports. All are martial arts; in fact, the Japanese use the English term as well. When professional fighters of the World Karate Organization meet in the ring at the Budokan (Martial Arts Hall) in Tokyo, the Japanese announcers do not refer to the event as "sport karate" or "professional karate," as is common in English. Instead, they say "maasharu aatsu," indicating that they regard this hybrid of boxing and karate as distinctly different from traditional Okinawan-Japanese karate. In Japanese, a plethora of terms refer to martial arts: budo, bugei, bujutsu, and bugi, to mention only the most common. There are fine distinctions between these words, depending upon who uses them and when, but all of them can reasonably be used to mean "martial arts."

7

MARTIAL ARTS AND

CULTURE

The late Donn Draeger's discussion of martial arts terminology is widely accepted by Western practitioners of martial arts.1 Draeger considers bugei (martial arts) a general term for specific fighting styles or combat skills. Budo (martial ways), Draeger argues, stress spiritual discipline, "through which the individual elevate [s] himself mentally and physically in search of selfperfection. " In Draeger's view, budo developed from bugei, and later forms of budo had to have specific fighting styles or combat skills—bujutsu—from which they developed: "No do form exists without ajutsu form from which it stems." Thus for Draeger, bugei include all those martial systems with jutsu in their names: kenjutsu (swordsmanship), kyujutsu (archery), jujutsu (wrestling), and so forth. Their budo forms all have the suffix do: kendo, kyudo, judb. Draeger considers bugei firmly grounded in military training, whereas budo are so divorced from bugei that they "have lost all utility in practical combat."2 Bugei, he says, arose during Japan's Sengoku era (1477-1600); budo, in the Tokugawa or Edo period (1600-1867), after fighting as a way of life ceased to be relevant for most Japanese warriors. For Draeger, true budo cannot be categorized as sports, for practitioners strive not to set records or defeat competitors but to achieve self-perfection. "Kendo, judo, kyudo, naginata-do, and some forms of aikido are especially guilty of emphasizing the sportative elements," he notes, revealing both a disapproval of the more popular contemporary forms and the negative attitude toward sport common to scholars and martial artists alike.3 Draeger also concludes that "a true fighting art cannot be practiced without the concomitant element of danger," and thus sees the addition of techniques for safely practicing the skills—the "watering-down process"—as having turned what once were true do into modern sport-related activities. As we shall see, this conversion is precisely what happened. Draeger considers that a true combat system is practiced only in kata (fixed series of movements), "for the tactics and methods of such a system are such that no conclusion between opponents can be reached without resulting in injury or death."4 For him, then, martial arts are not sports. Draeger distinguishes between terms far more sharply than do the authors of traditional Japanese texts. The most commonly used word in Japan today to refer to both traditional combat arts and modern sport forms is budo. The word is a compound formed of two Chinese characters (that is, characters adopted into Japanese): bu, or "martial," and do, which, like the English term "way," has both the prosaic meaning of "street" and the more abstract sense of "path for living." This second character links budo with other Japanese cultural forms, such as chado (tea ceremony), kado (flower arrangement), and

8

MARTIAL ARTS AND

CULTURE

shodo (calligraphy). By elevating a skill (fei), technique (jutsu), or art form (gei) to a philosophical and moral plane, the notion of "way" sets the cultural traditions of Japan off from many of those elsewhere in the world. I will examine it in Chapters 3 and 8, because it has also shaped the sport derivatives of martial arts, making their practice and purpose fundamentally different from the practices and purposes of other sports, such as running, boxing, and polo. Most Japanese terms that can be translated to mean a martial art contain the Chinese character bu (wu in Chinese pronunciation), commonly translated as "martial" or "military." The first-century Chinese philology text Shuowen jiezi claims that wu is a composite of the character for "to stop" and an abbreviated form of the character meaning "spear." By extension, "spear" also means "warfare," and thus the meaning of wu is "to stop a spear"—that is, to quell an uprising. Bu is most frequently used in this sense and is so defined in many dictionaries.5 According to other explanations, the character bu contains the element meaning "to correct" or "to rectify," along with the element meaning "spear." The meaning of bu is thus "to set a spear aright." Another definition holds that bu is a homophone for the character meaning "to subdue" or "to pacify"; this follows the previous definitions rather closely.6 Inherent in the meaning of bu, then, is the suggestion that force should be employed hesitantly—when a corrective is needed—not applied rashly. There appears to be a certain moral imperative for restraint. In the classical Chinese and Japanese traditions, bu is most often paired with bun, meaning "civil" or "literary." The two are joined together in terms such as bunbu ryodo (the civil and martial arts); the terms complement rather than oppose one another, and they always need to be kept in balance.7 This idea is important to bear in mind as we examine Japanese attitudes toward the fighting techniques from which modern sport martial arts have developed. In Japan, the term bugei seems to have come into use earlier than budo, appearing first in the Nihon shoki in the annals of Emperor Suizei, of whom it was said that he "excelled in warlike accomplishments [twigef], and his will was resolute."8 Because the Nihon shoki was compiled in the early eighth century, we do not know how far back use of the term actually goes. It appears regularly, however, in chronicles of the Nara (710-794) and Heian (794—1185) periods. By contrast, budo seems to have a shorter history, becoming a rather common expression in writings of the Kamakura and Muromachi periods (twelfth to sixteenth centuries). It appears in both literary works and official documents.9 Nakabayashi Shinji has identified at least three meanings of the word

9

Haniwa, or clay warrior figurine, sixth or seventh century. (Courtesy of the Seattle Art Museum, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection. Photo by Paul Ma-

MARTIAL ARTS AND CULTURE

budo in premodern times.10 First, it meant "the way the warrior should follow" in a moral sense and thus was identical to the better-known term bushido (the way of the warrior). The second meaning was "the way of the martial arts [bujutsu],99 or training in the skills appropriate to the warrior's station, such as archery, swordsmanship, and equitation. The final usage came from the kabuki theater, where it referred to one who played a loyal warrior skilled in the martial arts. In pre-Tokugawa times, budo was apparently not fixed in conception but broadly employed, encompassing bushido, butoku (martial virtue), bubi (military preparedness), buji (military affairs), and even senso (war). It differed in meaning according to the era and the person using it. The term budo acquired a more precise meaning in the Tokugawa period, when the warrior class brought a lasting peace to Japan. In most Tokugawa texts—for example, Daidoji Yuzan's Budo shoshinshu—the word clearly refers to bushido." For techniques and training in swordsmanship, archery, gunnery, and other combat activities, the terms bugei and bujutsu are used. Budo included military skills, but it was used mainly to mean "the way of the warrior." In works like Hagakure, the repeated lament is that although practicing bugei may be of some advantage, a warrior should not devote excessive effort to them and should concentrate instead on budo.12 Another Tokugawa author expresses a similar view of the relative importance of budo: "In society there are teachers of bugei, but not of budo. The arts are the extremities, the way is the base. . . . No matter how skillful one is in the arts, without the martial way one is of no use."13 In the same vein, the renowned Tokugawa scholar Kaibara Ekiken notes that the warrior needs both bugei and budo; but budo is the trunk, whereas bugei are only branches.14 Budo were distinguished from bugei in the view of these early modern writers. The distinction that they made is generally in accord with what Draeger has written, and demonstrates the Tokugawa concern for attainment of moral and spiritual perfection rather than mere skill in certain martial techniques, which were by that time of little practical value. But we must not attribute more consistency to the usage of terms like budo and bugei than surviving texts allow. Confucian scholars like Ekiken, often with little, if any, martial skill, used the term budo extensively, sometimes contrasting it with bugei or bujutsu; they were moralists concerned with statecraft and the ethics of the samurai class. Rarely did they use budo as a comprehensive term for specific combat activities. For them it represented a moral ideal for the samurai. In fact, it was used far more frequently than the word bushido to refer to warrior ethics. Tokugawa martial arts texts seldom contain references to do forms. Nor

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do they distinguish clearly between jutsu and do forms. Archery, for example, was commonly called kyujutsu, and the term kyudo was almost unknown. The same was true for fencing—kendo was not used—and for unarmed fighting, where jujutsu was common and judo very rare. Thus, even if Tokugawa Japanese witnessed a transformation of practical fighting skills into martial arts, the transition in terminology was not from jutsu to do but from bujutsu, or heiho, to bugei.15 The transformation to budo was distinctly a Meiji (1868—1911) phenomenon.16 Bugei, not budo, was the term most commonly employed to refer to the martial arts. Budo was not widely used for Japanese combat activities until the Meiji period. Then people began to refer to contemporary practices as budo, contrasting them with martial activities prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which they called kobudo, or "old martial arts." From the 19305 until the end of World War II, budo became linked with ultranationalism and the expansionist aims of empire—an association that has caused problems since the war for those who wish to practice or study martial arts.17 This discussion has, I hope, demonstrated the difficulty of finding an English term that captures the complexities of Japan's premodern combat systems, the moral-philosophical dimension added to them, and the sport competition that developed from some of them. But the term "martial arts," depending on who is using it and where, might refer to any or all of these aspects. I sometimes use the term to mean all Japanese fighting systems. But I usually refer to pre-Tokugawa forms as combat systems and reserve "martial arts" for forms that developed under the drastically changed social conditions of the Tokugawa period.

Martial Arts and Samurai Internationally the most popular Japanese martial arts today are karate and judo, two unarmed combat sports; indeed, one of the homophones for karate means "empty-handed."18 In spite of the current popularity of unarmed forms, however, the origins of Japan's martial arts lie in deadly systems of combat employing a bewildering variety of weapons for dealing with an opponent. Unarmed fighting was to be relied on only when unavoidable. In fact, calling these systems "unarmed" is somewhat misleading, for staffs, ropes, and other weapons were part of many premodern fighting traditions. Here I want to concentrate on weapon systems that developed into sporting traditions. Martial arts texts are a recent phenomenon in Japan; all but a tiny fraction date from the Tokugawa period. Seventeenth-century writers began to cite

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specific martial arts and classify them, typically referring to the "four martial arts," the "six martial arts," and the "eighteen martial arts."19 four martial arts: equitation, archery, swordsmanship, and use of the spear six martial arts: the four martial arts plus hojutsu (gunnery) and jujutsu eighteen martial arts: the six martial arts plus battojutsu, or iaijutsu (drawing the sword); torite (grappling); use of the short sword, naginata (halberd), staff, jitte (truncheon), needles (which were spit from the mouth), kusarigama (sickle and chain), and mojiri (a barbed staff); shuriken (projectiles for throwing); swimming in armor; and ninjutsu (techniques of stealth and assassination) The lists certainly do not exhaust the various systems of combat in premodern Japan. Draeger lists thirty-four, but there may be more than fifty, depending on the scholar consulted and the method of counting.20 But these are the eighteen usually mentioned in Tokugawa texts. Among these combat systems there were quite a few minor traditions not mastered by most warriors, the primary practitioners of combat arts. The kusarigama—a common sickle to which was attached a chain with a weighted ball for ensnaring an opponent and reeling the victim into sickle range—and the staff were chiefly peasants' weapons. Spitting needles was of greatest use to women and to ninja spies, who were also the main proponents of the techniques of stealth and assassination. By the time that most texts describing these arts were composed, methods of swimming and fighting while wearing armor were just quaint practices of a former age. Thus, the Tokugawa warrior was likely to have some familiarity with only a few weapons; and among those the sword was liable to be the only weapon with which he had reasonable facility, through studying either swordsmanship proper or the specialized form of sword drawing. But skills were not always limited. The martial arts were created from primitive fighting techniques over a long time, with periodic infusions of technology and methodology from the Asian mainland and elsewhere, and reached their ultimate refinement in the Tokugawa period. They were developed primarily, but not exclusively, by the warriors, the bushi, more commonly known in English as the samurai. For almost seven hundred years, from the late twelfth until the mid-nineteenth century, the warrior class dominated the political system, either alone or in combination with other classes. The elite status of warriors was predicated on a mastery of military skills and the ability—indeed, the responsibility, as stipulated by imperial edict—to provide for peace and order in the land. The image that many Americans have formed of the samurai through popular films is that of the solitary wandering warrior, a sword-fighter who

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travels the length and breadth of Japan to hone his skills and refine his character by dueling against swordsmen of repute. Miyamoto Musashi is the classic warrior in this mold; and the image of Toshiro Mifune as Musashi has been implanted in the minds of a generation of filmgoers as the typical samurai of Japan, the analogue of the lone gunman of the American western.21 For most of Japan's premodern history, however, the samurai was a mounted, bow-wielding warrior. He was an integral part of an agro-military band, perhaps master of his own lands and controller of peasant labor, called upon to perform guard duty and military service or to undertake police action for a ruling civilian or military bureaucracy. He was not likely to be a solitary sword-fighter wandering about on foot. Miyamoto Musashi's legendary status stems not from his typicality but from his unique personal circumstances and extraordinary military prowess. The warriors arose during the long Heian period, when they were essentially private military forces in the service both of the court and of powerful individuals and religious institutions.22 These Heian warriors remained subservient to the court nobility. The etymology of the term samurai shows their relative status: it is a changed form of the verb saburau, meaning "to serve" or "to be in attendance on." The establishment of the first bakufu, or warrior government, by Minamoto Yoritomo in the late twelfth century is often regarded as the beginning of samurai rule in Japan.23 We can say that as far as other classes were concerned, his seizure of power did in fact usher in the "age of the warriors."24 For the next seven centuries, the word bushi normally referred to warriors, whereas samurai usually meant a specific status within the warrior class. The term buke (military houses) was used to distinguish warriors from courtiers (kuge, or courtier houses). The age of warriors lasted until the arrival of European and American imperialism in the nineteenth century.

Warriors on Horseback Long before the advent of Miyamoto Musashi in the seventeenth century, ancient and medieval warriors owed their reputation to their prowess with the bow, normally used on horseback. Horses predated the emergence of the samurai. Archaeologists place horses in Japan at the end of the Jomon period (ca. 8,000-300 B.C.); but the Weizhi (The History of the Kingdom of Wei), the Chinese source that is our earliest reliable record, comments on the absence of horses in third-century Japan—or Wa as the area was then called—so they

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must not have been plentiful.25 Japanese sources do not mention horses until the fifth century. The equestrian culture that became the backbone of warrior society for hundreds of years dates essentially from the fifth century, when the Yamato state was founded. The evidence lies in the wide variety of horse trappings, haniwa (clay figurines), stone statues, and wall paintings of horses found in abundance in fifth-century tombs.26 Historians debate the source of this new culture. Most scholars assume that the development was indigenous: Wa natives imported horses and military hardware from the continent and mastered the technology to produce the helmets, horse fittings, and other implements locally. Other scholars postulate an invasion from the Korean Peninsula by horseriders who brought the new culture forcibly into the islands, for its adoption seems to them too abrupt and total to have been the result of cultural diffusion.27 However horses reached Japan—by cultural diffusion or violent invasion—they were of crucial importance to the founders of the Yamato state. Primarily medium-sized mounts of central Asian origin, imported horses were used initially for warfare rather than transportation, cultivation, or food.28 Recent scholarship argues persuasively that military conquest was not a significant factor in the emergence of the Japanese state; Joan Piggott's pathbreaking new work on Japanese kingship focuses more on "royal preeminence in managing foreign relations, trade, cult, and ritual activities."29 Nonetheless, the equestrian culture—horseriding, iron weapons, and armor—played a decisive role in periodic skirmishes among various chieftains in ancient Japan. Indeed, the large cache of weaponry found in their tombs, as well as the clay statues of horses and warriors placed on the slopes of the tombs, speak volumes about the importance of this martial technology. Today, those who have witnessed the awesome might of nuclear weapons may find it impossible to imagine the fear that horseback riders engendered when they first appeared. Jacob Bronowski recaptures that sense of terror in The Ascent of Man. For the rider is visibly more than a man: he is head-high above others, and he moves with bewildering power so that he bestrides the living world. When the plants and the animals of the village had been tamed for human use, mounting the horse was a more than human gesture, the symbolic act of dominance over the whole creation. We know that this is so from the awe and fear that the horse created again in historical times, when the mounted Spaniards overwhelmed the armies of Peru (who had never seen a horse) in 1532. So, long before, the Scythians were a terror that swept over

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the countries that did not know the technique of riding. The Greeks when they saw the Scythian riders believed the horse and the rider to be one; that is how they invented the legend of the centaur. Indeed, that other halfhuman hybrid of the Greek imagination, the satyr, was originally not part goat but part horse; so deep was the unease that the rushing creature from the east evoked. . . . We cannot hope to recapture today the terror that the mounted horse struck into the Middle East and Eastern Europe when it first appeared.30 Can mounted warriors have been any less frightening to the inhabitants of ancient Japan? Is it not the awesome power of the horse as a war machine that explains the persistence of its image in Japanese religion and popular culture? Horses were soon widely employed by the nobility of early Japan. Excursions to hunt boar on horseback are mentioned in chronicles as early as 486.31 Paintings on the walls of tombs show nobles hunting, and textual references suggest that they dominated the land from horseback. Horses were soon associated as well with Shinto shrines, where they were tended and fed as living offerings to the gods—a fairly widespread practice among the Altaic peoples of northeast Asia. Horseback riders made an indelible imprint on Japanese culture. In the light of Bronowski's vivid description and given the sudden introduction of the horse and its crucial role in the periodic warfare attending the development of the state, we can imagine why the early Japanese regarded the animal as the possessor of magical powers and as the mount of gods. Moreover, the crucial role of the horse in revolutionizing the concepts of space and time surely furthered its veneration among the early Japanese. Horses were kept at Buddhist temples as well as Shinto shrines and exhibited in religious processions on festival days. The sacred power associated with horses was such that people fashioned horse-shaped figures and offered them at places of worship to assure good fortune. In Heian times people painted images of horses on flat, rectangular pieces of wood and offered these ema— votive tablets, literally "horse pictures"—at temples and shrines. Even today, ema are offered to ensure security and bring other salutary results.32 The horse was fully integrated into the ritual calendars of the Nara and Heian courts. In the Aouma ceremony, held on the seventh day of the first lunar month, twenty-one horses from the Left and Right Imperial Stables were led to the Imperial Audience Chamber for review by the sovereign. The ceremony declined in medieval times, but even today a somewhat similar festival is performed at some shrines.33

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Whatever its source, continental horserider culture presaged the emergence of samurai culture: the helmeted fifth-century haniwa warrior looks every bit the ancestor of a twelfth-century scroll-painted bushi. The technology of horseback riding was the primary coercive means for consolidating a polity, governed by a hereditary line of ritual rulers who claimed descent from the Sun Goddess Amaterasu no Okami. The military aspect of the imperial house is indicated by the symbolic importance of Heaven-bestowed weapons—bows and arrows, swords, and spears. It was personified in the official histories by Jimmu, "the Divine Martial Emperor," who is credited with unifying the land. If the Japanese state was not the result of conquest, fifth-century Japanese kings had a decidedly martial character, and thereafter the nobility monopolized the specialized skills of mounted warfare. Even the powerful Soga clan, best known as fiscal officers to the throne and patrons of Buddhism, were responsible for the military destruction of their rivals, the Mononobe. The Soga leader Umako and a host of other nobles and princes—including the sixteen-year-old Shotoku, who would soon become prince regent—all rode in the force that destroyed the house of Mononobe no Moriya, Umako's brother-in-law, in sSy.34

Warriors and Political Power Over the course of the Nara and early Heian periods, Japanese became more sophisticated through the adoption of Chinese thought and practices, and the once-martial ruling class chose to transform itself into a highly cultured civil aristocracy. By the eleventh century Japan was ruled by as refined and culturally sensitive a nobility as the world has ever seen, absorbed with the exact performance of elaborate court ceremonies, with the blending of exotic scents, and with the composition of stylized poetry. It would be an exaggeration, however, to imagine Heian noblemen as effete dandies who could barely sit a horse. They competed with one another in archery contests; and other sports, like wrestling, hawking, and horseback riding, remained popular. Even such an august personage as an emperor might retain a passion for riding, and Fujiwara Michinaga himself, the greatest statesman of the age, was a skilled horseman.35 But the martial accomplishments of Heian courtiers were a far cry from those of their ancestors. The swords that they wore at court were entirely ceremonial, and even their sports were more spectator than participatory events. A specialization of function developed. Lower-ranking military no-

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blemen were recruited by the civil nobility to perform military and police functions for the state. Consequently, these warriors devoted themselves to the mastery of military techniques, in support of the civil nobility who ruled by mastering the genteel arts of Sino-Japanese civilization. The bun and bu, civil and military, elements of service were becoming specialized occupations in Heian times. Why did ancient Japan require a substantial military force? From the fourth to the seventh centuries, Japan was enmeshed in continental politics, as the Three Kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula—Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla—struggled among themselves for hegemony. All three sought continental or insular alliances to advance their cause; Japan was usually allied with Paekche. But defeat by a Tang Chinese-Silla fleet in 663 marked the end of Japan's continental involvement for some time, and soon any potential military threat from either China or Korea disappeared. Still, not all of the peoples in the Japanese islands had been peacefully absorbed into the polity. There were, moreover, frequent armed conflicts among the nobility, precipitated by changing institutions of succession and access to high office, which necessitated reliance upon imperial forces. Above all, the court felt the need for a national military force in order to secure the pacification of northern Japan—the land of the Emishi, who had yet to yield to the centralized power of the state. The settling of Japan resembles the growth of the United States. In both cases, continental immigrants created new states in territory that they seized from less technologically advanced populations. In the United States, European settlers, with their philosophy of progress, gradually wrested the land from the Indians. As Europeans expanded westward, larger and larger armies were necessary to defend them from the Indians. The government in Washington dispatched cavalry to erect forts; then followed settlers, who established farms and ranches by pushing aside hunting and gathering peoples in some areas and agricultural communities in others. In Japan the process occurred a millennium earlier and proceeded from west to east, instead of from east to west. The ancient state faced considerable opposition from the Emishi, who, though racially similar, were considered primitive by the Japanese. The state repeatedly sent conscript armies into the northeast against the Emishi. It also erected forts from which settlers could be guided into the territory to establish permanent agricultural communities. The campaigns of the eighth and ninth centuries brought only a measure of stability to the frontier, however. Indeed, throughout the Heian period the inhabitants of the northern provinces of Dewa and Mutsu remained recalcitrant, defying central authority even to the point of rebellion in the eleventh century.

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The peasantry also rebelled against conscription, fleeing to the hills to avoid service; they made reluctant, hence unreliable, soldiers. But a military force was still necessary to impose the will of the court in the provinces, even if there was no foreign threat. To create a strong national army, the court abandoned both the elaborate provincial military organizations established in eighth-century legal codes and conscription of the peasantry. Instead, it concentrated on harnessing the skills of the rising provincial warrior class as its "teeth and claws," in Heian terms, or as "hired swords," in Karl Friday's more modern metaphor—that is, using private martial resources in the service of the state.36 The establishment of the Kamakura bakufu in 1185 was the logical extension of the court policy to keep as much control as possible over the provincial bushi. That is, Yoritomo's new military government represents not the institutionalization of a national administration of warriors but a legal transfer to Minamoto Yoritomo, the "Lord of Kamakura," of extensive rights to command the fighting men of the nation in a military and police force. The bakufu was originally no more than a dependent arm of the state, expected to provide the protection and enforcement services necessary to guarantee the flow of public and private revenues from the provinces to the capital.37 The evolution of a civil capital in the city of Heian and a military center in Kamakura was thus the culmination of a specialization of function: the courtier in charge of bun and the warrior delegated authority for bu.

The Medieval Warrior and Military Skills The epitome of the Japanese warrior is the bushi of the Gempei War (n Soil 85), the war between forces supporting the Heian court and Yoritomo's warriors in eastern Japan, which ended in a victory for Yoritomo. The military classic Heike monogatari (The Tale of the Heike) recounts the heroic deeds of these great warriors, who were regarded nostalgically by later bushi as embodying true samurai ideals. What was this classic bushi like? How did he live? Most important, how did he practice his martial skills? The typical medieval warrior was a vassal of the Kamakura bakufu who lived in a yakata (fortified mansion) within the protection of a hori, or moat, and mud walls; the walls were constructed of the earth dug out to make the moat. The residence and defense area was known as the hori no uchi (within the moat)—or sometimes as take no uchi (within the bamboo), because bamboo was often planted around the perimeter to provide material to make arrows. Close by the mansion lay the lands directly under the warrior's con-

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trol, farmed by peasant labor. The warrior lived within a larger unit—such as a shoen (estate)—for which, in Kamakura times, he was usually njito, or steward, representing the bakufu. The lands under direct control provided income to the warrior, while the larger unit was an area from which he could extract certain levies in return for collecting taxes due to the state or perhaps a private owner of the land. The estate might well be an arena of potential conflict, for it might contain another warrior house intent on extending control over the land and the peasants who worked it. The right to control such land was the root of friction between local bushi and central owners or between bands of local bushi, known by later historians as bushidan.3* Since medieval Japanese warriors were essentially mounted bowmen, equestrian archery was their most important battlefield skill and apparently their favorite sporting activity as well. It entailed two different skills, equitation and archery. Medieval chronicles are replete with stories of the legendary archery accomplishments of great warriors; it was with bow and arrow that reputations were established. Scroll paintings—Obusuma Saburo emakimono is a good example39—show bushi shooting arrows at targets set up in front of a mansion or engaging in equestrian archery to prepare for war, competitions, and recreation. By late Heian times, at least nine different forms of archery were commonly practiced.40 Among other popular bushi sports were several forms of wrestling, hawking, and deer and boar hunting. The limited primary information on the early use of swords indicates that the sword-fighting ability of the bushi remained poorly developed until late Heian times. Even into the medieval era, their swordsmanship was a far cry from that of the prototypical Toshiro Mifune film samurai. But because the sword was being forged to a high degree of technical perfection, it must have been a weapon with which the bushi also practiced. We know, too, that the wooden sword, called bokken or bokuta— loquat was the preferred wood, but oak was also used—had long been in existence, so warriors were able to safely practice with one another the techniques necessary to become proficient with the sword. Yet we have no evidence that dueling with real swords was common or that competitive fencing with wooden swords took place. In fact, one sharp difference between premodern Japan and other ancient civilizations, like Greece and Rome, is that combat systems did not develop into competitive sports. The development of a class of professional athletes, the presentation of violent combat sports for audiences in a public arena, the circus of gladiatorial bouts, are all absent in Japan. Certainly, warfare was bloody enough; unification and early dynastic changes, wars against the Emi-

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shi, pirate raids, and rebellions against the throne took many lives. Nor was the populace squeamish. Heian diaries record that when court-dispatched armies captured pirates and rebels, they returned in triumphant procession down the capital's main avenue, Suzaku no qji, with gory heads displayed atop their pikes. Nobles and courtiers competed in constructing elaborate viewing platforms along the avenue, and their carriages crowded in among the throng of commoners to view the sight. "All the men and women of the capital flooded the streets. It was as though people had gone crazy," remarks a twelfth-century eyewitness.41 But shedding blood for sport or ceremonial purposes seems to have appalled the Japanese. We have no records until very late medieval times of swordsmen vying in front of a lord to win fame and honor or provide entertainment. There was no Japanese medieval equivalent of the jousting tournaments enjoyed by European knights. Bushi did not travel from place to place challenging one another to fencing matches to test one another's skill until quite late in historical times. What duels we find in the records were likely to have been fought over matters of honor, often on horseback.42 Nor, apparently, was combat reproduced for the masses, in either pageant or appeasement, as a sport in which the loser was likely to be killed. True, sumo matches were held at court; but they were less agonistic or voyeuristic activities than components in an elaborate calendar of annual observances, even if the wrestlers were often trained for the event. Injurious techniques were prohibited, and the populace was not invited. Why did the Japanese not revel, like the Romans, in spectacles designed to produce the slaughter of humans and animals? Perhaps the traditional Shinto abhorrence of defilement, especially defilement by blood, and the Buddhist prohibition on the taking of life combined to mitigate against the development of bloodletting as entertainment. Even today the presence of blood in a sumo ring calls for purification with ritual and salt. Death and blood are the main forms of kegare, or pollution, in Shinto. In other cultures blood may be regarded as the sacred life-giver; there may be blood sacrifice, communion through blood, or the commingling of blood to bond people together. But in Japan human blood was associated with ritual impurity. There were taboos against causing bloodshed, incurring wounds, and being contaminated with the blood associated with childbirth and menstruation. Human or animal death, perhaps because of the natural link with blood, was equally polluting, so Shinto strongly prohibited killing animals and fowl and even cooking them for food. The introduction of Buddhism reinforced native sensitivities.43 Taking

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any life was preached against. The general reluctance to eat meat in premodern Japan stemmed from a widespread acceptance of this joint Shinto and Buddhist tenet; ceremonies to release animals from captivity and occasional edicts forbidding hawking testify to its persistence. Heian literary works in particular abound with references to defilement associated with death and bloodshed. Thus, strong religious feelings against the shedding of blood would seem to have inhibited early development of violent combat sport for ritual, agonistic, or voyeuristic purposes. The empire was not full of diverse and rebellious ethnic groups that might be entertained, won over, or kept in fear by the institution of circuses for the slaughter of human beings and animals. Instead, the ruling oligarchy achieved popular submission and support by successfully manipulating sacred symbols and coopting military power. Nor did ancient society place great value on individual competition, so that combat sports, or athletics in general, might function, as in Greek society, as outlets for "competitive and individualistic impulses."44 For several reasons, then, combat activities developed very slowly into vehicles for the enjoyment of vicarious violence. Although the Japanese had by medieval times created formidable weapons of war, they found little sport in employing them for purposes other than that for which they were designed. The transference of military impulses from warfare, or training for warfare, into combat sports came rather late, and only after significant social changes. It is hard to believe, however, that warriors adept at using such weapons did not upon occasion test themselves in forums other than battle. But all sources indicate that they chose instead to compete in archery contests, hunts, horse races, or sometimes wrestling matches—contests in which the possibility of injury or death was minimized. Although the film samurai is ready to draw his sword at the slightest affront and actively seeks the test of manhood presented by a duel, the image is at odds with the historical record. On the battlefield, the bushi could be ruthless. Nothing approaching the European concept of protecting women and children developed. Everyone might be slaughtered in a vendetta or grudge battle between warrior enemies—lords and followers, fathers and brothers, women and children.45 The shedding of kinfolk's blood was especially common. But this was war, not sport. The martial techniques of the medieval Japanese warrior had not yet become arts, nor had they developed into sport. Archery and sumo were the only fighting skills transformed to that extent. In fact, both activities had lost much of their practicality for combat and were performed in rituals and enjoyed as pastimes.

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Hunting One reason that archery developed into a sporting endeavor long before swordsmanship did was the ease with which results could be calculated. Perhaps more important, it could be practiced without injury. Target shooting allowed samurai to elaborate some very sophisticated archery forms by medieval times. But in medieval Japan, especially during the Kamakura period (1185—1333), it was on the hunt that warriors could demonstrate their martial potential and compete against the marksmen of the day. The medieval era was the golden age of hunting, although the sport remained popular with samurai until the end of the Tokugawa period.46 Minamoto Yoritomo, the first Kamakura shogun, was especially fond of the hunt. Although bakufu sources do not depict him as a mighty hunter—or even a prominent warrior—he impressed the court nobility with his prowess. The Buddhist prelate Jien writes: "As for Yoritomo's physical strength, when hunting he would have his horse run alongside a big deer, and then he would grab the deer's horns and bring it down with his bare hands/'47 Yoritomo undertook several large-scale hunting expeditions attended by most of his senior vassals. In 1194, for example, Yoritomo led three expeditions outside Kamakura, including one in the fifth month that served as the stage for a famous vendetta, the revenge of the Soga brothers.48 These hunts were called makigari, literally "enveloping hunts," because attendants went into the mountains and drove the game, mostly deer and boar, down the slopes. At the bottom the bushi surrounded the prey, chased them on horseback, and shot them down. The expeditions lasted for days or even weeks. Temporary quarters were erected, and there was much feasting and drinking. Yet the hunt was not all sport; there was often a ceremonial, even religious, aspect to the proceedings. On the famous 1194 hunt, Yoritomo set out from Kamakura on the eighth day of the fifth month, accompanied by his major vassals; the party had just returned ten days earlier from an expedition that had lasted more than a month. The men hunted in the area between Suruga and Izu Provinces before proceeding to Susano at the southwestern slope of Mount Fuji. On the fifteenth day of the month they suspended hunting, for it was a day especially auspicious in Buddhist belief to abstain from killing; and the party instead enjoyed the company of prostitutes from nearby post stations on the Tokaido road.49 When the hunting recommenced on the sixteenth, Yoritomo's son and heir, twelve-year-old Yoriie, shot a deer; and again the hunt was halted to

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celebrate the event. That evening the party performed a Yanokuchi ceremony attended by all the major Kamakura vassals. Three noted archers were called forward to offer Yanokuchi cakes to the local mountain deity and were rewarded by Yoritomo with appropriate gifts. They, in turn, gave presents to Yoriie. The shooting of one's first deer seems to have been a coming-of-age ceremony, proof of the young warrior's prowess. Thanking the deity for granting Yoriie the good fortune of shooting a deer was an especially important rite.50

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PART I

SWORDSMANSHIP

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CHAPTER TWO

The Early Tradition

USE OF THE SWORD is virtually universal. It is the preeminent weapon throughout most of recorded history in every corner of the globe. Since ancient times, smiths have forged raw iron into gleaming steel blades in Damascus, Toledo, and Kamakura. From the elegantly curved Turkish scimitar to the thinnest of fencing foils, swords have been fashioned in a bewildering variety of sizes and shapes: broadsword and rapier, pirate's cutlass and officer's saber, two-handed and one-handed weapons. So intimately linked with their owners have swords been that they are often named: King Arthur's Excalibur, El Cid's Tizona, and the family heirloom of the house of Taira, Kogarasumaru.1 The technology available to the swordsmith largely determines the techniques of the swordsman. Early swords were heavy, dull, and clumsy, and thus they were commonly used to pummel opponents into submission. Such techniques were a far cry from the graceful lunge and parry of the French fencing master or the razor-sharp slash of the samurai. As swords improved, so did attendant skills. Few swords can compare with Japanese blades in technical perfection, especially those of the masters of the Kamakura and Muromachi (1336-1573) periods. In fact, as suggested by the title of Ruth Benedict's classic The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, no country has been more closely associated with the sword than Japan has. Benedict is hardly alone in stressing the role of the sword in Japanese history. Many foreign writers have been captivated by the

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Japanese veneration for and skillful use of the sword. The first European visitors to sixteenth-century Japan—Saint Francis Xavier, Alessandro Valignano, and Bernardino de Avila Giron among them—all noted the value that the Japanese placed on their swords. They were astonished at the sharpness of the blades and appalled by the method of testing them on the corpses and sometimes the live bodies of prisoners. In the practice of tameshigiri (test cutting), a good sword might cut through as many as three whole corpses or bodies; the record appears to have been seven.2 The nineteenth-century English Japanophile Thomas McClatchie observed that "there is no country in the world where the sword has received so much honor and renown as in Japan. Regarded as of divine origin, dear to the general as a symbol of authority, cherished by the samurai as a part of himself, considered by the common people as their protection against violence, how can we wonder to find it called the living soul of the samurai?"3 Like the gun in western America in the nineteenth century, the sword was considered a sine qua non for the samurai by the Tokugawa period, when other classes were technically denied the privilege of wearing one. McClatchie was one of the first to use what has become the best-known cliche about the warrior and his sword—that it is the soul of the samurai.4 When the technology for forging swords was introduced from the Chinese continent, it came with an aura of mystery and required very specialized religious procedures to ensure the proper outcome. Bronowski reminds us that the "making of the sword, like all ancient metallurgy, is surrounded with ritual, and that is for a clear reason. When you have no written language, when you have nothing that can be called a chemical formula, then you must have a precise ceremonial which fixes the sequence of operations so that they are exact and memorable."5 Indeed, the solemn religious ceremonial that still accompanies the forging of swords and the reverent attitude adopted when handling a naked blade even today reinforce the symbolic role of the sword in Japanese culture.

Swords of Gods and Emperors Perhaps because the imperial house that commissioned the first historical chronicles originally controlled the throne by virtue of military superiority, those chronicles—the Kojiki and Nihon shoki of the early eighth century—are replete with references to weapons. Long before the chronicles turn to the peopling of the islands of Japan, the deities in the High Plain of Heaven are depicted as possessing swords, spears, and bows and arrows, which served both

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military and ritual functions. The creation of Japan itself is intimately linked with bladed weapons: the brother and sister gods Izanagi and Izanami dipped the phallic Jeweled Spear of Heaven into the foamy brine, drops of which dripped off the spear point to form the island of Onogorojima. The siblings descended to the island and procreated to populate the rest of the archipelago. Swords were especially common among the deities and other mythical figures in the chronicles.The sacred sword, mirror, and jewel that Amaterasu, the sun goddess, presented to her grandson Ninigi no Mikoto when she sent him down to rule over Japan were incorporated into the regalia of the Japanese emperor. The sword was found within the tail of the body of a terrible serpent slain by Amaterasu's younger brother Susano 6 no Mikoto.6 Susano 6, having descended from the High Plain of Heaven, was sojourning in the land of Izumo (southwest Honshu) when he encountered a serpent with an "eightforked head and eight-forked tail" and engaged him in combat. Drawing his "ten-span sword," Susano 6 killed the serpent and chopped it into small pieces, chipping the blade of his sword when he struck another sword, called the Kusanagi no tsurugi, or "Grass-Mowing Sword," in the tail of the monster. Recognizing it as a divine sword, Susano 6 offered the Kusanagi no tsurugi to the gods of Heaven. Known also as the Heavenly Cloud-Gathering Sword (Ama no muragumo no tsurugi), the weapon was later incorporated into the imperial regalia, the transferral of which became part of the ritual of enthronement for Japanese sovereigns. Amaterasu is closely associated with swords. At one point, fearful that Susano 6 might be planning to seize control of the High Plain of Heaven, "she made manly warlike preparation, girding upon her a ten-span sword, a nine-span sword, and an eight-span sword."7 A swordsmanship ryiiha (school) like Kashima shin-ryu claimed in its texts that its tradition of "divine martiality" could be traced back to the sun goddess herself, and other ryuha connected themselves with Japanese ancient military traditions through her, too. Gods besides Amaterasu were likewise associated with sacred swords. When the gods Take Mikazuchi no Kami and Futsunushi no Kami negotiated the cession of the land of Izumo to the Amaterasu line, they conducted the negotiations while sitting on the tips of their swords.8 Later Take Mikazuchi gave the first emperor, Jimmu, his special sword, Futsu no Mitama, to help him pacify the land. (Mitama means "divine jewel," and^wfcw apparently mimics the sound of a sword cleaving the air.)9 Since antiquity, then, the sword has been associated with the deities and the imperial house and has been venerated widely. During the earlier decades

29

Ashikaga Takauji, mounted and holding a drawn sword. (Courtesy of the Kyoto National Museum.)

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of the twentieth century, when ultranationalism was exploited to justify Japanese expansion into Asia, writers were fond of glorifying the mystical martial tradition of the sword. Thus the kendo instructor, Diet (parliament) member, and author Ozawa Aijiro wrote in 1942: "It is clear from any number of ancient chronicles that our Yamato [Japanese] race is uniquely blessed with abundant manly valor, long on wisdom and resolute in will. . . . It is the unique characteristic of our Yamato race that we especially venerate the sword. Testimony to this lies in the fact that our deities—starting with Izanagi and including Amaterasu no Okami and of course Susano 6 no Mikoto—all girded themselves with swords, used swords to protect themselves, and as well made the sword their mind."10 For most of premodern history the sword was an auxiliary weapon, used in combination with bow and arrow, spear, and other weapons as part of a comprehensive weapon system (sogo bujutsu). Only much later did the famed samurai sword become the primary weapon of the bushi. Early swords were comparably primitive, as were the techniques of swordsmanship.

Ancient Swords and Techniques The earliest surviving "swords" in Japan, which date from the Jomon era, are roughly fashioned weapons of stone used for ceremonial purposes as well as for striking an opponent or possibly for killing game. They were sharp enough to be practical. In the Yayoi period, the techniques of working bronze were introduced into Japan. Both swords and spears of bronze from Yayoi times have been unearthed. These weapons were first imported directly from the Asian mainland and then made locally. But before these items could be developed into practical weapons, the technology of forging iron, which produced far superior weapons, was introduced via Korea, probably around the fourth century.11 Although the earliest prototypes of the sword in Japan appear to have been curved, the flat, straight broadsword characteristic of China and the Korean Peninsula was widely employed during the Tomb period (300-552). These early iron swords were apparently used either to thrust at opponents or to swipe at them with swinging motions. The swords were also useful for beating a person, since they were heavy and dull. But they were evidently not too heavy, for they seem to have been wielded with one hand. Early records indicate that it was customary to hold shields of various kinds in the other hand, although there are few surviving examples of these defensive implements.

31

Stick figure swordsmen from a late sixteenth-century text. (Courtesy of Tokyo National Museum. Photos by John Rogers.)

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The Japanese terminology for swords is complex, but there is only one basic distinction. In the written language, the borrowed Chinese compound for sword—token—is composed of two characters both of whose dictionary definitions are given as "sword"; but in contemporary usage, the former (to) refers to a single-edged weapon, the latter (ken) to a double-edged one. In the Heian-period document Wamyoshu, this distinction between the two terms is already clear; but in the Kojiki and Nihon shoki, the ken character refers to both single-edged and double-edged swords. A more important distinction emerged later: ken was used to designate formal swords worn for ceremonial purposes, while swords actually employed in battle were referred to by the to character.12 In spoken Japanese, the most common designation for sword is tachi, which can be written in a variety of ways. Although Chinese-style double-edged swords predominated in early history, the Japanese soon developed a marked preference for the single-edged sword, though whether for practical or aesthetic reasons is unclear. Doubleedged straight swords did not die out but persisted through the Nara and Heian periods in the ceremonial swords carried by sinicized courtiers and in the swords that functioned as ritual implements in various religious ceremonies, especially at Shinto shrines.13 The famed samurai sword with its distinctly curved blade sharpened only on one edge is a later phenomenon. Fine steel blades had been forged in Japan since at least the eighth century, but the transition from straight to curved sword seems to have occurred in the mid-Heian period, over the century and a half between the revolt of Taira Masakado in the late 9305 and the end of the fighting in the northern provinces in the io8os. It was precisely that period when the Minamoto rose to prominence in the eastern provinces to become, with the Taira, one of the great warrior houses of the era. It requires substantial technological expertise to produce the superbly crafted Japanese sword (Nihonto), whose blade is hammered and folded over and over, often resulting in more than thirty thousand layers of steel.14 Japanese smiths were forging steel for several centuries until they perfected the requisite techniques in early medieval times. The carbon content had to be precisely controlled to make a sword that was hard but not brittle, combining, as Bronowski suggests, the "flexibility of rubber with the hardness of glass."15 Furnaces that could raise the temperature to the necessary degree had to be developed. Hammering, folding, welding, tempering, and polishing the blade all required a long and arduous process of trial and error until excellent swords could be produced consistently. The development of the curved Japanese sword also meant that the tech-

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niques of swordsmanship changed greatly, for it was essentially a two-handed weapon. Yet the Nihonto also had to be light enough to use with one hand, because the bushi did most of their fighting on horseback. Despite the production of fine blades even in the Heian period, the sword remained auxiliary to the bow and arrow and was employed mainly when horsemen closed ranks and fell upon one another at close range. Swords were also necessary when a warrior was unhorsed in battle, was attacked while on foot or was otherwise away from his horse and bow. But the samurai of popular films, a warrior on foot beset by a host of swordsmen in a field or on a temple ground, was decidedly foreign to the Heian period.16

Medieval Swordsmanship Although initially swordsmanship was secondary to bowmanship, literary sources like Heike monogatari mention techniques of sword fighting that some warriors of the late Heian era must have employed. The names of specific techniques are mentioned in a description of the Battle of the Uji River in 1180, where the Taira forces faced the fleeing Prince Mochihito and his troops on opposite sides of the river. The prince's men ripped up planks from the bridge, so that the horses could not cross. After both sides exchanged arrows, a hand-to-hand struggle broke out on the wreck of the bridge. Jomyo Meishu of Tsutsui, one of the worker-monks, was attired in a dark blue hitatare, a suit of black-laced armor, and a five-plate helmet. At his waist, he wore a sword with a black lacquered hilt and scabbard; on his back, there rode a quiver containing twenty-four arrows fledged with black eaglewing feathers. Grasping a lacquered, rattan-wrapped bow and his favorite long, plain-handled spear, he advanced onto the bridge and announced his name in a mighty voice. "You must have heard of me long ago. See me now with your own eyes! Everyone at Miidera knows me! I am the worker-monk Jomyo Meishu from Tsutsui, a warrior worth a thousand men. If any here consider themselves my equals, let them come forward. I'll meet them!" He let fly a fast and furious barrage from his twenty-four-arrow quiver, which killed twelve men instantly and wounded eleven others. Then, with one arrow left, he sent the bow clattering away, untied and discarded the quiver, cast off his fur boots, and ran nimbly along a bridge beam in his bare feet. Others had feared to attempt the crossing: Jomyo acted as though it were Ichijo or Nijo Avenue. He mowed down five enemies with his spear and was engaging a sixth when the blade snapped in the middle. He abandoned the weapon and fought with his sword. Hard-pressed by the enemy host, he slashed in every direction, using the zigzag, interlacing, crosswise, dragonfly reverse, and

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water-wheel maneuvers. After cutting down eight men on the spot, he struck the helmet top of a ninth so hard that the blade snapped at the hilt rivet, slipped loose, and splashed into the river. Then he fought on desperately with a dirk as his sole resource.17 The techniques referred to in the text are not known to us today, but the description suggests that swordsmanship skills were progressing. This was still the age of the mounted warrior, whose heavy armor was designed for ease in shooting arrows; thus the primary sword techniques must have been thrusts aimed at the openings in helmets and armor. The weight of the armor, plus the need to balance on horseback, meant that swinging the sword with facility or speed was exceedingly difficult. Swordsmanship was part of an inclusive martial system, with equitation and mastery of halberd, bow and arrow, and sword all part of the repertoire. Specialized swordsmanship skills as a separate system apparently did not develop extensively until the late Muromachi (1336—1573) era, most significantly after the introduction of firearms. A further clue to the quality of swordsmanship in the late Heian period can be gleaned from the Hogen monogatari (The Tale of the Disorder in Hogeri), a medieval chronicle recounting a brief but significant conflict in Kyoto in 1156. After a fierce exchange of arrows in the storming of the Shirakawa Palace, "Akushichi Betto, wearing armor laced with black leather and an antlered helmet and riding a gray horse dappled white, announced himself and galloped out. Ebina Gempachi rushed up and fought him, but was shot under the armor skirt and faltered. When at this juncture Saito Betto ran in without a moment's delay, Akushichi Betto drew his sword and in a flash struck the bowl of Saito's helmet. In spite of being struck, Saito struck upward under the helmet with the cutting edge of the point of his blade; he did not miss, and Akushichi Betto's head fell forward." Moments later, Kaneko no Juro was wrestled off his horse by the Takama brothers, Saburo and Shiro. "Thereupon Kaneko held down the left and right arms of the enemy beneath him with his knees, yanked up the left armor skirt of the enemy on top, and turning upon him, stabbed him three times as if both hilt and fist should sink into him."18 In both instances, the victors cut off the heads of the vanquished and displayed them on the points of their swords. But the techniques employed were much simpler than those of the sword masters of five hundred years later. Warfare accompanying the founding of the Muromachi bakufu was much more extensive than the late twelfth-century fighting involved in the establishment of the Kamakura bakufu. Ashikaga Takauji organized his bakufu

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in 1336, but resistance by supporters of the Southern Court continued until the end of the fourteenth century.19 The Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Great Peace), which recounts many of the battles in the fall of Kamakura to the house of Ashikaga, is somewhat more explicit about the use of swords by the warriors of that era. Enemies are "cut down" as often as they are "shot down." Lighter armor had been developed, allowing warriors to use their swords more effectively while mounted. Although the historical accuracy of Japanese war tales is suspect, Taiheiki, a late fourteenth-century work, does contain far more references to swordplay than the earlier Heike monogatari. "The Last Battle of Nagasaki Jiro Takashige" is a good example. Since the battle of Musashino, in more than eighty contests by day and by night had Nagasaki Jiro Takashige fought in the foremost lines. Times beyond number had he broken encirclements and personally contended against enemy warriors. And therefore great numbers of his retainers had been struck down, until they became but a hundred and fifty riders. At last on the twenty-second day of the fifth month, there came men saying, "The Genji have poured into the valleys, and few of the family's grand marshals remain unslain." Thereupon Takashige galloped to meet the enemy wherever they drew near, not asking the names of the defenders in any place, but driving back the attackers in every direction and breaking them down on every side. When his horse was wearied, he mounted a new one; when his sword was broken, he put a new one at his waist. But after he himself had cut down thirty-one enemies and broken the Genji line eight times, he went back to the abiding place of the Sagami lay monk at Kasai Valley.20 In other sections of the tale, warriors lop off opponents' limbs or cleave enemies in two with their swords; a bushi whose blade is bent with use straightens it out against the fortress wall. Warriors with swords famous enough to have names are much more common than in earlier war tales: "The sword at Tamemoto's waist was called Omokage, a three-foot blade made by Raitaro Kuniyuki, who purified himself for a hundred days beforehand. Omokage smashed to pieces the helmet bowls of those that came within its compass, or cut off their breastplates as though they had been monk's scarves, until at last the enemy no longer dared to draw near to that sword."21 In the Taiheiki there are also many more references to sword techniques— "breast-slicing stroke," "bamboo splitter," "pear splitter," "goblin-toppling smiling stroke"—than in the Heike. At least in the war tales, then, the fourteenth-century warriors relied far more on their swords than had their twelfth-century ancestors. This should not surprise us. There were greater numbers of bushi in Muromachi times,

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when Japan was fully governed by a warrior regime. Civil disorder was far more prevalent in this age than in the Kamakura period, so training in fighting skills accelerated considerably. There was a concomitant advance in the manufacture of armor and weapons to equip the warrior class. Where there had been 450 identified swordsmiths over the 300 years of the mid to late Heian period and 1,150 swordsmiths during the 150 years of the Kamakura period, there were 3,550 during the 250 years of the Muromachi period.22 The real development of the sword-fighting techniques of Japan for which the samurai are well known—the techniques that provide the excitement in so many of the chambara (swordplay) films of the 1960$—came later in the Muromachi period, during the turbulence following the Onin War of 1467—1477. For the century after the Onin War, extensive provincial warfare raged throughout Japan, and neither emperor nor shogun was able to exert authority over the country for any extended period. The time of this "world without a center" has come to be called the Sengoku or Warring States period, a term taken from a similar period of disorder in ancient China. The chaotic conditions that made survival itself problematic contributed substantially to technological progress in weaponry and fostered advanced techniques of swordsmanship.

Sword and Gun in Sengoku Japan It was during the Sengoku era that several expert swordsmen developed swordsmanship as a distinct fighting skill, not part of a total combat system. A number of ryuha (schools) of swordsmanship arose, the techniques being passed on to students, normally by secret transmission. In Muromachi times, other skills, arts, and pastimes—flower arrangement, the enjoyment of scent, the Noh theater, the tea ceremony, the playing of musical instruments, and various forms of chanting—were codified as special cultural traditions and transmitted by teachers and master artisans to students. Certification by the acknowledged head of the school or master of the style, whether swordsmanship or flower arrangement, was common to all these forms. The martial "arts" must be seen in a larger context of Japanese cultural development. Several reasons can be adduced to explain why the techniques of swordsmanship developed to such a high level in this period.23 The first relates to significant changes in weapons and warfare. Skill with any weapon, after all, can be honed only by constant use in battle. As we have seen, however, swords were an auxiliary weapon for the medieval Japanese warrior, who engaged in single combat with bow and arrow from horseback; the sword

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was likely to be used only when combatants met at close quarters to finish off their opponents. But in the post-Mongol era, armies tended to grow in size, and troops employed in mass formation became more common. Likewise, the use of spears and halberds expanded greatly; sword and spear blades also became much larger. Quite likely the changes in both styles of fighting and weapons grew out of the brutal confrontation with the Mongols in their two abortive invasions, in 1274 and I28i.24 The introduction of firearms further revolutionized Japanese warfare. Japan's encounter with the gun is a fascinating chapter in the nation's history. The Japanese in their initial curiosity over something new, in their quick grasp of the practical application of a heretofore unknown device, and their willing acceptance and subsequent refinement of firearms in the sixteenth century demonstrated precisely the pattern of their pragmatic approach to Western technology in the nineteenth century. The gun came with the Portuguese to the tiny, distant southern island of Tanegashima in 1543. The author of the Teppoki describes the first sight of Portuguese firearms. In their hands they carried something two or three feet long, straight on the outside with a passage inside, and made of a heavy substance. The inner passage runs through it although it is closed at the end. At its side there is an aperture which is the passageway for fire. Its shape defies comparison with anything I know. To use it, fill it with powder and small lead pellets. Set up a small white target on a bank. Grip the object in your hand, compose your body, and closing one eye, apply fire to the aperture. Then the pellet hits the target squarely. The explosion is like lightning and the report like thunder. Bystanders must cover their ears. . . . This thing with one blow can smash a mountain of silver and a wall of iron. If one sought to do damage in another man's domain and he was touched by it, he would lose his life instantly.25 Indeed, within several years quite a few who tried to do damage in another's domain had lost their lives, for the Japanese quickly mastered the technology. Skilled craftsmen, many of them swordsmiths, learned to produce high-quality firearms, and the use of firearms spread rapidly through the provinces. As it did, it brought changes to warfare in Japan. Use of firearms hastened the decline of mounted warfare. The heavily armored mounted warrior was no longer invincible but could be unseated by a relatively untrained gunner of low station. Armor consequently became lighter and more flexible as better mobility became crucial. The need for defense against cannon led to a thorough revolution in castle construction,

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THE EARLY TRADITION

too, resulting in massive castles surrounded by castle towns and overlooking agricultural lands that sustained the townspeople. Ironically, the introduction of the technologically superior gun did not toll the death knell for the sword but inspired greater use of bladed weapons; sword and spear became more important than in earlier eras.26 Why was this so? Larger massed armies, with far more footsoldiers than in the previous era, meant that there were simply more occasions to use swords and spears. Although guns were important, even crucial, in certain battles, they were not that numerous; and they took a long time to reload between firings. Sengoku armies included a core of different types of mounted warriors that was supplemented by footsoldiers. A common way to organize the footsoldiers was to have a unit at the front of the army composed of gunners and archers—the archers would shoot while the gunners were reloading—followed by a second unit of troops armed with long-bladed spears and halberds; a third unit, at the rear, carried short-bladed spears.27 Mounted warriors closed upon one another in hand-to-hand fighting, and large numbers of footsoldiers—either lower samurai or ashigaru, recruited from the peasantry—ran around the battlefield to unseat sword-wielding warriors with spears. Thus sword and spear became more useful to the Sengoku warrior than they had been to his Kamakura ancestor. Many high-ranking Sengoku bushi eschewed the use of the gun, either on foot or from horseback; and thus it was lower-ranking warriors and ashigaru who were more likely to master its use. Likewise, it was these lowerranking warriors, on foot and wearing lightweight armor, who needed to master sword and spear. Consequently, many of those who created and developed the techniques of swordsmanship—the great swordsmen of the day, like Miyamoto Musashi—were among their number. And Sengoku sources are replete with references to famous warriors like lizasa Choisai and Tsukahara Bokuden who were equally skilled with sword and spear (toso). As a lateTokugawa scholar noted, commenting on the changes in warfare in the late sixteenth century: "The warriors of ancient times were called yumitori ('bow pullers') because they used bows and arrows. By the time of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, the use of the spear had become the supreme military technique; consequently, the warrior made the spear his tool. Even if he left the house for a moment, he was never without his spear. Should today's samurai be called a 'spear holder' (ydriton)?"28 A second and closely related factor inducing the specialization of weapons training was the incessant warfare of the late Muromachi period, the dog-eatdog world ofgekokujo ("those below overthrow those above"). Military prow-

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ess was the best guarantee of personal success or group prosperity for a warrior house or an entire domain. Great daimyo and lower-ranking samurai all studied strategy and practiced combat skills. Daimyo recruited the most proficient warriors to serve as tacticians or military instructors for their followers, promoting the advancement of bushi fighting techniques. It was in documents of the times that references to the four, the sixteen, or the eighteen martial arts began to appear. In the Koyo Gunkan, a chronicle dealing with the exploits of the warrior Takeda Shingen, Shingen's strategist, Yamamoto Kansuke, claimed that while the "four martial gates" of horsemanship, archery, swordsmanship, and gunnery should be studied by lord and vassal alike, horsemanship came before all else, then swordsmanship, followed by archery and gunnery.29 Many texts exalted the practice of military skills and the need for constant attention to training. Some late sixteenth-century works go on to present the proposition that martial training does not stop with learning techniques for self-defense or victory but that warriors need to discover a deeper meaning in the practice itself. This was an exhortation to search for self-perfection in the sense of do, "the way," just as people pursued the way in other arts and practices of the day. We cannot say that such an emphasis on self-perfection through practice of a combat skill was completely lacking earlier, but it does not find expression in texts until the sixteenth century. ' A third factor stimulating separate development of swordsmanship schools was the rise in popularity of musha shugyof a form of martial training somewhat analogous to European knight errantry, which stemmed from the emphasis on martial skills necessitated by the constancy of warfare. Musha shugyo, a quest to perfect one's combat ability, flourished in the late Muromachi era, when samurai alone or in groups set out to learn special techniques of fighting from famous practitioners.30 It was common while on such a quest to challenge a noted warrior to a duel (often using wooden rather than real swords); the defeated warrior might become the student of the victor and remain to learn his skills. Quite apart from the goal of perfecting technical skills, musha shugyo was approached with the idea of achieving personal fulfillment through ascetic practices like going without food or sleep and withstanding cold. This idea of training both body and mind was strongly influenced by the ancient tradition of shugendo, the ascetic practices of the yamabushi, or mountain monks, whose syncretic beliefs intermingled religious Daoism and esoteric Buddhism, as well as the Shinto worship of sacred mountains.31 Musha shugyo also served the espionage needs of warring daimyo: prac-

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titioners often returned with detailed knowledge of a domain that they had visited, having observed the rival daimyo's military preparedness, the degree of martial skill of local warriors, the lay of the land, and other strategic matters.32 A warrior possessing such valuable information might be employed by a daimyo after a sojourn in another lord's domain. A final factor in the advancement of swordsmanship, again stemming from the generally unsettled nature of the times, was the spread of martial skills to other classes of society. Even peasants or merchants who enjoyed some martial reputation might advance within the ranks of a lord's retinue. Others might form or join marauding bands of retainers and commoners, commonly called nobushi, "outlaw samurai." Akira Kurosawa's classic film Seven Samurai deals with precisely such outlaws. In an age of warfare and outlawry, commoners, peasants, and many of the low-ranking acolytes in the major temples—the akuso (rowdy monks) of an earlier time—became proficient in fighting. Indeed, among the most formidable obstacles to Oda Nobunaga's efforts to unify the country were the Buddhist monasteries of Enryakuji, headquarters of the Tendai sect, and the Honganji temples, defended by fanatic adherents of the Ikko (Single-Minded) sect, who were mainly townspeople or farmers. Americans might compare life in late Muromachi Japan to life in the wild West, when citizens had to defend both life and property. Consequently, fighting skills spread more widely among the populace, contributing to a general rise in swordsmanship. We tend to think of sword bearing as the privilege of the samurai, but in the Muromachi period, everyone wore swords. Farmers, artisans, and merchants looked like samurai.33 In fact, the spread of weapons among the populace alarmed Japan's rulers so much that they issued numerous orders forbidding commoners to carry swords: Toyotomi Hideyoshi's famous Sword Hunt edict of 1588, Hidetada's edict of 1618, and letsuna's similar edict of i685.34

The Duel Another important development of the Muromachi period was the appearance of competition among swordsmen. Duels became very common. Most of the major late Muromachi swordsmen fought duels to counter enemies in the course of battle, to defend their family or personal honor, or to demonstrate their prowess. But when they met other swordsmen in competition before shogunal and other audiences, wooden swords were normally used. Miyamoto Musashi's father, Shimmen Munisai, a specialist in the use of the jitte (truncheon), won a match against a swordsman by two out of three points before

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Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki; and he was praised as "Japan's peerless martial practitioner."35 Fencing—a nonlethal competitive sport—was beginning to develop. Sengoku duels were only emergent fencing, however; they were not yet combat sport, since they lacked such essentials as formalized rules. But the emphasis upon competition and winning as a way of demonstrating superiority, the compilation of successful records against opponents, and the recognition of a category of professional sword masters serve to demonstrate how far pure battlefield skills were being transformed into combat sport. Duels were still likely to result in death, however, and swordsmen approached them with the seriousness appropriate to the situation. Where were the duels fought? There were no halls, rings, stadiums, or other officially recognized dueling places. Today, martial arts are practiced in a dqjo, or training hall. Earlier, in Tokugawa times, a variety of different terms were used to designate fencing halls or academies.36 In the Sengoku period, martial arts dqjo were rare. The primary purpose of learning swordsmanship was to develop skills to help one succeed, or at least survive, in battle. Battles were fought outside, so training, too, was conducted outside, as were duels. When swordsmen of the sixteenth century met, it was often in a clearing on the outskirts of a town, in the garden of a nobleman's mansion, in the precinct of a shrine, or along a wide riverbank. There was no set arena. Upon occasion, the match might be held before the shogun, a daimyo, or another noble; large numbers of interested spectators might gather if the combatants met in a public place. But it was more common for the only observers to be students of the two fencers, and most frequently the duelists met alone. Many duels were fought between swordsmen with a shared history; that is, one had slain the other's relative, teacher, or friend in an earlier duel, or some other matter of honor led one to seek revenge in a fight against the other. But a great many were fought for sporting reasons. Granted, a reputation as a superior swordsman often attracted a lucrative offer of employment from one of the great daimyo. Yet many swordsmen were motivated by the sheer competitive desire to defeat a number of opponents. The musha shugyo was often a vehicle for duels. Traveling through Japan, a warrior on his quest would arrive at a town or village, secure temporary lodgings, and then announce that he was seeking a contest (shobu or shiai) with notable local fighters. The swordsman would frequently erect a wooden signboard in front of his inn or at a busy intersection or well-traveled bridge to announce his intentions—often including a provocative claim that he was "the greatest swordsman in the land." Interested swordsmen would

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issue a challenge in person, through a go-between, or in a formal letter, after which the terms of the duel—date, place, and so forth—would be set. Duels differed from formal combat sports in that rules were highly particularistic; and even after the rules were agreed upon, they were liable to be violated, since nothing approaching what we might call sportsmanship had yet developed. Depending upon the relationship between the fighters, the choice of weapons was either real swords (shinken shobu) or wooden swords, use of the latter reducing, but hardly eliminating, the possibility that one of the parties might be killed. But there were also cases in which an opponent used a spear, halberd, or more unusual weapons, like the kusarigama (sickle and chain). Stories abound in which some noted swordsman dispatched his opponent using only a fan, a piece of firewood, an oar, or some other nonmilitary item close at hand. Even after weapons, time, and place had been agreed upon, the parties had to proceed as though no agreement had been reached, for to do otherwise was to invite defeat and death. Miyamoto Musashi was reputedly fond of surprising his opponents by arriving late or early for a match. A swordsman uncertain of his abilities might arrive with a host of followers, who could attack and overpower an opponent. A few examples of sixteenth-century duels should suffice to show how far they were from true combat sport. Before a match with a noted swordsman, Tsukahara Bokuden once sent his followers to check out his opponent's success record, favorite techniques, and so forth.37 Bokuden's investigators told him that his opponent favored a one-handed technique delivered from a stance with the left foot forward. This was highly unusual, for virtually all swordsmen stood right foot forward, holding the sword and striking with two hands. Bokuden sent a letter to the man, calling such a technique "cowardly" and demanding that he not use it in the upcoming match. His opponent responded that Bokuden could refuse to appear for the match and be declared the loser. But the opponent spent so much time worrying about the implications of the letter—"Bokuden must surely be vulnerable to a left-handed attack"—that Bokuden was easily able to defeat him, cleaving him open from forehead to lips with a vicious stroke. The letter had been no more than a psychological ploy to gain the advantage. When Saito Denkibo, one of Bokuden's students, was challenged by the noted Shinto-ryu swordsman Sakurai Kasuminosuke in 1587, Denkibo killed him in an especially bloody duel, following which Sakurai's enraged students swore revenge.38 Sometime later, Denkibo was traveling with one of his own students, when a group of Sakurai's students ambushed them. Denkibo darted into a small Buddhist temple, but a rain of arrows brought him out. Fending

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off many arrows—he reputedly cut several dozen of them in half with his spear—his body riddled with arrows, Denkibo fought valiantly. When his attackers closed, he slashed right and left, killing several before they finished him off. Similarly, when Yamamoto Kansuke defeated Hashimoto Ryuha in a match, several dozen of the latter's students attacked him. Although Yamamoto killed more than twenty and escaped with his life, he was severely wounded in the left thigh and retired with a permanent limp.39 Negishi Tokaku, Iwama Shonan, and Hijiko Dorosuke were skilled students of Morooka Ippa's.40 When Ippa fell ill, two of the students, Iwama and Hijiko, exhausted all their funds nursing him for three years until Ippa died in 1593. Tokaku meanwhile had left them and gone to Odawara, where he achieved a name for himself as a martial arts teacher. Iwama and Hijiko never forgave their former friend for deserting them and shirking his duty to their teacher, and spent the three years contemplating revenge. After Ippa's death, they drew straws to see who would avenge their dead master. Shonan won, and he proceeded to Edo, where Tokaku was teaching swordsmanship to important people. Shonan erected a signboard just outside Edo Castle, at the Otemachi bridge, challenging swordsmen to fight him, "Japan's peerless master." Tokaku's students were outraged, feeling that Shonan knew full well that Tokaku was in Edo and that Shonan was taunting him. They threatened to destroy the signboard and kill Shonan. But Tokaku accepted the challenge. The two met on the bridge at the appointed time while authorities restrained crowds on either side. The elegantly dressed Tokaku, carrying a huge hexagonal wooden sword reinforced with bands of steel, stood across from the simply clad Shonan, who was bearing a common wooden sword and looking the country bumpkin. But Shonan quickly drove Tokaku to the edge of the bridge with his attack, grabbed his leg, and dumped him unceremoniously into the muddy water. Tokaku became a laughingstock and fled Edo in disgrace. Later, however, one of Tokaku's students took revenge by killing Shonan while he was bathing. Duels in which swordsmen encountered archers were not unusual either. Maebashi Shichikuro, a well-known instructor of the sword from Ise, was shot dead in a duel with Imaeda Umanosuke Chikashige, an archer from Bingo Province who visited Ise on a musha shugyo. But the famous master of the spear Hozoin In'ei defeated an archer, Kikukuni Nii Munemasa, who came to Nara to challenge him. The two circled each other cautiously, but Munemasa was unable to get off a shot and finally fled in frustration.41

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Swordsmanship Schools As the sword became more common, and as people became more proficient in its use, Tsukahara Bokuden and other well-known and successful swordsmen began to codify the techniques that they had developed over the years and teach them. Both the individual styles and the schools that they established are called ryuha. Swordsmanship ryuha are especially characteristic of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, somewhat later than the ryuha of archery and equitation. The masters' techniques were codified and transmitted to disciples, first orally and then in secret written scrolls. The kata ("forms," or prescribed movements) created by the master of a school were considered authoritative. They were the principles, the standards, which the disciples were set to learn by rote in order to understand both the movement and the spirit of the master's style.42 It was not only the militaristic spirit of the age and the changes in military technology that stimulated the formation of schools of swordsmanship. Military techniques, like other forms of Japanese culture in late medieval and early modern times, were transformed into arts—martial arts (bugei)—primarily but by no means exclusively under the influence of Zen Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics. Zen, which inherited a long tradition of Yoga practices and Daoist beliefs, placed value on process, on the performance of the act—a sword move or a Noh dance step—for its own sake. Through the creation, or re-creation, of these cultural forms, the practitioner sought transcendent meaning and selfunderstanding. The search for deeper meaning and for self-improvement through flower arrangement, calligraphy, or swordsmanship was part of the transformation of what were earlier simply amusements, artistic endeavors, or, like the martial techniques, physical activities, into more philosophically profound forms. In the case of swordsmanship, the development of schools represented a shift from purely functional combat skills to more abstract artistic techniques, which would in turn lead to sport forms. The first schools of fighting techniques arose in the late sixteenth century, leading to the development in the next century of what we know today as the martial arts. There are a great number of swordsmanship ryuha, 745 according to Watatani Kiyoshi, but most are derivative of three major styles.43 Six of the greatest swordsmen in Japanese history are lizasa Yamashiro no kami lenao, Tsukahara Bokuden, Kamiizumi Ise no kami Hidetsuna, Matsumoto Bizen no kami Masanobu, Yagyu Muneyoshi, and Miyamoto Musashi. In an age when proof of the superiority of one's sword was measurable only in terms

45

SWORDSMANSHIP

of victories over opponents, the establishment and maintenance of a ryw, a school, depended upon the number and reputation of the swordsmen that it produced. The swordsmen mentioned above were among the most famous, and thus the schools that they founded were authoritative. Shinto-ryu The Shinto-ryu, or, more properly, the Tenshinsho-den Katori shinto-ryu, associated with lizasa lenao, is the oldest attested school of swordsmanship in Japan.44 lizasa was known as Yamashiro no kami (governor of Yamashiro Province) in accordance with a practice of Muromachi times whereby noted warriors took old court titles. But later in life lizasa became a Buddhist lay monk and was known as Choisai, sai being a character that many noted swordsmen chose for their sword name.45 Born sometime during the Oei period (1394-1427) in the village of lizasa in Shimosa Province, Choisai moved when young to the vicinity of the famous Katori Shrine, a venerable Shinto institution northeast of Tokyo in what is today Chiba Prefecture.46 After studying swordsmanship, he went to Kyoto, where, according to most authorities, he was employed by the eighth Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a devotee of the martial arts. When Choisai returned home, he offered prayers to the deities of both Katori Shrine and Kashima Shrine, a famous local shrine in Tochigi Prefecture. In his dream the deities gave Choisai a sacred scroll; and when he awoke, he committed to writing the entire text as he remembered it. He called his swordsmanship style derived from this miraculous dream the Tenshinsho-den Katori shinto-ryu, the "Heavenly True, Correctly Transmitted Style of the Katori Shrine."47 This legend is typical of martial arts ryuha and other cultural forms as well. Ryuha founders often attributed their mastery to magical teachings transmitted by Shinto or Buddhist deities, by long-dead historical figures like Minamoto Yoshitsune, or by legendary supernatural creatures like the tengu, a Japanese goblin commonly depicted with a long red nose. Both Kashima and Katori Shrines were dedicated to deities that had been patronized by warriors over the centuries. Shinto mythology held that the god of Kashima Shrine, Take Mikazuchi no Kami, and the god of Katori Shrine, Futsunushi no Kami, had been designated by the Sun Goddess Amaterasu to handle the negotiations with Okuninushi no Kami, the deity then ruling over the Japanese islands, for transfer of their control to Amaterasu's

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THE EARLY TRADITION

descendants. When the deities met, Take Mikazuchi no Kami took out his ten-span sword, thrust it upside down in the waves, and conducted the negotiations while sitting on the sharp tip of the sword's blade. Futsunushi no Kami did likewise. This daring action established widely the Kashima deity's reputation for steadfast determination. (Take in the deity's name, usually written with the bu character of budo, means "valor.") In ancient times Kashima Shrine was located on the northeasternmost edge of pacified Japanese territory, and troops dispatched to subdue the Emishi often stopped at the shrine to pray to Take Mikazuchi no Kami for assistance. This poem offered by a border guard dispatched to the north captures a sentiment long held by warriors: What do I care for life or death— I who have come praying all the way To the god of hail-spattering Kashima And joined the imperial host?48 Shrine officials themselves reputedly practiced a form of swordsmanship, called hitotsu no tachi, "the solitary sword." Today the Kashima Shrine training hall attracts kend5 practitioners from around the world, and the chief object of interest for visitors is the shrine's sacred sword. Katori Shrine also enjoys a considerable martial reputation. Even the name of the deity, Futsunushi no Kami, includes the sound of a sword cleaving the air—-futsu! lizasa's Shinto-ryu, thus presumably linked to the sacred tradition of both Kashima and Katori Shrines, was transmitted through his own family. Several famous swordsmen who learned directly from him or his immediate followers became founders of their own schools, with either the same name (Shinto, written with a variety of other characters) or different names: Arima-ryu, Kashima-ryu, Kashima shinto-ryu, Kashima shin-ryu, Shigen-ryu. Two other famous swordsmen of the era are especially well known in the development of this major stream of Japanese swordsmanship: Tsukahara Bokuden and Matsumoto Bizen no kami Masanobu. Tsukahara Bokuden was born in Kashima, the town that grew up around the famous shrine, in 1489. He was a member of the Yoshikawa family of the Urabe clan, a family that had for many generations been officials at the shrine. Bokuden's grandfather, Yoshikawa Kaga no nyudo, supposedly taught him Kashima's secret sword techniques, which later formed the basis of Bokuden's school.49 Bokuden was adopted by Tsukahara Tosa no kami Yasutomo, lord of the local castle just north of Kashima Shrine. His common name, Bokuden, is said to have its

47

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origin in the first character of his Urabe name and hence means "transmitted by the Urabe." Bokuden learned the Kashima teachings from his grandfather and lizasa's Shinto-ryu from his adoptive father. According to legend, Bokuden secluded himself in Kashima Shrine for a thousand days. Receiving guidance from the deity of the shrine, he perfected the shrine's mysterious technique of the solitary sword and named his school Shinto-ryu, written with different characters from those used for lizasa's school (Bokuden's school is also called Bokuden-ryu).50 The name Shinto-ryu, whose characters mean "newly undertaken," is variously interpreted. Shinto-ryu texts claim that it indicates either a new transmission from the gods or the application of new ideas to the ancient Kashima swordsmanship tradition. It seems more plausible, however, that the name was chosen because it is a homophone of lizasa's original Shinto-ryu.51 Bokuden enjoyed a remarkable career as a swordsman, although the claims of the Shinto-ryu texts may be exaggerated. Bokuden went to Kyoto at age seventeen, soon winning a duel with live blades. Later he defeated the famed swordsman Kajiwara Nagato no suke. On the battlefield, Bokuden took the heads of twenty-one famous opponents. In his later years, he transmitted his teachings to Shoguns Yoshiteru and Yoshiaki in Kyoto. During his career Bokuden fought nineteen duels with live blades, participated in thirty-seven battles, and killed 212 people, receiving only six arrow wounds in all.52 Among the many people reportedly trained by Bokuden were some of the great figures of the late Muromachi era: Hosokawa Yusai, Chosokabe Nobuchika, Arakida Yoshishige, and members of the Takeda, Uesugi, Gamo, and Sasaki families. When he finally settled down in Kashima, many students came to study with him, a number of whom earned reputations as swordsmen themselves. Bokuden died at age eighty-three. He was the most important swordsman in the Shinto-ryu tradition—perhaps of his entire age—and added substantially to what Choisai started. Indeed, the classification and transmission of Shinto-ryu really began with him. Another noteworthy swordsman of the school was Matsumoto Bizen no kami Masanobu, traditionally regarded as the founder of the school named Kashima shin-ryu. He was also a Kashima native. The Matsumoto family, like Bokuden's, was one of four hereditary shrine-official families, the so-called Kashima Shitenno, or Four Deva Kings of Kashima. Masanobu engaged in battle around Kashima and Katori Shrines twenty-three times, capturing the heads of twenty-five noted warriors and seventy-six men of lesser abilities. Bokuden reportedly learned Masanobu's techniques, which were also an im-

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THE EARLY TRADITION

portant influence on Kamiizumi Ise no kami Hidetsuna, who ranks with Bokuden as one of the greatest swordsmen of the late Muromachi era.53 Kage-ryu Kamiizumi established the second of the three most influential ryuha in the sixteenth century, the Kage-ryii, or Shadow School. The style itself—which spread as far as China—can be traced to Aisu Iko (1452—1538), a man originally from the Aizu area of Ise Province but whose connections with foreign trading (actually piracy) took him all around the country, as well as to China.54 It is unclear from whom he learned his swordsmanship, but like other swordsmen of the day, Aisu is said to have received divine transmission of his style. In his case, he visited the Udo Shrine in Hyuga Province in Kyushu, where a deity in the shape of a monkey appeared to him in a dream and showed him the inner secrets. He called his style Kage-ryu because of the "shadowy" apparition that enlightened him. Legends about the transmission of Aisu's style to Kamiizumi are confusing, one claiming that Kamiizumi inherited the Kashima shin-ryu indirectly, from Matsumoto Bizen no kami Masanobu, and renamed it Shinkage-ryu, the other that he learned Aisu's style and called it his own Shinkage-ryu (the "New" Shadow School). Kamiizumi most likely studied with Aisu's son Koshichiro; but he was probably also aware of both the Kashima and Katori Shrine traditions, so his Shinkage-ryu style was probably a fusion of these two.55 At any rate, Kage-ryu flourished in the Tokugawa period, probably producing more skilled swordsmen than any other ryu. Kamiizumi's accomplishments rank with those of Bokuden.56 Born in Kazusa Province (modern-day Gumma Prefecture) in 1508, he served under Nagano Shinano no kami Narimasa, a vassal of the Uesugi family who held Minowa Castle, and earned a reputation for himself with both sword and spear in several battles. When Takeda Shingen captured Minowa Castle, he offered employment to Kamiizumi, since he was aware of the latter's reputation. Kamiizumi refused, however, and departed on a musha shugyo with several of his senior pupils, including Hikida Toyogoro Kagekane, who founded the branch Hikida-ryu, and Shingo Izu no kami Muneharu, founder of the Shingo-ryu. Kamiizumi spent several years in Kyoto, meeting with Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, prominent courtiers, and such leading swordsmen as Yagyu Muneyoshi and Marume Kurando no suke, to whom he taught military tactics and strategy as well as swordsmanship. Kamiizumi Hidetsuna was a widely

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SWORDSMANSHIP

accomplished martial artist. In addition to the Shinkage-ryu swordsmanship school, he is believed to have founded a school of military science that emphasized strategy and ninjutsu and—through his student Hozoin In'ei—a style of spear technique called Hozoin-ryu. Perhaps the best known of his students was Yagyu Muneyoshi, whose family became hereditary fencing instructors to the Tokugawa shogunal house and who developed his own branch style, the Yagyu shinkage-ryu. The Taisha-ryu, Jikishin-ryu, Jikishin kage-ryu, Shin shinkage-ryu, and Shin shinkage ichien-ryu are among the many schools that trace their lineage back to Kamiizumi, a true giant of the age. Itto-ryu

The third important ryu of swordsmanship that had its origins in the Sengoku period is the Itto-ryu (One-Sword School). It seems to stem from the Chujoryu of Chujo Hyogo no kami Nagahide, who allegedly studied both sword and spear with the famous priest Jion.57 Nagahide formed a ryu combining techniques that he learned from Jion with his own family tradition of martial skills—the family was based in Kamakura and held important posts in the bakufu.58 Texts of the Itto-ryu record the tradition passing from Nagahide through six generations to Ito Ittosai, who transformed it into the Itto-ryu. ltd Ittosai, born Ito Kagehisa, is a swordsman of uncertain background. Virtually nothing is known with certainty about his birth (1550 or 1560), death, or career. In Itto-ryu texts, he is said to have met with Kanemaki Jizai in Edo and from him learned both the techniques of Chujo-ryu and those developed by Jizai himself.59 Impressed with Ittosai's dedication to practicing his swordsmanship night and day, Jizai taught him all the secret teachings that he knew. Ittosai is traditionally credited with victory in thirty-three duels with both live blades and wooden swords.60 Like other major ryuha of the day, Itto-ryu spawned a myriad branch styles founded by both direct students of Ittosai and later swordsmen. The tradition includes some of the most famous schools of the Tokugawa period: Ono-ha, Chuya-ha, Mizoguchi-ha, Nakanishi-ryu, Kogen itto-ryu, Shimpu itto-ryu, Hokushin itto-ryu, and Itto shoden muto-ryu. Along with Kageryu, Itto-ryu became one of the most important styles of Tokugawa swordsmanship. In fact, there are many noted kendo stylists of the Itto-ryu active today who received instruction from Takano Sukesaburo, one of the founders of modern kendo in the Meiji period.

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TRADITION

Itto (one sword) does not refer to the number of swords that a fencer uses. In fact, most schools teach the use of just one sword for fighting. Miyamoto Musashi is known for his "Two-Sword School" (Nito-ryu), but Ittosai himself also taught the use of two swords, one in each hand.61 The term and the school's concept of one sword were derived from analogy to the Daoist idea that all things spring from the One and return to the One. Thus One Sword changes into all swords, and all swords return to the One Sword. Itto-ryu was one of the first ryu to add a philosophical dimension to the developing martial art of swordsmanship. Most of the hundreds of swordsmanship schools stem from the Shintoryu, Kage-ryu, and Itto-ryu, which had their origins in the late Sengoku era. I have not touched on the careers of two other great swordsmen who lived during the period, Yagyu Muneyoshi and Miyamoto Musashi, because their fame and contributions to swordsmanship belong to the Tokugawa period. The development of swordsmanship ryuha could not have occurred without several preconditions. First, it required the appearance of creative geniuses. In an age when the principles of martial arts were not yet fully formulated, the only criterion for a superior technique was victory—defeating, usually killing, an enemy. A swordsman whose exploits led others to regard him as a master was crucial to the establishment of a ryu. Techniques themselves also had to be developed to a very high degree through years of practice. Finally, there had to be a systematization of techniques into a formalized course of instruction.62 The would-be founder of a ryu needed to develop techniques that would allow a smaller or weaker opponent to defeat a superior swordsman—therein lay the value of the style for someone seeking to learn swordsmanship. To enhance the value, it was often common, as we have seen, for schools to incorporate mysterious and mystical elements or to claim that their teachings came from Buddhist or Shinto deities or heroic figures from the past who appeared in dreams.63 The requirement of secrecy was normally invoked, so that someone who learned the teachings of the master would not impart them, even to immediate family members. It was also common practice in the sixteenth century to award certificates of rank in a swordsmanship school to only one person per province in order to prevent exposing these deadly and valuable secrets too widely. In the Sengoku period there were but a handful of ryuha, most of which had yet to produce scrolls of transmission. But when the peaceful Tokugawa

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period followed, a plethora of instructors of swordsmanship created slightly new techniques of their own to form ever more ryuha, developing ever more elaborate ways to pass on their techniques and certify expertise in their styles. This was an important step toward the creation of the martial art and sport of kendo that we know today.

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CHAPTER THREE

From Self-Protection to Self-Perfection in the Early and Mid Tokugawa

PROFOUND CHANGES IN THE FABRIC of society accompanied the establishment of the Tokugawa bakufu, changes whose political, economic, and cultural ramifications have been the subject of extensive scholarly inquiry. But the revisions and elaborations in martial techniques were no less profound. It was during the Tokugawa period (1600-1867) that battlefield techniques became true martial arts and, in the case of some popular schools of swordsmanship, were transformed into combat sports as well. Scholars tend to regard the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 as heralding the advent of the peace and stability that persisted for two and a half centuries. In retrospect, there was indeed a marked change from constant warfare to ordered living as Japan entered "what was probably the longest period of complete peace and political stability that any sizable body of people has ever enjoyed."1 Peace came only slowly, however; and since neither of the two great warlords, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was able to rule for even two decades, it was far from clear to people of the early seventeenth century that Tokugawa leyasu's newly established hegemony would survive for fifteen generations. leyasu had himself named shogun in 1603 and then transferred the tide to his heir, Hidetada, two years later; but as long as Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son and heir, Hideyori, remained alive, many regarded him as Hideyoshi's legitimate successor. Hideyori represented a rival faction at Osaka Castle until

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leyasu's two massive assaults on his headquarters in 1614 and 1615 brought an end to the Toyotomi family. Not until the victory at Osaka Castle and the suicide of Hideyori was the Tokugawa hegemony confirmed, as reflected in a common term for the Tokugawa peace—Genna no embu, "the Great Pacification of the Genna era." The era name itself means "the beginning of peace"; it was adopted early in 1615, after leyasu and Hideyori concluded a peace treaty at Osaka, a ploy that leyasu exploited to topple his adversary the following summer. Two decades later the new bakufu was forced to quell a Christianinspired peasant revolt, the Shimabara Rebellion, in a remote area of Kyushu. The uprising was an indication that the Tokugawa regime, now under the leadership of its third shogun, leyasu's grandson lemitsu, was still not totally secure. Thus for early seventeenth-century Japanese, there was little sense of the domestic tranquillity so clear to the eye of the later historian. The new political order forged by leyasu, a delicate balance between the bakufu in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and autonomous daimyo domains (hari), empowered the shogun to reorder the political map at will. During the early Tokugawa period many established daimyo were dispossessed—some were even forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment)—and their bushi retainers were cast adrift as ronin (masterless samurai) with bleak prospects for employment. It was from among such ronin, in fact, that much of Hideyori's defending force at Osaka Castle was recruited. Peace and stability, then, did not immediately accompany the founding of the Tokugawa regime. During the first three or four decades of the seventeenth century, there were still major military campaigns and intense preparation for warfare; and warriors throughout the country remained as fiercely devoted to the mastery of martial skills as they had been before the Battle of Sekigahara. The ideals of the Sengoku warrior—honor, courage and martial prowess, frugality and simple living, which later became elements in a bookish system of bushi ethics—were maintained in daily life by many warriors not fully aware that they lived in a new era in Japanese history.2 All the daimyo of the early Tokugawa period—men like Hosokawa Tadatoshi of Higo and Nabeshima Naotomo of Hizen—were battle-tested warriors. They vied with one another in inviting masters of sword, spear, bow, gun, and military strategy to serve as instructors for their samurai. The ranks of their troops swelled with warriors long accustomed to the bloodshed of the battlefield, men devoted to the mastery of martial skills. The warriors included swordsmen like Miyamoto Musashi and Yagyu Munenori, archers like Yoshida Issuiken Insai, and masters of the spear like Hozoin In'ei.

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FROM SELF-PROTECTION TO SELF-PERFECTION

Such men were encouraged in the practice of their military skills by the first three Tokugawa shoguns. leyasu himself was enamored of military prowess, as befits a man who had spent the greater part of his life carving out an empire by military campaigns; and he promoted men of martial talent to important posts.3 In 1615 the second shogun, Hidetada, promulgated the Buke shohatto, or Laws Governing the Military Houses, in which he emphasized mastery of military skills. Article I states: "The arts of peace and war, including archery and horsemanship, should be pursued single-mindedly. From of old the rule has been to practice 'the arts of peace on the left hand, and the arts of war on the right'; both must be mastered. Archery and horsemanship are indispensable to military men. Though arms are called instruments of evil, there are times when they must be resorted to. In peacetime we should not be oblivious to the danger of war. Should we not, then, prepare ourselves for it?"4 The third shogun, lemitsu, was especially fond of swordsmanship. He not only gathered masters of the martial arts from around the country and had them demonstrate their skills before shogunal audiences but was himself something of a fencer. The seriousness with which the early Tokugawa warrior approached the mastery of martial techniques is indicated by the heightened popularity of musha shugyo. As we have seen, it was a training period during which the devotee struggled to further his skills with sword, spear, or other weapons and to train his mind and refine his character through various ascetic practices. With the advent of peace following the Osaka and Shimabara campaigns, however, bushi were no longer able to embark on such quests in hopes of gaining glory in battle or rewards for spying. Instead, they became concerned more with the perfection of specific techniques and moral development.5 A warrior on a musha shugyo might practice meditation, expose himself to extremes of temperature, go without food and sleep, and shun sexual relations. Such austerities were thought to help toughen both body and spirit.6 Above all, the warrior hoped to challenge fighters of other traditions in order to prove his skill and courage and make a reputation for himself, as well as learn new techniques. Seeking matches against practitioners of other schools (taryu jiat) was especially important in the development of swordsmanship ryuha of the Sengoku and early Tokugawa periods.7 From the standpoint of martial arts history, then, the first four decades of the Tokugawa era can best be seen as a continuation of the previous Sengoku period. It is perhaps logical to consider the mid-fifteenth to the midseventeenth centuries a distinct division within that history. In fact, scholars tend to divide Tokugawa swordsmanship into three periods, each reflecting

55

Illustrations from a Shinkage-ryu text. (Courtesy of Nippon Taiiku Daigaku. Photos by John Rogers.)

FROM SELF-PROTECTION TO SELF-PERFECTION

changed social conditions.8 The first period lasted until about mid-century and was dominated by the personalities of several great swordsmen. Some scholars cut the period at the end of the Kan'ei era in 1644, while others mark its termination at the death of lemitsu in 1651. This was the formative era of new bakufu institutions, when the land was unsettled and combatoriented swordsmanship was still prevalent. In a second period, dating from 1644 and lasting perhaps until 1789 (the beginning of the Kansei era), swordsmanship in the peaceful mid-Tokugawa developed into a true martial art practiced in training halls only for paramilitary purposes. A final period, from the late eighteenth century until the fall of the bakufu, witnessed the development of true competitive fencing, the forerunner of modern kendo. That development will be the subject of Chapter 4.

Early Tokugawa Swordsmanship (1600-1644) Inheriting the tradition and spirit of the Sengoku era, swordsmanship flourished in the early Tokugawa period. Bakufu and domain authorities emphasized martial virtues, warriors ventured off on musha shugyo, major battles and bloody duels were fought with real swords, and some bushi participated in vendettas and other affairs involving life-and-death combat. New ryuha proliferated, established by swordsmen who had witnessed the transition from a world of warfare to one of hard-won peace. Several of the great swordsmen who lived through this transition are worthy of mention, both because the ryuha that they founded are important in martial arts history and because later generations have revered them as great sword masters. Some of them also wrote important texts that contributed significantly to the intellectual tradition underlying the martial arts. Miyamoto Musashi and Nito-ryii

Perhaps the most noteworthy figure of the era was Miyamoto Musashi (1584— 1645). The basic facts of Musashi's life are disputed, including his birthplace and many of the exploits for which he became known.9 In a brief autobiography, Musashi claims to have fought sixty-six duels without a defeat by the age of thirty. Yet he fails to mention any of the duels for which he is best known in modern dramatizations. Musashi is the king of Japanese popular culture. Kabuki plays, radio and television dramas, films, popular songs, and Yoshikawa Eiji's novel Musashi have made him a larger-than-life hero for generations of Japanese and recently also for foreign audiences.

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Musashi fought in the three major campaigns of his day: the Battle of Sekigahara, the sieges of Osaka Castle, and the Shimabara Rebellion, for which he was an advisor to the shogun. His swordsmanship was apparently self-taught, since he claims in his Gorin no sho (The Book of Five Rings) that he learned all the arts without a teacher.10 He called his style Emmei-ryu, then Nito ichi-ryu ("Two Swords as One" School), and finally Niten ichiryu. Niten is his pen name, which is best known in art circles. All three of these ryu, as well as the Musashi-ryu, were carried on by disciples after his death. Though perhaps apocryphal, no Musashi fight is better known than his duel in 1611 with Sasaki Kojiro at Ganryu-jima, a small, uninhabited islet off the southern tip of Japan's main island. Sasaki, who stalks Musashi through chapter after chapter of Yoshikawa's novel and reel after reel of its various movie versions, finally succeeds in forcing Musashi to a duel. With Sasaki already waiting on the beach, Musashi is rowed across from the mainland, clutching a wooden sword that he fashioned from an oar. Springing from the boat even before it reaches the shore, Musashi rushes toward his opponent, and they clash together, both striking downward-slicing blows. In one film version, both freeze in that position, grimacing at one another, for what seems an interminable period until Sasaki slowly crumples to the ground. Musashi gets back into the boat and is rowed off into the distance as the film comes to an end. Musashi has had a lasting effect on the martial arts, primarily owing to the popularity in modern times of Gorin no sho, which in English translation has now reached international audiences. In the United States it has even been marketed as a "guide" for understanding Japanese business strategy.11 Through his writings, his reputed martial exploits, and his powerful ink paintings, Miyamoto Musashi has become one of the major figures in the history of Japanese swordsmanship, a man who embodied the transformation of combat skills into more refined martial arts.12 Yagyu Muneyoshi and Shinkage-ryu

Another giant of the age was Yagyu Sekishusai Muneyoshi (1527—1606), founder of the Yagyu-ryu, or Yagyu shinkage-ryu. Muneyoshi fought in the armies of Miyoshi Chokei, Matsunaga Hisahide, and even Oda Nobunaga before retiring because of illness and taking the tonsure. He studied both Shinto-ryu and Itto-ryu and then learned swordsmanship of the Shinkage-ryu style from

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Kamiizutni Ise no kami Hidetsuna, receiving a rare certificate of the "one person, one province" type in 1571. In 1594, Muneyoshi had an audience with the future shogun Tokugawa leyasu at Takagamine in Kyoto. leyasu personally engaged the almost seventyyear-old Muneyoshi in a match with a wooden sword but was bested by his unarmed muto-tori technique, which involved seizing the opponent's sword while unarmed oneself. Impressed, leyasu offered to make him his personal fencing instructor, but Muneyoshi declined, recommending that leyasu instead employ his fifth son, Munenori (1571-1647). Munenori not only became leyasu's fencing instructor but continued as teacher for Hidetada and lemitsu, increasing the family income and prestige considerably and establishing the Yagyu as hereditary shogunal instructors in swordsmanship. But Munenori obtained even greater influence as the bakufu inspector general (sometsuke), a post that he held from 1629 to 1636. In his last year as inspector general, Munenori's salary was raised to ten thousand koku (i koku is 5.1 bushels of rice), the amount associated with the rank of daimyo, and he resigned as fencing instructor.13 There are many tales relating the exploits of Muneyoshi and Munenori. Once when Muneyoshi traveled to the Arima hot springs to recover from a serious illness, he was followed by a man with a grudge who sought an opportunity to kill the lightly attended swordsman.14 One day Muneyoshi was sitting on the edge of the veranda, his favorite hawk perched on his left hand. The would-be assassin judged this a perfect opportunity to strike, since Muneyoshi had even left his sword inside. He sneaked up, drew his own weapon, and launched an attack. But Muneyoshi swiftly drew his short sword and stabbed the man first. The hawk perched on his left hand was not even disturbed by the incident, so natural and lightning quick had been Muneyoshi's response. Another story illustrates Munenori's resourcefulness. Shogun lemitsu once hosted fencing matches at his mansion.15 Hearing that one of his vassals, Suwabe Bunkuro, was unbeatable in bouts on horseback, lemitsu urged Munenori to test him. Munenori accepted. As the two contestants drew close, Munenori suddenly reached out with his wooden sword and struck Suwabe's horse square in the head, bringing the animal to a stunned halt. Munenori quickly closed ground and struck his opponent before he had a chance to recover. The shogun was impressed with a true master's ability to adapt to the situation at hand. The Yagyu family is also well known for several classic works on swordsmanship, including Muneyoshi's Shinkage-ryu heiho mokuroku no koto, a guide

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to twenty-five techniques based on the secrets that he had learned from Kamiizumi. The illustrated text, some of whose pictures show a swordsman encountering a fierce goblin, was addressed to Komparu Shichiro Ujikatsu, seventh head of the Komparu school of Noh dance and a skilled martial artist with certificates in Otusbo-ryu equitation, Hozoin-ryu lance, and Shinto-ryu naginata, as well as swordsmanship.16 A more important text was Munenori's Heiho kadensho, completed in 1632. This basic text of the Yagyu shinkage-ryu is divided into three parts: a brief introductory section listing the techniques that his father, Muneyoshi, learned from Kamiizumi, followed by two sections discussing various secrets devised by Munenori and his father over the years. Section 2 is entitled "The Killing Sword" (Setsuninto), and section 3, "The Life-Giving Sword" (Katsuninken). The book begins with a paraphrase of the quote from Laozi that arms are evil: "Arms are instruments of ill omen, and the way of Heaven despises them. But when one cannot avoid using them, this too is the way of Heaven."17 Munenori argues the occasional necessity of relying on force: "Ten thousand can suffer due to the evil of one man. But by killing the one, the ten thousand are given life. Thus, truly is not the sword that kills man also able to give him life?"18 Munenori describes a very sophisticated style of swordsmanship, devoting almost equal attention to technique, mental awareness, and discipline. Heiho kadensho is quite eclectic. The text shows the influences of Confucianism, of Zen precepts within the Yagyu tradition and from the priest Takuan (whose Fudochi shimmyoroku was written for and addressed to Munenori), and of Noh philosophy, most likely from Munenori's close association with the Komparu family. We even find hints of his association with such luminaries as Hosokawa Tadatoshi and Nabeshima Motoshige, two warrior daimyo of Kyushu.19 Heiho kadensho is a work whose logical structure and sophisticated discussion of technique and mental preparedness go far beyond earlier swordsmanship texts, riddled as they are with obscure magical elements. Along with TakuanJs Fudochi and Musashi's Gorin no sho, it is regarded as a classic of early seventeenth-century swordsmanship. But it is of greater value than Fudochi because Munenori was a practicing swordsman, and it far surpasses Gorin no sho in philosophical sophistication. Ono Takaaki and Itto-ryu Another major early Tokugawa swordsman was Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki (1565-1628). Born Mikogami Tenzen in Kazusa Province, Ono was, like his

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father and grandfather before him, a vassal of the Satomi house.20 He was apparently a fairly well known local swordsman, because in the 15708 he challenged the famous Ito Ittosai. Ittdsai was staying in Kazusa, and, as was the custom, he set up a placard in front of his inn challenging local swordsmen to a duel. Goaded by others, Tenzen accepted the challenge. He was embarrassingly defeated. In the initial encounter, Ittdsai disarmed the hapless younger swordsman before he could even draw. Tenzen attacked again and again and had the sword knocked out of his hands repeatedly. He was never able to touch Ittosai.21 This encounter proved to be a turning point in the life of Tenzen, who became a disciple of Ittosai's and, abandoning the service of the Satomi family, joined him on a musha shugyo. During a visit to Edo in 1592, Ittosai so impressed Tokugawa leyasu that the future shogun offered him employment. Ittosai declined, recommending Tenzen instead. Tenzen was made a Tokugawa vassal and the instructor to leyasu's heir, Hidetada, with a stipend of two hundred koku.22 It was then that he adopted his mother's family name of Ono. He later fought valiantly for the Tokugawa house at the Battle of Ueda Castle in 1600, earning a reputation as one of the famous "Seven Lances ofUeda." Although Itto-ryu regards Ittosai as its founder, it is with Ono Tadaaki that the school really developed. His son Tadatsune carried on the Ono-ha itto-ryu, and his brother Tadanari, the Ito-ha itto-ryu, or Chuya-ryu. And Ono Tadaaki's students began several ryuha as well: Kobata Kagenori established the Mikogami itto-ryu (sometimes called the Itto so-ryu), and Mizoguchi Shingozaemon Masakatsu established the Mizoguchi-ha itto-ryu. Several other branches of this prolific school, including the Hokushin ittoryu and Itto shoden muto-ryu, also stem from Tadaaki, so that Tokugawa swordsmanship appeared to some observers to be divided into Itto-ryu and Yagyu shinkage-ryu.23 Marume Nagayoshi

Another great early Tokugawa swordsman, Marume Kurando no suke Nagayoshi (1540—1629), was born in Kyushu and started learning swordsmanship at an early age, venturing on a musha shugyo when only seventeen. Then he met Kamiizumi Ise no kami and challenged him to a match. After being roundly defeated, he became Kamiizumi's student. When they met for that first match, Nagayoshi encountered a situation which would revolutionize Japanese swordsmanship. Kamiizumi said that he

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would fight with a strange new sword, made of bamboo and wrapped in a kind of sheath; he called it zfukuro shinai.24 Amazed by this piece of equipment, Nagayoshi asked why he didn't use a wooden sword. Kamiizumi replied that it was not the purpose of martial arts (or heido, the "martial way," as he called it) to injure one's opponent in practice, which was likely to happen with wooden swords. With the bamboo sword, he said, one could practice techniques without holding back—and without injuring the opponent. We can see here already the direction that Tokugawa swordsmanship would take. Following Kamiizumi, Marume Nagayoshi called his style Shinkage-ryu, but he later renamed it Taisha-ryu. Nagayoshi, who was also a skilled calligrapher, was a complete martial artist, one of the last who could in truth claim mastery of many different weapons—in his case, twenty-one, including naginata, spear, shuriken, and sword-drawing. Versatility decreased with peace and the martial arts specialization that evolved in Tokugawa times.25 Togo Shigekata and Jigen-ryu

Among Marume's students was a young warrior from the Shimazu domain of southernmost Kyushu, Togo Shigekata (1561—1643). Shigekata first learned Taisha-ryu; but when he came to Kyoto with his lord in 1588, he began to study Zen Buddhism at Tenneiji temple and met the priest Zenkichi, a skilled practitioner of Tenshinsho jigen-ryu, whose roots lay in lizasa Choisai's Shinto-ryu. Shigekata later returned to Satsuma, where he was victorious in forty-six duels and became the clan swordsmanship instructor. He called his style Jigen-ryu, a name supposedly taken from a line of the Kannon Buddhist sutra, but with a different character forji.26 Jigen-ryu remained in many ways more traditional than other ryuha. Shigekata espoused an offensive style sustained by the aggressiveness of a battlefield mentality even in peaceful times. Rather than adopt defensive moves as so many schools did, moves in which the swordsman waited for an opponent to signal his intentions and then struck, Jigen-ryu emphasized an initial offensive attack designed either to split the opponent in two or fell him with a single blow.27 This became the dominant style of swordsmanship in Satsuma, whose fierce samurai were instrumental in overthrowing the Tokugawa regime in the 18605'. Jigen-ryu practitioners did not adopt the bamboo practice sword, the fiikuro shinai, but continued to practice with wooden swords. In rainy weather trainees donned straw coats and practiced outside, fencing while carrying sacks of rice or other heavy materials on their backs to develop strength. In contrast to the many styles that underwent considerable transfor-

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mation over the years, Jigen-ryu instructors tried to maintain the combatlike atmosphere of an earlier age. Higuchi Sadatsugu

Another important early Tokugawa style was the Maniwa nen-ryu of Higuchi Matashichiro Sadatsugu (dates unknown). Higuchi family members had long been noted swordsmen, back to Kaneshige, who learned the Nen-ryu skills from the school's founder, Jion. Jion (sometimes known as Nenami) was the priestly name taken by Soma Yoshimoto after he avenged the murder of his father sometime in the fourteenth century.28 The Higuchi family maintained the Nen-ryu tradition for a while, then shifted to the Shinto-ryu tradition until Sadatsugu's time. Born in Kozuke Province (Gumma Prefecture), Sadatsugu met Tomomatsu Seizo Nyudo Ian, a noted Nen-ryu swordsman who settled in the area as an eye doctor and swordsmanship instructor in the late sixteenth century. Sadatsugu studied with Ian for seventeen years and received certification of mastery just prior to the Tokugawa period. He called his school Maniwa nenryu, from the area where he lived, reviving the Higuchi family's Nen-ryu affiliation. Tradition has it that he was murdered in his sleep by a jealous student named Ukyo while on a musha shugyo.29 One colorful story told of Higuchi Sadatsugu involves his famous duel with Murakami Gonzaemon, a noted instructor of Ten-ryu from nearby Takasaki Castle.30 A long-standing quarrel between the students of the two schools ultimately forced their masters into a duel in 1600. Sadatsugu was worried about the match, since the arrogant Murakami was rumored to use zfuridashiken, a wooden sword with a live blade hidden inside, which would swing out to injure or kill an opponent during a match. Sadatsugu prepared himself during three days and nights of prayer and austerities at the Yamana Hachiman Shrine in a neighboring village, reaching such a state of mental preparedness, so the story goes, that he split a huge rock in two with his wooden sword. It was a special sword made of loquat wood from the precincts of the Sumiyoshi Shrine that Sadatsugu had cut and fashioned himself. It was this wooden sword with which he prepared to meet Murakami's furidashiken. When they met for their match, Sadatsugu saw that Murakami had in fact brought his awesome sword. As Murakami swung the sword, its live blade flashed out and cut Sadatsugu's sleeve. But at that instant Sadatsugu brought his loquat sword down with all his force on Murakami's head. Murakami was 63

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not able to parry the blow, and the force of it shattered the two swords in a crosslike pattern across his head, smashing the skull.

Mid-Tokugawa Peace and the Martial Arts (1644-1789) After the deaths of such intrepid fighters as Musashi and the others who founded the leading ryuha of the early Tokugawa period, swordsmanship declined—or at least changed—in concert with the transformation of warrior life wrought by peace, urbanization, and literacy. The early Tokugawa transitional period yielded to almost two hundred years of peace and stability, during which the earlier forms of combative skills in Japan were transformed into true martial arts. In swordsmanship, the forms of exercise that developed were far removed from battlefield tactics. The Impact of Peace and Urbanization

The establishment of peace had several immediate ramifications for the samurai lifestyle. First, it meant the virtual abandonment of armor, the wearing of which had been customary in Sengoku times. Over the course of the Tokugawa period the wearing of armor became so unusual that donning the various pieces became a specialized form of warrior ceremonial not known to average warriors, much as putting on a formal kimono today is difficult for most women and may require the services of a specialist. The absence of war also meant that the samurai spent much less time on horseback. Such changes had an enormous impact on fighting skills and the attendant training. Wearing no armor allowed for much greater mobility and flexibility, especially since warriors were more commonly afoot. Both offensive and defensive techniques previously unimagined were made possible. Because there were few major campaigns, combat was most likely to be a small-scale fight between unarmored opponents on foot. A bushi might be ambushed by highwaymen or an urban mugger or be set upon by an individual or group carrying out a personal grudge or vendetta or pursuing some other matter of honor (I think immediately of the revenge of the forty-seven loyal retainers of the Ako clan). Consequently, Tokugawa martial arts came to be practiced for different purposes from those of Sengoku times. The bakufu policy of severing the bushi from his domain, a process already under way in Hideyoshi's time, also brought changes to warrior life. The emergence of the "urban samurai" spelled the end of the tradition of the feudal retainer exercising control over an agrarian community and leading a

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troop of mounted vassals in the service of his lord. The samurai were removed from the countryside (although some remained as a country squire class) and gathered into the castle towns that served as the administrative centers of each domain. Most samurai lived near the lord's castle, where they rendered service as scribes, accountants, managers, advisors, and teachers and were rewarded with stipends. They had no tie to a landed estate. A samurai traveled in the city to and from his post on foot for the most part; a ranking warrior might ride in a palanquin. Some members of the warrior class were unable to find employment as retainers and eked out an existence teaching commoners' children or performing menial jobs in Edo or other cities. The Tokugawa Warrior and His Sword

In most domains warriors were differentiated into dozens of classifications, although a basic division can be assumed between upper-class and lower-class samurai.31 Almost never did they find themselves mounted and fully dressed in battle armor, clutching bow and arrow and naginata as their fathers or grandfathers had. Not surprisingly, this transformation of the bushi meant that the sword became his primary weapon. (Actually there were two swords, or daisho, as the set of long and short swords was called.) Like the six-gun in the American West, the sword was part of the daily attire of the samurai; and legislation permitted no other class to wear one. While the sword may indeed have come to be considered the soul or mind of the samurai in a quasireligious sense, it was more than anything a symbol of the warrior's status at the peak of a rigidly defined social hierarchy. Along with dress, hairstyle, and certain privileges, the right to carry swords marked the samurai off from the commoner, whom he was by law allowed "exemption to cut down and discard" (kirisute gomen) should the commoner fail to show proper respect.32 The sword became the chief weapon of the Tokugawa samurai. It was both the weapon with which he was most likely to acquire some degree of technical skill and the symbol of the entire class. Even a progressive intellectual like Fukuzawa Yukichi, who decided that "swords were unnecessary in my scheme of things," had to wear a pair of swords when he went out.33 Not to do so would have been unthinkable. And, unlike many other bushi of his day, Fukuzawa retained some skill with his sword. Lacking the imperative of war as technological motivation, the art of sword making seems to have declined somewhat in Tokugawa times. But if the swords themselves were of lesser quality than earlier ones, their decoration, along with admiration and even veneration for swords, reached a new height.34

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Connoisseurship became an art form. Hilt designers, scabbard makers, and sword polishers achieved renown. Enjoying weapons as works of art became, arguably, more important than learning to use them. Perhaps because the Tokugawa bushi was largely spared the horror of having to use his sword in actual combat, he found more to admire in it. The age-old association of the sword with Shinto and Buddhist deities was intensified by the spread of texts devoted to theorizing about and analyzing swordsmanship. Tokugawa martial arts texts are illustrated with mandala and other diagrams linking swords and sword techniques with Amaterasu, Fudo, Take Mikazuchi no Kami, Hachiman, Marishisonten, and other deities; the links are frequently explained in esoteric language employing yin-yang and five-element (uwxing) theory. The focus of swordsmanship as a means of self-perfection further increased the tendency on the part of many warriors to identify the sword with their very essence. This is when the sword came to be looked on as the soul of the samurai or, in Shimada Toranosuke's words, "the mind" of the warrior. Such feelings about the sword were far from universal, especially early in the period, but even then it was clear that the sword had become the primary focus of bushi attention. The transformation of swordsmanship, and by extension all martial arts, in the Tokugawa period is captured in Yagyu Munenori's Heiho kadensho, in which he espouses turning the killing sword into the life-giving sword. Miyamoto Musashi says in his autobiography that "the sword is the basis of heiho [martial arts], since it is through the sword that one can pacify both society and oneself."35 Transformation of the rural knight on horseback into the urban samurai on foot necessarily meant a transformation of the old fighting techniques. When warriors with battlefield experience disappeared, the way samurai practiced martial techniques, and the uses to which they put those techniques, changed accordingly. Practicing deadly sword techniques that were never used was indeed, as the protagonist of Kobayashi Masaki's classic film Harakiri expressed it, as pointless as "swimming on tatami [floor matting]." The second period in Tokugawa swordsmanship, which includes the Genroku era (1688-1704) of cultural flowering and lasts until perhaps the Kansei reforms of 1789, was a peaceful time. Swordsmanship lost its real meaning, and there was considerable stagnation, even decline, in skills. Various ryuha concerned themselves excessively with the practice of empty forms and with speculations on theories and principles of swordsmanship. Their emphasis on showy forms of impractical swordsmanship earned the label "flowery swordsmanship. "3(S

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Scholars usually attribute the decline of swordsmanship and other martial arts to the advent of peace, the shogunal prohibition of matches against practitioners of different schools (taryu jiai), and the decline of musha shugyo.37 Indeed, these three closely linked developments meant that after 1650 or so, there were fewer life-and-death situations in which Tokugawa warriors contested with one another, situations in which techniques could be improved and skills honed. First the bakufu and the individual domain forbade challenges against other styles, and then the ryuha themselves issued similar prohibitions. Many of the texts of Tokugawa ryuha contain explicit bans against such practices. "It is the principle of our ryu that we not engage in bouts against other schools." Indeed, many ryu made students pledge not even to criticize other schools. These bans in turn contributed to the decline of the practice of musha shugyo, for one of the primary functions of knight errantry was to challenge other swordsmen in order to test one's abilities and make a name for oneself. All the founders of major early Tokugawa ryuha earned their reputations as they traveled on musha shugyo and bested foe after foe. The watchful eye of the bakufu was directed toward the activities of the various daimyo through both regular censorial officials (metsuke) and spies dispatched to ferret out potential rebellion. Each domain was consequently as concerned with internal security as the bakufu itself, and discouraged random wandering by its bushi. In fact, leaving a domain required a certificate of permission from the domain authorities, and leaving without such a certificate was technically "fleeing the han" (dappan), a very serious offense.38 Thus lack of opportunity to fight against other swordsmen and restraints against leaving one's domain made musha shugyo increasingly difficult and of diminished value for swordsmen. Although these conditions led to the decline of swordsmanship as a fighting skill, taryu jiai never was entirely stamped out, nor did musha shugyo completely vanish. Intrepid bushi, ronin, and even commoners intent upon improving their skills, demonstrating their prowess, or improving their physical and spiritual condition continued to engage in both practices. Indeed, when competition was revived by the spread of fencing matches in the eighteenth century, warriors could hardly be restrained from testing their abilities against one another. By the end of the Tokugawa period, when neither the bakufu nor the domain was sufficiently able to control the warriors, the dojo yaburi ("training hall destroyer") became common. These were swordsmen who made it a practice to visit other dojo and challenge the students or even the head instructors to matches. A good example is Katsu Kokichi, father of

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the Meiji Restoration leader Katsu Rintaro, who noted with some satisfaction in his autobiography that "I demolished every good-for-nothing in my own neighborhood of Honjo. Everybody obeyed me. I feared absolutely no one."39 But for most of the Tokugawa period musha shugyo and taryu jiai were seriously curtailed by the trend of the times and the actions of the authorities. Although bakufu regulations contributed greatly to the decline and transformation of swordsmanship, two other developments were also significant: the bakufu emphasis on the civil virtues and the professionalization of the martial arts. The Establishment of a Civil Culture

Although the first set of Laws Governing the Military Houses, in 1615, enjoined warriors to practice archery and horsemanship, it was careful to emphasize the unbreakable link between the civil (bun) and martial (bu) elements. The literate segment of Japanese warrior society had since the Kamakura period stressed this ideal of combining bun and bu in harmonious balance (bunbu ryodo).40 The sentiment is expressed in the initial statement of Imagawa Ryoshun's Regulations 0/1412: "Without knowledge, one will ultimately have no military victories." And in Kuroda Nagamasa's Notes on Regulation: "The arts of peace and the arts of war are like the two wheels of the cart which, lacking one, will have difficulty in standing." Some Sengoku house laws even contain exhortations from Chinese classics. H6J6 Soun advises warriors that "when one has the least bit of spare time, he should always take out some piece of literature."41 The ideals of the pre-Tokugawa samurai may have included a familiarity with the civil arts and an emphasis upon bunbu ryodo; yet when perused further, many works also contain warnings that "reading Chinese poetry, linked verse, and waka is forbidden." Unmistakably, the bu element took precedence: "one should exert himself in the martial arts absolutely."42 This is hardly surprising, for the majority of pre-Tokugawa warriors were unlettered anyway. But during the Tokugawa period, the emphasis shifted toward the bun element; it could not have been otherwise in an era of peace. And because the Tokugawa regime itself was above all interested in the preservation of its hegemony, it could scarcely encourage too dedicated a study of martial skills without endangering its own interests. Both shogun and daimyo valued law and order most highly. Thus, although these first Laws Governing the Military Houses enjoined

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warriors to practice fighting skills, later versions evinced a marked decline in bakufu enthusiasm for martial endeavors. In both the 1635 and 1665 versions, the long editorial comment is gone, and all that remains of the first article is a remark that the "arts of peace and war, including archery and horsemanship, should be pursued single-mindedly."43 By 1683, article i had been changed considerably; now it simply encouraged warriors to practice civil and military arts, loyalty, and filial piety. References to military preparations were relegated to Article 3. By 1706 article i had become even more vague: "One should practice the ways of peace and war, clarify morality, and adjust customs." Article 3 merely states that "arms and horses ought to be prepared for military campaigns, and resources stored for public campaigns."44 Despite lip service paid to bunbu ryodo, then, the bakufu's policy shifted gradually from encouraging the bu element in the early decades of uncertainty and turmoil to emphasizing the bun element as society became settled and peace spread across the land. Another indication of the bakufu's concern for the civil arts is the adoption of Neo-Confucianism as a civil religion and the concomitant rise of learning and literacy. This too was an important outgrowth of peace, another aspect of the transformation of the samurai in Tokugawa times. At the outset of the period the majority of warriors were illiterate fighting men, but by the end of the period literacy was virtually total for the class, which constituted perhaps 6 percent of the populace.45 The encouragement of learning and the spread of literacy had a profound effect on the fighting systems of Japan. The stress on study and reflection inherent in Neo-Confucianism and the emphasis upon the "investigation of things" resulted in a tremendous outpouring of written materials. While samurai wrote many works on history, statecraft, and political economy, they also produced a significant amount of literature on the theoretical basis of the martial arts (bugei texts), as well as on the idealized behavior and social function of the warrior (bushido and budo texts).46 These texts in turn had an enormous impact on military skills and training; in fact, they were a major cause of the transformation of practical fighting techniques into something more highly refined, worthy of the name martial arts. In pre-Tokugawa times, when men learned to use the sword, lance, and bow because of their immense value for surviving and succeeding in a world of war, there were few written texts describing, analyzing, or teaching martial skills. The techniques were passed among warriors, sometimes in a formal teacher-to-student format, primarily by demonstration. It was felt that such skills could be attained only through long and arduous practice and battle

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experience and that the secrets had to be demonstrated, not transmitted by either spoken or written word. But with the advent of peace, the prevalence of a Confucian attitude toward learning, and the spread of literacy, warriors of sword, spear, bow and arrow, and other weapons began to reduce their experience to writing. Because the writers were versed in literary as well as martial matters, the martial arts came to acquire a theoretical underpinning, derived on the one hand from the artistic thought of the Japanese medieval religico-philosophical tradition and on the other hand from the educational ideals in Confucianinspired bunbu thought. In some texts, the stress is on the artistic function of swordsmanship or archery; in others, the emphasis is on statecraft and moral development. But the result was that the martial arts, swordsmanship in particular, was explicated from a wide range of artistic and philosophical standpoints. The techniques (waza) as well as the mental framework (shin) necessary to engage the enemy, and even the underlying principles (n) of the various martial arts, were discussed by writers espousing Confucianism, Daoist ideals as conceived by Laozi and Zhuangzi, Buddhist—especially Zen—concepts, and native Shinto. Such Chinese beliefs as yin-yang and the five elements were also commonly invoked. The approach to martial arts theory often differed depending upon the perspective and occupation of the writer—Confucian scholar, military strategist, martial arts practitioner, Buddhist monk, physician, or physical culturalist (yojoka). Confucians and strategists tended to discuss martial arts from the point of view of statecraft or character building. Many practitioners of martial arts, largely freed from the burden of having to use their expertise in real combat, urged a higher purpose for their activities: to discover one's innermost secrets, develop a heightened degree of mental awareness, and even achieve enlightenment in a Zen or Daoist sense. Physicians were more likely to stress recreational or physical fitness aspects of the martial arts.47 These philosophical strands were not necessarily separate; many writers mixed Buddhist and Confucian ideas and even adopted elaborate Daoist diagrams and explanations. Esoteric Shingon Buddhist elements often appeared at the root of texts superficially claiming Zen or Shinto primacy. This is not the place to discuss philosophical influences on the martial arts. It is sufficient to note that the appearance of texts discussing not only military techniques but also the requisite mental training and philosophical principles underlying those techniques represented a new stage in the development of the martial

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arts. This phenomenon, largely attributable to the bakufu policy of encouraging learning and the consequent spread of literacy among the bushi, naturally contributed to the development of the martial arts as a means for "selfperfection."48 The Martial Arts as a Profession

Another crucial aspect of the transformation of swordsmanship and other fighting skills between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries was their "professionalization."49 Although the first ryuha in horsemanship, archery, and swordsmanship developed during the Muromachi period, the great proliferation of these schools came during Tokugawa times. Ryuha in all forms of cultural endeavor were corporate groups whose existence transcended the lives of the constituent members at any one time. Members normally held sacred the memory of the real or reputed founder of the ryu and diligently used the prescribed forms (kata) established by the founder to practice the martial techniques in secret. Elaborate ceremonial procedures often bound the head of the school and his students together in an almost religious manner, with pledges extracted from students to protect the sanctity of the ryu by swearing not to divulge its secrets. The head of the school, whether he had ever drawn a bow or raised a sword in actual combat, commanded tremendous respect from his followers; his instruction had the force of law.s° The inheritance and transmission of the secrets of ryuha—whether swordsmanship, music, the tea ceremony or any of the myriad other codified cultural forms—assumed great importance in Tokugawa times and was in many ryuha controlled by specific families who hereditarily transmitted the arcana of the school's style. Mastery of the specific art or skill was seen as a family business (kagyo) or profession (kagei) that the father, having been trained by his father, expected to pass on to his son. The head, or master, of the ryuha was often referred to as an iemoto, "house head." Large-scale social organizations emerged where families monopolized the iemoto position for generations. Where this family monopolization occurred, the Japanese recognize the existence of an iemoto system.51 Swordsmanship and other martial arts shared this organizational concept with civil arts, although in general the martial arts ryuha developed later than other cultural forms, primarily in the Tokugawa period. Nonetheless, instruction in swordsmanship came to be seen as a profession, a licensed occupation by which a sword master supported himself, either as the head of a private

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academy in an urban area open to all applicants or in a domain academy restricted to warriors of that domain. Instruction was often transmitted as a family profession, in the manner not only of medieval cultural forms such as the tea ceremony and flower arrangement but also in the manner of families who had, since ancient times, monopolized the teaching of Confucian texts, the playing of Chinese instruments, and the writing of certain poetic forms. With the advent of peace and the dissociation of warriors from actual combat, formalized instruction in the techniques of fighting—not only with the sword but also with the spear, the bow, and the rest—became more common. Earlier warriors were more often too involved in actual combat to teach, so instruction was highly personal, eclectic, and irregular.52 In Tokugawa times teaching became a vocation. As with other arts, the tendency was for the profession to become hereditary. Always pragmatic in matters of kinship, however, Japanese ryuha commonly adopted an appropriate successor to become the next generation head, usually by marriage to a daughter of the house, when male relatives were lacking or incompetent. Some martial arts ryuha were thus headed by generation after generation of men (real or adopted heirs) of the same surname, as with the Kunii family of the Kashima shin-ryu. Sometimes a given name might be passed on generationally, giving a Rokuzo IV, a Rokuzo V, and a Rokuzo VI. Even when the iemoto system was not in full existence—when, as was most often the case in the martial arts, a single family did not control the ryuha or it split into multiple offshoot ryuha in each generation—the tendency was still for martial arts ryuha to function as corporate groups, modeled closely on kinship organizations. All Japanese ryuha share certain fundamental characteristics. They are similar in terms of organizational structure and ritual; members hold similar views on transmission of secret teachings; and instructors embrace a similar philosophy and method of instruction. In Chapter 8 I will discuss these organizational aspects in more detail.

Flowery Swordsmanship Peace, urbanization, the growth of a civil culture, and the professionalization of the teaching of fighting skills gave rise to a type of swordsmanship known as kata kenjutsu, that flourished in the late seventeenth century and persisted throughout the Tokugawa period. In kata kenjutsu the swordsman focused on the mastery of kata—the patterns or forms developed by the founder of

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the ryu out of his combat experiences. As with other forms of cultural expression, the fastest and most accurate method of mastering swordsmanship techniques was deemed to be the constant repetition of these kata under the supervision of an unchallenged teacher.53 Kata were especially valued in swordsmanship, but in the late i6oos almost a century had passed since they were used in combat, and much of their original meaning had been lost. The constant repetition of such patterns could, and did, deteriorate into an extreme formalism that emphasized the outward elegance of the kata. Kata were devised by heads of new ryu, either as variations of the kata of established schools in which they first trained or as new creations. Indeed, some schools concentrated on the proliferation of kata; there were ryu boasting fifty, or one hundred, or, in one extreme case, even one hundred fifty.54 Mid-Tokugawa swordsmanship thus primarily involved constant kata practice, the repetition of these old or new forms until the teacher judged that a certain level of mastery had been achieved. A specified number of forms, usually increasing in complexity as the student progressed, was required for each level. Each level of progress was rewarded with a certificate—kirigami, mokuroku, menkyo, kaiden, kuden—varying slightly according to the ryu. Such certificates were analogous to the system of colored belts employed today in karate, judo, and many other martial arts. The moves of the kata were acted out as though the swordsman was being attacked by a single foe or multiple opponents. The kata were not tested in actual combat, although most were practiced with a partner. The emphasis came to be placed upon various postures, or kamae—ways of positioning the body and handling the sword. The kamae were designed both to defend effectively against the presumed attack of an imagined opponent and to discourage him from attacking—that is, destroy his concentration or upset any preconceived strategy before he attacked. These kamae are somewhat overdramatized to provide tension in samurai movies, where minutes go by as the swordsmen stalk one another. The camera focuses on the eyes, so that viewers can see the depth of concentration required. Ryuha in fact emphasized the ways the eyes had to be trained (metsuke) to convey the psychological state necessary for combat. Scholars today are quick to criticize many of these kata, kamae, and metsuke as lacking practicality or purpose, as being little more than elaborate embellishments.55 They call them kaho kempo, literally "flowery-method fencing," criticizing them much as Musashi himself criticized them in Gorin no sho. Even in his day there was a tendency toward showiness.

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The Results of Professionalization

In early and mid Tokugawa Japan peace and stability allowed what were originally deadly combat skills to be modified into tamer forms of artistic expression that, along with other Japanese arts, placed considerable emphasis upon more than mere external form: on mental attitude and character building—"self perfection." While most earlier martial arts ryuha took their name from their founder (Heki-ryu) or their place of origin (Kashima-ryu), many Tokugawa ryuha demonstrated their new-found concern with mind and mental awareness by choosing names like munen and muso (no thought), muteki (no enemy), mugen (no eye), jikishin (correct mind), and shinshin (true mind). These names illustrate a concern with beautifying or elevating deadly skills, transforming them into a true art form with a philosophical dimension. Some proponents of martial arts did in fact combine their skill with a deeper understanding of Buddhist, Confucian, Shinto, or Daoist ideals, approximate the transcendent concept of kenzen ichinyo—"the sword and Zen are one"—or live the ideal often espoused today, that mastery of the sword is mastery of oneself, that competition is beneath a true warrior.56 This ideal has received wide attention in the West, often through the writings of Buddhist priests who also practice swordsmanship. Thus we read in a work like The Zen Way to the Martial Arts by Taisen Deshimaru—who is both a Zen master and a kendo expert—that "the way that taught how to cut one's enemies in two became the way that taught how to cut one's own mind. A way of decision, resolution, determination. That was true Japanese kendo, true Budo. Strength and victory flow from decisiveness. One moves beyond the level at which most people stop, one transcends the conflict, transforms it into a spiritual progress. There was nothing sportlike about training in those days; the samurai had a higher vision of life. . . . Zen and the martial arts have nothing to do with keeping fit or improving health, either."57 But such a view of the martial arts, especially the martial arts of the Tokugawa period, is just one view, here a Zen view. Though true for the author and others who choose a distinctly Zen path in life, there is the tendency to equate this understanding of martial arts with all practitioners. The result is such phrases as "Zen samurai" and "the sword and Zen are one," suggesting that all warriors approached swordsmanship with the same mentality or that they achieved this level of almost religious understanding.58 In fact, it is the very difficulty of attaining such an understanding that made those few who did so, so outstanding. The teacher Yamaoka Tesshu of the late Tokugawa and Meiji periods,

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who ultimately did achieve an understanding that linked kendo and Zen, was a rare figure indeed.59 And those who achieved such a detached and rarefied understanding were able to do so only after long and arduous training that was most likely filled with competition, the desire to excel, and other egocentric preoccupations. As Musashi claims, the purpose of martial arts (heiho) is to excel, and he admits that a transcendent sense of the meaning of martial arts came to him only after he was fifty, when his understanding that "the way is one" allowed him to master other cultural pursuits.60 But Musashi was not typical. Approaches to the martial arts were diverse, and competition was, as we shall see, a crucial element. Abuses in Kata Kenjutsu Abuses crept into the practice of kata-oriented swordsmanship and other martial arts, which had become almost totally divorced from the battlefield skills from which they were derived. In Tokugawa Japan, martial arts ryuha often required a large number of dues-paying students, a dqjo, and perhaps even a dormitory to house the students. Ranks became commonplace so that progress in learning could be certified. The necessity for the head of the school to maintain a sizable following and sustain a complex network of feudal relationships often meant that the awarding of ranks was influenced by factors other than attainment of skill.61 In fact, certificates of mastery of a certain level of proficiency were given for various reasons, reflecting problems that today plague the business of teaching martial arts, especially outside Japan. Transmission of the secrets of a school often degenerated into a kind of formalism. On the one hand, certificates were awarded to those who demonstrated ability in mastering the skills. Yet others were awarded certificates even though their level of ability was incomplete, for reasons of feudal obligation or for other personal considerations. Certificates were also awarded to technically unqualified people in return for money.62 The last practice is not uncommon today, since fees are charged for taking and passing tests for higher ranks, and some schools for a set fee offer contracts guaranteeing that a student will attain a black belt in a stipulated period of time. No one is certain of the frequency of these practices in Tokugawa times. But once swordsmanship became a full-fledged art like the tea ceremony, the feudal structure of the profession probably meant that the awarding of certificates for considerations of money or personal obligation was quite frequent.63 Naturally, the tendency for what were once fighting skills to be reduced to a business was the object of much criticism then, as it is now. Perhaps Miyamoto

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Musashi was one of the first to voice such criticism, when he said: "In particular, to take the way ~of heiho [swordsmanship] and add embellishments to it and show off techniques, or to speak of having one or two training halls— that is, to teach and learn heiho with an eye towards profit, to practice a superficial kind of heiho—will surely lead to great weakness."64 Many other writers criticized the tendency to make money from teaching martial arts. Not only did it seem to demean the skill itself and the attitude of teachers, but it also encouraged practice of the martial arts for purposes considered improper. Thus we read of students unconcerned with the mastery of techniques and mental attitudes but interested only in receiving certificates, students who thereafter strutted around, bragging that they held certificates, even though they showed absolutely no sign that they had achieved proficiency.65 A similar criticism is often leveled against the eager rank-seeker today who is more concerned with impressing friends with attainment of a particular rank than with learning the techniques properly. Instructors too came in for harsh criticism. A severe view was expressed in the early eighteenth century by Matsushita Kunitaka, who ridiculed the tendency to claim that a ryuha founder went off to some sacred mountain and learned "secret" techniques from a goblin or deity.66 He observed that nine out of ten teachers were more talk than talent and had turned "martial arts in which life and death hung in the balance . . . into a child's game." He concluded that these masters of sword, spear, and gun drew high salaries from their daimyo but were little more than geisha, knowing nothing of the world. Another criticism of Tokugawa swordsmanship was that practitioners whined about the slightest injury sustained in practice. Again, Matsushita claimed that fencers flinched when a wooden sword flashed in front of their eyes and that the color drained from their faces at the slightest touch of the blade. In jujutsu practice, even a minor injury to a joint brought cries of pain.67 For warriors accustomed to combat, a bruise received in the practice hall from a bamboo or wooden sword could seem minor indeed. On the other hand, when new technology or otherwise changed conditions result in safer methods of practice, older performers are apt to complain that "in my day we never had it so easy. Players had to be tougher." Yet such criticism was inevitable, given the transformation of warrior society and the reality that martial techniques were being practiced for nonmartial purposes. The decline of the martial values and actual skills of the warrior became clear after the middle of the seventeenth century but was especially marked—and thus the subject of frequent criticism—in the Gen-

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roku era, when the samurai were inordinately attracted to the urban culture of the merchant class. Criticism of Swordsmanship

Criticism of the new urban samurai focused upon the trend toward laziness, bureaucratization, ostentatious dress, and licentious behavior. Seventeenthcentury paintings of samurai visiting the popular pleasure quarters—Yoshiwara in Edo, Shimabara in Kyoto—depict them in resplendent form-fitting costumes not readily distinguishable from those of the women whom they patronized. Warriors were considered weak and dandified; they powdered their faces and shaped their eyebrows like women. And the criticism naturally extended to the martial arts that they practiced, if they practiced them at all. Ogyu Sorai, a leading intellectual of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, offered this criticism: While there has been considerable inventiveness in the techniques of using spear and sword in recent times, for the most part it is common to square off against one another and emphasize a brilliant defeat of the opponent before a crowd of onlookers. Particularly as social conditions have improved, swordsmen have grown weaker, and thus they discuss "principles" at a high level of abstraction; or else they concentrate upon beautifying moves which they have created, or they devise face-masks so that the blow of a bamboo sword does not cause pain. . . . Thus, in all the martial arts, while they ought to be concerned with learning to use the hands and feet and developing skill in various techniques, in fact they look down upon technique and instead argue about theory: this is all like some playful sport of an age of peace. Since today's bushi have become weak, that is all the more reason why they should find a ryu which strengthens the arms and legs and makes one firm in the techniques of the martial arts and makes one study that style.68 Although we cannot decry the seriousness of Sorai's concern, historical perspective suggests the unreasonableness of his expectations. First, since war was little more than a theoretical concern for most bushi, the study of military skills almost automatically took on an artificial quality, no matter how instructors or writers like Sorai might stress the necessity for constant training and vigilance. Martial arts became compartmentalized, divorced from the many concerns of daily life in an age of peace. Fighting skills became an accomplishment like the tea ceremony and other partially recreational and artistic activities, and martial arts training was included in the curricula of most domain schools from the middle of the Tokugawa period, contributing to a further transformation of the martial arts. Gathered together at training halls,

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warriors competed among themselves for success in the eyes of the head of the ryu. The rise of a spirit of competitiveness, of a desire not only to master techniques and perhaps develop a certain spiritual awareness but also to defeat an opponent in a match, meant that the martial arts became something quite different from the martial skills of a time when survival on the battlefield was all that mattered.

From Self-Protection to Self-Perfection The martial arts (bugei) developed in the Tokugawa period out of the martial techniques (bujutsu) of the previous age. The transformation has several aspects to it, although the literature in Western languages has focused on only one, best summarized by Donn Draeger as a transformation from jutsu to do, from "martial arts" to "martial ways." He articulates the idea that the martial ways are far removed from earlier fighting skills, often having no practicality at all, and, like other "ways" (tea, flower arrangement), are more concerned with personal internal goals—self-awareness, enlightenment, and other states normally expressed in Buddhist or Daoist terminology. Draeger captures this aspect of the transformation in the phrase "from self-protection to selfperfection," focusing squarely on the spiritual development possible through training in martial arts.69 Although forms of practical combat were in fact transformed into more refined and controlled martial arts, Tokugawa texts do not support Draeger's conclusions from a linguistic standpoint. That is to say, forms of armed and unarmed combat training did not in the Tokugawa period undergo a change in terminology from jutsu to do. What had previously been called kenjutsu (sword techniques) did not become kendo (sword ways), nor didjujutsu become judo. That transformation is a distinctly modern one. Specific references in martial arts texts of the period to any form of do—kendo, judo, kyudo—are extremely rare. In the Sengoku period the most common term used by bushi to describe their comprehensive fighting system was heiho, alternately read as hyoho, "military methods." Although some ryuha emphasized a specific weapon, most still advocated a familiarity with other weapons in an inclusive heiho. Real specialization—swordsmen who knew nothing of using the naginata, for example—occurred only in the peaceful Tokugawa period. That probably began to occur in the 1670$, during the time of the third shogun, lemitsu.70 The comprehensive fighting system—heiho—was segmented into specializations. The Tokugawa change was from heiho to bugei—from martial

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techniques to martial arts. In this sense, swordsmanship, or archery, or even ninja skills, came to be organized, practiced, experienced, and even marketed much like other artistic traditions, which were also transformed during the period. Most swordsmanship ryuha called their activity kenjutsu, kempo, kengei, or, more commonly, heiho (heiho in Tokugawa times normally took on the narrow meaning of swordsmanship). Thus, Miyamoto Musashi notes that "recently, there are many who go about calling themselves practitioners of heiho, but what they mean is really just swordsmanship (kenjutsu). It is only in recent years that officials of the Kashima and Katori Shrines of Hitachi have established swordsmanship ryuha claiming to be the tradition of their gods and gone around the country teaching it to people. . . . But while concentrating solely on techniques of the sword, it is difficult to learn swordsmanship itself. This is not in accord with the principles of heiho."71 Musashi, whether he liked it or not, lived in a world of tremendous change, and the heiho that he knew and practiced—finally understanding its true meaning only when he reached his fifties, long after he had engaged in real combat—inevitably died out. His criticisms—of dqjo, discussions of principles, and the addition of flourish to techniques—were symptomatic of the changes taking place during his lifetime, changes that he was powerless to stop. After his death, his own style of Nito-ryu developed in precisely the same manner as other styles. Thus, for the rest of the Tokugawa period those who engaged only in swordsmanship continued to call their art heiho. The word kendo—"the way of the sword"—is modern. But that does not mean Tokugawa swordsmen were not interested in a "way"—whether Confucian, Daoist, or Zen Buddhist. Many clearly were interested. It is simply that they rarely used the term. Gei, ho, jutsu were all much more common than do as suffixes for weapon systems in Tokugawa times.72 Terminology aside, martial techniques in the Tokugawa era became more specialized than the earlier, comprehensive heiho and were concerned with something other than battlefield victory. Musashi idealized the way of heiho for the samurai as "based on his excelling others in every endeavor, in winning in confrontation against a single opponent or in a battle against many; both for the sake of his lord and for his own personal sake, [the samurai] tries to make a reputation, to establish himself."73 Musashi felt that this ability to excel could be learned through the virtue of heiho. Such a focus was easier for a veteran warrior like Musashi. Those who came later, try as they might, could not rival the physical accomplishments of

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a Musashi.74 Tomo Goro Tokihide, reviver of the Shibukawa-ryu of jujutsu, summed it up well: "Even those bushi born near the end of the Sengoku period, men like Yagyu Jubei and Miyamoto Musashi, who equipped themselves with great mental power through their own inherent genius, were not able to teach the essentials of their experience to others. And even if they had been able to teach it, they could not have made them fully understand. And thus their direct students generally went no further than imitating them, and later generations of students continued only the forms, so that [martial arts] were reduced to the level of a puppet play."75

The Transformation of Swordsmanship The nineteenth-century scholar and swordsman Fujita Toko discerned the transformation of swordsmanship from early to mid Tokugawa times. "Even though men no longer went off to the battlefield in this age of peace," he wrote, "still in the Genna and Kan'ei eras (1614—1644) men's spirits remained violent, and they were apt to fight one another with real swords. Consequently, there were people with considerable swordsmanship skills."76 Clearly, he meant people like Musashi and Yagyu Munenori. Subsequently, things changed. "The martial spirit inexorably declined. Furthermore, since it was no longer the vassal's way to throw himself into mastering the skills necessary to defeat the enemy on his lord's behalf, the practice of fighting with real swords essentially disappeared. Various ryuha developed in individual families, and they competed against each other within their own school. But they could not fully fight each other. This led them to learn only forms, [so that swordsmanship] developed into a kind of child's amusement. Thus did training with the lance and sword decline." If this was not necessarily a decline but a transformation due to profound social change, it was perceived as a decline in its day. Matsushita Kunitaka noted wryly that the hand techniques of a swordsman looked like those of a Noh dancer who had simply exchanged a sword for his fan, and their foot movements resembled those of court nobles and priests kicking a kemari ball.77 The bakufu did not stand idly by while its warriors lost all martial skills and virtues. Virtually every one of the periodic bakufu attempts to reform society's ills included exhortations for warriors to renew interest in martial skills and military training. The eighth shogun, Yoshimune, tried to reverse the trend during the Kyoho reforms of the early eighteenth century. In good Confucian form, Yoshimune advocated uprightness in government and simplicity in personal habits, issued laws designed to curb sumptuous living and

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encourage ethical behavior, promoted administrative reform and the employment of men of talent, and encouraged agricultural production and fiscal responsibility. Yoshimune also tried to restore the martial spirit of a century before. As a martial artist himself, the shogun employed men skilled in the use of weapons, constructed facilities for weapon practice, and generally encouraged wider participation in the practice of various martial arts.78 Yoshimune was even interested in contemporary Western weapons and equestrian techniques.79 He requested the Dutch to demonstrate how to fire a gun from horseback; and in 1732 the bakufu received two suits of bulletproof armor that the shogun had been eager to see since 1723. Horses were of particular interest to Yoshimune for their military potential, and he had animals imported from Korea and China as well as the West, along with riding instructors from Holland. The study of Western equestrian techniques improved under such training, and in 1736 Imamura Danjuro even compiled a work on Dutch horsemanship. But Yoshimune's attempt to breathe new life into the changing forms of martial arts ultimately failed because, in the end, the bakufu was a military government in an age of peace. As one scholar puts it although the "military conscience of the age deplored the loss of martial vigor in the bushi class, by their actions the shogunate and the daimyo houses placed their prime emphasis on public law and civic order."80 Thus, mid-Tokugawa swordsmanship involved the endless repetition of kata in what were by then standard woodenfloored training halls, instead of the earlier practice on terrain where actual fighting might be conducted. While many students were diligent, others concentrated on amassing certificates from teachers whose livelihood depended upon student fees. The resemblance to the martial arts world of today is marked.

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CHAPTER FOUR

The Sporting Element in the Late Tokugawa

IF BY MID-TOKUGAWA TIMES martial skills for self-protection had been transformed into martial arts for self-perfection, in the late Tokugawa the change was from self-defense to sport. Intense competition, especially in swordsmanship, became a hallmark of the era, as samurai were concerned, in Musashi's words, with "excelling others." A major stream within Buddhism and most other Asian philosophical and religious systems idealizes selflessness or a denial of self. Many who practice or write about the martial arts have seized upon this ideal and denounced competition as anathema because it seems to involve an inordinate sense of ego. For such individuals a true martial art is an active form of Zen meditation: it should be a vehicle to transcend self and not a means to defeat others.1 But competition, the desire to win, often demeaned as "mere" sport, was a crucial element in the practice of the martial arts in Tokugawa times.2 Competition drew many bushi and commoners alike to fencing as it was taught in urban academies. The sporting impetus of the age led ultimately to kendo as we know it today, and carries over into judo, karate, and other sport forms of the martial arts. This third and final period of Tokugawa swordsmanship is more difficult to date precisely because the changes that led to the development of competitive fencing did not occur suddenly. From the mid-eighteenth century a new spirit dominated Tokugawa swordsmanship, and while the practice of

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kata kenjutsu—rote, formal swordplay—never died out, it was superseded by shinai uchikomi keiko, the forerunner of modern kendo.

The Development of Fencing The important technological change that transformed swordsmanship into fencing, into a competitive sport as well as a form of physical and spiritual practice, was the perfection and widespread adoption of protective equipment—bamboo swords, helmets, padded chest protectors—that allowed for the safe practice of swordplay against an opponent. But like most technological innovations, protective gear aroused great controversy when it was introduced and was resisted by many traditional ryuha, since its use seemed to lead even further away from the original life-and-death struggle that had been the core of earlier fighting systems. On the other hand, fencing that simulated combat was much more realistic than the formalistic kata practice then dominating swordsmanship. Protective gear represented a dramatic step forward in the transformation of military techniques into the sport forms that we know today, making swordsmanship, as Ogyu Sorai correctly noted, a playful sport of a peaceful age.3 The perfection of the bamboo sword and protective gear (bogu) used in kendo today occurred over a long period of time, and many people must have had a hand in it. The wooden sword had been in existence for hundreds of years, allowing for somewhat safer practice and duels than live sword blades had. But the wooden sword had its drawbacks. Though dull and not likely to pierce or cut, it was heavy and could easily break an arm, a wrist, an ankle, or a rib. In the hands of an expert swordsman, a wooden sword could be almost as lethal as a steel blade. Kendo practitioners today wear protective gear that includes the men, a head guard of heavy cotton with a metal face protector, tied at the back of the head with cords; it looks somewhat like a baseball catcher's mask. They wear padded, leather-covered gloves, called kote, that also serve as wrist or arm guards. The upper body is covered by a chest protector called a do, made of strips of bamboo covered with hide and heavily lacquered; like the men, the do is attached by cords. The tare, or waist armor, is tied in place by two bands. Made of several layers of heavy cotton to give it stiffness, the tare protects the groin. The kendoist today puts on all this gear over a padded blue jacket, or keikogi, and split skirt, or hakama, which together approximate the type of clothing worn in the Tokugawa era. The gear is donned essentially 83

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from the bottom up: tare first, then do. The men is tied on over a tenugui, or hachimaki, a cotton towel used to absorb sweat. Finally, the kote can be fastened to the arms. The kendoist fights matches (shiai) with an imitation sword, called a shinaiy constructed of four equal-sized pieces of highly polished and wellseasoned bamboo. The perfectly matched pieces are tied together with a length of cord at three places. From the tip, where the strips are tied and then covered tightly with a leather cup, the cord stretches to the center, where it is tied again, and then to the handle (tsuka), where it is tied once more. Technology moves ever forward, and synthetic shinai are now available. These pieces of equipment were not developed at the same time and, until the modern age, were not always used as a set. Kendo tradition holds that Kamiizumi Ise no kami, founder of the Shinkage-ryu, first fashioned the fukuro shinai, the bamboo sword contained within a silk swordcase—that strange tool with which he confused Mikogami Tenzen in their match.4 Early shinai must have been quite primitive in comparison to the standard production model used worldwide today in kendo matches. The protective head and chest gear were evidently designed from analogy to samurai armor parts. But the pieces emerged separately rather than as a set, so that Tokugawa fencers might use only a helmet or just the do. Practice with the shinai and protective gear began in earnest in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. The practice was called shinai uchikomi keiko (practicing lunging strikes with the shinai) to distinguish it from the kata-oriented swordsmanship then almost universal. We might as well call it fencing. Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunizato—appropriately, an instructor of the Jikishin kage-ryu, an offshoot of Kamiizumi's original style—is credited with fashioning the protective gear and initiating this kind of practice.5 Then in the 17508 Nakanishi Tadazo, the second-generation head of the Nakanishiha itto-ryu, added refinements to the gear and espoused the practice of lunging strikes while wearing the gear, but fencing was not readily accepted, even within his own dqjo. One of his star pupils, Terada Muneari, left the school in disgust, feeling that the use of kote and men was simply not in accord with the true purpose of swordsmanship; and he went off to learn the Heijo muteki-ryu of the Ikeda house.6 Terada was hardly alone. From the 17508 on, practice involving the use of protective gear and shinai spread from ryu to ryu, attracting considerable attention, both negative and positive. As with any innovation of such magnitude, opinions were divided. I am reminded, for example, of contemporary

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debates in baseball over designated hitters and metal bats; in golf, over the square groove; and in college basketball, over the three-point basket. On the one hand, conservatives argued that the bamboo sword bore little resemblance to a real blade and that practicing with it provided no battlefield conditioning. But supporters argued that the kata focus was even more unrealistic. By allowing opponents to attack each another fully, shinai uchikomi keiko was much more aggressive and realistic than kata practice. Fujita Toko noted that it was about a century after the decline of real swordsmanship into flowery kata-oriented swordsmanship that "the so-called men, kote, and do were developed, and techniques became stronger every day." He was skeptical of the critics of this new style. Now people say that to use such gear to protect oneself is cowardly. But the reason that they claim that it is more courageous to compete with wooden swords or live blades against an unprotected body is because they are mired in the practice of forms. Contesting with live blades or wooden swords may indeed be valiant, but if you attack all out and strike someone, he will die on the spot. Even at a 60 to 70 percent effort, a blow will result in serious injury or deformity. This is fine in the case of a real enemy but hardly a practice to be employed between friends. Thus in order to avoid injury, such people attack one another lightly, with about 20 or 30 percent of their strength. It is useless to attack with this kind of beginner's strength. The various ryuha caution against and prohibit real attacks, so regrettably, even though they wield real swords, their technique is shallow, like that of a woman or a child. The difference between striking with full power and attacking with only 20 to 30 percent force is similar to the difference between releasing an arrow at full pull and releasing it after a pull of two or three inches. Of course, we can still measure hits and misses at a target a few feet away when the bow is drawn back only several inches, but what value is there in practicing such archery so assiduously that you can score a perfect one hundred hits in a hundred shots? Thus, contesting with wooden swords or live blades is forceful in name only; in actuality, it is powerless. Consequently, people have come to use the shinai, pieces of split bamboo held together in a leather case. Since it is made firmly, it is like a wooden sword. Because it is soft—being made of split bamboo covered with soft skin or hide—even if you strike with 70 or 80 percent power, it won't leave a mark.7 Fujita was not totally won over by the shinai, however. He also noted its shortcomings. He wrote that because it was light, it didn't resemble a sword. Fencing with it was not the same as fighting with a live blade. It was rather like "practicing archery with arrows made of hemp stalks." But he

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concluded that by wearing the protective gear and using the shinai, you could attack with full force and strike anywhere on the body, developing technique and training the body in a more realistic manner than other methods offered.8 From our vantage point today it is easy to criticize the purists interested in preserving the kata tradition of the ryuha founders. We can see that they themselves were practicing only an artificial form of the combat that their forebears had developed. But perhaps realization of that fact made the conservatives more hesitant to accept what they saw as a further deviation from the original. Nonetheless, as a form of physical training as well as competition, the new fencing spread rapidly. Compared to either a real or wooden sword, the shinai allowed warriors to attack each other with the abandon of real combat. By the end of the Tokugawa period, shinai uchikomi keiko had captured the swordsmanship world.9 Fencing with bamboo swords did not mean the end of either wooden swords or kata. Both remained a part of Tokugawa martial practice and are still widely used today. But the older schools that emphasized kata declined, to be replaced by a number of new schools espousing vigorous matches between fencers: the Nakanishi-ha itto-ryu, Hokushin itto-ryu, Kogen itto-ryu, Jingyoto-ryu, Jikishin kage-ryu, Kyoshin meichi-ryu, and Shinto munenryu.10 These ryuha produced some of the late Tokugawa swordsmenstatesmen who overthrew the bakufu and founded the Meiji regime, including such luminaries as Katsura Kogoro (Kido Koin), Takasugi Shinsaku, Fujita Toko, Watanabe Kazan, and Sakamoto Ryoma. The emphasis upon competitive fencing bouts was given great stimulus by the reforms of the Kansei era (1789-1801) carried out by the bakufu official Matsudaira Sadanobu (1758—1829). Besides urging fiscal reform to alleviate the bakufu's recurring economic problems, Sadanobu placed special emphasis upon stimulating both the martial skills and military spirit of the samurai class, which was by then largely civil in orientation. In fact, so insistent was Sadanobu that samurai practice both the civil and the military arts (bunbu) that he was lampooned in a popular ditty: with "bunbu, bunbu, you can't even sleep at night."11 Sadanobu, chief councillor of the bakufu, was, for a high-ranking official, unusually well qualified to preach about the martial arts. In his early years, he had practiced several of them assiduously to overcome a weak constitution and improve his health. He received certificates of mastery in Heki-ryu archery, Shinkage-ryu swordsmanship, the Oshima-ryu and Fuden-ryu schools of the spear, and Otsubo-ryu equitation.12 He also studied Kito-ryu jujutsu in later years.

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His contemporaries saw Sadanobu as overzealous; and although his policies seem to have had some effect for a time, by the end of the Kansei era people were once again rather cynical about serious practice of the martial arts. The purchase of certificates of rank to impress others became popular again, prompting the bakufu in 1802 to tighten regulations related to training in the martial arts. Nonetheless, Sadanobu's promotion of the martial arts proved a stimulus to those new ryuha—Jikishin kage-ryu, Shinto munen-ryu, Jingyoto-ryu, and Kyoshin meichi-ryu—that emphasized shinai uchikomi keiko.13 An important result of the spread of fencing was that the emphasis in swordsmanship shifted from mastery of kata to the demonstration of actual skills, that is, from the spiritual to the physical realm. Though no longer a matter, as in Sengoku times, of cutting down one's opponent, Tokugawa fencing refocused concern on victory over one's opponent in a contest. For many ryuha of swordsmanship in the Tokugawa period, the proper "way" was to focus upon the ideal of self-realization, discipline, even enlightenment, through a mastery of kata. But with the introduction of the new form, there was a distinct tendency to emphasize skills that could be demonstrated in competition; and thus the shiai became the primary test of ability and the focus of both spiritual and physical training. Owing to the official prohibition of taryu jiai, competition was limited to members of a school. Yet some warriors still managed to go off on musha shugyo, and by late Tokugawa times, with the lifting of the taryu jiai prohibition, the dqjo yaburi, fencers seeking to test the skills of men from other schools, were common. Again, Katsu Kokichi was a perfect example: "Challenging students from rival schools was getting to be a regular occupation. Night after night I roamed the streets with my followers in tow."14

The Dqjo There were essentially two different ways of studying swordsmanship in the Tokugawa period. A would-be fencer approached the training hall (dqjo) of a teacher of one of the proliferating ryuha, gained entrance to the course of instruction, and pursued that path. As time went on, instructors opened dqjo throughout the country, although the major cites—Kyoto, Osaka, and especially Edo, the seat of the warrior government—were best served. Sometimes bushi of a particular domain practiced swordsmanship at the domain dqjo, as part of the curriculum of the domain school (hanko). Urban dqjo (machi dojo) were advantageous from the swordsman's point of view

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because they brought together men from all over Japan, most likely with training in different styles, providing an opportunity to learn new techniques and improve skills. From the bakufu's standpoint, however, the urban dojo, by allowing bushi from different domains to congregate, could shake the delicate balance of power between the bakufu and the domain. Distance between the various domains, if not outright hostility and distrust, better served the shogunal hegemony. (The assessment was correct: many of the men who overthrew the bakufu in the nineteenth century—predominantly from the "outside" domains of Choshu, Satsuma, Hizen, and Tosa—practiced swordsmanship together in a handful of Edo's most prominent dojo.) Intra-domain training in the domain school was a better way for bakufu and domain to control the activities of warriors, and such training also enabled the ryu to maintain better control over its secret techniques. On the negative side, however, training in a domain school limited competition with other fencing styles, especially if the ryu maintained a prohibition on taryu jiai. There were many well-known swordsmanship dojo in Tokugawa Japan, several of which still exist today. The training hall at Kashima Shrine and the Rembukan in Mito are still renowned among kendo enthusiasts.15 But in the late Tokugawa (bakumatsu) period four training halls in Edo were especially well known: Chiba Shusaku's Hokushin itto-ryu dojo in Otamagaike, Saito Yakuro's Shinto munen-ryu dojo, Momonoi Shunzo's Kyoshin meichi-ryu dojo in Kyobashi, and Otani Nobutomo's Jikishin kage-ryu dojo. Chiba Shusaku

Chiba Shusaku Narimasa is one of the legendary figures of bakumatsu Japan, a man who helped pave the way for modern kendo.16 Chiba was born in 1794 to a village samurai family in northern Japan (in today's Miyagi Prefecture). As a child, he learned the Hokushin muso-ryu from his father and his grandfather, but in 1809 the family moved to Matsudo, a suburb of Edo, where he entered the Nakanishi-ha itto-ryu of Asari Matashichiro. Asari was a swordsman of unusual background.17 Born into a poor family in Matsudo, he seems to have earned his livelihood as a boy selling clams (asari). While peddling his clams in Edo one day, he sneaked into the kitchen of the Nakanishi dojo and surreptitiously watched the practice session. Discovered by master Nakanishi Chubei, the youth expressed his interest in learning to fence. The master pitted him against one of the regular students, and the young man displayed uncommon skill. He was admitted to the dojo and

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within a few short years achieved a certificate of mastery. He became so skilled that he was recommended for a fencing instructorship in Obama domain. Feeling that it would be inappropriate for a nameless commoner to accept such a position—as a commoner, Asari had no surname—Nakanishi gave him the name Asari Matashichiro Yoshinobu. Asari taught Chiba, who received certification from him at age twentythree, but Asari then sent Chiba to his own teacher for further study at the Nakanishi dqjo. Among the students were such noted fencers as Terada Muneari; Shirai Toru, reputedly unbeatable in matches; and Takayanagi Matashiro, renowned for his otonashi no kamae, "soundless posture."18 Chiba received his kaiden certificate there in only three years, and his certification match was a notable one. He was pitted against Takayanagi, and the outcome ended in a draw. At one point, when the fencers lunged to strike each other, Chiba's foot broke right through the thick floorboard with a crash. The master was so impressed with this display of unusual power that he tore up the piece of board and hung it over the entrance to the dqjo as a lesson for future students to bear in mind.19 After a short period in the service of the Kitamura family, Chiba opened his own dqjo in Edo, called the Gembukan, in the Shinagawa section of Nihonbashi in 1822, but he later moved it to Otamagaike in Kanda, also in Edo. He named his style the Hokushin itto-ryu and attracted a large number of students, reportedly as many as five or six thousand. Chiba's younger brother, Sadakichi, assisted at the Gembukan before opening his own dqjo in Kyobashi. Students were attracted to the Gembukan not only because of Chiba's reputation as a man of excellent character and superior technique but also because of his progressive, some might even say lenient, teaching methods. Concerned with the philosophy and organization of teaching swordsmanship, he devoted much time and energy to improving both. He reorganized the previous Itto-ryu system of eight ranks into only three, which, besides having technical merit, reduced the financial obligations of students, thus increasing the number who joined his school. He also devised a method of instruction that gave equal weight to training the mind and developing technique, which had a tremendous influence on the modernization of kendo in the Meiji era.20 Chiba's fame was such that he was sought as an instructor by daimyo throughout Japan, but he rejected these offers in order to stay in Edo. Finally, however, he could not refuse the offer of the Mito domain, ruled by one of the Tokugawa houses. In Mito he became an instructor in the well-known domain school Kddokan for a brief period.21

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Chiba died in 1855, long before the Tokugawa regime was overthrown, but among his students were a number of men destined to play an important role in the tumultuous bakumatsu years. They included the Tosa loyalists Sakamoto Ryoma and Kiyokawa Hachiro; Inoue Hachiro; Kaiho Shuhei, who became an instructor at the Mito Kodokan and married a daughter of Aizawa Seishisai, whose works inspired anti-Tokugawa elements; and Yamaoka Tesshu, a leading scholar, swordsman, and Zen practitioner who later served as tutor to the Meiji emperor.22 Saito Yakuro Saito Yakuro Yoshimichi (1798—1871) also had an unusual career for a swordsman.23 Born in Etchu, he was apprenticed to a merchant house dealing in pharmacological supplies. Later he traveled to Edo, where he was employed in the house of a Tokugawa retainer (hatamoto). Saito entered the Confucian academy of Koga Seiri and then enrolled in the famous Gekikenkan, the Shinto munen-ryu dqjo of Okada Jissho Yoshitoshi, where he met such aspiring swordsmen as Watanabe Kazan, Fujita Toko, and Mochizuki Seisuke.24 Saito also studied a number of other martial arts, including Western-style gunnery with Takayama Shuhan. Training assiduously at the Gekikenkan, he soon surpassed all his contemporaries to become the leading fencer at the school. He was so highly thought of that he ran the dqjo after Jissho's death, even though the head of ryu, Okada Jissho II, was four years his senior. When Saito was twenty-nine, he established his own dqjo, the Rembeikan in Kudan Sakashita in Edo (he later moved it to the Okachimachi district). In the 1850$, Saito retired, relinquishing control of the dqjo to his eldest son, Shintaro, who became Yakuro II. Famous figures who studied at the Rembeikan include Takasugi Shinsaku, Watanabe Noboru, Tani Kanjo, and Shinagawa Yajiro. But by far the most famous was the Choshu samurai Katsura Kogoro, later known to history as Kido Koin, one of the early Meiji oligarchs. Katsura was the best of Yakuro's students, serving as the head student instructor (jukuto).25 Momonoi Shunzo The third famous Edo bakumatsu dqjo was the Shigakukan of Momonoi Shunzo IV Naomasa (i825~i885).26 The Momonoi family was then teaching the Kyoshin meichi-ryu at a dqjo in Hatchobori. Momonoi Shunzo, born Tanaka Kansuke, was adopted into the Momonoi family. He entered Mo-

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monoi Naoichi's dqjo at fourteen, achieved his first certificate (shoden mokuroku) at seventeen, and later married Naoichi's daughter. He received his okuden certificate at twenty-five, when he also succeeded to the name Momonoi Shunzo. Momonoi's dqjo in Kyobashi, in Edo, was especially known for its postures (kamae), while Shusaku's Chiba school was said to be best for technique (waza) and Saito's Rembeikan for power. The Shigakukan produced many exceptionally strong swordsmen. Among the students of Momonoi Shunzo were Ueda Umanosuke, Kanematsu Naokane, Sakabe Taisaku, and Kubota Shinzo—the "four Deva kings" of the dqjo. Another talented student was Hemmi Munesuke, of whom Yamaoka Tesshu once said, "There are many swordsmen in the land, but as for true swordsmen there is only Hemmi." But by far the best-known political figure was the Tosa loyalist Takechi Hampeita (Zuihan), a student of the fourthgeneration Momonoi Shunzo Harumasa.27 Otani Nobutomo

Another noteworthy swordsman of the bakumatsu era was Otani Nobutomo (1798—1864).28 Otani learned the Jikishin kage-ryu style from Danno Gennosuke, but he also studied military strategy with Hirayama Shiryu and learned both the Hozoin-ryu style of lance and Yoshida-ryu archery. He opened a dqjo in Azabu Mamiana and soon enrolled a number of strong students, who were attracted by Otani's advocacy of taryu jiai to test one's real abilities. In Jikishin kage-ryu at that time matches were normally fought with wooden swords and no protective gear. To avoid the grudges that were likely to follow such matches, the school required fencers to sign a pledge promising that they would not complain if injured.29 Otani changed those rules and engaged willingly in regular shinai uchikomi keiko, claiming never to have rejected a challenge, even as a boy. Nicknamed "the Gentleman's Sword" (Kunshi no ken) because he always showed proper respect for his opponent, Otani regularly allowed opponents to win at least one of three points, but reportedly no swordsman was ever able to take more than one point from him in a match. Among Otani's most famous students were Shimada Toranosuke and Sakakibara Kenkichi (another important figure in the development of modern kendo), Amano Hachiro, and Yokogawa Shichiro. Shimada also taught one of the leading figures of the Meiji Restoration, Katsu Rintaro, and was an intimate associate of his father, Kokichi.30

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Domain Academies If some Tokugawa bushi learned their swordsmanship from private dqjo in the major cities, many more must have attained the rudiments of training in their domains under private instructors who recruited willing pupils among the daimyo's retainers. A domain customarily engaged several instructors in swordsmanship, use of the spear, jujutsu, gunnery, and the like, each one teaching the style of a different school. The nature of instruction appears to have been very conservative, however, and the spread of shinai uchikomi keiko and competitive matches in domain schools was comparatively slow.31 An instructor in swordsmanship normally inherited the family profession, becoming head if his father had been head, and enjoyed a certain prestige in his domain's hierarchy. Such an instructor tended to be exclusive, secretive, and hesitant to engage in taryvi jiai with the students of other schools even within his own domain. He was, moreover, very unlikely to welcome distinguished martial arts instructors from other parts of the country or to encourage practice with bushi of other domains.32 Within these domain academies, then, students were all sons of the samurai of the same domain, and the observation of status and rank distinctions within the bushi hierarchy most certainly affected martial education as well as learning in general.33 Although most domains had several different swordsmanship instructors, some followed the practice of one ryu only (ikkoku ichiryO). A handful of styles predominated in domain school fencing dqjo, but Kage-ryu affiliates accounted for 31 percent, suggesting that it was one of the most, if not the most, popular Tokugawa style.34 Although many Tokugawa warriors studied swordsmanship in urban dqjo, more and more trained at dqjo in the proliferating domain schools. In the early eighteenth century, fewer than 10 percent of the domains had formal educational institutions, but the number increased steadily to more than 50 percent by the early nineteenth century.35 In the i86os the percentage was around 75. Most domain schools began during or after the late eighteenth century, and fully 35 percent were not set up until after the Tokugawa bakufu had been overthrown. Interestingly, the schools of domains in the Kanto, in the eastern provinces surrounding Edo, the bastion of shogunal strength, were established late in comparison with schools in other areas of Japan.36 The famous Kodokan of Mito, for example, was not founded by Tokugawa Nariaki until 1838. The establishment of domain schools tended to reduce, but not destroy, the parochial nature of martial instruction within the domains. In many

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schools instruction in martial skills was centralized in a military training institute (embujo), and it was increasingly common for martial arts instructors to be allotted separate dqjo within a central compound. In Tsu there were "four jujutsu sheds, three for gunnery, one for archery, three for riding, one for strategy, three for the lance, three for swordsmanship, and one for the halberd."37 The same situation prevailed in the Kodokan in Mito, where there was a regular campus. The main building had an eastern wing for literary studies and a western wing for military instruction, plus there was a separate building for the study of astronomy and medicine. The military section had three swordsmanship dqjo (Itto-ryu, Sufu-ryu and Munen-ryu); three dqjo for spear practice (two branches of Hozoin-ryu and one of Saburi-ryu); and three more dqjo for sword-drawing, use of the naginata, and jujutsu. Outside were archery grounds, a gunnery range, and a track for equitation.38 As in Mito, the establishment of the domain school often resulted in the elimination of some older ryu or the combination of ryu. The newer midTokugawa ryuha that espoused intraschool competition (shiai), participated early in taryu jiai, and rationalized their methodology (stressing technique over theory, simplifying transmission of secret techniques, and maintaining high standards of certification) made deep inroads into the conservative, feudal swordsmanship instruction of many domains—but not without a struggle.39 The ban on taryu jiai was lifted quite late in many domains—at the end of the 18408 or even later. As Fujita Toko noted: "If you examine conditions carefully, the smaller domains today have generally espoused competitive matches, but this is more difficult in larger domains. In such domains, there are traditional families teaching the use of sword or lance. While their adherence to tradition means that bad influences are not likely to be adopted, it also means that good things are not adopted either. And yet even in the great domains, competitive matches are increasing daily, and I hear of lords who invite spear masters from the far north to their Kyushu domains and have them instruct the children of the domain's retainers."40 According to Ronald Dore, in the nineteenth century instruction in military skills was concentrated in the domain schools.41 That was undoubtedly true simply because of the tremendous expansion of the schools. Of the estimated 133 domain schools in existence by 1814, between 90 and 100 were established after 1750, indicating a sharp increase in the number of samurai incorporated into domainwide educational institutions. But domain schools were slower than private urban academies to be penetrated by the new styles that emphasized rugged fencing matches. There was an increasing amount of interchange between domain schools

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and urban dqjo, however. Many excellent fencing instructors were attracted from Edo to domain schools, either for brief visits or to instruct on a permanent basis. In Mito shiai competition was brought to the domain even before the establishment of the Kodokan; in fact, it dated from the iSios, when Sugiyama Shigen entered the Edo Gekikenkan dqjo of Okada Jissho.42 In 1819 Fujita Yukoku sent his son to the dqjo. Some seven years later, Fujita invited one of Okada's pupils, Miyamoto Torataka, to Mito, where he taught fencing to the sons of Mito bushi. These initiatives were unofficial and met with strong resistance. Not until the opening of the Kodokan was official sanction given to such competitive fencing. At the preliminary opening of the Kodokan in 1841, a Shinto munenryu dqjo was established, with Nagao Kagehide instructing several hundred students. Daimyo Tokugawa Nariaki even invited the famed Saito Yakuro, also of the Shinto munen-ryu, to Mito, where he taught for several weeks. While there are other examples, especially in the larger, more important domains, virtually all of which had domain schools, the conservative tendency of many swordsmanship instructors in the domains meant that the more progressive dqjo tended to be in the cities, especially Edo.

Fencing Academies and Bakumatsu Activists Although regional daimyo tried to recruit as fencing instructors noted swordsmen from the training halls of Edo, it was to the benefit of talented students to seek training in the cities instead. In much the same way that other eager young students sought out well-known scholars of Confucianism, Kokugaku (national learning), or Dutch Studies in the cities, swordsmen visited the urban training halls of famous fencers. After a promising start at Hineno Benji's local Kochi dqjo, Sakamoto Ryoma, for one, was sent to Edo to continue his fencing instruction with the younger brother of Chiba Shusaku, Sadakichi.43 It was by that time expected that potentially good fencers—most of them were lower-ranking samurai, but some were commoners—would, after achieving a certain level, be sent to other dqjo, often of a different ryuha, to improve their skills. These urban dqjo were much more highly competitive places than the domain academies, where the stringent regulations of rank, status, and income made competition among the bushi of a domain problematic. As Marius Jansen points out, Edo's fencing academies tended to attract lower-ranking samurai, who "were more free from official restraints than their betters." Because they lived and trained with samurai from other areas, it is hardly unexpected

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that the majority of loyalists involved in overthrowing the Tokugawa regime were swordsmen from the academies of Edo: Sakamoto Ryoma, Nakaoka Shintaro, Takechi Zuizan, Kido Koin, Katsu Rintaro, and many more. Edo's fencing academies, "filled to overflowing with ambitious and restless samurai, became centers of extremist and obscurantist thought and action."44 The emphasis upon all-out competition proved to be excellent practice for real action, as ambitious men were not only drawn into networks of conspiracy to overthrow the bakufu but also into groups organized to preserve the very same regime. Bakufu supporters, men like Kondo Isami and Serizawa Kamo of the Shinsengumi, were also products of Edo's fencing academies.45 On whichever side of the political fence, bakumatsu swordsmen "tested their ability by domestic disorder and political assassination." Even though these fencing academies, swarming with "the most extreme and reckless men" of the age, produced so many important figures of the mid-nineteenth century, surprisingly little scholarship has been devoted to them.46

Commoners and Swordsmanship Although the samurai theoretically monopolized the right to wear two swords, and thus the history of swordsmanship is largely a bushi development, there was considerable involvement of other classes, especially in the bakumatsu era. Not all great swordsmen of the age were bushi (the clam-selling commoner Asari Matashichiro is a prime example), and not all dojo catered solely to bushi. In fact, even though most of the noteworthy martial artists of the period were samurai, they came predominantly from the lowest ranks, like Musashi, or they were rural samurai (goshi) or even ronin. The higher-ranking samurai, aping the shogunal court and daimyo, were drawn to more elegant cultural pursuits. Some skilled swordsmen—members of the Yagyu family, for example—rose to daimyo height, but such examples are rare. Besides lower-ranking samurai, peasants and townsmen engaged in the study of swordsmanship, especially after the development of shinai uchikomi keiko, with its emphasis on simulated combat. By late Tokugawa times merchants and artisans were able to enroll in urban training halls for fencing practice, and a number of non-samurai became accomplished swordsmen. Of the leading bakumatsu swordsmen in what is now Saitama Prefecture, thirtyone were peasants—including such famous fencers as Okada Jissho and Togasaki Kumataro—while only fourteen were bushi.47 As fencing spread to provincial areas, dqjo sprang up in regional towns and drew the sons of peasant and merchant families into the network of sword

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practice. Fencing flourished especially in the villages of the Edo area, such as the post town of Matsudo on the road leading north from Edo to the Tokugawa collateral domain of Mito.48 Matsudo was an important transportation center, a collection point for the agricultural produce of local domains, and a sake-brewing area. It was also the home of Asari Matashichiro, who rose from obscurity to become fencing instructor to the daimyo of Obama. Matashichiro, who may actually have been the son of a local textile dye manufacturer, apparently received his first taste of fencing from Suzuki Genzaburo, a rice wholesaler who set up a dojo for local enthusiasts in a warehouse.49 Suzuki taught the Ono-ha itto-ryu style; and as we have seen, it was to the main Edo dojo of that school, run by Nakanishi Chubei, that Matashichiro later went for further training. Like Asari, most of the Matsudo fencers of note were of merchant class origin, but in the surrounding villages, where the Hokushin itto-ryu style penetrated more broadly, many wealthy peasants, as well as local merchants, learned that style. An important stop on the Tokaido route, between Tokyo and Kyoto, was Fujisawa, which lay on the border between Musashi and Sagami Provinces (Kanagawa Prefecture). There, one of the better-known local dojo in bakumatsu times was run by Hagiwara Rennosuke. Hagiwara was counted among the top fifteen fencers in Japan by the Dai Nippon Butokukai in the midMeiji period, after a series of matches held in iSpd.50 Hagiwara, who was born in Edo in 1828, began learning Jikishin kage-ryu fencing at the Hayata dojo in Kanda when he was fifteen. He received his first certificate (shoden mokuroku) in two years, and his second (chu mokuroku) a year later. He went to the village of Hirado, outside Fujisawa, to teach fencing but returned to Edo and obtained his full certification (menkyo kaideri) in 1851. Then he went back to Hirado, where he taught Jikishin kage-ryu fencing until the fall of the bakufii in 1868. The records show that 225 fencers joined his academy over the years. With the renewed popularity of musha shugyo, many noted swordsmen visited Hagiwara's dojo for matches to hone their skills.51 The formal pledges (heiho kishomon) signed by the 225 fencers recorded as having entered Hagiwara's academy show that 134 were middle-level peasants or youths and 35 more were men of village elite status or of other houses of significant lineage.52 An 1860 record of the notable swordsmen visiting dojo around the country for matches shows that thirteen of the fourteen Sagami Province fencers had some connection to the Hagiwara dojo, and most were of the village headship class. Hagiwara's own record of visitors to his provincial dojo lists 148 swordsmen who came to test their skills against his predominantly non-samurai

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students between 1852 and 1867. Among them were students of such wellknown instructors as Otani Nobutomo, Saito Yakuro, Chiba Shusaku, Nakanishi Chubei, Momonoi Shunzo, and Shimada Toranosuke. While most were from Jikishin kage-ryu dqjo (58), many were from Shinto munen-ryu (22), Hokushin itto-ryu (21), Ono-ha itto-ryu (14), and Kyoshin meichi-ryu (i i). Another famous man to visit the dqjo was Kondo Isami, a Tennen rishinryu swordsman and leader of the Shinsengumi; he came in the fall of 1858 and was disappointed not to have a match with Hagiwara.53 Records of the domain affiliation of many of the bushi who called at the Hagiwara dqjo for matches list retainers from nine Edo-area domains (including Mito, Odawara, Takasaki, and Kawagoe) and from twenty-three other domains throughout the country—Choshu, Himeji, Okayama, Nabeshima, and other Kyushu domains. One of the challengers was a retainer of the commissioner (bugyo) of Kyoto.54 The peak years during which people entered the Hagiwara dqjo were 1851—1858, with the most in 1856, when twenty-five pupils enrolled. These were the years surrounding the arrival and return of Commodore Matthew Perry, who demanded the opening of Japan for trade and the signing of a treaty of friendship with the United States. A second peak was recorded in 1864—1866, when the fate of the bakufii was in question and unrest filled the land. During the 18508 peasants became conscious of an international crisis, which apparently helps explain the increase of peasants among Hagiwara's fencing students, especially in the last three years of the bakufii's existence.55 There were also attempts by both bakufii and domain authorities during this time to train and organize peasants into effective fighting units and to introduce them to Western military skills. Primarily, however, the reasons for the increase in peasant involvement in swordsmanship were related to problems in maintaining the rigid formal distinctions in the class system.56 Extensive change in the agrarian sector of society made control of the peasantry more difficult as the Tokugawa period progressed. Village headmen and other wealthy peasants enjoyed considerable status in rural communities, and it was hard to stop them from copying the lifestyle of their social betters, the samurai. The practice of fencing was one such example of imitation. In areas near Edo, many peasants and merchants had the opportunity to go to the city on business, whether private or in service of the domain, and in Edo they were able to join the proliferating fencing academies. The great increase in peasant uprisings—mostly directed at landlords—in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries served as a stimulus for upper-level peasants to take up serious training in the martial arts. Then, too,

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many impoverished samurai who failed to make ends meet in urban areas or in their domains returned to agricultural pursuits; and some retained pride in their military heritage, practicing and teaching fencing to rural youth. Late Tokugawa fencing thus became an activity in which samurai and commoner were brought together, helping to further blur the class distinctions between lower-ranking samurai and upper peasants or merchants and suggesting the turn that kendo and other martial arts were to take following the Meiji Restoration. By the end of the Tokugawa period the competitive martial arts were widely practiced by samurai and some commoners. Successful fencers (normally of the bushi class) were recruited by daimyo as domain instructors; noted fencers attracted hundreds, even thousands, of students to their dqjo; and dqjo yaburi routinely sought to establish their names and improve their skills by challenging established masters. Not only was there keen rivalry among martial artists to establish their reputation, but there was also rivalry among ryuha to be considered the best. This was especially true in the provinces, where two or three ryuha might each enjoy large followings among the warriors and commoners of the region. One example of this kind of intense competition will serve to close this chapter.57 In the Chichibu region of Musashi (modern-day Saitama Prefecture), Kogen itto-ryu was the predominant school. Founded by Hemmi Taishiro Yoshitoshi in 1783, it had become well established by the 1830$. After half a century, the school was headed by Hemmi Yoshitaka, who trained students at the Yobukan dqjo in Nishitani Kozawaguchi. Kogen itto-ryu enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the northern and western parts of Musashi. But Hemmi's dqjo was challenged by the Shinto munen-ryu dqjo of Togasaki Kumataro Teruyoshi in Kiyoku Village in Saitama District. Teruyoshi spent five hard years training at the Edo dqjo of the Shinto munen-ryu founder, Fukui Heiuemon Yoshihira. Since Teruyoshi's establishment of the dqjo, more than seventy years of history had produced such luminaries as Okada Jissho Yoshitoshi and Akiyama Yosuke Masatake. It was on the sixteenth day of the first month of 1836 that Hemmi Taishiro Nagahide, nephew of Hemmi Yoshitaka, met the Shinto munen-ryu instructor Okawa Heibei Hidekatsu in a famous match. Okawa, then thirtyfive, ran his own dqjo in Yokonuma within the Kawagoe domain. Receiving his menkyo certification from Akiyama Masatake in 1820, when he was only twenty years old, Okawa was the head of a prosperous dqjo. But he was surrounded by two growing Kogen itto-ryu dqjo. Angered at the local popularity of Kogen itto-ryu, Okawa determined to display his superiority and

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that of his school by smashing the reputation of the senior Kogen itto-ryu fencer Hemrni Yoshitaka and his Yobukan dqjo. Arriving by palanquin at the Yobukan dqjo in the predawn hours, Okawa waited until sunrise, knocked on the gate, and announced himself. Aware that the Hemmi head had accepted the challenge, several hundred students and neighbors gathered anxiously at the dqjo to watch. Expecting to see Hemmi Yoshitaka take on Okawa, the onlookers were shocked to see his nephew, Nagahide, stride into the dqjo carrying his shinai. Though only nineteen, he was more than six feet tall and had a magnificent physique. The two bowed formally to each other, and Nagahide addressed Okawa: "In our ryu we strike to the chest, so please wear your do [chest protector]." But the confident Okawa, indignant at having to fight a mere youth, disdained any such protection and prepared to fence. The two swordsmen focused intently on one another in the hushed dqjo. Nagahide lunged forward with two successive throat-level "two-handed thrusts" (morote-zuki), a secret Kogen itto-ryu technique, which Okawa avoided by backing away skillfully. But just when Nagahide seemed about to deliver a third thrust, he suddenly dropped his shinai and struck straight into the chest. Okawa dropped to the floor, spitting blood. The Yobukan students were ecstatic over Nagahide's victory, and Nagahide came to be called the "Little Goblin of Chichibu" (Chichibu no kotengu). His reputation soared, and students flocked to the dqjo. The victory was considered so important that from then on, the dqjo commenced its New Year practice on the sixteenth of the first month, in commemoration of Nagahide's victory. Okawa, for his part, recovered from his injury in several months, then devoted himself to learning the strengths and weaknesses of the Kogen ittoryu—especially how to defend against the blow that had felled him. Six months later, when he felt that he had found a solution, he challenged a local Kogen itto-ryu fencer named Fukuoka Honnosuke, a Hemmi student who administered a large dqjo of his own. Both fencers wore complete protective gear for the match. This time Okawa had prepared himself well, and when Fukuoka's thrust came at his throat, he parried the blow and struck Fukuoka's mask for a clear victory. Even though Fukuoka's dqjo was only a minor branch of the Kogen itto-ryu, Okawa had still won a victory over that school. His honor was restored, his fame rose throughout the region, and Shinto munen-ryu students swelled in number. Such was the nature of fencing competition in Tokugawa Japan. Thus as the dawning of the modern age approached, Japan had a long

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history of swordsmanship as a combat skill, a form of spiritual training, and a competitive sport. Tokugawa texts linked swordsmanship to a myriad of native and imported deities, and in an era of unprecedented peace, the sword had become steeped in mystical associations. In the modern age, especially when Japan developed a narrow and inward-looking ultranationalistic spirit to accompany its expansionist foreign policy in the 19308, a revival of those associations would turn the sword into a powerful symbol of imperial Japan. But before surveying the modern history of swordsmanship, let us examine a parallel tradition, the history of archery, in premodem times. If in the modern world we are accustomed to linking Japan with the sword, the bow and arrow have equally old and sacred associations with the Japanese people and nation.

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CHAPTER FIVE

The Way of the Bow and Arrow

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BOW in human history can hardly be overstated. But once Homo sapiens had learned to bend a length of wood back in order to propel a projectile through the air, human life changed enormously. Man "was able to hunt game with success and comparable safety, and to strike at his human enemies at a distance. . . . Not only could he attack his adversary from beyond spearthrowing range, he could also carry many more light arrows than his enemy could carry spears."1 Little wonder that the bow has been held in awe by many cultures. Archery was the first of the traditional Japanese combat techniques to become modified into a sport form, and it was also the primary bushi fighting skill for most of premodern history. Not until the Tokugawa period did bushi come to venerate the sword more than the bow; but archery was never far from their hearts, remaining a means of spiritual and educational development as well as a martial skill and competitive sport.

The Bow in Ancient Japan The bow of seven or eight thousand years ago was the short type characteristic of northeast Asia. Some consider the existence of this type of bow in the Jomon period as evidence of the northern origins of the Japanese people, suggesting the presence of northeast Asian peoples in the archipelago early

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on.2 The subsequent Yayoi culture brought to Japan not only wet rice agriculture—a southeastern Asian monsoon zone development—but also the long bow, considered a development of southern forest regions.3 Both the long and the short bows existed side by side for some time in Japan, until the shorter one disappeared. By the third century the Wa people were already using the distinctive type of long bow that was to remain characteristic of the Japanese throughout their history. Accounts by early Chinese visitors to Japan in the Weizhi describe it aptly as "short at the bottom and long at the top."4 Even today the grip is not centered but sits about one-third of the way up the bow. By the seventh century, virtually all bows were of the long type, normally over six and a half feet in length.5 By that time bows appear to have approximated the general contours of the contemporary Japanese bow (which averages 2.21 meters, or just over seven feet, in length). They were made of either plain or lacquered wood. But the method of shooting appears to have been different from that of the present day: there was no yumigaeri (bow return). Today the powerful snap of the bowstring turns the bow around in the archer's hand. The early bow was less powerful; it was held firm in the left hand, the left wrist covered with a tomoj or leather arm guard. The Kojiki and Nihon shoki describe a variety of different arm guards, and the poems of the Man'yoshu make a number of references to the sound made when the bowstring strikes the arm guard.6 Textual and pictorial evidence suggests that the use of this arm guard continued until the end of the Heian period in court ceremonial archery. Although the Japanese adopted the southern style of bow, the predominance of the northern element is suggested by the preference for the Asiatic or Mongolian style of releasing the arrow. Rather than the primitive thumb and forefinger method (which may well have been practiced in Japan, too), or the Mediterranean three-finger grip, in which the arrow rests between index and middle finger, visual representations of archery—whether of contests or of battle scenes—in Japanese art depict the Mongolian grip, in which the thumb is wrapped over the bowstring.7 Examination of Japanese archers in the Moko shurai ekotoba, picture scrolls commemorating the exploits of Takezaki Suenaga during the thirteenth century Mongol invasions, shows the method of release to be identical to that of the Mongol bowmen, although the Mongol bows were the short, northern Asiatic type. Archery developed both as a hunting technique—mounted hunting was a popular recreation among the early nobility, as it had been in the kingdoms

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on the Korean Peninsula—and as the dominant form of combat. The early Japanese practiced mounted and nonmounted archery, and both styles persisted throughout premodern history. I use the term "nonmounted" or "ground" archery—in Japanese, kachiyumi ("walking shooting")—because historically it consisted of shooting arrows on the run, a tactic especially necessary in combat situations, as well as while walking, standing, sitting, or kneeling. Even astride a horse, an archer could release the arrow either at full gallop or at a standstill. These types of archery were all practiced and used both in actual combat and in ceremonial and competitive archery. From ancient times Japanese archery exhibited two closely related features that it has retained to this day: an intimate association with the Shinto religion and incorporation into court ritual under the influence of the Chinese Confucian ceremonial. The religious and ritual aspects of Japanese archery (kyudo) are crucial to understanding its development, and help to explain how it differs from Western competitive archery. Archery and the Sacred Kojiki and Nihon shoki notations firmly link archery and its accessories—bows, arrows, arm guards, and quivers—with the deities and their descendants, the rulers of Japan. This association is by no means unique but is found in most sophisticated cultures. "In Greece, one has Zeus's lightning arrows, Apollo's arrows of punishment, the poisoned arrows used by Hercules to kill the Centaur, and the arrows of Eros that transfixed the heart with the passion of love."8 Japanese deities and rulers were in good company. References in ancient chronicles to possession by imperial family members of divinely bestowed archery paraphernalia like the "Heavenly-feathered-arrows" suggest that bows and arrows were considered as symbolic of imperial house domination as the better-known sword. Here in the Kojiki, for example, is Emperor Jimmu, Japan's legendary founder, confronted by the forces of Nagasunehiko. The symbolic importance of archery equipment is clear from the ensuing dialogue. The Emperor said:—"There are many other children of the Heavenly Deity. If he whom thou hast taken as thy Lord is truly a child of the Heavenly Deity, there would be surely some object which thou couldst show to us by way of proof." Naga-sune-hiko accordingly brought a single Heavenlyfeathered-arrow of Nigi-haya-hi no Mikoto, and a foot-quiver, and exhibited them respectfully to the Emperor. The Emperor examined them and said:—"These are genuine." Then in turn he showed to Naga-sune-hiko

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1

Hunting deer from horseback, scene from Prince Shotoku's Injunction Against Taking Life, mid-fourteenth century. (Courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: Nelson Trust, 76-29/2.)

Hunting scene from Youchi Soga (Night Attack by the Soga Brothers). (Courtesy of the Spencer Collection, New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.)

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the single Heavenly-feathered-arrow and quiver which he wore. When Naga-sune-hiko saw the Heavenly token he became more and more embarrassed.9 In another memorable scene, from the Nihon shoki, which conjures nothing so much as the yumitori ceremony of a sumo tournament, we find the progenitor of the Japanese race, the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, has "bound up her hair into knots and tied up her skirts into the form of trousers. Then she took an August string of five hundred Yasaka jewels, which she entwined about her hair and wrists. Moreover, on her back slung a thousand-arrow quiver and a five-hundred arrow quiver. On her lower arm she drew a dread loud-sounding elbow-pad. Brandishing her bow end upwards, she firmly grasped her sword-hilt, and stamping on the hard earth of the courtyard, sank her thighs into it as if it had been foam-snow and kicked in all directions."10 The arrows and the quivers possessed by both Emperor Jimmu and his opponent Nagasunehiko are presented in the text as sacred symbols of the descendants of the sun goddess, who unify the land by subduing other tribes. Amaterasu herself is armed not only with swords but also with a bow and quivers full of arrows. Amaterasu and Jimmu are the mythical ancestors of the imperial house, whose glory is recounted in the chronicles. The well-known imperial regalia, or Three Sacred Treasures of the ruling family, are the sword, the jewel, and the mirror; but possession of Heaven-bestowed bows, arrows, and quivers also seems to have been regarded as symbolic of the authority of the Tenson, or Sun Line, people.11 If mounted archery is mentioned in the chronicles in conjunction with both warfare and hunting, by at least the seventh century it was also being performed on sacred occasions at Shinto shrines. In 682, Emperor Temmu made an imperial progress to Yamato Province, where, at the Nagatsuka Shrine, he had courtiers perform umayumi ("horse bow"), shooting arrows at targets from horseback.12 In ancient Japan mounted archery performances were offered at shrines, apparently to guarantee peace in the realm and to bring bountiful harvests—functions that it continues to fulfill at many shrine ceremonies even today. More than a century later, for reasons as yet unclear, Emperor Mommu prohibited umayumi at the Kamo festival in Yamashiro; but his action simply underscores how common the practice had become.13 Perhaps archery's most explicit connection with Shinto religion came during the Tokugawa period with the development of the Yamato-ryu, an archery school proclaiming the superiority of Japanese archery over Indian

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and Chinese forms and, concomitantly, the superiority of Shinto over the two "foreign" yet popular ways of thought, Buddhism and Confucianism.14 The close connection between archery and the sacred aspects of life was not reflected only in shrine performances, nor did it derive solely from the awesome technological impact of bow and arrow on society. In ancient times, the bow was considered to have magical powers in Japan, as in most early societies. The Japanese believed that the appearance of gods and spirits was announced by certain roaring and reverberating sounds. By extension, it came to be believed that these deities and spirits could be summoned by making similar sounds, the classic example being the efforts of the other gods to lure Amaterasu from the Rock Cave of Heaven in which she had shut herself, cutting off light to the world.15 The plucking of the strings of bows and musical instruments was regarded as particularly efficacious in this regard. In northeast Asia "the bow is not so much a weapon as an instrument of magical sound . . . which reaches into the world of spirits." Thus, the shaman could, by plucking the string of a catalpa bow, communicate with the spirit world or even summon the spirit into her body.16 For the Japanese shaman (miko), the bow—quite apart from its ability to produce magical sounds—was also a conductor (torimono) along which the deity or spirit might travel to enter her body.17 Again by extension, the plucking of bowstrings was thought to dispel evil. In Heian times "bow twangers" were called on at the birth of an imperial offspring, at exorcisms, and even on seemingly more mundane occasions, such as when the emperor entered the bath. The magical potency of the bow drove away defilement, even cured illness, as when Minamoto Yoshiie reportedly cured Emperor Horikawa with "three demon-chasing twangs of his bow."18 Arrows too have their sacred and magical associations. An arrow "magically joins two worlds. Shot into the air, it will apprise a deity that a rite is about to take place. . . . At the beginning of the fire ritual known as saitogoma, still practiced by the mountain ascetics known as yamabushi, an arrow shot in each of the five directions is the means of informing the Five Bright Kings who preside over the order that the rite is about to begin. The wi'feo's arrows have been put to similar use, to summon the kami [god] and warn him that his descent is required."19 Even in highly secular contemporary Japan, hamayumi (evil-dispelling bows) and hamaya (evil-dispelling arrows) remain potent symbols of sacred power for many people. Hamayumi may be given to a newborn male child on his first New Year's Day, and hamaya are among the most popular ritual items sold at Shinto shrines to ensure good luck. Arrows fired by mounted

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archers in yabusame performances are eagerly gathered up by spectators, who take them home in hopes that the magical powers of the arrows may protect the household from misfortune. Like other art forms, archery was also the subject of the most Japanese of poetic forms, the thirty-one-syllable tanka. In several schools of archery, in fact, collections of poems known as kyoka, "instructional verses," were used to express refinements of technique or the principles that lay beneath the arduous training.20 Archery and Court Ritual

In ancient Japan, archery also became an important part of the annual calendar of rituals, its sacred association with native religion further strengthened by the Chinese ideal of the "six accomplishments" (rikuget). These date back to classical Chinese antiquity; both Confucius and Mencius stress the value of archery for the gentleman. A chapter in the venerable Liji (Book of Rites) is even entitled "The Meaning of the Ceremony of Archery." It states that "archers were required to observe the rules. With minds correct, and straight carriage of the body, they were able to hold their bows skillfully and firmly; and when they did so, they might be expected to hit the target. In this way (from their archery) their characters could be seen."21 Accordingly, archery became a major component in the education of the Chinese noble, along with music, mathematics, calligraphy, propriety (ritual), and charioteering. This Chinese view strongly affected Japanese archery throughout its history. The emphasis upon posture, ritual, mental concentration and character development is part of this early legacy, long predating any influence of Zen on Japanese archery. In fact, kyudo as practiced today still exhibits a very close connection with Chinese cosmological principles, although both native and foreign consciousness of this relation has eroded considerably.22 During the period of extensive borrowing from the continent, ceremonial court archery in the first lunar month of the year became an established practice. It was common by Emperor Temmu's time (r. 671—686) and was fixed during the subsequent Nara period. Not only did Japanese nobles shoot, but visiting foreign dignitaries would often be invited to participate as well. In 715, Silla emissaries participated in a match (the date was now fixed on the seventeenth of the first month), and Parhae dignitaries shot at an event in 740/3 On both occasions, the matches were held by the South Gate of the

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Archery practice, from Honen Shoningyojo ezu (The Birth ofHoneri), ca. 1300. (Courtesy of the Seattle Art Museum, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection. Photo by Paul Macapia.) Audience Hall in Nara. The target was the so-called large target, made of straw and consisting of three concentric circles, the innermost of which (naiin) was the most highly rated to hit. By the early eighth century prizes were established for the contests. Thus although archery matches were part of an elaborate court calendar of ritual designed to preserve harmony between Heaven and Earth and secure the political order, there was clearly an element of competition. Prizes consisted of bolts of cloth and were awarded according to rank; that is, higher-ranking courtiers received greater rewards than lowerranking ones.

The Heian Period The more elaborate Heian court continued these practices. On the seventeenth day of the first month the ceremonial archery contest (known as jarai,

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"shooting ceremony") was regularly performed at the Burakuin (Court of Abundant Pleasures), although later in the period, it was sometimes held on the grounds east of the headquarters of the Bodyguards of the Right. Mounted archery ceremonies were performed on the fifth day of the fifth month at the Butokuden (Hall of Military Virtues). The importance of such ceremonial contests is attested to in a variety of Heian records. In the reign of Emperor Junna in the ninth century jarai was referred to as a "great national event of state" (kokka no daiji).2* These two annual ceremonial events did not constitute the totality of the court's interest in archery. Competitions—noriyumi (literally, "betting bow")— were quite common in the mansions of Heian nobles. It was customary to wager on the outcome or to set prizes for the winner. Scenes of Heian courtiers enjoying archery can be viewed in the Nenju gyoji emakimono, ordered painted by Emperor Go-Shirakawa, or in the Kitano tenjin emakimono, in which the famous tenth-century courtier and scholar Sugawara Michizane is shown at the archery range. In the mid-Heian historical tale Okagami (The Great Mirror), the leading political figure of the age, Fujiwara Michinaga, is depicted as an archer of considerable skill. One especially memorable passage, described with charming hyperbole, would have us believe that Michinaga was a veritable Robin Hood. Wandering unprepared into an archery contest sponsored by his nephew and rival Korechika, who at that time outranked him, Michinaga was asked to shoot. He got the better of Korechika, but the two were persuaded to shoot twice more. "All right, extend it," Michinaga said, somewhat annoyed. As he prepared to shoot again, he said, "If Emperors and Empresses are to issue from my house, let this arrow hit the mark." And didn't his arrow strike the heart of the target? Next Korechika prepared to shoot. He was extremely nervous, and it may be that his hands trembled. At any rate, his arrow flew off into the sky without coming near the target. Michitaka [regent and Korechika's father] turned pale. Michinaga got ready again. "If I am to serve as Regent, let this arrow find the mark," he said. The arrow hit the very center, striking with such force that the target almost broke. The Regent's cordiality vanished, and he showed his displeasure by ending the match. "Why should you shoot?" he said to Korechika. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" A chill pervaded the gathering. Korechika was in no immediate danger of being outstripped by Michinaga, but I suppose he may have been intimidated by his uncle's attitude and language.25

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With such a focus upon archery, some people acquired considerable skill. Two of the most famous names of the early Heian period—Tomo no Wataketamaro and Ki no Okimichi—are said to have developed somewhat similar styles that were passed on to members of the bushi class. There were several noted bowmen among the generals of the Sakanoue clan, especially Tamuramaro, who won fame in campaigns against the Emishi. In later times it was common to speak of the Tomo, Ki, and Sakanoue "ryuha" of archery, but most scholars do not consider them formalized schools; others regard them as a type of court ceremonial archery, not to be confused with bujutsu.26 At any rate, later in the Muromachi period, when true ryuha with certificates of transmission and other elements of ryuha organizational structure emerged, they were referred to as "new" ryuha as opposed to the "old" ryuha of Tomo, Ki, and Sakanoue. Archery was hardly the monopoly of court nobles. Indeed, many archers for court ceremonial matches were drawn from among bushi who had been recruited to serve the state in police and military capacities. Because the Heian warrior was primarily a mounted knight whose major weapons were the bow and arrow, the emergent samurai code was called yumiya no michi (the way of the bow and arrow), or kyiiba no michi (the way of the bow and horse), or yumiya no toru mi no narai (the practices of those who hold the bow and arrow). Opponents were most commonly shot down, not cut down, and the reputation of a warrior who was a good bowman spread far and wide. The heroic Heian bushi is frequently described in the literature of the day as a person of immense strength who could pull a bow others could not or who could execute dazzling feats of archery, shooting extremely accurately, swiftly, or powerfully. Minamoto Tametomo was one of the most renowned warriors of the twelfth century. A descendant of Yoshiie, who had distinguished himself as an archer in the wars in the north in the late eleventh century, Tametomo surpassed other men in ability, his spirit was intrepid to the end, and he was a powerful drawer of a strong bow, a virtuoso in fitting and shooting arrows fast. His bow-arm reach was four inches longer than his horse arm, and the length of his draw was the best in the world. . . . Tametomo was a man seven feet tall, with slit-like eyes. . . . For his seven and a half foot bow, which took five men to string and was fitted with an arrow peg, he had thirty-six black feathered arrows. . . . Since his skill in the use of the bow would not have shamed even Yoyu (Yang Yu-chi), there was no bird that flew the sky nor beast that ran on the ground that did not fear him.

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In the same chronicle, the Hogen monogatari, warriors are often known by nicknames stressing their martial prowess, particularly their archery skills: "Big Arrow," "Long Shot," "Eight-dzo Far Arrow," or "Three-cfco Light Arrow."27 Hardly a Japanese is unfamiliar with the name of Nasu no Yoichi, the renowned Minamoto archer of the Gempei War whose shot impressed friend and foe alike.28 At the Battle of Yashima in 1185, a well-decorated enemy boat drifted within the view of the commander of the Genji side, Yoshitsune. A red lacquer fan was attached conspicuously to the mast. Yoshitsune decided that it would be auspicious if a skilled archer could shoot the fan down. Nasu no Yoichi was selected. On command, Yoichi stepped forward. This young warrior was but twenty years old. He wore armor laced with light green silk cords over a deep blue battle robe. The collar of the robe and the edges of the sleeves were decorated with red and gold brocade. At his side hung a sword in a silver-studded sheath. In his quiver were the black and white feathered arrows that remained from the day's battle and a turnip-headed arrow fashioned from a staghorn and fletched with feathers from a hawk's wing. These could be seen protruding from behind his head. With his helmet slung on his back, he came into the presence of Yoshitsune and made obeisance. Yoichi aroused Yoshitsune's ire when he displayed a lack of confidence in his ability to hit the fan, but he agreed to try, "inasmuch as this is my lord's command." After he had retired from the presence of his master, he mounted a fine black horse with a lacquered, shell-inlaid saddle and a tasseled crupper. Holding his bow firmly, he gripped the reins and rode toward the sea. . . . The fan was too far off for him to take a shot from the beach, so Yoichi rode about one tan further into the water. The target still seemed very distant. . . . As the boat rolled and pitched, the fan atop the pole flapped in the wind. Out on the offing the Heike had ranged their ships in a long line to watch the spectacle. On land the Genji lined up their horses neck to neck in anticipation. Now Yoichi closed his eyes and prayed: "Hail to the great Bodhisattva Hachiman! Hail to all the gods of my native land, Shimotsuke! Hail to the god Utsu-no-miya of Nikko! Grant that I may hit the center of that fan! If I fail, I will break my bow and kill myself. Otherwise how can I face my friends again? Grant that I may once more see my native land! Let not this arrow miss its target!" When he opened his eyes, the wind had subsided a little, and the fan looked easier to hit. Taking the turnip-shaped arrow, he drew his bow with all his might and let fly. Small man though he was, his arrow measured

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Japanese mounted archers in a battle charge, scene from Moko shurai ekotoba (Mongol Invasion Scroll). (Courtesy of Kyoto National Museum.)

Mongol archers on foot confront a Japanese warrior, scene from Moko shurai ekotoba (Mongol Invasion Scroll). (Courtesy of Kyoto National Museum.)

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twelve hand breadths and three fingers, and his bow was strong. The whirring sound of the arrow reverberated as it flew straight to its mark. It struck the fan close to the rivet. The arrow fell into the sea, but the fan flew up into the air. It fluttered and .dipped in the spring winds. And then suddenly dropped into the water. When the red fan, gleaming in the rays of the setting sun, bobbed up and down on the white crests of the waves, the Heike off shore praised Yoichi by beating on the gunwales of their boats, and the Genji on the shore applauded him by rattling their quivers. The Heian samurai's concern for his reputation as a bowman is well illustrated by the Tale of the Heike story of Yoshitsune's "dropped bow."29 In the Battle of Yashima, while fighting on horseback in the shallow waters of the sea, Yoshitsune found his favorite bow ripped from his hand by a grappling hook. Risking his life to recover the bow, Yoshitsune was chastised by his retainers: "However valuable a bow may be, can it be compared with our lord's life?" They were startled but impressed by his unexpected answer. " 'It was not because I begrudged the loss of the bow,' replied Yoshitsune. 'If it were one that required two or three men to bend, a bow like that of my uncle Tametomo, then I would gladly let it fall into the hands of the enemy. But if a weak one like mine were taken by them, they would laugh at it and say "Is this the bow of Yoshitsune, the commander-in-chief of the Genji?" That would be unbearable. I had to recover it even at the risk of my life!' "

The Kamakura Period With ample opportunity to perfect martial techniques due to the increase in provincial unrest since the tenth century, the bushi had already developed considerable skill with the bow and arrow by the time of the founding of the Kamakura bakufu at the end of the twelfth century. The extent to which archery had developed can be gleaned from the Shin sarugakki. There Fujiwara Akihira praises the husband of Naka no kimi as the "number one warrior in the land," noting that he was proficient at nine different forms of archery.30 From the Kamakura period on, archery was practiced in the traditional forms at court. But it became even more important among the warriors of the Kamakura bakufu, both as a military ceremonial in imitation of court tradition and as a typical combat skill. It was also very popular at hunts organized by Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo and others, as we have seen. In fact, the Kamakura bushi favored equestrian over ground archery. The three popular forms of bushi archery during the period were yabusame, kasagake, and inuoumono, forms well known since late Heian times both

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at the capital and in the provinces. But they became even more popular and formalized in the early medieval period under shogunal patronage. Mounted archery was regularly practiced at Yuhigahama and, perhaps most important, at the Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura, which was dedicated to the syncretic Shinto-Buddhist god Hachiman, often considered the clan deity of the Minamoto. Today the annual equestrian archery ceremony at Tsurugaoka is quite popular among Japanese and foreign tourists alike. Archery of all forms flourished during the Kamakura period as the bushi earned their epithet as the "men who hold the bow and arrow," but yabusame was especially popular. Performed at certain Shinto shrines, yabusame included both religious and sporting elements.31 A straight horse track, 238 yards long, was laid out in the shrine precinct. Each end, where the horses could be turned around, was shaped like a fan. The course, called the sakuri, was lightly sprinkled with sand. Along the left and right sides of the course were erected low fences behind which the targets were placed. Each rider would gallop along the course and shoot at three separate wooden targets set about fifty yards apart. The targets themselves were quite small—two-foot-square pieces of wood attached to bamboo poles—and were placed only six and a half feet from the track. The rider began with one arrow nocked and three more ready in a quick-draw quiver. He had to nock, draw, and shoot twice more after releasing the first arrow, all at a full gallop. To do so required a great deal of skill in handling both t>ow and horse. A second pass along the course required the archer to shoot at tiny clay targets, just three and a half inches in diameter. The archers—the number was not fixed, but seven, ten, or sixteen were common—wore prescribed dress, including proper boots, gloves, and quivers. They wore swords in their sashes and held riding crops. Yabusame was a very highly organized form of warrior ceremonial. Kasagake was also quite popular among Kamakura bushi. The arrangements were somewhat similar to those of yabusame, but the course was shorter and narrower. The targets were originally sedge hats (kasa), but by Kamakura times it was common to use wooden planks covered with cowhide and filled with cotton. Both large and medium targets were used. The archers were required to wear a specific costume for the competition, and a number of officials conducted the event (judges, scorekeepers, arrow retrievers), as in inuoumono. Like yabusame and kasagake, inuoumono was an elaborate affair with clearly defined rules, not a simple recreation for warriors' spare time. As codified in the Ogasawara tradition during the subsequent Muromachi period, it was a sport within which a set number of mounted archers, with blunted

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arrows, shot at dogs specially raised for the purpose (white dogs were usual).32 The course was set off by square bamboo fencing within which were two circles marked off by rope. The inner circle (inutsuka, "dog mound"), where the dogs were kept, was built up with colored sand. The outer circle, for the riders, was partially covered with sand of a different color. As in yabusame, the archers wore prescribed court dress, with their left arms exposed to aid in shooting. Each carried three arrows, one nocked before beginning. The archer entered the course and commenced to gallop at a sign from the referee, who then signaled the dog handler to release the dog. The archer chased down and shot the dog. Different points were awarded depending upon where one shot the dog, and there were also parts of the dog that the archers were prohibited from shooting. There were normally 150 dogs released during ten rounds of shooting, fifteen dogs each round. A large number of officials were required at an inuoumono competition. The referee, who was in charge of determining the winner, conducted the match. The winner was judged not only on his hits but on his shooting and riding techniques as well. A "shouter" yelled out the referee's decision, a recorder wrote down the decision, and a flag waver signaled the recorder when the shouter yelled the decision. One man was responsible for the order of the archers, and another—a "gong striker"—signaled them to start. A marshal was in charge of the archers, another was in charge of the horses, and yet another official handled the bows. There were dog handlers, of course, and some two hundred attendants, chosen from among the lower-class kawaramono, one for each of the dogs and the rest to assist.33 Thus inuoumono was a quite sophisticated sport with both competitive and ritual aspects. Form was important, even crucial, in inuoumono, as it was in all types of archery. Today one of the major differences between Japanese and Western archery is that the former is not totally concerned with results, that is, hits. Also important is the archer's composure and the release of the arrow. Later, with some borrowing from Zen writings, archery texts would discuss the cultivation of inner spiritual qualities. But such concern with form and decorum has been important to Japanese archery since it was first introduced as one of the six accomplishments of the Chinese noble. Archery was part of the training of the gentleman, with spiritual and civilizing qualities, as well as practical skill, emphasized. From the beginning of the Kamakura bakufu, a number of noted warriors turned up at ceremonial archery contests and major hunting expeditions to demonstrate their prowess. The archer with the superlative reputation, and the one who from surviving records seems to have competed most frequently,

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was Shimokobe Shoshi Yukihira.34 The best known of Minamoto Yoritomo's vassals to participate regularly was Wada Yoshimori, one of the shogun's major commanders and head of the Samurai-dokoro, or Warriors' Bureau, in the new bakufu. Miura Yoshizumi, one of Yoritomo's earliest allies and closest advisors, also participated on occasion. Ironically, Wada, Miura, the Tachibana brothers, and many other great archers among the retainers of Yoritomo were all descendants of Taira families. Shimokobe was himself a descendant of Fujiwara Hidezato, one of the most famed archers of late Heian times. Kinsmen of Yoritomo from various branches of the Seiwa Genji clan were noted archers. Among them, the best were those of the Kai Genji, from which branch stemmed two families, the Takeda and the Ogasawara, who achieved fame as archers later in the Kamakura period. But they were overshadowed in the early years by those, like Shimokobe, who followed the Fujiwara Hidezato tradition. Yet it is incorrect to regard traditions like that of Hidezato as true ryuha of archery, mounted or otherwise. True ryuha in archery, swordsmanship, and other martial skills are phenomena of a later period. Only in the Muromachi period, when a number of schools derived from the Heki-ryu sought to discover the roots of their tradition, do we hear of ryuha founded by branches of the Seiwa Genji who traced their origins to Shiragi Saburo Yoshimitsu, younger brother of Yoshiie. The seriousness with which the Kamakura warrior took practice with bow and arrow is illustrated by a story from the Azuma kqgami, the official chronicle of the Kamakura regime.35 The first major yabusame competition was held at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine horseground in the eighth month of 1187. The archery competition followed a hojoe ceremony, in which live birds and animals were released in accordance with the Buddhist injunction against the taking of life. Yoritomo had his men bring forward Suwa Morizumi, a Taira warrior captured during the Gempei War, and forced him to shoot. Despite having to ride an ill-tempered horse, Morizumi managed to hit all three targets on his first ride. On his second ride, he shattered the three clay targets, so Yoritomo ordered him to shoot the little pegs that had held the targets on his third ride. Realizing that his life was likely at stake, Morizumi gathered his strength and set off, offering prayers to the great deity of the Suwa clan. To the amazement of the crowd he hit all three pegs. Yoritomo was so impressed that he not only freed Morizumi but even took him into service. Morizumi was a well-known yabusame expert who had mastered the secret techniques of Fujiwara Hidezato at the Tobadono, the detached palace of former emperors just south of Kyoto. It appears to

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have been through Morizumi that this form of mounted archery, preserved hitherto in Kyoto, entered Kamakura, enriching the mounted archery of the day. While yabusame was thought to provide practical archery techniques for the battlefield, it was in reality practiced primarily for sporting purposes, but it retained its religious and ceremonial elements as well. It was apparently offered frequently as a prayer for curing illness or the like at Shinto shrines making it a form of religious exercise.36 The warriors themselves seemed to place considerable weight on the competitive aspects. Yabusame is still performed at a number of shrines around the country, indicative of the longstanding religious nature of the practice. Several important changes in archery equipment and form that occurred during the late Heian period affected the style of the Kamakura warrior.37 By this time bows (called mamakiyumf) were mostly bamboo sandwiched between two layers of wood, the three layers being bound tightly together, then wrapped in rattan and lacquered. The rattan and lacquer made them excellent for battlefield use, since they were much more able to withstand rain and extreme changes in temperature. Given the necessity of fighting in a variety of weather conditions, reliable bowstrings were also crucial. By the Kamakura period there were two types of strings. One was silk thread tightly wrapped with paper and then lacquered, and the other was two woven strands of silk lacquered to prevent twisting. By early Kamakura times it had also become customary to use one of several types of leather gloves. Since the bow was always held in the left hand, the archer's glove (yugake)—in Kamakura times often called just "glove" (tebukuro)—was used only on the right hand. Various styles were popular. A glove was used for both mounted and ground archery, with a specially reinforced thumb controlling the release. The style of shooting also seems to have undergone transition. Arrows became increasingly heavier, and a different, fatter type of bamboo was used to accommodate the heavier steel arrowheads in a variety of shapes. Arrows were also longer (just over three feet), indicating that the bow pull was considerably extended. Scrolls of the early medieval period show that the bow was pulled to the chest or even all the way to the right ear during this period, the mid or full pull replacing the short pull of earlier styles. Although it is difficult from such pictures to understand the subtle working of the hand and fingers, the thumb appears to have controlled the release, with other fingers playing an auxiliary role. The bow did not spin around (yumigaeri) after the string was released as in kyudo today.

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Apparently the popularity of archery ensured that the Kamakura warrior's battlefield skills remained sharp. The Taiheiki, for example, introduces Ogasawara Magoroku, who responds resolutely to a surprise attack by the enemy—in this case, warriors supporting the doomed Kamakura bakufu. With a corselet slung across his body, he ran up to the gate tower, carrying a closely wound rattan bow and a twenty-four-arrow war quiver, drew forth an arrow from the middle of the quiver, fitted it along the string, and opened the boards of a window to make a peaked hole, and shouting down he spoke a word to the enemy. "Soon you will know the degree of our skill, pretentious host! Who may your grand marshal be? Let him approach to receive one of my arrows!" Speaking, he pulled back the bowstring, full and slow, until with a singing sound the arrow flew away that measured twelve hands and the breadth of three fingers. Its arrowhead hit square in the middle of the foremost rider's helmet and drove through clearly to the first neck plate, so that he fell headlong from the horse.38

The Muromachi Period Bows and arrows remained popular in Muromachi times for both ceremonial and military purposes. Because the new bakufu was established in the capital at Kyoto, archery events for both the imperial court and warrior ceremonies were held, although shooting was apparently more popular among the bushi. Even before the reunification of the Northern and Southern courts in 1392, the first three Ashikaga shoguns established both ground and mounted archery in the warrior ceremonial. The most prominent Muromachi archers were members of the Ogasawara and Takeda families, who had developed excellent reputations during the Kamakura period. These families were joined by the Ise family, who, along with the Ogasawara, produced many skilled archers in both equestrian and ground forms. Of particular note was Ogasawara Sadamune (1294-1350), reputedly the archery instructor to both Emperor Go-Daigo and Shogun Ashikaga Takauji. His Inuoumono mokuanbumi, written in 1341 and presented to Shogun Takauji, stresses inuoumono as the essential skill for military training.39 As a leading warrior in Go-Daigo's Warriors' Bureau and author of another archery classic, Shinden kyuho shushinron, Sadamune firmly established the Ogasawara tradition of equestrian archery. He even passed it on to Takeda Nobumune, constable of both Kai and Aki Provinces, from whom it passed back to Sadamune's son Masanaga. Here the tradition of the mounted archery ceremonial was shared by the two leading families responsible for preserving

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that tradition. Later, when ryuha developed, intense competition, interfamilial jealousy, and concern with secrecy would make such an exchange rare indeed. Sadamune's great-grandson Mochinaga (1396-1462) became the teacher of the eighth shogun, Yoshimasa. A prolific author, he published at least five volumes devoted solely to inuoumono. He also wrote on kasagake and other forms of shooting, but his best-known work was Jarai shiki (Personal Record on Ceremonial Shooting), which covered everything from equipment to prizes.40 Perhaps owing to the influence of such luminaries as Sadamune and Mochinaga, inuoumono flourished in Muromachi times while yabusame declined in popularity. Several forms of ground and equestrian archery, especially inuoumono, continued to be performed as both court and bakufo ceremony even during the incessant warfare that plagued Japan in the late Muromachi period. But archery was also practiced for competitive sport purposes, as well as for its military utility. The Ogasawara was perhaps the leading family in archery, many family members having distinguished themselves even in Kamakura times (Nagakiyo was reportedly Yoritomo's teacher, and his son Nagatsune may have taught Yoritomo's son Sanetomo). Many Ogasawara archers went on to serve both the imperial family and the Ashikaga shogunal house in similar posts.41 But the Ise family also produced noted archers, eclipsing the formerly influential Takeda. In fact, warrior ceremonial archery became somewhat standardized in Muromachi times. The Ogasawara became specialists in outdoor (mounted) archery (tomukt), while the Ise were authorities in indoor (ground) archery (uchimuki). This was solely a matter of controlling the ceremonial, however; in terms of appearances in inuoumono events, Ise family members outnumbered Ogasawara family members.42

The Sengoku Period During the Sengoku period, when the Ashikaga shogunate exercised little control over the country and provincial daimyo vied for regional power, most warriors honed their bow, sword, and spear skills for use in combat. The Ogasawara and Ise families, however, continued to serve as repositories for instruction in the ceremonial forms of archery—ritualized forms that had become sport. They were concerned not only with competition but also with poise and decorum. The Takeda, one of the three traditional Muromachi houses specializing in the archery ceremonial, disappear from the records. Sporting archery competition remained popular among the nobility in

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Kyoto. As far as equestrian archery was concerned, Sengoku warriors preferred inuoumono over the other two forms, although mounted archery in general lost much of its popularity. This was probably due to the introduction of the gun and a concomitant shift in military strategy. With the building of large castles, siege warfare was more common than massed battles, and large numbers of arrows had to be rained down on besieged and besiegers alike. In battles, arrows were often fired while gunners reloaded. Neither situation called for expertise in shooting arrows from horseback. As with swordsmanship, the pressures and demands of war brought changes in archery technique and spurred the development of contending ryuha. The archer of the turbulent late Muromachi age required even greater speed and power, not to mention penetrating ability, in combat situations, so a different kind of archery was necessary. The primarily ceremonial forms taught by the Ogasawara did not emphasize such practical skills. Techniques were improved as actual combat situations, rather than ceremonial target practice, became more than ever the testing ground. One change in shooting style that came during the late Muromachi period was the introduction of yumigaeri, the rotating of the bow upon the release of the arrow, as we find in contemporary Japanese archery. Yumigaeri was unknown previously, hence the Japanese archer had used an arm guard. Yumigaeri was not appropriate in mounted archery or in actual combat situations and, indeed, was prohibited, except in ceremonial, sportlike ground archery.43 As the skills of archery developed during the sixteenth century, a number of teachers appeared on the scene. Perhaps the greatest was Heki Masatsugu, often credited with a revival of archery, because he added a military practicality to what had become a refined ceremonial sport. As other ryuha emerged either independently founded or branching off from his or other schools, it became common to refer to earlier traditions, however imperfectly organized and however lacking in any true systematization, as the old ryu. Those developed from late Muromachi times on were the new ryu.44 As with other martial arts, whose transmission had been primarily verbal or via demonstration, techniques of archery began to be systematized and written down. The texts described the techniques themselves, couching them in Buddhist, Shinto, and Daoist terminology, imparting a mystical quality to the teaching, which stressed uniqueness and secrecy within the school.45 The addition of these features represents, as with swordsmanship, the emergence of archery as a true martial art, with both spiritual and physical aspects to its practice.

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Heki Danjo Masatsugu (?I444—1502) is another of the legendary founders of martial arts schools whose actual career is difficult to document. Even his dates are in question. But clearly Masatsugu distinguished himself as an archer both on the battlefield and in contests. A drawing of Masatsugu in shooting pose shows the style of archery of the day. Barefoot and with the left sleeve of his jacket off, baring the shoulder for freedom of movement, Masatsugu stands with his feet about shoulder width apart, splayed outward in ducklike fashion. The bow is pulled back as he takes aim, and the pull extends only to the right breast, a mid-pull, as opposed to the full pull employed today in kyudo. Heki Masatsugu is considered the founder of late medieval archery, since through him and Heki Noritsugu descended both the main Heki-ryu and several branch schools. These include the main Yoshida-ryu and a number of offshoots, often called the "nine schools and ten branches" (kyuryujippa).*6 The formerly dominant Ogasawara style of ceremonial archery did not disappear. Just as several archers of that school enjoyed status as archery instructors to the Ashikaga house, later members of the family enjoyed the same status once leyasu founded the Tokugawa bakufu. The family head, Nagatoki, was chased out of Kai Province by Takeda Shingen, wandering for thirty years before he settled down with one of his students, Hoshino Mian, in Aizu, where he died in 1583. Both Nagatoki's sons, Sadayoshi and Hidemasa, however, were recognized by leyasu, and their descendants became daimyo in several domains. The family teachings were passed on through Tsunenao, who served leyasu and whose descendants, known as the Heihyoe, continued the Ogasawara tradition in the service of the Tokugawa house.47 The great peace that followed leyasu's victories at Sekigahara and Osaka Castle had as profound an effect on the fortunes of archery as they did on the development of swordsmanship. That is to say, when the need to practice archery for distinctly military purposes declined, the focus of the art also changed. Archery came to be practiced for spiritual purposes and physical improvement and eventually became a sport. This was not a radical transformation for archery, which had since ancient times served both martial and sport functions. It had long been common for courtiers or warriors to participate in archery matches or to enjoy the contests as spectators. Prizes were given, wagers made, and reputations established. For achievements so easily measurable (such and such an archer hit the center of the target with ten of ten arrows), records were probably also noted. But by Tokugawa times competition to set and break records became intense, and the transition to a full

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sport occurred. But perhaps the transition was easier for archery than for swordsmanship, because it does not have the same crucial association with combat—and death. With swordsmanship, the change from fighting to the death to fencing for competitive purposes was a problem of a different magnitude.

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CHAPTER SIX

The Quest for Records in the Tokugawa

ALTHOUGH ARCHERY was the first of Japan's fighting skills to be transformed into a martial art and a competitive sport, both the early association with the sacred and the tradition of Chinese civil archery with its ritualistic component remained strongly at work on it. Consequently, both the mounted and the ground forms of archery became highly formalized, and by medieval times their practice was codified in warrior ceremonial (buke kojitsu), whose preservation and transmission were monopolized by the Ogasawara, Takeda, and Ise warrior houses. But the main school of archery, Heki-ryu, and its many branches, which developed during the tumultuous Sengoku era, dominated archery during the successive Tokugawa period. Traditional ceremonial archery continued, although in reduced circumstances because of the rise of Heki-ryu styles. It became even more the private preserve of a few families, a specialization in line with the tendency for all arts to become highly professionalized. Despite the general decline in horseriding among Tokugawa warriors, there was a revival of interest in equestrian archery in the early Tokugawa period. The Kyushu daimyo Shimazu Nariaki invited other daimyo to view inuoumono at his Edo mansion in 1646; and the next year Shogun lemitsu himself attended an inuoumono performance, sparking a return to mild popularity of this pastime preserved in Kyushu since Kamakura and Muromachi times, when it had been quite the rage.1

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lemitsu expressed considerable interest in promoting archery. He attempted to revive ceremonial standing archery by setting up targets within the shogunal castle in Edo and encouraging his retainers to practice these forms. He even reestablished the kyuba no hajime, the annual archery matches on the old court ceremonial calendar. The rise in popularity of these older styles reached its height under the eighth shogun, Yoshimune, who, as we have already seen, exerted great efforts in the promotion of martial skills. He encouraged both equestrian and ground target archery among his direct retainers by erecting archery grounds for distance shooting in several places in Edo. He also sponsored the compilation of written works on the archery ceremonial by the Ogasawara and Ise. It was also during YoshimuneJs era that yabusame for religious purposes was revived and became popular at such shrines as Takada Hachimangu and Oji Hiratsuka Myqjin in Edo.2 Thanks to Yoshimune's efforts, traditional archery forms continued to enjoy some popularity right down to the end of the Tokugawa period, when the foreign policy crisis forced authorities to buttress national defense by adopting more practical martial techniques. Subsequently, archery, like most of the traditional martial arts, lost favor among the warrior class. Even before that, however, these earlier forms had become a minor stream in the world of archery, owing to the tremendous rise in popularity of the many branches of the Heki-ryu in late Sengoku and early Tokugawa times. The schools of archery were affected in much the same way as swordsmanship and other martial arts schools by peace, urbanization, the spread of literacy, and professionalization. But if archery ryuha proliferated in the Tokugawa period, the teaching of the art was largely limited to domain schools. Urban dqjo were not part of the archery scene during the Tokugawa period. Like swordsmanship, archery too became almost divorced from the battlefield realities of the sixteenth century; and as peace settled in, many samurai practiced the martial art of archery—generally referred to as kyujutsu—for spiritual and character-building purposes, as well as for recreation. It became common for the heads of archery ryuha to produce texts and scrolls that elucidated the principles of successful shooting, such as mind-body coordination, often in Zen Buddhist terminology, much as sword masters did. In the West this traditional Japanese archery is normally called Zen archery, and it is commonly assumed that hitting the target is of little concern to Japanese archers. The idea has been fostered that archers were Zen devotees seeking enlightenment through a mystical shooting experience and that competition to hit targets was antithetical to true archery. The late Edwin Reis-

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chauer helped popularize this idea in his influential film The Japanese: "In Japan, it doesn't matter much if he misses the target altogether. So long as he draws the bow properly, with correct form and concentration. What he is working on is himself, not the flight of the arrow." The authors of a popular book on Japanese archery, Andre Sollier and Zsolt Gyorbiro, mince no words: "The purpose of Zen archery is not to hit the target."3 Perhaps no one has been more influential in propagating the idea that Japanese archery is a spiritual exercise rather than a sport than Eugen Herrigel, a German philosopher who went to Japan to study Zen and took up archery solely as a means of Zen meditation. Herrigel claims that in Japan "archery can in no circumstances mean accomplishing anything outwardly with bow and arrow, but only inwardly, with oneself. Bow and arrow are only a pretext for something that could just as well happen without them, only the way to a goal, not the goal itself, only helps for the last decisive leap."4 As Sollier and Gyorbiro sum up Tokugawa archery: "Although outmoded as a fighting technique, the art of archery was kept alive by Zen monks, as well as certain members of the upper classes, as a mental and physical discipline. It became closely identified with the court nobility and a symbol of the whole Tokugawa period."5 If mental and physical discipline were essential elements in archery from antiquity, what distinguished archery in the Tokugawa period from archery before then was the rapid rise of competitive sport archery. Indeed, there was a nationwide craze for sporting competition among archers, a fascination with the setting and breaking of records that flies directly in the face of the stereotype of Japanese archery as a spiritual experience with no concern for practical results. Saito Naoyoshi, in his history of Japanese archery, recognizes three periods: the ancient period to mid-Heian times, the "flourishing period" from late Heian to Sengoku times, and the period from the Great Pacification of the Genna Era, that is, 1615 to the modern era. While he admits there were Tokugawa archers who could shoot well, he sees techniques as in decline and notes that even excellent archers could not "reach the mystical qualities of a Yoshiie or the mental powers of a Tametomo." Archers were instead concerned with showing their talents in competitions.6

Heki-ryu Schools and the Yoshida Family At least fifty-one archery schools can be identified in Japan, although many are simply different names for the same school.7 Most of the prominent ryuha

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of the Tokugawa period are essentially offshoots of the dominant Heki-ryu, established by Heki Danjo Masatsugu around the end of the fifteenth century. These were the "nine schools and ten branches" (kyuryu jippa): Heki-ryu, Yoshida-ryu, Izumo-ha, Sekka-ryu, Chikurin-ha, Sakon'emon-ha, Jutoku-ha, Yamashina-ha, Daishin-ha, D6setsu-ha, Insai-ha, Okura-ha, and Yamato-ryu. I might note that the phrase "nine schools and ten branches" is not an accurate numeration but a stylistic device to designate a large number of schools. Some schools are referred to as both ryu (school) and ha (branch), the designation varying with person or text. The history of these often contending schools— Masatsugu's original Heki-ryu and the other new schools that split off from it in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—indicates the difficulties inherent in transmitting the esoterica of a martial arts school to only one student in a generation and in the opposing claims of both family and martial competence. Yoshida-ryu and Izumo-ha

Masatsugu transmitted his teachings directly to Yoshida Izumo no kami Shigekata (1463-1543), with whom the proliferation of branches (ha) began. Shigekata taught the style to his son and heir, Sukezaemon Shigemasa, who died in 1569." The Yoshida family home was located in Kawamori no sho in Omi, the province just northeast of Kyoto. Shigemasa had served as archery instructor to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu but ran afoul of Sasaki Yoshikata, his warrior overlord and student. In fact, Shigemasa's prowess as an archer was a major factor in Yoshikata's defeat of the rival Matsunaga clan at the Battle of Kaguraoka in 1544. Subsequently, however, Yoshikata requested Shigemasa to transmit the Heki-ryu teachings solely to him. When Shigemasa refused, Yoshikata was forced to flee for his life and sought protection from Asakura Yoshikage to the north in Echizen Province. Thanks to Yoshikage's intervention, relations between the two men were repaired some six years later, and Shigemasa did transmit his archery secrets to Yoshikata. Yoshikata returned the favor by transferring certification back to Shigemasa's son Izumo mo kami Shigetaka (1509—1585). Shigetaka's descendants continued the tradition: all family heads took the name Sukezaemon (one of Yoshida Shigekata's given names) and, in the Tokugawa period, formed the main line of the Izumo-ha, located in the Abe domain. The name of the school derived from the Izumo no kami title of the founder.

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Yabusame, a form of mounted archery, at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, Kamakura (above and following pages). (Courtesy of Japan National Tourist Organization.) Sekka-ryu

The initial problem with transmission of the Heki-ryu teachings led to others in the inheritance of the Heki-ryu archery tradition through the Yoshida family. Shigemasa's fourth son, Shigekatsu (1514—1590), better known by his pen name Sekka, established his own school, which came to be known as the Sekka-ryu.9 He moved his family to Kyoto, where he enjoyed the patronage of powerful political figures, including Hosokawa Yusai and Hideyoshi's son, the regent Hidetsugu. While there he also learned the old ceremonial style of archery from Ogasawara Hidekiyo. Among Sekka's students were Ukita Naoie and Gamo Ujizato and his son Hidezato, three of the most famous Sengokuera generals. But Sekka's most important relationship was with his patron Hidetsugu, an avid student of the martial arts who was especially keen on archery. It was

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Hidetsugu who gave Shigekatsu the name Sekka, "Snow Bearing." The story holds that while Shigekatsu was perfecting his archery in Kyoto, Hidetsugu asked him to make a bow, a skill for which Shigekatsu was well known. When the bow was completed, Shigekatsu delivered it to Hidetsugu on horseback during a heavy snowstorm. Hidetsugu watched from the castle battlements as Shigekatsu approached, the snow heaped atop his straw raincoat. It looked for all the world as though he were bearing a load of snow, so Hidetsugu gave him that name, which was extended to his archery style. Sekka passed his style to his son and heir, Rokuzo Motohisa, who became a teacher to the Todo clan, a position that his descendants maintained throughout the Tokugawa period. 131

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Dosetsu-ha

Another among Sekka's many students was Ban Kizaemon Ichian (d. 1621), better known by his pen name Dosetsu (Snow on the Way). Dosetsu was at first a humble servant in Kenninji, a Zen temple in Kyoto. He was a koban, a servant who ground beans for soup, and when he decided to leave the temple, he took the name Ban as his surname.10 Dosetsu later joined the service of Hosokawa Yusai and, like his lord, became a student of the archery master Yoshida Sekka. He became so good that in 1588 Sekka transmitted the entire teachings of his school to him. Because Sekka's heir, Rokuzo, was quite young and weak, Sekka gave Dosetsu the Yoshida family name and expressed the desire to make him the heir instead. Dosetsu, however, argued that he should simply be allowed to serve as the boy's guardian. He would teach him the family archery tradition and should himself be allowed to start his own school. Sekka consented, and thus the D6setsu-ha was born. Rokuzo inherited and maintained the Sekka-ryu. Dosetsu ended his life in the service of the Matsudaira clan of Koriyama in Yamato Province, and his lineal descendants and adopted son, Seki Rokuzo Ichian, maintained the main line there. A branch descended from Ichian flourished in Aizu. Dosetsu's adopted son, Seki Rokuzo Ichian (1571-1653), was an especially talented archer. He is credited with lengthening the distance for toshiya ("clearing arrows") competition, which involved shooting arrows along the hallway at Sanjusangendo in Kyoto. He was also famous for his distance shooting at Aozuka, an area in southeastern Kyoto known as the premier spot in the land for that sport. There were two other areas used for distance shooting: one just south of Gion Shrine at Yasaka, which was 180 ken in length (a ken is six feet seven inches), and one farther south, around Kiyomizudera, which was 242 ken. But Aozuka, with 205 ken, became the favored site after archers began to compete at these three spots in the 15708 or so. Competitors flocked to Aozuka from all over the country, vying to extend the record a foot or even an inch farther. Seki Rokuzo Ichian and two other archers trained by Dosetsu were famous for shooting arrows twenty to thirty ken beyond the borders of the course. Okura-ha and Sakon'emon-ha

Kataoka letsugu (.1558-1615), a leading student of Yoshida Izumo no kami Shigetaka's, is responsible for the formation of two more branches of the Yoshida family schools. In accord with the wishes of his dead master, he took

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over responsibility for teaching the Izumo-ha secrets to Shigetaka's third son, Masashige, who served as archery instructor first to the regent Toyotomi Hidetsugu and then, following Hidetsugu's forced suicide, to Maeda Toshiie, daimyo of Kaga.11 Masashige is credited with founding the Sakon'emon-ha in Kanazawa, a school carried on by his first two sons. Masashige's third son also served Toshiie in Kanazawa and became known for his toshiya shooting at Sanjusangendo, where he was named best archer in Japan six of the seven times he competed. Known as Okura Shigeuji (1588—1644), he is regarded as the founder of the 6kura-ha, transmitted through his descendants in Kanazawa. Yamashina-ha

Kataoka letsugu had his own children to worry about as well as Izumo no kami's son. Kataoka came from Yamashina, an area just outside the eastern city limits of Kyoto, where he remained even after Hidetsugu offered him a domain. Because the family remained in Yamashina for generations, the name Yamashina-ha was given to this style founded by letsugu and taught to his eldest son, lenobu. Successive generations produced many noted archers, and students numbered in the hundreds. As a school, the Yamashina-ha is well known for the application of Confucian and Buddhist learning, which resulted in the elevation of both the physical and the spiritual aspects of the art.12 Perhaps the greatest of the Yamashina-ha archers was Takayama Hachiemon, a retainer of the Sakai family in Shonai domain, who was the most talented among the several hundred students of lenobu. Takayama was three times proclaimed the best archer in Japan for his victories in toshiya competition at Sanjusangendo. When Takayama established a record of 3,051 successful shots in 1634, lenobu presented him with a special bow of his own making.13 Hachiemon is regarded as the founder of the Takayama-ha, which flourished in the Fukui domain. Insai-ha

The Yoshida-ryu is also the source of the Insai-ha, whose founder, Katsuramaki Gempachiro (1562—1638), was the son-in-law of Shigetaka's heir, Shigetsuna. He first learned archery from Shigetsuna, then studied at the Sakon'emon-ha with Masashige before starting his own school, whose designation derived from the name later given him, Yoshida Issuiken Insai. Insai was a successful archer who served not only Toyotomi Hidetsugu but later

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Tokugawa leyasu, finally becoming archery instructor to the second and third shoguns as well, Hidetada and lemitsu.14 Insai's life illustrates the confusion that often surrounded the transmission of martial arts secrets and ryuha headship in the emerging profession. He was given the Yoshida family name (by virtue of marrying the family head's daughter) when Shigetsuna was on his deathbed and was also asked to serve as guardian for the young heir, Sukezaemon.15 That responsibility was to prove a big problem later. Upon one occasion, when leyasu was visiting in Kyoto, all the members of the main Yoshida house and most of the branches gathered at Miidera, a temple located near the peak of Mount Hiei, for the purpose of reestablishing the main Yoshida line under the designated heir, Sukezaemon Toyotake. Insai, who had been the young man's guardian, was asked to attend. The heir, Sukezaemon, complained to the assembled group that Insai, who had been asked to look after Sukezaemon and then transfer the family scrolls to him when he reached eighteen, had refused to do so. Repeated appeals to Insai had been rebuffed. Family members questioned Insai, who maintained that he had not returned the scrolls because Sukezaemon had not yet mastered the family archery skills. Ishido Chikurin (founder of the Chikurin-ha, discussed below) argued that it was wrong of Insai to defy the instructions of Shigetsuna, which made Insai unworthy to be the sole inheritor of the tradition. All the family demanded that Insai give the scrolls back, but Insai still refused. Chikurin even tried to seize the scrolls for Sukezaemon but was unable to wrest them away. Finally, Shigetsuna's widow was consulted. She testified that "on his deathbed, the late Sukezaemon spoke thusly. *I transmit sixty-two teachings to my son-in-law Gempachiro; but since ancient times there have been a number of examples of uncles killing their nephews. In such a case, then, the secrets would be lost to the main house.' So a portion [of the scrolls] he entrusted to me, with instructions that when Toyotake came of age, I present that portion to him at an assembly of the entire house. Here is that scroll he gave me."16 Chikurin, Sekka, and the other Yoshida house archers had received 200 teachings from their former teachers and had added 80 more of their own devising; but now Sukezaemon had 360 without which the family ryu tradition would be incomplete. So at the family meeting, Sukezaemon was formally guaranteed exclusive possession of all secret teachings, thus reestablishing the Yoshida-ryu main house. This argument was never totally resolved during Insai's lifetime, however, and continued to be a source of

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frustration between his heir and the next two heirs to the Yoshida-ryu main line. Chikurin-ha The Chikurin-ha of the Yoshida-ryu reveres Ishido Chikurin (d. 1605) as its founder.17 He is considered to have inherited the tradition stemming from Heki Yazaemon Noritsugu, a relative of Heki Danjo Masatsugu's, whose actual connection to the family is a source of debate.18 Chikurin was a Shingon Buddhist priest at the Yoshida family temple in Omi who learned the Yoshida-ryu style of archery before founding his own school. He learned the Yoshida-ryu style from Izumo no kami Shigemasa, but he also studied the main Heki-ryu style with Yuge Yarokuro. In 1558 Chikurin fought for Sasaki Yoshikata against Miyoshi Chokei at Shirakawaguchi. There Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide won a hard-fought victory against Yoshikata, a struggle that lasted the whole day. Near the end of the fighting, when Hisahide led a final charge, shouting out his pedigree and urging his men forward, Chikurin loosed an arrow at him. Fortunately for Hisahide, Chikurin's aim was slightly off the mark, and the arrow struck his horse instead. Hisahide leaped off the dead horse to the left, narrowly escaping with his life.19 In 1602 or 1603 Chikurin entered the service of the Matsudaira clan in Owari (modern-day Nagoya) with a stipend of 250 koku. He died there, but his heir—Chikurin had left the priesthood and married sometime earlier— remained to establish the Chikurin-ha, which was carried on by successive generations. Among the most famous students of this Nagoya branch of the house was Hoshino Kan'zaemon Shigenori (1604—1696). Hoshino competed several times in the toshiya competition at Sanjusangendo and in 1669 became the best in Japan by clearing 8,000 arrows out of 10,542. Another famous student was Wasa Daihachiro Norito, who became the premier national archer in 1686 with a score of 8,133 out of 13,053—the highest score ever recorded.20

Competitive Archery: The Quest for Records The toshiya competitions suggest the course followed by those interested in the practice of archery during the Tokugawa period. That is, like other martial arts, archery lost its immediacy as a battle skill during the era of peace. It was instead practiced for a variety of other reasons: to maintain the tradition of the warrior ceremonial as handed down by the Ogasawara, Ise and Takeda

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families; to train spiritually and physically; and to engage in a competitive sport. Such motives were not necessarily exclusive. Many archers from schools that couched their secret texts in Buddhist, Confucian, and even Shinto language, were among the most avid of competitive archers. As I have pointed out, archery was the first of Japan's traditional fighting techniques to be transformed into both a martial art and a sport, albeit one whose ritual and sacred aspects never disappeared. It was during the Tokugawa period that this transformation was completed. One of the primary characteristics of modern sport is the desire to set records.21 Certainly no other martial art—save perhaps the newly introduced Western art of gunnery—was so naturally amenable to the compilation of records. The quest for records is perhaps the single most distinguishing feature of Tokugawa archery.22 Toshiya, the shooting of arrows down the long veranda in Sanjusangendo, a hall in the Rengeoin temple in Kyoto, had been enjoyed sporadically for some time; but from the early seventeenth century on, it became a highly popular and competitive endeavor, attracting archers from all over the country to compete to be the best in Japan. An imitation toshiya competition was also opened in Edo. Such competition became especially popular beginning in the early seventeenth century (the Genna era, 1615-1623), with domains eagerly supporting local archers in competitions. Toshiya, also known as dosha (temple shooting), was originally conducted on the veranda of the Sanjusangendo Hall of the Rengeoin, a late Heian Shingon temple established by retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa; the arrows were shot over a distance of sixty-six ken (about 130 yards).23 Toshiya supposedly began right after the Hogen Rebellion of 1156, but little is known about it until the Sengoku era, when it came into vogue again. Of the recorded 899 archers who competed in toshiya from the 13308 (early Muromachi period) until 1608, fully 778 of them competed during the eight years following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 under the shogunal sponsorship of leyasu and Hidetada.24 Most of the archers came from areas close to Kyoto, primarily from Omi Province, which is hardly surprising since it was the home of the Heki and Yoshida families. Hideyoshi's son Hidetsugu, who was forced to commit seppuku in 1595, was especially devoted to the practice of archery and enjoyed watching competitions as well. During his brief lifetime, his fascination for distance shooting was converted largely into the practice of toshiya. Competition in Hidetsugu's day, however, was predominantly a matter of seeing who could shoot the most arrows through the hall in a specific time period. It was after 1624 that the heated competition to set ever higher records developed.25 To win in such

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competition, an archer had to shoot the most arrows that successfully passed the length of the veranda without striking the ceiling, floor, walls, or pillars, thus the name "clearing arrows." The various competitions at the Sanjusangendo are recorded in the Sanjusangendo toshiya meisaiki (Detailed Record of Toshiya Shooting at Sanjusangendo), compiled in the late Tokugawa period. Another record of archery competition, Nendai yakazu-cho (Ledger of the Annual Shooting Competition), lists the first toshiya competition in 1606, when the Kiyosu domain warrior Asaoka Heibei finished first by clearing fifty-one arrows.26 The Detailed Record, however, claims that serious shooting of large numbers of arrows in competition began earlier, in 1599. Whichever is correct, the tendency for warriors to fire numerous arrows in competitive archery essentially began with the ascendancy of the Tokugawa. New records were set so rapidly that modern competitions to break records, such as lowering the time for the mile run or raising the bar in the high jump or pole vault, seem slow by comparison. Although Asaoka's record of 51 may have impressed his contemporaries, the record was up to 200 by 1618, 300 the next year, 500 in 1620, and 700 by 1621. Yashima Heizaemon raised the record to 900 one year later, but in 1623 Yoshida Okura raised it to an astonishing 1,333. Thereafter the record was bettered gradually, not reaching the 2,000 plateau until Kasuya Sakon hit 2,054 i*1 1630. Yet just seven years later, the record was more than doubled when Nagaya Rokuemon of the Owari Tokugawa domain scored 4,312 clearing arrows. Much of this incredible success in record breaking has to do with the conditions and form of competition, rather than improvements in the talents of the archers or technological changes in equipment. Toshiya competition in Kyoto ultimately evolved into four distinct categories: oyakazu, the twentyfour-hour event; hiyateazu, the twelve-hour event; the thousand-arrow event; and the hundred-arrow event. One hundred was the fewest arrows to be shot in any toshiya category. These four types of matches were shot over three distances: the "full hall" (zendo) of sixty-six ken; the "half hall" (hando) of thirty-three ken; and, later, a special distance of fifty ken. Competition in Edo was similar, although its historical development was somewhat different. Kyoto toshiya enjoyed its greatest popularity in the seventeenth century, especially in the first four decades of that century, before leveling off and then declining. By contrast, Edo toshiya gradually rose in popularity, peaking near the end of the Tokugawa era in the nineteenth century. Edo matches were more diverse than those in Kyoto, boasting several new distances: oyakazu at forty ken; thousand-arrow events at forty, forty-

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five, fifty, and sixty ken; and hundred-arrow matches at all seven distances, plus an event held on several occasions that extended the range even beyond that of the "full hall."2? Toshiya, which began as a simple test to see if an archer could shoot an arrow or two down the long veranda at Sanjusangendo, was thus developed into a well-organized competitive sport. First came the refinement of regular time periods during which an archer would loose as many arrows as possible, then came limitations on the number of arrows, and finally came specific distances. Ultimately there were eleven different events in Kyoto toshiya and twenty-one in Edo toshiya.28 A further amendment to the competitive rules, apparently the first amendment of its kind in Japan's sport history, involved age distinction: "full hall" events were for adults, while events featuring shorter distances were limited to teenagers and even younger children. The impetus behind this evolution seems to have been not only the need to accommodate a greater number of would-be competitors but also the need to foster interest in competition. When Wasa Daihachiro set his record of 8,133 successful arrows in 1686, he needed to shoot an arrow every 6.6 seconds over the twenty-four-hour period. Setting such a record required extraordinary skill and, even more, an abnormally well developed physical and mental strength that became increasingly difficult for warriors to foster in an era of peace. Although early rapid record-breaking served as an impetus to competition, such an extraordinary record may well have discouraged other archers. It was, after all, seventeen years after Hoshino Shigenori set the record of 8,000 before Wasa managed to edge him out. Prior to that, records had been raised with great regularity. Perhaps Kanzaki Sadamoto was close to the truth when he praised Hoshino's record but noted that "because he shot to such a level, future archers will lose hope. In that case, it seems archery will decline."29 And, in Kyoto, oyakazu declined, or at least competition leveled off. But Edo competition started later, gradually rose in popularity, and developed more categories of shooting. The proliferation of competitions employing a limited number of arrows and at lesser distances, distances specifically established for youths, served as a stimulus to promote archery competition more broadly among the warrior populace. From at least the early 16208 records not only of successful shots but also of total arrows fired in oyakazu were kept, showing that whereas the number of arrows fired in earlier competitions may have been two or three thousand, it had reached some nine thousand by the 16408. Percentages of arrows clearing the course were quite high considering the large number of arrows fired. In 1668 Katsuranishi Sono-

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uemon of the Tokugawa domain at Wakayama cleared 78 percent: 7,077 successful shots out of 9,042 arrows shot.30 Records down to the end of the period reflect the development of many young archers. Forty-seven under the age of twenty competed in the hundred-arrow event at the "half hall" distance in 1793. The youngest was Rikimaru Daikichiro, then only four years old. The most amazing performance, however, was that of the eleven-year-old Oda Kingo, who in 1810 at the same distance was accurate to an incredible 99 percent, clearing 12,780 out of 12,910 arrows. Among the most successful archers was the aforementioned Yoshida Okura, who was toshiya champion six times in the i6ios and 16208. Nagaya and Takayama Hachiemon of the Shonai domain each held the record three times. If Wasa Daihachiro's record of 8,133 clearing arrows at the "full hall" distance at Sanjusangendo in 1686 was never bettered, records at lesser distances improved over the course of the period. At the "half hall" distance, Oda Kingo's astonishing accuracy was matched by Okuda Gunjiro's in 1814. In a twelve-hour competition in 1821, Chikurin Kichiman scored on 4,500 arrows out of 6,no shots. In a limited-arrow match, Katsuranishi Sonouemon scored 960 out of 1,000 arrows at the full distance in 1667. As I have noted, archery matches were not confined to Kyoto and the Sanjusangendo. Local matches were held at courses erected in many domains, and an important competition developed in Edo, the shogun's headquarters and by the late eighteenth century the largest city in the world.31 Toshiya matches there were initiated to emulate and rival those in Kyoto, and in 1642 there was even an Edo equivalent of the Sanjusangendo erected in the Asakusa district for the competition.32 After a fire in 1698, matches in which archers vied for the honor of being "first in Edo" (Edo-ichi) were curtailed until a new arena was constructed in Fukagawa under the eastern eaves of the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine. Competition began again in 1702 and continued until the end of the period.33 Winners of the Kyoto match were still held to be foremost in Japan (Nippon-ichi), but in most forms of competition the archers of Edo established better records than the archers of Kyoto did, even though no one in Edo could match Wasa's record in the oyakazu competition. Edo youths outshone their Kyoto rivals, none more so than the legendary Kokura Gishichi. Surviving records of the nineteenth century show that this youth held four separate records, beginning in 1827 when he was only eleven.34 That year he entered the thousand-arrow competition at the "half hall" distance and scored with 995 out of 1,000 shots. When Kokura reached the age of fifteen, he set two more records: 978 successful shots out of 1,000

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at the fifty-ken distance, and 94 in the hundred-arrow event at fifty-five ken. In all, he bettered records eight times. Although archers from several different locations often broke records, the most consistent were those from the Owari and Wakayama domains of the Tokugawa house, especially during the 1640-1680 period, when competition to raise the record appears to have been especially heated. Although all branches of the Heki-ryu were represented by leading archers, more came from the Chikurin-ha than any other. The old ceremonial archery families— the Ogasawara, Takeda, and Ise—continued to perform their art and did not enter into these competitions, with the result that the record books are dominated by adherents of the Heki-ryu schools.35 Toshiya shooting differed from earlier forms of archery in that contestants shot arrows while sitting along the veranda, rather than standing. This required the use of slightly different equipment. Bows were shortened by about four inches to allow seated shooting as well as to accommodate the new sashiya arrow, a special arrow for gallery shooting, pointless and thinner than arrows used in battle during the Sengoku period. Because the arrows were used for temple archery contests, they were also called doya (hall arrows). There were three kinds: straight arrows (ichimonji, "character one" arrow, so named because the Chinese character for "one" is a straight horizontal line); suginari, which had a fatter head; and another shaped like a kernel of wheat, fatter in the middle and thinner at both ends.36 Toshiya shooting also gave impetus to the development of a new form of glove. It differed from the stiff three-fingered glove used for target archery (but not in battle) in the Ogasawara and other old styles. Yoshida Okura devised a four-fingered glove that was especially good for toshiya, in which the archer needed manual dexterity to shoot ten or more arrows in the brief period of a minute. This glove was popular among archers from the Chikurinha and 6kura-ha, while most of the other Heki-ryu branches favored the three-fingered target glove and even popularized the style of wearing gloves on both hands.37 Despite the popularity of toshiya competition, acceptance of this development was by no means universal. Just as traditionalists opposed the transformation of combat swordsmanship into fencing, sport archery was never accepted by those who advocated a more hard-core, albeit anachronistic, approach to samurai life. One critic noted that real archery (shajutsu), practiced by such earlier heroes as Minamoto Yoriyoshi, involved using a weak bow and shooting strongly. The archer had to coordinate his entire strength with the bow and arrow. In toshiya, by contrast, the archers

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prefer powerful bows and light arrows; the bow and arrows are constructed so they shoot for distance. This is not archery. Furthermore, in toshiya the archers wrap their stomachs in cloth, sip gruel, and take medicine while shooting. Their bodies are those of sick people: no matter how many tens of thousands of arrows they shoot, they can hardly be called healthy archers. For shooting an enemy on the battlefield, one needs, moreover, to practice shooting at a distance of seven or eight ken to be able to penetrate his armor. But in toshiya, by sending an arrow light as a hemp stalk a distance of sixty-six ken, how can one hope to pierce armor? And in a battle you don't shoot arrows all day and all night, so hundreds of thousands of arrows are useless in war. Thus toshiya is of no martial value. It is purely recreational shooting to entertain people, an art for winning fame and receiving rewards. Both the teachers and students of archery today, by focusing on toshiya and training in it exclusively as real archery, have lost the true way of archery.38 This was a fairly common criticism made by devotees of earlier warfarerelated archery. They saw toshiya—where archers sat on a veranda and fired hundreds or thousands of very light arrows down a hallway—as mere sport. But in fact the kind of archery that they preferred was, like battlefield swordsmanship, no longer possible. Besides, toshiya required the ability to shoot far, rapidly, and repeatedly; physical strength, stamina, technique, and mental concentration were necessary for success. The difficulty of toshiya shooting was underscored in a television special produced in December 1987, in which Ashikawa Yuichi, a skilled fifth-degree black belt archer with thirteen years' experience in kyudo, tried his hand at Sanjusangendo after assiduously preparing for several months. Shooting slowly and deliberately, he was able to score only nine successful shots out of one hundred, not clearing even one until his sixty-second shot. So, criticism notwithstanding, toshiya demanded superior physical abilities. Many daimyo seemingly agreed: they frequently rewarded champion toshiya competitors with prizes running to hundreds of koku.39

Archery and Hunting Archery for sporting purposes was also promoted through the medium of hunting, which continued to be a very important part of warrior life in the Tokugawa period. In fact, hunting was the only area in which the skills of horsemanship and archery could still be used. Of course hunting, too, changed over the course of time. Initially, the hunt was a place to hone battlefield skills—the ability to ride far and hard, to endure various weather conditions, to use weapons skill-

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fully while astride—as well as an opportunity to develop strength. It could also serve to demonstrate individual prowess, even to mark a boy's coming of age. As bushi with considerable battlefield experience, the first three Tokugawa shoguns continued to hold hunting expeditions with such practical goals in mind, although the secondary goals of traveling to gauge the peoples' feelings and learn local customs were clearly involved.40 Hunting—including falconry—was leyasu's favorite form of recreation. The first shogun's hunts (at least seventy-four are recorded in sources available today) were often extensive affairs. On eight occasions leyasu and his party were gone for more than five days, and the longest one, in late 1615, lasted for just over a month. From 1604 to 1616, the Tokugawa jikki alone records leyasu as having spent two hundred days on hunting expeditions. His mania for the hunt may have been the proximate cause of his death, since he went off hunting in the bitter cold of the winter of 1616 to try his hand at falconing in Totomi. Among all shoguns, leyasu's grandson lemitsu was the most active hunter. Records list more than five hundred outings in fifteen years (1636— 1651). But as the bakufu became bureaucratized, making it more difficult for the shogun to absent himself from Edo for long periods, hunts became daylong affairs, or at most involved an overnight stay in a nearby town. Likewise, the similarity to warfare—hard riding and shooting from horseback—became less and less important, and the sporting and recreational aspects came to predominate. There was even a period during the rule of Shoguns Tsunayoshi and lenobu when hunting was almost totally abandoned owing to Tsunayoshi's obsessive concern with saving the lives of animals. Called the Dog Shogun because of the sixty-four laws passed during his tenure to protect the lives of dogs, birds, horses, and other animals, Tsunayoshi was apparently so serious in his philosophy of nonviolence that he even prohibited the shooting of wild animals who had caused harm to people or their domestic animals.41 Although hunting with bow and arrow from horseback was essentially transformed from military training to recreation over the course of the Tokugawa period, the efforts of the eighth shogun, Yoshimune, to revive the martial spirit through hunting deserves mention. Besides implementing policies to rekindle a true martial spirit in the extremely weakened samurai class of his day, Yoshimune sponsored at least 388 hunting expeditions that emphasized battlefield training more than sport. His hunts provided comprehensive training in horsemanship, running, gunnery, swordsmanship, and use of the spear, as well as archery. But unlike the bushi who served under leyasu—

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battle-tested warriors accustomed to the rigors of long periods in the saddle or to being bivouacked in hostile territory during adverse weather—the bushi who accompanied Yoshimune "were unaccustomed to straw sandals and smoke." They were "womanlike" retainers who, when even hearing the word "hunt," did not know "what kind of frightening beast might come forth. They despaired of returning alive and thus begrudgingly bid goodbye to their families and tearfully exchanged farewell cups of sake."42 Indeed, it is hardly surprising that Yoshimune was motivated to lead his vassals on hunts to reinstill in them the values and skills of the bushi of an earlier age. Yoshimune's hunts were often as grand as those sponsored by leyasu. For a deer hunt in Koganehara (Shimosa Province) in 1726, there were more than 30,000 people, including 3,000 low-ranking samurai and 4,958 laborers recruited from Hitachi and Shimosa Provinces. The hunters shot 470 deer, 12 boars, and a wolf. A year earlier, Yoshimune's party reportedly killed more than 800 deer and boar.43 Although shooting game from horseback by bow and arrow was the primary means of taking prey, guns were also quite popular. Because deer, boar, and the like apparently did considerable damage to the crops, peasants were even rather leniently allowed to employ guns in killing them.44 But however strongly Yoshimune felt about returning to the values and standards of an earlier time, archery, like swordsmanship, could never again be the type of martial skill that it had been in the days of Miyamoto Musashi. When the foreign crisis at the end of the Tokugawa period revealed the weakness of Japan's "warrior" government, people realized that toshiya competition and ceremonial archery were of little value in the world of war. In the face of the superior technology of destruction from Europe and America, there was little sense in trying to revive the battlefield archery skills of earlier warriors. To survive at all in the modern world, archery had perforce to be transformed into even more of a sport.

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PART III

ARMED MARTIAL ARTS TODAY

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Swordsmanship and Archery: The Modern Transformation

THE ARRIVAL OF WESTERN SHIPS in the late eighteenth century forced the Japanese to reassess their martial tradition. Since the samurai class was charged with policing and defending the nation, mastery of martial skills remained of potential practical value for serving one's lord or putting down rebellion or riot.1 The protracted Pax Tokugawa encouraged the transformation of combat skills into what are properly called martial arts. Derived from techniques designed to kill, they had been refined into exercises practiced for physical fitness, mental and spiritual development, and sport. Until the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's "black ships" in 1853 opened the floodgates of internal disorder and ultimately led to civil war, therefore, few warriors had been in actual combat. Most of those experienced in martial arts had learned them in the dqjo, although many spirited bushi, like Katsu Kokichi, did develop considerable practical fighting skills in duels, street brawls, and other confrontations. Fencing and archery were of demonstrably little value in the face of foreign steamships whose cannons could rake Japan's coastline at will. Nor were antiquated Japanese guns of much use in the face of the more sophisticated weaponry that had developed in Europe. While Japan never approached the point of "giving up the gun," gunnery too had been transformed from a battlefield skill into a martial art in which marksmanship and hunting success were of primary concern.2 The coming of the West thus struck a major blow at the traditional

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martial arts. Swordsmanship, archery, jujutsu, use of the naginata and spear, declined precipitously as warriors flocked to new schools of gunnery based upon Western models and as the newly formed Meiji government, the successor to the bakufu, sought to develop a westernized military system.3 For the first three decades of the Meiji period (1868-1912), martial arts went into serious decline as the ideas of "civilization and enlightenment" undercut the perceived value of martial arts not only as practical combat skills but even as ethical or physical fitness components of the new educational system. Not until well into the twentieth century did fencing and judo become integral parts of the physical education system. By the outbreak of World War II, they had been rediscovered and distorted into a means of spiritually transforming Japanese schoolboys into willing volunteers for the imperial armed forces.4 In fact, the martial arts were so closely identified with the war effort that they were banned by MacArthur's General Headquarters in the wake of the Allied victory over Japan in 1945.

The Establishment of the Kobusho By the 18305 and the victory of the British over the Chinese in the Opium War of 1839-1842, the impossibility of resisting Europe and America militarily was evident to many Japanese. True, in the initial confrontation with the West, Japan could easily have overpowered the men under Commodore Perry, who sailed into Edo in 1853 and demanded that Japan open its doors to trade and commerce. One author is only half facetious when he states that the feet "that Japan with (10,000) armed men should ignore public opinion, which was overwhelmingly in favor of expulsion of foreigners, and surrender to the 600 men of Matthew Perry's squadron surely deserves mention in the Guinness Book of Records."5 But wiser heads decided to accept the lesser of two evils and accede to American insistence to open the country. In essence, unlike other Asian nations faced with the same threat, Japan decided to join the imperialists rather than fight and surely lose to them. Indeed, within several decades Japan had effectively joined the ranks of the world powers, becoming a partner in the scramble for colonies instead of a victim. The decision was not arrived at easily. For almost two decades, in the waning years of the Tokugawa shogunate, an internal debate raged, culminating in a successful revolution guided by a small group of young activists who rationally assessed the state of international affairs and Japan's position in the world. Argument and assassination, debate and deceit were all employed

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in the 18505 and i86os as various forces struggled with the issue of whether to resist foreign powers or yield to their demands.6 It was an especially difficult question for a warrior ruling class technically charged with the defense of the country but lacking the ability and the will to do so. One defense initiative that the bakufu adopted ultimately had little direct effect on Japan's encounter with Western military threats, but it indirectly helped to transform the martial arts into their modern forms—although that was clearly not the intention. This was the establishment of the Kobusho (Academy for Military Training) in 1856 at the order of Chief Councillor Abe Masahiro.7 Although most domains had established educational institutions with both civil and martial components, the bakufu itself remained behind the times. Despite the efforts to increase martial skills and spirit during the regimes of Yoshimune and Sadanobu, the bakufu had by the 18305 still not established any military training facility for its vassals, although it had established a Confucian academy. The bakufu began discussing in earnest the establishment of the Kobusho only in 1854, the year following Perry's dramatic entry into Edo harbor. The impetus was a desire to strengthen the military capabilities of both the bakufu and the nation.8 Potential locations for the Kobusho were debated and officials to oversee the facility were appointed in 1855. In the end, the academy was built in Edo in Tsukiji and formally opened in the third month of i856.9 Occupying a large area of more than 6,000 tsubo (one tsubo equals 3.95 square yards), it was several times larger than similar institutions operated by major domains. The bakufu's primary concern seems to have been instruction in Western gunnery, but Japanese gunnery, fencing, and use of the spear were also taught.10 Training at the Kobusho was quite practical, and the authorities deliberately chose to disregard some of the negative aspects of the martial arts world. The academy emphasized competitive matches in which fencers used shinai (bamboo swords), spearmen fought with spear tips covered, and all competitors wore protective gear. Teachers were selected without regard to the prestigious ryuha of the past. Fencing instructors to the shogunal house— the Yagyu and the Ono—were not selected, largely because their styles were more kata-oriented and less practical. They were passed over for instructors from the new schools stressing shinai uchikomi keiko that had arisen during the Tokugawa era—instructors like Otani Seiichiro of the Jikishin kage-ryu, who served as a supervisor at the academy.11 Other academy fencing instructors included Sakakibara Kenkichi, also of

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Modern kendoists in competition with shinai, or bamboo swords. (Courtesy of Japan National Tourist Organization.)

Modern archers in competition. (Courtesy of Japan National Tourist Organization.)

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the Jikishin kage-ryu; Matsushita Seiichiro and Mihashi Torazo of the Jingydto-ryu; and Toda Hachirozaemon from the Tamiya-ryu.12 Under the two directors of the academy were three officials directly in charge of operations: Katsu Rintaro, Egawa Tarozaemon, and Shimosone Kinzaburo. All three were involved in Western-style gunnery. In fact, the composition of the original faculty of the Kobusho—fourteen in gunnery, eleven in swordsmanship, and ten in spear—shows clearly that the main objective was to improve gunnery, which by 1850 had already been perceived as the most effective means to discourage Western coastal encroachment and resist foreigners in general. The curriculum allotted almost twice as much time to gunnery as to sword and spear practice. The Kobusho was moved from Tsukiji to the Ogawamachi area of Edo in 1860, after the death of Abe, by the new chief councillor, li Naosuke. The facility was almost tripled in size, providing considerably more space for the Tokugawa vassals (hatamoto) to practice their skills. The emphasis remained on gunnery, followed by swordsmanship and spear use; but archery and jujutsu were now added to the curriculum. The directors had yielded to the arguments of traditionalists that archery retained a very special place in the heart of the Japanese warrior. The faculty was expanded: there were sixteen gunnery instructors, ten spear instructors, fourteen swordsmanship instructors (essentially the same men as before with a few new faces), two jujutsu instructors, and one archery instructor. From the outset, shogunal vassals opposed the academy because of its heavy emphasis upon gunnery and overall practicality. They maintained a prejudice against gunnery as something for lower-ranking warriors and common soldiers, despite a general recognition of its superiority in warfare. The bakufu included archery to appease these conservatives, even for a time teaching such seemingly impractical forms as inuoumono in the expanded Kobusho at Ogawamachi. Partly because archery had not been part of the original curriculum, many higher-ranking retainers had been unwilling to cooperate, some even claiming that the press of other duties kept them from regular attendance.13 In that sense, the Kobusho at Ogawamachi represented a return to an earlier martial arts tradition. Yet despite resistance and despite struggles over the certification of fencers from noncompetitive styles of swordsmanship, the academy remained basically committed to training bushi in practical, contest-oriented swordsmanship and spear use. By breaking up the closed world of the myriad ryuha, putting their secrets on public display, and pitting fencers from different ryuha against each other, the Kobusho encouraged a trend that had been developing

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in the bakumatsu martial arts world. By so doing, it unwittingly contributed to the virtual disappearance of ryuha in the Meiji era and their replacement by a new form of swordsmanship: fencing, or kendo. Not surprisingly, the teaching of inuoumono at the Kobusho was shortlived. Probably introduced because of the political machinations of the Ogasawara family, this mounted sport form of archery was immediately perceived as totally anachronistic. But its introduction did go hand in hand with other attempts to teach vassals to use both sword and spear from horseback, initially regarded as potentially useful in the modern warfare that Japan might be called upon to wage.14 The academy's commitment to practical military affairs reasserted itself in 1862, when archery, inuoumono, and jujutsu were all dropped from the curriculum and even from official review by the shogun. This was confirmation that the authorities recognized the superiority—and inevitability—of the gun, but it did not meet with universal approval. Ogasawara Kanejiro, who was dropped as archery instructor, was personally shocked and found it very shortsighted to ignore this "weapon important since the Age of the Gods."15 For Kanejiro, who was head of the Ogasawara school, dismissal represented an enormous loss of face. His family had cooperated with Shogun Yoshimune in the reestablishment of the kyuba no hajime ceremony on the civil calendar. This annual ceremony was considered to preserve the peace of the realm, the security of the Tokugawa house, and martial fortunes, and to see it curtailed was both painful and socially demeaning. Kanejiro's petitions to the bakufu were ignored; but a year later, shogunal instructions, while not advocating archery or reinstituting it in the curriculum, at least recognized some value in shooting and suggested that carrying bow and arrows could be permitted. But this was a minor concession, and the fate of archery as a cherished martial art of both courtier and warrior was sealed. The Kobusho also facilitated the modern development of kendo by standardizing the bamboo swords that had become popular in Tokugawa fencing. Until the end of the Tokugawa period, the length of the shinai varied widely, for individual fencers and specific schools found advantage in having differing lengths. The academy forbade the use of shinai longer than three feet nine inches, and that remains the official length in kendo today. While the academy's original intent was to limit training to the shogunal vassals, others were also admitted. This further enhanced open competition among fencers from different ryuha, a practice that had been largely avoided until then.

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Swordsmanship in the Meiji Period The Kobusho was disbanded in its tenth year, 1866. Its gunnery section was transferred to the new Rikugunsho (Office of the Army), while the teachers and students in the sword and spear sections were re-formed into the Yugekitai, a special unit for footsoldiers. But the new Meiji government, which embarked upon a course of rapid modernization after toppling the Tokugawa regime in 1868, soon took steps that all but put an end to the traditional martial arts. The primary martial art at the time in terms of number of schools, teachers, and practitioners was fencing. The Meiji Restoration, as the overthrow of the Tokugawa bakufu by other members of the samurai class is termed, has puzzled historians. It has been seen as an incomplete revolution, a "revolution from the top down," or an "aristocratic" revolution, where one class did not displace another. Others have argued that because the bakufu was overthrown by predominantly lower-ranking samurai with very specific interests, there was in fact a class nature to the coup.16 But what happened bore little resemblance to the French or Russian revolutions. What is even more unusual is that although most of the new Meiji oligarchs were primarily samurai, they very quickly instituted measures to strip their own class of the privileges that it had enjoyed in Tokugawa times.17 By 1871 they had abolished feudal domains and established modern prefectures. By 1876 the samurai privilege of wearing swords was abolished, and in the same year, the stipend system instituted to replace income that samurai had once derived from their lords was brought to an end, with compulsory commutation to government bonds. Collectively, these actions represent the declassment of the bushi. Many former samurai were able to make the transition to bureaucrats in the new government or to become teachers in the new school system. Some became entrepreneurs, clerks, or even farmers. But the class was gone. And the martial arts, which had been a livelihood for many, were no longer of use in a society whose goal was civilization and enlightenment along European and American lines. Many former samurai were not able to adjust, however. Some became destitute. Others, disillusioned with the fate of their class and with what they regarded as excessive westernization, launched armed revolts against the new government: the Saga Rebellion in northern Kyushu in 1874; the Shimpuren Rebellion in Kumamoto, the Akitsuki Rebellion in Fukuoka, and the Hagi Rebellion in Yamaguchi, all in October 1876; and the Satsuma Rebellion of

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1877. The Satsuma Rebellion, the last gasp of the frustrated warrior element, was the largest of the rebellions. Here a newly trained conscript army of peasants, armed with new rifles and trained in European fashion, proved far superior to the sword-wielding samurai diehards.18 Swordsmanship was on the verge of disappearing with the samurai class. But swordsmanship did not die out. Instead, it was rescued, revived, and restructured into the kendo that today enjoys widespread popularity both in Japan and abroad. Important persons and institutions in that process include Sakakibara Kenkichi, who helped resurrect fencing in the early Meiji period; the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, which systematized one form of kendo; the Dai Nihon Butokukai, which further unified the practice and spread the study of kendo; and the national educational system, which brought kendo to many Japanese young men in the prewar era. The Revival of Fencing

The early Meiji government adopted a hostile attitude toward fencing academies. Not only did it close the urban dqjo, but after forbidding the wearing of swords on all but formal occasions, it abolished them altogether (except for government officials of high rank who wore Western-style sabers on formal occasions in the continental European manner). Naturally, a great number of instructors lost their livelihood.19 One man who was determined to prevent this process from reaching its logical conclusion was the Jikishin kage-ryu fencer Sakakibara Kenkichi. Born in 1830 in the Hiroo section of Azabu in Edo, Sakakibara was a Tokugawa vassal who began training in the Jikishin kage-ryu style in Otani Seiichiro's nearby dqjo when he was thirteen.20 Even after his mother died and his father moved far from the dqjo, Sakakibara continued to make the long commute to study with Otani, despite his teacher's suggestion that he attend another dqjo closer to home. A proud young man of strong character, he refused to leave his original master and practiced assiduously. But since the family was poor, Sakakibara could never afford the fees necessary to take formal certification tests. Even when he had reached the level of mastery (menkyo kaiden), he made no attempt to undergo formal testing and celebration. Finally, Otani, realizing that lack of money inhibited this superior student from taking tests, raised the fee from the instructors and formally awarded him certification. Sakakibara was, on Otani's recommendation, appointed a Kobusho in-

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structor when the academy opened in 1856. When the academy moved to Ogawamachi, Shogun lemochi attended the opening ceremony, upon which occasion Sakakibara was pitted against the well-known spear expert Takahashi Kenzaburo. Sakakibara won a decisive victory. lemochi was so pleased that he appointed Sakakibara as his personal fencing instructor. As lemochi's close companion, Sakakibara served in Edo Castle and accompanied the shogun on expeditions outside the city. During a trip to Kyoto in 1861, Sakakibara got into an argument with former samurai from Tosa domain, a hotbed of antishogunal activity, and killed three of them. When the Kobusho was disbanded, Sakakibara opened his own fencing dqjo. He remained a bakufu loyalist to the end, even accompanying his Tokugawa lord to the domain in Sumpu (near Nagoya) granted him by the Meiji government. But three years later Sakakibara was back in Edo, now renamed Tokyo. He refused an order to become a member of the newly formed Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Disturbed by the successive orders disarming commoners and then samurai, Sakakibara developed a project to help the declining martial arts community.21 In 1872 he received official permission to organize the Gekken Kaisha (Fencing Company), and in the first ten days of April, he held a public demonstration of martial arts at a makeshift dqjo that he had erected on the grounds of the old Izumi mansion in Asakusa.22 Sakakibara constructed a sumo-like ring, divided the participants into two teams (an east and a west side), and had an announcer (yobidashi) to call the fencers to the center of the ring, say their names, and start the matches with the ritual opening of a fan, all in imitation of sumo practice.23 For the exhibition, he signed up a long line of stars, fencers well known from their participation in the Kobusho and elsewhere, men like Akamatsu Guntaro, Ozawa Sei, and Ogawa Kiyotake. He included women using naginata, practitioners of the kusarigama, and even two Englishmen to round out his card and attract curious spectators.24 Opening day proved to be such a success that for the rest of the run, the small hall overflowed with customers, and many had to be turned away. Previously allowed little access to the vaunted fencing techniques of Edo's secretive ryuha, commoners flocked to see the spectacle. So successful was the endeavor that other swordsmen, like Momonoi and Chiba, followed suit, setting up their own gekken shows. (Gekken or gekiken was a common term for kenjutsu throughout the Tokugawa and Meiji periods.) By September there were more than twenty such martial arts companies in Tokyo, and

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enterprising fencing promoters in Nagoya and Osaka and throughout the country spread the interest among the citizenry.25 Larger numbers of women were added to the show, as were demonstrations of jujutsu, horsemanship, and other arts that appealed to popular tastes. Martial arts spectacles continued until mid-Meiji times, although with decreasing popularity.26 The initial craze seems to have worn off: the antiquarian martial arts proved to have no lasting meaning in the lives of ordinary citizens as Japan embarked on the path of modernization. And once the initial novelty had worn off, the very proliferation of companies offering shows divided the number of interested spectators rather than expanding the market. How to assess the contribution of Sakakibara's gekken shows has been a problem for scholars and martial arts practitioners. On the negative side, many found the whole endeavor demeaning. Almost as soon as Sakakibara opened his show, editorials condemned it as "selling one's art" to make a profit, a criticism that was never fully rebutted.27 The martial arts, the argument went, should not be beautified to attract spectators. Presenting them for the amusement and amazement of an audience corrupted the true spirit of the martial arts and may well have adversely affected the development of kendo training and matches. Indeed, these criticisms of martial arts demonstrations are still heard today in the martial arts community. On the other hand, gekken shows undoubtedly gave a needed boost to fencing and other martial arts at a time when they were on the verge of disappearing. They provided a livelihood for fencers who might otherwise have abandoned their skills, and spread interest in (and some knowledge of) a hitherto largely unknown means of mental and physical training. Clearly, the martial arts world today, where judo is an Olympic sport and karate and kendo tournaments pack gymnasiums around the world, depends heavily upon the support of spectators, whose interest was aroused in the early Meiji period by these gekken shows. In fact, the popularization of fencing and other martial arts among the Japanese masses during this period provides an interesting parallel to their popularization in the United States in the early postwar period, where promoters used Madison Square Garden and other large public stadiums to stage "death defying" martial feats that were more show than substance. Suffice it to say that today there still are positive and negative assessments of the contribution of these gekken spectacles to kendo's development—just as there still remain strong differences of opinion over whether the martial arts ought to be presented in sporting competitions.

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Tokyo Police and the Reorganization of Kendo

If the resuscitation of fencing can be credited to the Meiji gekken shows, it was the Tokyo Metropolitan Police that reorganized the disparate styles of Tokugawa kenjutsu into modern kendo. Largely as a result of police experience in the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, members of the police became convinced of the need for training in the martial arts, especially fencing. At the Battle of Tahara Castle in Kumamoto, for example, a troop of policemen (the Batto-tai) successfully routed the rebels in heavy fighting, thanks to their skill with sword and spear. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police was established in 1874 under the headship of Kawaji Toshiyoshi (1836-1879), a former Satsuma warrior who helped overthrow the bakufu and was subsequently sent to Europe to study police matters.28 During the Satsuma Rebellion, Kawaji fought against many of his old Satsuma compatriots, and some members of the police resigned in disgust to join the revolt.29 After the rebellion, Kawaji drafted and presented to police leaders a proposal for the "revival of fencing," urging—based upon the success in Satsuma—that kendo be added to the training of the police force. "Fencing is practiced assiduously in the various Western nations. If Japan abolishes fencing, then someday we will have to learn it from them. Now, the saber is nowhere near as sharp as the Japanese sword; so if we abolish Japanese swordsmanship (kempo) and learn to use the Western saber, that would be equivalent to throwing away gold and picking up broken roof tiles. . . . Although this may be the age of the gun, the success of the Batto-tai in the Sainan War [Satsuma Rebellion] is more proof of kempo's worth than all other arguments. Moreover, fencing is of great value in training character and instilling diligence."30 Kawaji's argument was persuasive. In 1879, a number of noted late Tokugawa swordsmen were recruited to demonstrate and then teach fencing to regular police officers. The group included such luminaries as Hemmi Munesuke, Ueda Umanosuke, and Mihashi Kan'ichiro. But there was a major problem when these swordsmen of different ryuha were brought together: they all espoused different styles, with narrow but deeply felt emotional loyalties to their own style. It was evident to police authorities that unified, systematized kata were necessary for police recruits to learn a single form of fencing that would be useful to them in the performance of their duties. The solution that authorities adopted was to create a series of ten kata, selecting one each from the major ryuha represented by their instructors: Kyoshin meichi-ryu, Yagyu-ryu, Munen-ryu, Jigen-ryu, Hokushin itto-ryu,

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Hozan-ryu, Jikishin kage-ryu, Kurama-ryu, Risshin-ryu, and Asayama ichiden-ryu.31 This was a tentative first step toward the unification of kata from various ryuha into the systematized body of techniques for training and teaching purposes that was later developed by the Dai Nihon Butokukai. This first step by the Tokyo police, however, was an important contribution to the creation of modern kendo. It was also clearly in accord with the trend to downplay individual ryuha differences that we saw in the establishment of the Kobusho in the bakumatsu era and even in the pairing of fencers from different schools in the gekken shows of the early Meiji period. Mishima Toshitsune (1835-1888), who served as head of the Tokyo police from 1885 to 1888, continued Kawaji's policies. Mishima recruited fencers from all parts of the country as instructors without regard to ryuha affiliation, and scheduled major tournaments between them. He was especially known for promoting the nationwide tournament at the Mukogaoka Yayoi Shrine, which became an annual event.32 These two Tokyo police officials played an important role in the restructuring of Tokugawa kenjutsu into modern kendo, a process completed by the Dai Nihon Butokukai. The Dai Nippon Butokukai and the Creation of Kendo

The Dai Nihon Butokukai (Great Japan Martial Virtue Association), was formed as part of a celebration to commemorate the founding of Kyoto as the capital of Japan by Emperor Kammu in 795. The i,iooth anniversary of the event took place in 1895. The major activity was construction of the Heian Shrine, a faithful re-creation at 60 percent scale of the Imperial Audience Hall of the original palace.33 With its attached garden, the Heian Shrine remains one of the major tourist attractions in Kyoto, located in the Okazaki area near Kyoto Zoo, Kyoto Museum, and other well-known sites. When construction of the Heian Shrine began, the nation was involved in the Sino-Japanese War; and nationalism, fueled by the "Rich Country, Strong Army" sloganeering of the Meiji government and an educational system designed to produce patriotic citizens, was rampant in Japan. Perhaps inevitably, as the popularity of fencing and other martial arts was somewhat raised over the first two decades of the Meiji era by the gekken spectacles and the police institutionalization of kendo, these arts—now called kobudof "old martial arts"—attracted increasing attention from nationalists as repositories of traditional morality, spirituality, and Japan's unique martial virtues.34 The rage for things Western had peaked, and many Japanese sought to reassess their

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traditional values and institutions rather than mimic those of Europe and America. That reassessment increased interest in the martial arts but at the same time set Japan upon a course that ultimately led to the warping of the traditional martial arts and attendant values into something quite different— often lumped under the ambiguous but emotionally laden label bushida— designed to serve the expansionist goals of the Japanese state.35 As part of the celebration of Kyoto's i,iooth anniversary, there was a movement to erect a copy of the Butokuden (Hall of Military Virtues) in Kyoto. It was directed by some of Kyoto's leading citizens, including the head of the Heian Shrine, Mibu Motonaga, and Prefectural Governor Watanabe Chiaki.36 The Heian Shrine was erected amid the outburst of nationalism that accompanied victory in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and national outrage at the Triple Intervention, in which Russia, Germany, and France forced Japan to yield the Liaodong Peninsula, ceded to Japan by China in the Treaty of Shimonoseki the following year.37 Consequently, the association inaugurated the movement to build a new Butokuden "in order to promote the traditional martial arts and stimulate the martial spirit of the citizenry,"38 just as Emperor Kammu had built his hall for the encouragement of martial skills a millennium earlier. The association to build the hall was nominally headed by Prince Komatsu Akihito. Governor Watanabe served as president, with Mibu Motonaga, one of the courtiers who had participated in the Meiji Restoration, as vice president.39 To commemorate the founding of the Butokukai, a temporary outdoor dqjo was erected and a great martial arts tournament held in 1896. For kendo alone, there were six different groupings of at least fifty fencers, with a total of 160 matches, from among the victors of which fifteen were selected to receive special certificates from the prince himself. Among them was Hagiwara Rennosuke, the Saitama fencing instructor whom we met in Chapter 4. This pattern of annual matches, with victors being presented with certificates, was repeated annually through 1903. The only change in the event was that in 1899 the Butokuden was completed, and the matches were held there, rather than at the temporary dqjo where the two first tournaments were held or the Sanjusangendo, the temple that hosted the third. In 1903, during the Eighth Annual Tournament, a change in fencing affected the awarding of certification. At that event, a new designation for senior fencing instructors was established. The highest rank was to be called hanshi; the next highest, kyoshi. These are still the highest ranks for kendoists. The association's qualifications for hanshi included being a model fencer, having made significant contributions to the association, having more than

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forty years of martial arts experience after attaining adulthood, and having held the rank of kyoshi.40 A kyoshi had to be a respectable individual who had received a certificate of training from the association and who had competed in the annual matches. Hanshi were granted annual salaries of fifty yen, to be continued until death; but this remuneration was canceled during the Taisho era (1912-1926). For the first nine annual tournaments, the Butokukai required that all fencers compete in refereed matches, but in 1905 at the Tenth Annual Tournament, some of the distinguished fencers were allowed to engage in refereeless (no decision) matches. In 1922 at the Twenty-fifth Annual Tournament, that privilege was extended to all kyoshi and hanshi. But in 1929 at the Thirtythird Tournament, the no-decision privilege was once again limited to just a few fencers.41 The Dai Nihon Butokukai was instrumental in establishing the standardized methods of teaching and practicing kendo that we know today. Although the Tokyo Metropolitan Police brought some systematization to fencing kata by selecting one kata each from ten different ryuha, the Butokukai went even further. At the Eleventh Annual Tournament in 1906, it attempted to establish the Dai Nihon Butokukai kendo kata, consisting of three different forms.42 But there was too much opposition to the new system, and kendoists did not universally adopt it. In 1912, the association made a more vigorous and concentrated attempt at systematization, forming a special committee of twenty-five leading association fencers to consider the consolidation of kata. The then head, Oura Kanetake, served as chair of the committee, assisted by Kano Jigoro, founder and head of the Kodokan judo headquarters. There were five hanshi and twenty kyoshi, selected to represent the nation rather widely. Four were from Tokyo, two from Kyoto, and three from the association's headquarters. The other main regions of Japan, Kyushu, Tohoku, Shikoku, and Hokuriku, were all represented, and there was even a representative from the colony of Taiwan.43 This time, the committee was able to agree upon fixed Dai Nihon Butokukai kendo kata, which included seven forms for the long sword and three for the short.44 Following the establishment of the Butokuden as an arena for teaching and practicing kendo (still commonly known as gekken in Meiji times) and other martial arts, the association expanded and consolidated its organization in the fourth decade of the Meiji era, the first decade of the twentieth century. The Butokukai prospered at first owing to the popularity of the martial arts and the prevailing martial spirit and then with the further impetus of the

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publication of such works as Nitobe Inazo's Bushido: The Soul of Japan, which caught the public interest and was immensely popular even abroad.45 An increased membership was recruited through police organizations and with the help of prefectural offices, especially by appointing prefectural governors to chair local chapters. The Butokuden itself became, in the words of one author, the "mecca" of Japanese martial arts.46 The Dai Nihon Butokukai played a very important role in establishing both facilities and standards for the teaching of kendo and other martial arts. Even though kendo was only slowly and grudgingly accepted into the emerging school system, the association developed primary responsibility for teaching it in schools, which helped to spread the practice throughout Japan. Despite a determined campaign supporting kendo's adoption, not until after the third decade of the Meiji era did it appear that anything would materialize. But to teach kendo in schools required teachers. So the association established, in October 1906, a Martial Arts Instructors Training Center (Bujutsu Kyoin Yoseisho) with a two-year course. Apparently standards were not very high, because two years later the association created a Martial Arts School (Bujutsu Gakko), soon renamed the Martial Arts Professional School (Semmon Gakko) when Ministry of Education permission was obtained.47 The course was open to graduates of middle schools. The professional school provided a steady stream of kendo instructors for Japanese middle schools from the end of the Meiji period through the prewar and wartime years. It would be difficult, then, to overestimate the role of the Dai Nihon Butokukai in preserving Japan's fencing tradition, consolidating its varied styles into a single nationwide form of kendo, and propagating it widely both in its own tournaments and through the school system. Kendo and the Educational System

After World War II the Occupation forces singled out the educational system as an institution requiring a drastic overhaul; it was regarded as a primary engine for fostering ultranationalism. Their image was of Japanese youth engaging in fierce kendo practice while mindlessly vowing loyalty to Emperor Hirohito. In fact, Meiji politicians and educators resisted efforts to add kendo and judo to the curriculum for almost forty years, much to the dismay of many former samurai and virtually the entire martial arts community. After Meiji fascination with everything Western in the iSyos, the pendulum swung back toward a reaffirmation of Japanese tradition, including the value of the martial arts. Quite early on, some schools, the new universities,

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like Keio, Waseda, and Tokyo Imperial University, but also high schools as well, began to experiment with fencing as an elective or, more often, as an extracurricular activity. A movement was launched to convince the government to add fencing and other martial arts to the school curriculum, a movement that gained momentum after Kano Jigoro founded the Kodokan judo organization in i882.48 In response, the new Ministry of Education (founded in 1871) began questioning experts around the country on the appropriateness of the martial arts as forms of physical education. The process was a long and arduous one, culminating by the end of the Meiji period in the introduction of kendo and judo into the school curriculum. But at the outset of the period, kendo was not favorably regarded. It could hardly have been otherwise, since Japan's martial tradition had been thoroughly discredited by modern military technology. The school system was conceived for a distinctly national purpose: to train bureaucrats and other professionals who could build a Japan that could compete with, rather than succumb to, the Western colonial powers. What was taught in the new education system was adopted almost entirely from the West.49 Among early Western advisors to the Meiji government were many educators, including some in physical education. One was the American George E. Leland, who was invited to Japan to assist in developing a physical education program. As a result of his efforts, the Taiso Denshusho (Center for Gymnastic Training) was established in 1878. Five years later, the center convened a panel of doctors, martial artists, and others to debate the issue of whether or not kenjutsu and jujutsu had educational value. After more than a year and a half of investigation, the panel concluded that although both did have physical and spiritual value, they were also dangerous, violent, and detrimental to growth and health. The recommendation was that these martial arts should not be taught in school.50 More than a decade later, when nationalism was aroused during the popular war against China, several developments already mentioned—the founding of the Dai Nihon Butokukai, the annual police tournaments, the gekken shows, the founding of the Kodokan judo organization—heightened public interest in the martial arts. In this atmosphere the Ministry of Education took up the matter again in 1896, focusing especially on the health question. The conclusion was once again that kendo and judo should not be regular school subjects. However, the committee felt that such activities were acceptable for strong, healthy males over sixteen—but only as elective subjects.51 In 1905 a Committee to Investigate Gymnastics and Sports was formed

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in the Ministry of Education to consider a number of questions regarding physical education.52 Once again the issue of kendo and judo was raised. And yet again the proposal was denied, both because of health reasons (they were not suitable for physical development) and because of a lack of research on how to teach the activities. The ministry remained in favor of Western-style gymnastics and physical education, which were deemed more educational and scientific. Martial arts supporters and practitioners did not give up, however. Given the educational establishment's preference for American and European physical education, the opposing argument took an interesting twist in 1907 with the publication of Matsumoto Shintaro's Shinan gekken taiso-ho (Newly Formulated Fencing Calisthenics). The essential thrust of this work was to present kendo as a form of calisthenics, in a scarcely concealed attempt to deceive the ministry. Matsumoto was not alone. The elementary school principal Ozawa Unosuke made the same argument in his Shinshiki bujutsu taiso-ho (New Style of Martial Calisthenics), stressing the spiritual and physical benefits that practitioners could obtain from "martial calisthenics."53 But these futile efforts were, more than anything, a sign of the desperation of traditional fencing exponents in the face of a skeptical Ministry of Education. Ironically, some four decades later, proponents of kendo, trying to disengage martial arts from the stigma of total identification with Japanese wartime education, would again be trying to convince the country's leaders—this time MacArthur's Occupation forces— of the same thing. The pro-kendo movement finally succeeded in getting fencing added to the curriculum in 1911. The movement had by this time enlisted even members of Japan's new parliament, the Diet, to which body the matter was at length brought. Two representatives from Saitama Prefecture, Ozawa Aijiro and Hoshino Senzo, submitted a bill advocating the introduction of kendo and judo to the physical education curriculum at the twenty-first Diet session in 1905, where it was defeated.54 But they continued their efforts within the Diet while other kendo advocates worked to change official minds. Success was achieved in the next session, when the Diet officially approved the proposal. Not until 1908, however, was a bill passed that revised Ministry of Education regulations by adding kendo and judo to the school curriculum. In the school orders of 1911 concerning normal school and middle school curricula, these two physical education courses were approved as electives. Thus the movement to have kendo (still referred to as gekken in government orders) and judo taught regularly in schools took the entire Meiji period. Important changes in Japan's international position meant that the history

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of kendo would be quite different over the four decades after the end of the Meiji period. There was little change in the Taisho period (1912—1926), except that kendo became the term commonly used for fencing. Kendo was finally allowed as a regular school subject in I9I7.55 But by the 1930$, in the Showa period, as Japan's rapid expansion on the Chinese mainland aroused both Chinese nationalism and foreign opprobrium, an ultranationalistic mood gripped the country that affected all social and political institutions. For kendo, this meant an almost total about-face. Whereas the Meiji academic establishment feared that the martial arts would be detrimental to their charges' health and would foster undesirable competition, by the 19305 the very same authorities recast the martial arts, especially kendo, in a positive light. In a middle school order of 1931, kendo was recognized as useful in nurturing a resolute, determined patriotic spirit and training both the mind and the body. By 1936 "forging character" was added to the positive values that the Ministry of Education perceived in kendo.56 Kendo was the only physical education class that included classroom lectures as well as actual training, and the focus was clearly on the spiritual and moralistic (do) elements that were part of its Buddho-Confucian philosophical background. The international situation worsened after the Manchurian Incident of 1937, and Japan entered a state of war. Having withdrawn from the League of Nations two years earlier, Japan was increasingly forced to go it alone. It was an international outlaw, a power that had mastered imperialist techniques just when other nations had decided that imperialism was no longer justifiable. As the school system was co-opted to serve militaristic government policies, kendo became a more important instrument for inculcating a nationalistic spirit and even became a potentially useful battlefield skill. Along with all other sports organizations and physical education bodies, kendo—both in the schools and elsewhere—was harnessed to political goals. In 1941, the Dai Nihon Butokukai was reorganized to serve the war effort, again as an arena in which traditional spiritual values—increasingly cast as superior to "materialist" Western values—were to be learned. A series of government orders from 1937 to 1942 focused the nation's physical education program on the martial arts (budo), particularly kendo, which flourished far beyond the dreams of those Meiji fencers who once sought to convince a doubting government to support swordsmanship. By the 19405, gymnastics had given way to military training in schools, and elementary schools—renamed national people's schools (kokumin gakko) in 1941—even had military training and kendo introduced into their curriculum. In fact, budo was re-

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quired for boys of the fifth grade and above—and was made possible for girls as well. The lengths to which the government went to instill wartime values can be gleaned from this 1943 plan for normal school martial arts teachers: 1. We must induce [our students] to master our nation's unique martial arts, and train healthy, vigorous minds and bodies. 2. As well as nourishing a disposition to hone a martial spirit, esteem propriety, and value modesty, we must encourage an aggressive spirit and a confidence in certain victory. 3. We must inculcate a spirit of self-sacrifice and train an actual fighting mentality.57 In teaching kendo, too, the emphasis was on fostering an aggressive attitude and making killing thrusts rather than simple strikes. The war forced Japan to mobilize human and natural resources as soldiers were strewn across the mainland and islands of Asia and the Pacific. Hardly an institution escaped the mobilization for the war effort, and the martial arts were no exception. Not only was physical education within the school system militarized, but all existing martial arts groups were also subject to mass organization. This step was taken at the suggestion of a special Martial Arts Promotion Society (Budo Shinko linkai) established by the government in 1939 to investigate the matter. As a result, first there was a special Martial Training Section (Rembukan) established in the Ministry of Health in 1941 to coordinate organization of a nationwide martial arts association.58 That goal was achieved in March 1942, when the old Dai Nihon Butokukai was transformed into a government-controlled national federation of all martial arts groups linked together to serve the war effort.59 The new Butokukai was composed of five different sections, one each for kendo, judo, archery, bayonet, and marksmanship. Never very effective at promoting tournaments, training, or other goals, the organization was disbanded at the outset of the Allied Occupation. But kendo did survive the almost fatal association with wartime militarism. (The old Dai Nihon Butokukai was reestablished at the end of the Occupation in 1952, and currently it holds an annual Martial Arts Festival in Kyoto every April 29.)

Postwar Kendo The situation facing kendo practitioners at the end of the war was somewhat analogous to that at the outset of the Meiji period: kendo was regarded as an anachronistic relic of a discredited system by a new, reformist government. In

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the mid-nineteenth century, the new government was the Meiji, personified by the Ministry of Education; a century later, it was still the Ministry of Education, this time as the agent of an equally Western-oriented new government, dominated by the occupying SCAP bureaucracy. SCAP, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, was the technical tide given to General Douglas MacArthur to oversee the Allied Occupation of Japan, which lasted from 1945 to 1952. The situation was worse in 1945 than it had been in 1868. Japan was occupied by enemy troops and civilians especially appointed to disarm and demilitarize its citizenry. The martial arts had been so closely identified with militarism that the very term budo was anathema to the Occupation authorities. Accordingly, the new Ministry of Education, under SCAP direction, banned use of the term itself and issued orders forbidding the teaching of kendo and judo in the school system, leaving open the possibility that it could be practiced as sport. In November 1945 another ministry order not only banned martial training in the curriculum but also forbade it as a student club activity. For those who sought to practice fencing privately, on their own time but using school facilities, the way was also closed: in December an order forbade kendo practice on school properties. And since it was banished from the educational system, another order quite logically rescinded the licensing of kendo instructors, who were theoretically no longer necessary. The situation again recalled the early Meiji period, when the banning of urban dojo and the decline of interest in fencing resulted in unemployed swordsmanship teachers. In 1947 SCAP issued another directive dealing with educational reform which addressed the matter of militaristic education. In all educational organizations, the teaching of military curriculum must be forbidden. The wearing of student military uniforms must also be forbidden. Traditional activities like kendo, which foster a fighting spirit, must be abolished, too. Physical education must no longer be linked to "spiritual education." (You) must put more emphasis upon on purely physical exercise; games that are not military training, and recreational activities. If instructors wearing military-type uniforms are employed as physical education instructors or engage in sports and physical education activities, they must have their qualifications examined.60 As was the case almost a century earlier, however, fencing practitioners outlasted the authorities. Kendo enthusiasts continued to practice informally while seeking ways to make kendo respectable again. In a move somewhat

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reminiscent of the Meiji attempt to introduce fencing into schools in the guise of military calisthenics, kendoists created what they termed shinai kyogi (bamboo sword competition), in which they de-emphasized the spiritual aspects of kendo—for clearly it was the ethical, spiritual basis of fencing that was the biggest stumbling block for Occupation authorities—and stressed instead the sport. A number of changes were made in traditional kendo in order to satisfy the Ministry of Education and ultimately its SCAP overseers.61 (i) The shinai was constructed differently from the old one. It had three sections, which were made of thirty-two, sixteen, and eight separate pieces of split bamboo, counting from tip to shaft, and it was covered with cloth or leather to make it even softer. The result was a much lighter and whippier sword. (2) The protective gear was made lighter and more economical, again with the sporting aspect in mind. (3) The old padded jacket (keikogi) and split skirt (hakama) were eliminated so that kendoists could practice in shirt and pants. (4) A fixed ring was adopted for practice and sporting engagements. (5) Time limits were fixed for events, with the leader in points within a certain time frame declared the victor. (6) Illegal actions were established, along with specific penalties to be assessed against the violator. (7) Hitting the legs, striking the body, and unnecessary shouting were all prohibited. (8) The refereeing situation was rationalized. There were three judges per match, and the winner of the match was the one who received two out of three of their votes. Advocates of shinai kyogi even created a nationwide organization and ultimately succeeded in convincing the Ministry of Education to allow this new form of sport kendo in the regular middle and high school curricula in 1952. In 1953, after the Occupation ended, many of the American educational ideas were ignored, allowed to run their course, or otherwise eliminated. Thus, much of the contemporary Japanese educational system is new, but much also links it to the schools of the prewar era.62 Kendo was reinstated as a regular course in middle and high schools, along with shinai kyogi; but the two merged into school kendo by 1957, and shinai kyogi essentially disappeared. Insofar as kendo today is practiced much more as sport, with welldefined rules, than as it was in prewar times, it is fair to say that shinai kyogi had some lasting influence. Kendo today is a well-organized competitive sport. The early organizational attempts of enthusiasts to resuscitate it after its association with militarism were successful. As early as 1949, discussions of a possible nationwide organization began to be held, and on October 13—14, 1952, a meeting of representatives from all over Japan met in the Totetsu Shokuin Kaikan (Tokyo

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Railway Employees' Hall) in Harajuku, Tokyo, and formed the Zen Nihon Kendo Remmei, or All Japan Kendo Federation. Soon, however, schools began clamoring for their own organization, with Osaka as the focal point of the movement; and in 1961 the All Japan School Kendo Federation (Zen Nihon Gakko Kendo Remmei) was formed. Almost six months later, in October, a similar organization for nonstudents, the Zen Nihon Jitsudan Kendo Remmei (All Japan Kendo Federation for Industrial Organizations) was also established. These three major organizations continue to administer kendo teaching, training, and tournaments in Japan, where kendo has enjoyed a boom since the 19608. Kendo has received increasing international attention as well, and many countries have established their own national organizations. The International Kendo Federation, operating with the same standards as the All Japan Kendo Federation, was formed in 1970. The IKF has a board of directors composed of representatives from constituent nations, and it holds a tournament every three years. Kendo practice today involves training in the various techniques (waza) of attack and defense: thrusts, parries, and body shifts. Practice sessions (keiko, just as in Tokugawa times) involve either sustained free-style attacks (kakari keiko) or preparation for actual matches (shiai keiko). Matches are much more regularized than their Tokugawa or even their prewar counterparts. They are held in square or rectangular rings, varying from nine to eleven meters (nearly ten to twelve yards) on a side. The match lasts five minutes, the winner being the one who receives two out of three points. Three judges referee the matches. Draws result in two-minute extensions. Points are awarded for legal "cuts": center of the head cuts or oblique cuts to either temple (the attacker must shout "Men!" meaning "face"); cuts to either side of the chest (with the shout "Do!" "chest"); cuts to either wrist when the opponent's hands are raised ("Kate!" "wrist"); or thrusts to the throat ("Tsuki!" "thrust"). Kendo is popular among both boys and girls and among adults from all walks of life seeking a sporting and recreational activity that offers the enjoyable aspects of competition and camaraderie and may also help develop character, instill discipline, and revive an interest in traditional values. In 1964 the huge Nihon Budokan, constructed for the Tokyo Olympics, was the venue for the first Olympic judo competition, among other events. Since that time, it has been used for many national kendo and other martial arts tournaments, to say nothing of rock concerts. It spurred construction of many regional budokan, all of which have stimulated the popularity of kendo in Japan.

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Kendo is also increasingly popular overseas. Kendo clubs are common in the United States, where many communities and universities have excellent clubs and facilities. In Europe, kendo is growing; and in Korea and Taiwan, areas once under Japanese colonial domination, there has been a resurgence in the popularity of modern sport kendo, despite the lingering ill will generated by Japanese rule. Kendo as sport seems in this case to have overcome political animosity. Although kendo today is essentially a competitive sport, it has never lost the association with character building, spiritual development, and morality that it assumed during the long, peaceful Tokugawa era. Moments of meditation may be perfunctory, but instructors are clearly concerned with more than merely teaching their students how to defeat opponents in a ring. Whether or not Japanese children enrolled in a kendo dqjo are themselves interested in acquiring discipline and developing other desirable character traits—they are most likely attracted by the fun, competition, and comradeship, as in baseball and other sports—their parents have often chosen kendo for them for precisely those reasons. Kendo has long had this deeper purpose. But such an orientation does not diminish its value as sport.

The Modern Development of Archery Archery, or kyudo, as it has come to be called today, developed much like kendo in the modern era, although it was never reduced to such severe circumstances. First, kyudo, while never yielding the concern for character building that was part of the art from ancient times, had already been transformed from a military skill into a competitive sport in Tokugawa times. If fencers could still hold fast to the ideal that their skills might be called upon even in an age of peace, most archers seem not to have been possessed of any such delusions. Therefore, archery was perhaps less affected by the "civilization and enlightenment" goals of the Meiji era. Second, unlike kendo, archery was not the core of the educational system's indoctrination of Japanese youth in a militaristic ultranationalism, so it did not suffer the stigma of association with budo and bushido to the same degree. At the outset of the Meiji period, archery, like kendo, declined precipitously as the concern with mastering Western forms of combat and military organization preoccupied the government. Archery instructors were thrown out of work, even though their numbers did not reach those of fencing teachers. Practitioners still attempted to maintain their skills, and like the fencers who were trotted forth in gekken spectacles, archers often took part in com-

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petitive shows for inquisitive citizens, or they opened shooting ranges where the public could try their hand with a bow.63 An Englishman who arrived in Japan in 1897, E. J. Harrison, described one such shooting range. "Archery is a very common pastime in Japan, nearly every town and village having one or more ranges at which, for a very small pecuniary consideration, all and sundry may try their skill. During my first year in Yokohama I spent many an enjoyable evening at a favorite daikyuba, or archery range, in the popular resort known among foreigners as Theatre Street and among the Japanese as Isezakicho. The keeper of the range was a member of the shizoku class and a man of splendid physique. He had a fine collection of bows, some of considerable age, the actual weapons of the ante-Meiji clansmen."64 Archery thus never died out. In 1879, former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant met with the Meiji emperor and major government officials in Tokyo to discuss such matters as the opening of a parliament and the establishment of a constitution. Grant stayed in Japan for more than two months as part of a world tour for peace and goodwill. On August 25 he attended a ceremony at Ueno Park, where he planted some flowering trees and was entertained by an exhibition of inuoumono by Ogasawara-ryu archers. John Russell Young, who accompanied Grant on his two-and-a-half-year trip, noted that the former president sat to the right of the emperor and that "he remained for an hour, while there were various sports and amusements, mainly feats of horsemanship."65 The shooting display did not seem to have made a great impression on Grant, and his apparent lack of interest was probably shared by most Japanese at the time. In the i88os there were several performances of mounted archery—both yabusame and inuoumono—at palaces in Tokyo and the mansions of certain former daimyo. Although inuoumono soon died out, yabusame survives in Japan today, albeit as a quaint feudal custom. It is now performed on special ceremonial or ritual occasions at Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in Kamakura, Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, and other major shrines. Both the Ogasawara-ryu and Takeda-ryu continue to practice and teach this art to a few; but it is clearly anachronistic. It is not really a sport, not quite a religious event, but part of a long tradition of archery in Japan with social, religious, and military aspects that a few people lovingly keep alive. But if equestrian archery has been preserved only as a museum piece, ground archery as sport fared much better in Meiji and Taisho times. The preservation of ground archery traditions owes much to Honda Toshizane (1836-1917), a Tokugawa house vassal who played a role in the history of archery somewhat analogous to that of Sakakibara Kenkichi in kendo. A stu-

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dent of Hoshino Shigenori's in the Edo branch of Chikurin-ha, Toshizane is credited with the modernization of Tokugawa archery.66 Archery, as we have seen, was split into many ryuha in Tokugawa times, some emphasizing toshiya matches, others remaining devoted to battlefield styles. Like fencing ryuha, which had difficulty arriving at a standardized form until the Dai Nihon Butokukai was organized, archery ryuha also displayed a variety of shooting styles and rituals. But when archery was grouped together with kendo, spear, judo, and other martial arts in 1896 in the Butokukai, it too underwent a resurgence in popularity. Given the Meiji period educational passion for establishing physical education appropriate to a modernizing country, Honda was apparently motivated to focus upon the sport and physical educational aspects of archery to increase its popularity. Accordingly, he created a new form of archery combining the practical shooting techniques of his own Chikurin-ha with the ritualistic elements of Ogasawara-ryu. He taught numerous students who spread this style, known as Honda-ryu, all around the country. Honda-ryu, along with Ogasawara-ryu and Heki-ryu, continues to dominate Japanese archery today.67 Prewar archery was almost completely dominated by the Dai Nihon Butokukai, which held its annual tournament in Kyoto in the spring, as it does once again today. The Butokukai was instrumental in bringing some degree of standardization to archery with the initiation in 1921 of a new ranking system. Previously, the various ryuha continued the certification methods of their separate traditions, but now a dankyu system was adopted. Kyu are the lower grades, going in descending order to first-degree kyu; dan are higher levels of certification, beginning with the lowest, the first-degree dan (shodari), and working up in ascending order. In the martial arts dan ranks are often symbolized by the wearing of a black belt. Such a system was instituted first in judo but soon spread, through the work of the Dai Nihon Butokukai, to other martial arts. As with kendo, the Butokukai created uniform kata (kyudo yosoku) for archery in 1933-1934, breaking through the differences in the various ryuha and standardizing the form of shooting.68 Under Butokukai auspices, kyudo was at length adopted as an elective in the school system for both boys and girls. Interestingly, whereas the martial arts had been almost exclusively a male enterprise in Tokugawa times, in the modern era these sports came to be recognized as having benefit for both sexes.69 Judo—now an Olympic event for both men and women—did not easily develop along those lines, but archery did. In the 1907 book Shimpen kyujutsu kyohan (Archery Instructional Manual, New Edition), Uchiyama Tsutomu

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exhorted women to take up archery.70 Uchiyama observes that traditionally Japanese women were kept indoors and were allowed to practice only the tea ceremony and flower arranging. He does note that in the feudal age some women learned to use the naginata and engaged in such amusements as shuttlecock, but he contrasts this with the Western attitude of encouraging women to participate in gymnastics, tennis, and other more rigorous activities. He advocates archery for women because it is refined and elegant and because it encourages the natural development of muscles and limbs. With the increase in popularity of traditional martial arts in the wake of victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars, kyudo—as archery was increasingly but by no means exclusively called—also attracted more followers.71 National tournaments like those popular in the Tokugawa period, became more common. Besides the Butokukai's annual event, there was a major competition sponsored at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine, commencing in 1924.^ The tournament at the shrine was on a grand scale, with students vying for school honors and archers who represented prefectures and metropolitan areas engaging in heated competition. The shrine, which was completed in 1920, was dedicated to the souls of the deceased Meiji emperor and his empress. Consistent with the ancient tradition that linked archery with the sacred elements of Japanese life, a sports competition ground was included in the outer garden—that was where the archery matches were held. In 1931 the first annual All Japan University Kyudo Championship was held in Tokyo; it alternated between the capital and Kyoto until it was canceled in 1940. In fact, most of the major competitions came to an end before Japan's decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, the majority by the late 1930$, when the fighting in China was already heavy. The pressures of war made the maintenance of archery competitions difficult, for both the resources and the people available to compete dwindled. Kyudo did become part of the regular school curriculum in 1933, thanks largely to the efforts of the Diet member Sato Yonosuke, although it was not as commonly practiced as kendo or judo.73 Kyudo was also brought under the umbrella of the reorganized Dai Nihon Butokukai of 1942 and the other government-directed efforts to mobilize all martial arts and other sports organizations for the war effort. This meant that at the end of the war the attention of the Occupation authorities was directed at kyudo as one of the martial arts. SCAP was, as mentioned above, especially concerned with the spiritual qualities that were linked during the 1940$ with ultranationalism, emperor worship, and a mystical belief in the divine martial characteristics of the Japanese. Certainly kyudo itself had few practical implications for the war effort; archers hardly posed as

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a military threat. Rather, it was the tainted association with the perverted wartime bushido that resulted in the banning of the martial arts by the Occupation forces. Even kyudo could not escape a temporary ban. Archery instructors and practitioners, like their counterparts in fencing, were no longer able to teach in schools or other public venues and had to practice their art in secret. That situation continued until 1949, when the Japan Kyudo Federation (Nihon Kyudo Domei) was allowed to form and, by joining with the Japan Physical Education Association (Nihon Taiiku Kyokai), was able that fall to have archery included in the fourth annual physical education championship.74 In 1950 the kyudo federation started its own national tournament; both it and the Japan Physical Education Association tournament have continued to the present day. In 1951, kyudo was reinstated in the school curriculum, and at the end of the Occupation, it enjoyed a resurgence as a school course, club activity, and popular sport. Kyudo federations were formed for different social groups, each with its own annual tournament. Today the All Japan Kyudo Federation (Zen Nihon Kyudo Remmei) is the primary governing body for archery, but there are other student, industrial, and local groups sponsoring championships, promoting study of the art, and publishing texts. In 1960 there were some changes in archery competition: the shortdistance (chikamato, "close target") and long-distance (tomato, "far target") matches were separated. The former moved to Tokyo or Ise for the Emperor's Cup, while the latter continued to be held in Kyoto.75 The short-distance measures twenty-eight meters (nearly thirty-one feet); the long, sixty meters (nearly sixty-six feet). Kyudo is the martial art that perhaps maintains the greatest concern with form and mental discipline, inheriting the long tradition of Chinese archery and the later influence of Zen Buddhism. In most competitions today (the short distance is most common), the archer wears a white quilted top and a dark blue split skirt (hakama), tabi (two-toed socks), and a glove on the right hand. The archer, holding a seven-foot three-inch bow, observes several moments of proper silence before proceeding, with very deliberate steps, to the shooting line. The fourteen-inch target is set at the end of the course in the azuchi, a sand bank covered with a protective roof. There are normally five targets set up for the archers to shoot at, two arrows per round. In most tournaments an archer fires twenty arrows. The routine of shooting is fixed, so all archers go through the same ritual.76 The archer aims to hit the target, but achieving total mind-body coordination or proper concentration, so that the process flows naturally and

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without thought, is also a goal, albeit one achieved by only a few. The archer takes the proper stance (ashibumt) and positions the upper body (dozukun). Next the archer sets the bow and fixes the arrow (yugamae). The archer raises the bow and arrow over the head (uchiokosht) before drawing the bow slowly and fully back to the ear (hikiwake), pausing at full pull (kaf). Then the archer releases the arrow (hanare), briefly remaining as though frozen in position (zanshin). The bow itself twists around in the archer's hand counter clockwise (yumigaeri). The term often used for kyudo outside Japan, "Zen archery," leads to some widely held ideas that are highly misleading. One is that all Japanese archery is somehow a Zen Buddhist activity, which, as my discussion in Chapters 5 and 6 has shown, is far from the case. Second, the term suggests that archery was, and still is, practiced mainly for religious purposes. Works like Japanese Archery: Zen in Action by Andre Sollier and Zsolt Gyorbiro, whose authors claim that archery was "kept alive by Zen monks" in Tokugawa times and that "kyudo cannot be disassociated from Zen," reinforce this myth.77 By contrast, a major Japanese encyclopedia entry for kyudo, written by a member of the famous Ogasawara family of archers, does not mention Zen or even Buddhism. The author defines kyudo as "a martial art in which a string is strung between two ends of a powerful piece of wood or bamboo and an arrow shot by utilizing the power of the bow. The bow, originally a weapon, lost its military function with the arrival of the gun, and from Tokugawa times [archery] has become widely practiced as a sport."78 Some archery schools have had considerable Zen influence linguistically and psychologically: Zen vocabulary was widely employed to describe the type of mental concentration desirable in successful archery. But, as we have seen, the mental aspect of shooting was already part of the tradition of Chinese civil archery, whose introduction to Japan predated Zen influence by many centuries. The dialogue that ensued when the gun arrived in Japan is instructive. When Lord Tokitaka tried to fire an arquebus on Tanegashima in 1542, the Portuguese told him that the secret was "to put your mind aright and close one eye." Tokitaka was fascinated. "The ancient sages have often taught how to set one's mind aright, and I have learned something of it. If the mind is not set aright, there will be no logic for what we say or do. Thus, I understand what you say about setting our minds aright. However, will it not impair our vision for objects at a distance if we close an eye? Why should we close an eye?" To which the chiefs replied: "That is because concentration is important in everything.

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When one concentrates, a broad vision is not necessary. To close an eye is not to dim one's eyesight but rather to project one's concentration farther. You should know this." Delighted, Tokitaka said: "That corresponds to what Lao Tzu has said, 'Good sight means seeing that which is very small.' "79 The corpus of Chinese classics and native writings available to Japanese archers provided substantial information on the proper means of concentration for activities such as shooting. Even a learned man like Tokitaka, far removed in Tanegashima from the centers of civilization, was able to apply classical knowledge to a new situation. Couching his understanding in a quotation from Laozi did not mean that Tokitaka was a Daoist. Thus, Zen Buddhism was only one strand, and a recent one at that, within that skein of ideas. In Tokugawa times, when archery for military purposes was no longer of much importance, certain ryuha placed greater emphasis upon the formal and spiritual aspects of archery. It was a distinctly secular age, however, and archers were by no means all practitioners of Zen. Some instructors in some ryuha were Zen priests or practitioners; but as one of the earliest Westerners to have studied martial arts aptly said, "It is an undoubted fact that contemporary works on the secrets of the martial arts are written in the somewhat vague and ambiguous style affected by the Zen priests. But this circumstance cannot rightly be held to prove that knowledge of the secrets of the martial arts was due to Zen, but rather that the samurai authors, who had been taught composition by the Zen priests, quite naturally copied their teacher's style when they sought to express themselves in literary form. In this way, then, the belief grew up that the secrets of the martial arts could be ascertained only by means of Zen learning."80 Yet this belief that Japanese archery is Zen archery is widespread, perhaps especially in the United States, where the word samurai is often preceded by Zen used as an adjective. Thanks to the mistaken impression that Zen Buddhism was somehow universally accepted by Japanese warriors from medieval times onward, we find references to "Zen samurai" or "Zen warriors" scattered carelessly across the pages of general works on medieval Japan, the martial arts, or the influence of Zen Buddhism on Japanese culture.81 The Zen influence on the martial arts is undeniable, and some Zen monks are indeed kyudo or kendo masters. But it is an exaggeration to assume that the spirit of Zen pulsed in the blood of every premodern samurai or martial artist, or even every modern archer. In fact, one might argue that archery is the most Japanese of all martial arts, because it demonstrates so graphically the eclectic nature of the Japanese philosophical and religious tra-

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dition. There is the close association of archery with the sacred (Shinto). There is the long tradition of Chinese civil archery, with its concern for etiquette, decorum, and moral perfection (Confucianism) and even cosmological principles (Daoism). There is the increased sensitivity to archery as a vehicle for spiritual development (Buddhism), or, more accurately, there is the application of Zen vocabulary and mental techniques to accomplish astounding practical results in hitting the target (Zen). The composite result of several thousand years of history, kyudo is an elegant, refined martial art involving competition, composure, and spirituality.

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CHAPTER EIGHT

The Martial and Other Japanese Arts

JAPAN'S PREMODERN MARTIAL ARTS exhibited certain characteristics in common with other forms of cultural expression, as we have seen. They shared organizational and ritual aspects designed to foster community and continuity; they shared similar means of transmitting teachings from generation to generation; and they shared basically similar philosophical concepts and methods of instruction. Here I would like to expand on these characteristics of the martial and other arts.

Organizational and Ritual Aspects of Ryuha Ryuha were corporate groups controlling a particular asset. In the case of the martial and other arts, the asset was mastery of specialized cultural forms. Ideally, ryuha were based upon the long-standing principle that social relationships are bound by fictive kinship rules. Relationships between the ryuha head and his students tended to follow authority-intensive patron-client relationships. Heads of ryuha often assumed parentlike authority in the lives of their student-disciples, serving not only as teacher and role model but also as mentor, advisor, or even marriage go-between. Some martial arts ryuha developed fully the iemoto pattern described in Chapter 4, in which successive generations of family members controlled the ryu. Examples include the Yoshida family of the various Heki-ryu archery schools and the Yagyu family of the Yagyu shinkage-ryu of swordsmanship, 177

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whose heads enjoyed tremendous prestige as official fencing instructors to the Tokugawa house. But comparatively few martial arts schools developed along these lines. Indeed, rather than use the term iemoto, the martial arts ryuha instructors themselves more commonly used the term shihan. Though meaning "teacher," it bears the sense of "exemplar" or "model" and is thus often rendered in English as "master." Instead of following the iemoto pattern, the schools more commonly split into subgroups, each operating independently and with little or no interference from the head's former master. Now, for example, there are, at the most conservative estimate, well over seven hundred schools of swordsmanship alone. The phenomenon of an enormous iemoto organization, as with the Urasenke tea ceremony school, whose iemoto today controls the activities of well over a million and a half students through a far-flung network of intermediate licensed instructors, was uncommon in the martial arts world. The reason for the difference lies in the nature of the instructional system and the transmission of the corpus of school teachings. In martial arts schools transmission tended to be total. An individual who had mastered all the secrets of the school was fully certified to instruct his own students.1 Most often, such an individual opened a dqjo and created his own school, whose style was slightly different from, though derivative of, his teacher's. The original founder rarely retained control over his students after they mastered the techniques. The case of the swordsman Kamiizumi Ise no kami, founder of the Kage-ryu, is a good example. Kamiizumi attracted numerous outstanding students, many of whom received from him full certification of mastery and went on to teach their own students—over whom Kamiizumi exercised no control.2 Kamiizumi not only taught his students the entire corpus of his techniques but also granted them the authority to certify others. This process continued over the generations. Although there is a record of the transmission of the tradition beginning with Kamiizumi, each generation of fencers operated independently of one another, even to the point of starting their own ryuha with differing names. Martial arts schools typically exhibited this pattern of discontinuity in headship apparently because of the closed nature of feudal society. The military government jealously discouraged too much association between warriors of various domains.3 It would have been virtually impossible for a swordsman from a Kyushu domain to learn swordsmanship at a Yagyu family dqjo in Edo and then return to his domain and remain under the authority of the Yagyu iemoto. An extensive fencing ryuha that organized many warriors from different domains along strict iemoto lines was unthinkable for most of the Tokugawa period, although toward the end of the period it was much more

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common for bushi from different domains to train together in a common dqjo, as we saw in Chapter 4. Training together led to precisely what the bakufii feared: interdomain plotting against the shogunate. lemoto organizations were much more common in domain fencing schools, where the clientele was limited to samurai of one domain. Similarly, the bakufu never approved a policy of testing its fencers—or other martial artists—in nationwide competition. If the superiority of one ryu had been demonstrated, perhaps the tendency for schools to divide would have been reversed, creating one huge iemoto organization for swordsmanship.4 The Yagyu iemoto served the shogunal house as fencing instructor but was never tested in any way, so he could hardly have been considered the best swordsman in Japan despite his exalted position. Even though swordsmanship developed into the highly competitive sport of fencing, competition in fencing never approached the popularity of the toshiya competition, whose victor was declared the best archer in Japan. No other martial art developed like sumo, which apparently had a number of ryuha at the beginning of the seventeenth century but which later consolidated. Wrestlers from every domain were invited to contest for the title of best in the land in the biannual Edo sumo matches. This national competition ultimately eliminated the multiplicity of sumo ryuha, bringing the whole endeavor under the iemoto organization of the Yoshida Oikaze family.5 Martial arts schools failed to develop the natori, or subordinate instructor, system still characteristic of flower arrangement, the tea ceremony, and other large iemoto groups.6 High-ranking students of the iemoto, as they attain a certain mastery, are allowed to teach beginners just as though they were the iemoto. Often these natori are given a name that includes one character from the iemoto's name and are incorporated into the extended iemoto family. They serve as the connecting link between the lowest students and the master. As the system grows, there can be three, four, five, or even six layers of natori between the iemoto and his lowest students. But a natori system was rarely established in the martial arts, primarily owing to the feudal fragmentation of samurai society. As corporate groups, however, martial arts schools shared with other ryuha the same concerns with organization and continuity. By Tokugawa times there was normally a formal training hall that served as the focus of the group's activity.7 In all forms of practice, not simply the martial arts, these dqjo took on a semisacred character. The term dojo originally meant a place where religious instruction was conducted; only later was its use extended to other forms of training. A dqjo usually housed a kamidana, an altar dedicated to a Shinto deity, or a butsudan (Buddhist altar). A portrait of the acknowl-

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Children in kendo practice. (Courtesy of Japan National Tourist Organization.) edged founder or some other symbol dedicated to his honor was usually on display. Ceremonies to award certification of mastery of the ryu secrets, commonly involving the exchange of cups of sake, were solemnly performed before the portrait.8 These rituals served to enhance the group's corporate consciousness.

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Because establishing authority was crucial to the reputation of a ryuha, each school invoked some form of authority from the past.9 One cultural organization might assert that a former emperor had issued an edict to its founder, granting him a monopoly over a certain activity. Tea ceremony schools tended to claim connection with Sen no Rikyu when he became venerated as the saint of tea. Alternatively, ryuha claimed divine transmission

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of their secret teachings to the founder by some deity. This was especially common among martial arts schools, many of which consequently became intimately linked with a particular deity and with a particular shrine or temple, the deity functioning essentially as a patron saint. Authority might also be enhanced by alleging transmission of the techniques from a famous historical person, like Minamoto Yoshitsune, or from a shadowy mountain monk or miracle-dispensing goblin. The transmission of authority from a revered person or deity was recounted solemnly in ryuha texts, which were transmitted to each succeeding ryuha head. The head himself required personal authority to permanently differentiate his status from that of his pupils, especially in such physical activities as the martial arts, where the pupil might surpass the master in actual ability. In some ryuha, there might be a ceremonial costume that could be worn only by the iemoto. In the Kanze school of Noh, the drama Yuminagashi was originally taught to but one person each generation, the iemoto; and when he performed that drama, he wore a special costume. Likewise, when performing Dojoji, the iemoto wore a slightly different costume from his disciples'.10 Symbols of iemoto authority might also be secret or exclusive items—a special mask, fan, tea bowl, musical instrument, or sword. Thus the Kikutei family traditionally inherited the famous biwa (lute) called Iwao. The most crucial symbol of iemoto authority, especially in martial arts schools, was the possession of scrolls or other texts explaining the ryuha secrets. Martial arts schools in Tokugawa times, then, consisted of a head instructor who was either a member of a family of professional teachers of the art or a legitimate successor within an authoritative line of masters, and his students. Meeting in a semisacred dqjo, which was protected by the god of the training hall and contained a solemn portrait of the founder, the members of the ryuha were drawn together to learn the mastery of their art. The entire society was stratified, from the beginning student to the most advanced senior pupil, who was the master's primary assistant. As with other ryuha, martial arts students typically paid a set fee to receive instruction. It was paid on a monthly basis and varied over time and among schools. But the students were far more than dues payers. Many boarded at the school; by the the end of the Tokugawa period there were sometimes even dormitory facilities to house students who came from other domains to study with the teacher. The students became extremely familiar with the instructor and his family, often establishing near familial ties or mentor-advisee relationships. Beyond the regular payment of instructional fees, students offered special 182

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ceremonial gifts (e.g., salted fish or sake) at specific times of the year as a means of displaying respect for their teacher.11 The student-teacher relationship was considered important from the moment the student entered the master's charge. Usually accompanied by his parents and in formal dress, the would-be fencing or other martial arts student (the age of entry ranged from nine or ten to the mid-teens) visited the school for a formal meeting with the master, presented an appropriate registration present (sokushu)—usually a fan or a writing brush—and signed a pledge to study hard under the master's tutelage and keep the teachings secret.12 The master, for his part, besides acting as teacher, spiritual mentor, and parent, provided a myriad of specific services for his students, from helping to arrange marriage partners to, most importantly, finding them employment as instructors. Students stayed with the master through a number of graded ranks, similar to the system of belts widely employed in the martial arts today. The ritual nature of the system and the camaraderie, often shrouded in secrecy, made it difficult for students to join and leave at will, as is often done today, when teaching is more often a business than a profession.

Transmission of Teachings Practitioners of various cultural forms, including the martial arts, tended to remain with one teacher and stick with the endeavor. The art was not considered a pastime or a veneer to round off one's character, as it is more likely to be considered today, whether in Japan or abroad. It was considered a serious business; the art was respected, the iemoto was venerated, and the effects that practice had upon one's character were thought to be of considerable benefit—especially in the martial arts, which never completely lost the justification that warriors needed to maintain combat readiness. Given the highly stratified nature of Tokugawa society, martial arts schools functioned as arenas of social mobility. At the end of the period, most expert fencers were drawn from the ranks of lower samurai, who were blocked from bureaucratic advancement within their domains by the severe restrictions of warrior society, or from among unattached, wandering samurai (ronin) without prospects or even from among commoners, a number of whom rose to head their own dqjo and even to serve as instructors to daimyo. Many martial artists achieved a degree of status based upon actual achievement—the demonstration of physical superiority over others—denied them in other social arenas. As in other cultural forms, fencers, archers, and other martial artists often

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took special ceremonial names. Martial arts genealogies bristle with names such as Sekishusai, Ryounsai, Ikosai, Ren'yasai—so-called saimei that were apparently adopted after taking Buddhist vows. Such names afforded recognition within the special world of the ryuha. But even without special names, demonstrated expertise conferred prestige and buttressed self-esteem. One Tokugawa vassal of low rank who never achieved any success as a retainer, Katsu Kokichi, took extraordinary pride in his achievements in the world of fencing, where he had few peers. It was one arena in which he could prove himself.13 Ryuha thus served important social functions. But while meeting the physical and emotional needs of followers, they were primarily concerned with the transmission of what were regarded as valuable cultural forms. The responsibilities of both instructor and pupil were informed by a tradition of loyalty to the founder, and group consciousness restrained tendencies toward individualistic indulgence. A person did not easily join or leave a martial arts school. In fact, given the inherent danger of the skill that instructors were going to impart to a would-be pupil, entry into the practice of swordsmanship in particular necessitated careful scrutiny of the background of the applicant and normally required the recommendation of a respected third party. In common with other cultural ryuha, moreover, martial arts schools extracted pledges from their students, often upon several occasions, as the process of transmission progressed.14 The secrets of any ryuha could be transmitted from master to disciple in a number of ways. In medieval times, when fighting skills were still practical, teaching and transmission was primitive, immediate, often ad hoc. Not only were there no texts, but it was generally thought, by way of analogy with many forms of Buddhist expression, from Tendai to Zen, that transmission occurred largely by example, not through verbalization. In Japanese the term is ishin denshin, "nonverbal understanding," understanding that goes from mind (shin) to mind. This idea dates back to the beginning of Buddhist tradition and the esoteric transmission from the historical Buddha to his disciple Kashyapa in the Sermon on Vulture Peak. In religious texts this idea is often referred to with the terms furyu monji ("no reliance on the written word") and kyoge betsuden ("transmission outside the sutras").15 The head of any martial arts or other school instructed his disciples in a manner analogous, then, to that of many religious teachers. The earliest form of transmission of martial skills was called kuden (verbal transmission); the same term was used for the transmission of much esoteric knowledge in early Japan. But by late medieval times, instructions were often written in brief form, in texts called kudensho (writings of verbal transmission).

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Indeed, the texts were often extremely brief, with lists of the names of techniques followed by the phrase kuden. The pre-Tokugawa martial arts texts extant in a few schools are rudimentary, with a focus on recounting legends of the founder of the school and with little instruction in or explication of techniques. There is often only a listing of several techniques, usually identified by hyperbolic names, like "flying dragon," or by the names of animals, like "monkey" and "rat"—terms that would not be readily understood by anyone without instruction from the teacher. By the Tokugawa period, it was customary in all ryuha, including those of the martial arts, to write down the teachings of the school and transmit them to successful students formally, usually in scrolls but in some cases in bound volumes. The authority of the ryuha head lay in the absolute supremacy of his technique, at least in theory. He was the creative genius behind the techniques who in effect created his own private canon that became sacred only with transmission by successive masters to their disciples.16 The techniques were written down as hiden, gokuden, gokui—"secret transmissions"— or torn no maki ("tiger scrolls") and were valued by the students as the embodiment of the wisdom of the master. As a rule, transmission involved a mysterious or sublime form, but this was more difficult in performing arts, where an audience was involved. Although the ability of a disciple might outshine that of his iemoto, the iemoto enjoyed hereditary symbolic authority to control the ryu. The virtually total authority of the master helps to explain the tendency for martial arts ryuha to proliferate. That is, if a disciple became more skillful than the instructor or differed over matters of instruction, he found it necessary to seek another teacher or start his own school. The tendency is still common in the contemporary martial arts world, where schools continue to proliferate essentially by segmentation. Initiation into the secret techniques of the ryuha usually meant the award of a certificate of mastery, a license that carried with it the express right of the initiate to reproduce that form, whether flower arranging or swordsmanship. The licentiate system, as we have seen, accelerated the proliferation of martial arts schools, since the initiated were essentially taught everything and allowed to function on their own, rather than employed as secondary instructors, as with many other cultural arts. In schools with the iemoto system, even after the certification of mastery, the new licensee may have been able to reproduce the forms—perform certain Noh dances, play certain pieces on the biwa, or the like—but the iemoto maintained final authority and control over the kata themselves, the importance of which will become clearer in a mo-

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ment. But because there was little room for a fencing school head, for example, to control the kata in each of numerous feudal domains, transmission tended to be complete. Those receiving certification became individual martial artists, capable of becoming school heads in their own right. Transmission of teachings involved several levels, or grades. In the martial arts it was common to have eight levels, but there were many schools with five, and some were even reduced to three. Consequently, the typical iemoto organization was a hierarchical structure with the iemoto or shihan at the peak. He transmitted the teachings to the disciples in graded segments, awarding certification for mastery of a certain level (mokuroku, chu mokuroku) at an appropriate ceremony. The highest level was normally referred to as kaiden (complete transmission) or sometimes as menkyo kaiden (certified complete transmission); in most martial arts schools, receipt of certification qualified the recipient to become an independent teacher. Although this method of training and certification was generally accepted as reasonable, it was not without its critics. In 1837, Matsudaira Awaji no kami Takamoto wrote a blistering attack on martial arts instructors.17 He claimed that the primary reason that instructors created elaborate documents of transmission, established various levels of mastery, and then made mastery difficult for students to achieve was simply to increase their fees. He charged that teachers not only refused promotion to those who had trained hard but also awarded certification to favored students without regard to actual ability. As a consequence, skilled students might lose confidence in their instructor and leave the school. There were several forms of transmission in traditional cultural organizations.18 Ichidai soden (one-generation transmission) meant that the master's certification lasted only for the lifetime of the recipient; upon his death, the scrolls containing the ryii secrets passed back to the house of the iemoto. This form of transmission was quite common in many Tokugawa-period schools, including some schools of the martial arts. Ichinichi soden (one-day transmission) was a rare form used for certain special performances (like the Azuma asobi at the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto). The iemoto permitted others to be trained to perform a special piece on that day only, after which the right passed back to the iemoto. Deiri soden (transmission through access) was granted to some individuals who were responsible for handling ryuha articles but not necessarily involved in learning the techniques themselves. They became members of the group because they "came and went" (deiri) in and out of the presence of the iemoto. In the Tokugawa period there were also instances of kaeri soden (returning

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transmission), usually because of a sudden death in the iemoto house. A proper successor had not been named, so the transmission was made temporarily to a high-ranking student. Later the house secrets were to be "returned" to the main iemoto house. Ichoku soden (edict transmission) referred to those forms of cultural authority that required the edict of an emperor, retired emperor, or shogun upon transfer. Isshi soden (one-child transmission) is, as the name implies, a form in which but one child of the iemoto inherited the family's professional secrets. In Tokugawa times, this was most often the eldest son. There remain even today organizations in which the transmission has never deviated from the eldest son to eldest son pattern. All these forms of transmission occurred in martial arts schools. There are numerous examples of isshi soden in schools where one family functioned as iemoto. In pre-Tokugawa times somewhat similar forms existed to limit the spread of the teachings, such as ikkoku ichinin soden (transmission to one person per province). Ichidai soden (one-generation transmission) was not unknown either. Whatever the form of transmission, however, transmission was by no means automatic or perfunctory. Bitter family quarrels over the transmission of the secrets were frequent. Though perhaps not of the magnitude of the family headship disputes that drove medieval warrior houses into open warfare, they were significant nonetheless. Difficulties with kaeri soden (returning transmission) were also common. In Chapter 6, we saw just such a situation develop among the Yoshida family branches that controlled Hekiryu archery. Concern for the secrecy of the teachings transmitted was paramount in all arts organizations, but perhaps of greatest worry to those of the martial arts because the techniques in which students were being instructed were potentially lethal. Instruction to the wrong kind of person was a problem, so great care was exercised by most school heads to accept only pupils of outstanding character. In pre-Tokugawa times, when teaching was barely developed and not yet a profession upon which livelihood depended, instructors were more strict. But even in Tokugawa Japan, students were not automatically accepted without some check on their character. A bad student could clearly, by his behavior, embarrass the head of a tea ceremony or flower arranging school. But a student who misused the sword or spear to injure or kill someone was a far greater threat to both society and the reputation of the instructor. Yet it was common for all arts instructors to extract pledges and oaths from students, swearing that they would not disclose the secrets of the school nor teach them to others without the explicit authorization of the master.

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Heads of martial arts schools, especially swordsmanship, demanded pledges from students at virtually each level of certification. Martial arts pledges were similar in form to those of other schools. Called kishomon, they were normally sealed with the blood of the one making the pledge and written on special paper. Making such a pledge was an act of an entirely different magnitude from signing an application to join a karate club and agreeing to pay a monthly fee, as is often required today. The paper on which the pledges were commonly written was Kumano goo paper, which came from Kumano Shrine, three venerable Shinto institutions in what is today Wakayama Prefecture. God, "Ox King" (or "Ox Jewel"), is a term of uncertain origin. It apparently derived from a secret rite in esoteric Buddhism and may have been an honorific for the historical Buddha. Written with other characters, the word also means "cow bezoar," a miraculous medicine supposedly produced from the liver and gall bladder of the cow and believed by the Chinese to have great efficacy.19 Kumano goo paper talismans became popular in the early medieval period as faith in the deities of the Kumano shrines soared and as the shrines became the object of frequent pilgrimages. Yamabushi (mountain monks) and miko (female shrine shamans) sold the talismans. The talisman was a special sheet of paper on which were inscribed the five Chinese characters Kumano gohoin ("honored treasure seal of Kumano"). The inscription was written in a strange calligraphy—the characters were composed with small black crows, the crow being considered the messenger of the Kumano deities—and the paper was pressed with the vermilion seal of the shrines. Pasted to a doorframe, it drove away evil spirits; planted in a field, it scared away birds and the wind; and fixed to a pole in an irrigated field, it brought a bountiful harvest. As demand increased, Kumano goo paper became the major type of paper used by Japan's warrior class in writing a wide variety of pledges. By the Tokugawa period, it had become the standard paper on which oaths were inscribed to protect the secrets of a ryuha. Written by the aspiring disciple, the oath normally contained an introduction and a number of formulaic phrases stating that the student would not show anyone nor tell anyone, parent or child, the secrets into which he was being initiated; nor would he show the scroll containing the secrets to anyone. All of this would normally appear on a separate sheet. On the next sheet, he pledged to keep his word, invoking the names of a variety of native and foreign gods. Some invocations were rather brief, but it was more common to be exhaustive, leaving no major deity unmentioned. Here is the pledge of an archery student.

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1. I deem it a great honor to have imparted to me the secrets of the XXryu. 2. I shall concentrate on my training day and night without remission. If, unfortunately, I have no time to practice, I shall give up the bow. 3. I understand that as I progress in my training you will gradually unfold to me the secrets of your art, and that you will regulate my progress not according to the length of my discipleship but according to the skill and accomplishment I display. Realizing this, I shall never harbor any resentments against my teacher. 4. The verbal instructions and the written tradition which you give me I will never reveal even to my parents or brothers, much less to anyone else. If it should happen that after receiving the written tradition my house should die out, it shall be immediately burned or returned. It goes without saying that I shall not take pupils of my own until you give me a licence to do so. 5. I shall never indulge in criticism of other schools of archery. Should I ever offend against anyone of these rules, may I receive the divine punishment of Hachiman-bosatsu, Bunten, Taishaku, the Four Tenno, all the Great and Lesser Gods of Japan, the Two Gongen of Izu and Hakone, Temman Tenjin and the Ancestors of my Clan. In sign whereof I lay my oath and set my seal.20 A similar document from the Inatomi-ryu of gunnery adds to the above list the deities of Kamigamo, Shimogamo, Hirano, Imari, and Matsuo Shrines, the Mountain God of Hiyoshi Shrine, Goze Tenno of Gion Shrine, and the Gongen of Mounts Fuji, Hakusan, and Atago, among others, and the oath taker prays that they will visit leprosy upon him in this life and that Shaka and Amida will cause him to fall into Hell in the next life if he fails to keep his pledge.21 It was also common to include the Indian god Marishi (Marishiten, Marishisonten), a martial deity often depicted riding on the back of a boar while brandishing sword, bow and arrow, and spear in four hands. Pledges were required no matter what the rank or social status of the student. Even the shogun was required to make such pledges to his swordsmanship instructor. Oaths from Shoguns leyasu to letsuna, written and duly offered to successive Yagyu-ryu heads, are preserved among the esoterica passed from one head to his successor.

Philosophy and Method of Instruction The martial arts fall into the category ofgeido, "artistic ways," in Japan. There are literally hundreds of geido, but they can be classified into three basic types.22 Historically the first to appear were the aristocratic cultural forms

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created by the nobility in Heian times. They include playing a variety of Chinese and native stringed and wind instruments (biwa, wakon, sho), performing dances (gagaku and sarugaku), engaging in falconry, playing kemari (kickball), and composing poetry (waka and rengd). Other aristocratic art forms developed later, in Muromachi times, among them Noh, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, garden design, and cooking. These are, in Nishiyama Matsunosuke's term, "polite accomplishments," enjoyed largely by the leisured upper class as recreation and entertainment. By Tokugawa times, however, a number of these enterprises had spread widely among the populace at large. The martial arts—archery, swordsmanship, use of the lance, equitation, gunnery, even ninjutsu—constitute a second type of artistic way. The third type includes forms of popular culture (taishu geino), ranging from mime, puppetry and juggling, to musical performances and dances, to comedy acts, recitations, and illustrated storytelling. The scope of artistic activities included in geido is thus extremely broad. The martial arts share with other geido the characteristic of being a means to personally experience an art form. All of the geido involve, according to Nishiyama, actions that "create or re-create cultural values through the exercise of the whole body or a part thereof—dancing, performing, drawing, sniffing, tasting, speaking, playing, and so forth."23 While the actions do result in some form of cultural product, they are normally formless rather than objectified. That is, the resultant product is less important than the process of creating it. The value for the individual lies in the doing—the playing, performing, singing, shooting. In creation through the actions of the body, technique (waza) is primary. The practitioner must strive to develop the ability to perform requisite techniques to perfection. This concern for mastery of technique lies at the heart of every geido, from swordsmanship to the tea ceremony. To master the techniques of an art, it was crucial to select a good teacher. Accordingly, instructors exhibited serious concern for their reputation. A swordsmanship instructor could gain a name, at least through the early Tokugawa period, by means of popular recognition of his successful duels or of battles in which he had distinguished himself. Or as head of a well-known professional school, he could rely upon the weight of tradition. In later Tokugawa times, a teacher could win a reputation for defeating skilled fencers in extraschool matches (taryu jiai). The instructor enjoyed almost absolute power over the student. His authority was supreme, his word unquestioned. But contemporary educational philosophy held that the instructor was of limited use; he was only an im190

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perfect guide to personal mastery of the techniques involved. The master conveyed the techniques to the student, who through sheer repetition would ultimately, at least in theory, reach a perfect understanding on his own. Despite the production of numerous texts describing the various techniques (waza) and prescribed forms (kata), the tradition that true understanding could not be conveyed verbally or through instructional manuals, but had to be learned nonverbally, through experience (ishin denshin), never died. Martial arts texts are replete with terms emphasizing that the realization of the meaning of the techniques is a nonintellectual process, that total bodily understanding can only be experienced. The texts include such terms as "to obtain with the body" (taitoku) and "to experience through the body" (taikari) and "to understand with the body" (tainiri). This idea is often expressed more colloquially by the phrase "to learn with the body" (shintai de oboeru or karada de oboeru).24 The concept of body here requires some clarification to understand geido, especially the martial arts. Both Chinese characters in the compound shintai can read in Japanese as karada, "body." But the concept goes far beyond pure physicality, the existence of flesh and bones. The body is always meant to be regarded as that entity which houses the mind, or spirit. The Japanese sense is that while animals have a body of flesh, only human beings have a shintai.25 Training or education involving physical activity (shintai katsudo) makes no distinction between bodily training and mental understanding, but instead assumes a unified mind-body approach. Not only martial arts texts but works on geido in general abound with phrases like shinshin ittai ("mind and body are one") and shinshin ichinyo ("mind and body are the same"). In martial arts ryuha as they developed in Tokugawa times, students were expected to endure extensive and exhaustive training, and after a certain period, one would naturally, of his own accord, come to master the techniques. Besides laying down the basic routines, the function of the instructor was to certify mastery of the required techniques. Ironically, the student was set on a course to learn techniques with minimal instruction, but mastery of the techniques had to be formally certified by the teacher. Similarly, in Zen Buddhism the practitioner does not really have a satori until the master acknowledges it. In the Tokugawa period, when the necessity of engaging an enemy was little more than a theoretical problem for most warriors, the martial arts developed within the context of an intellectual inquisitiveness spurred largely by Neo-Confucian scholarship. In addition to discussing techniques, martial arts works, like works covering other forms of artistic expression, dealt with the-

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ory, mental constructs, and abstract principles like spirit and mind, borrowing heavily from the vocabulary of Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism and Shinto. In swordsmanship, this tendency was especially marked; training and texts came to concentrate upon problems of the mind (shin). As Shimada Toranosuke, a well-known Jikishin kage-ryu fencer of the end of the Tokugawa period noted: "The sword is the mind. If the mind is not correct, then the sword will not be correct. If one wishes to study the sword, he should first study the mind."26 By "mind," what martial artists were referring to was the mental attitude, the frame of mind, the psychological state necessary to face an opponent. The ultimate mental disposition that one might hope to reach was called mushin (no mind), munen (no thought), or honshin (original mind). These were terms borrowed from Buddhism, especially from the Zen sect, and perhaps no work expresses this idea more clearly than Fudochi shimmyoroku by the Zen prelate Takuan. The title is usually translated in English as The Marvelous Record of Immovable Wisdom. In the work, written in the seventeenth century for his friend Yagyu Munenori of the Yagyu-ryu, Takuan discussed swordsmanship from a Zen point of view. The ideas are profound and have had an impact on the theory of martial arts ever since, even though Takuan was not himself a swordsman. Ironically, Takuan seems not to have been all that influential in his day. Since then, his Fudochi text has been used by many, including the noted Zen scholar D. T. Suzuki and many Western writers on the martial arts, to emphasize the crucial role of Zen in swordsmanship. But Yagyu Munenori did not use Takuan's work for swordsmanship instruction until late in life. Even then he was apparently severely criticized for overemphasizing the mental aspects of swordsmanship.27 In Fudochi, Takuan argues that you must never allow your mind to "stop" (focus upon just one thing) or you will be defeated by your enemy. He calls the nonstopping mind immovable wisdom: "Immovable means unmoving. Wisdom means the wisdom of intelligence. Although wisdom is called immovable, this does not signify any insentient thing, like wood or stone. It moves as the mind is wont to move: forward or back, to the left, to the right, in the ten directions and the eight points; and the mind that does not stop at all is called immovable wisdom."28 A mind that stops is a delusion, a boshin in Buddhist terminology. In swordsmanship, a mind that stops prevents the fighter from performing the correct action. Takuan likens the condition to the dilemma faced by the Thousand-Armed Kannon: "If the mind

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stops at the one holding a bow, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine will be useless."29 More specifically, for swordsmen, If one puts his mind in the actions of his opponent's body, his mind will be taken by the action of his opponent's body. If one puts his mind in his opponent's sword, his mind will be taken by that sword. If one puts his mind in thoughts of his opponent's intention to strike him, his mind will be taken by thoughts of his opponent's intention to strike him. If he puts his mind in his own sword, it will be taken by his own sword. If he puts his mind in his own intention of not being struck, his mind will be taken by his intention of not being struck. If he puts his mind in the other man's stance, his mind will be taken by the other man's stance. What this means is that there is no place to put the mind.30 Takuan felt that the mind must be pure and flowing and not fix on one thought. He suggests that a fencer should not formulate a specific strategy: if he attacks me with a slashing attack from above, then I will counter by shifting my weight to the left and attacking his ribcage. The swordsman's mind must be unfettered. By stopping the mind nowhere, it is everywhere, and thus a natural and spontaneous reaction to the opponent is possible. This is what Takuan calls mushin or honshin. In other works, the same idea of a mind that flows through the body without fixating on anything is called hdshin (released mind) or munen muso (no concern, no thought) or heijoshin (normal mind).31 For swordsmen and other martial arts practitioners, the attainment of such a mental state was not an intellectual activity. Nor was it a religious activity. Few martial arts texts espouse Zen meditation, and few practitioners were followers of Zen. I have argued throughout this book that just because martial arts texts contain Zen Buddhist and other religious references, one should not assume that practitioners were religiously motivated. Similarly, while acknowledging the influence of Zen on martial and other arts, Minamoto Ryuen concludes that the mind-body unity articulated in Zen and the arts is different. Martial arts texts advocate not the simple mind-body unity of the Zen Buddhists—who after all are not concerned with physical activity but with motionless meditation—but a mind-body unity in which the two are in reverse correspondence with one another. That is, if the body is at rest, the mind should be active; if the body is active, the mind should be motionless. If the mind is in a defensive mode, the body is in attack posture, and vice versa.32 In a 1837 critique of ryuha, Matsudaira Takamoto of Toyama domain, in a section entitled "Martial Arts Texts Cannot Be Trusted," argued that these texts are no more than collections of Shinto, Buddhist, and Confucian

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aphorisms collected from ancient manuscripts.33 He was of the opinion that since they were by and large compiled by rural scholars and priests with little knowledge of martial arts, the borrowed phrases of ancient wisdom contained numerous errors. He was especially critical of the many texts compiled by Buddhists. Because Buddhist terminology had nothing to do with martial arts, he argued, such texts were filled with "falsehoods and absurdities." In fact, during the Tokugawa period, when Buddhism was officially frowned upon and a distinctly Confucian mentality had replaced the medieval Buddhist consciousness, few warriors chose exclusive Zen practice. The way the student could attain the proper mental state was through the type of practice espoused by the martial and other arts. As we have seen, this practice was often called shugyo, the word having been derived from religious training. But a more commonly used term in all geido of medieval and early modern times was keiko. Though it can be broadly understood as meaning "to learn," the term is an ancient Chinese expression first used in Japan in the Kojiki in the four-character compound keiko shokon, literally, "to reflect upon past ways to shed light on the present."34 Thus the distinct meaning of keiko was to take the past as precedent, but in medieval Japan it came to be applied almost exclusively to learning apart from pure intellectual study, specifically in the study of geido. As used in texts dealing with poetry composition, flower arranging, and fencing, keiko took on the sense of learning that requires polishing through repetition of established forms, a positive, engaged learning as opposed to a passive acceptance of received written material. The term also had a certain attitudinal, or spiritual, sense. Keiko was more than an intellectual understanding of a body of material; it was intimately linked to mental attitude (kokorogamae) and involved a concern for the way one ought to live. In both a Confucian and a Buddhist sense, keiko meant "to learn the proper way of living (do) through mastery of one's art form." The English term "training" may be the most appropriate translation of keiko, which even today is commonly used to describe the process that a person goes through when studying the tea ceremony, flower arranging, poetry composition, dance, judo, or any of the traditional arts. Entering into the study of an art is a somewhat different experience from entering primary school or a cram school (juku), although these arenas of learning share certain attitudes. In keiko the emphasis is heavily upon the aspects of learning that improve character and mental development. Mastery of the way of tea, for example, as a means of personal fulfillment and development. Keiko focused upon the mastery of forms (kata), which taught the disciple technique (waza). Since all geido had a focus on forms, many scholars

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have defined the Japanese cultural tradition as the "culture of kata."35 Among the martial arts, archery developed a kata tradition quite early, but with most martial arts it was in the late medieval period that people began to teach individual battlefield skills as specific techniques. Then a number of military geniuses created kata, based on their long years of military experience, as fixed ways of practicing necessary combat skills. It was in the teaching of these highly individualistic techniques that specific ryuha emerged. Kata became the rules, the basic methods, by which techniques were transmitted from master to student within the ryu.36 Kata were believed to quickly and completely impart techniques to the students. The method of instruction was for the student to repeat the kata, over and over, under the guidance of the master. Learning involved a rote imitation of the teacher's kata, with no resistance, no attempt to embellish, and commonly with no explanation of the individual moves. Constant polishing of the moves, inner reflection on the process down to the tiniest detail of stance or hand position, it was believed, would ultimately result in an understanding—again through the body, which includes the mind—not only of the teacher's technique but also of the requisite spirit. Geido in Japan today preserve thousands of kata that were developed by the founders of ryuha, altered and improved over the centuries, and handed down through generations of masters and students as the most appropriate means to mastery. The students are subjected to the no-questions-asked repetition of fixed forms until the teacher deems progress sufficient to move on to the next stage. This method of instruction seems peculiarly antiquated and out of step with the freedom and individualism of modern educational ideas. But ironically, total submission to authority is regarded as the best way to achieve individual creativity.37 Kata mastery progresses through three stages. We find in many texts on geido reference to shu, ha, and ri, the developmental steps to mastery.38 Shu means "to preserve" and refers to the initial phase of study in martial and other arts. The novice simply "preserves" the tradition by constant repetition of kata, polishing both outward form and internal mental awareness until the technique become automatically replicable. But simple repetition could conceivably lead to (and in Tokugawa martial arts certainly did lead to) the ossification of the art, so the student must "break down" or "destroy" (ha) the kata that he has mastered, in order to move to the final stage of development, where he was "liberated" (ri) from the kata, and true creative individuality could express itself. The theory behind the mastery of secrets via kata mem-

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orization involved, then, a progression from total subservience to tradition to a level of individual creativity. The number of people able to achieve mastery through a progression from shu through ha to ri was limited historically and is limited today. It was exceedingly difficult to reach mastery in many of the traditional geido. For example, 1,384 people entered the Yabuuchi-ryu of the tea ceremony during the Tokugawa period, and only eleven reached the pinnacle kaiden rank.39 The Japanese traditionally regarded keiko as being rigorous and, to a degree, still do today. Although many of the traditional arts were recreational and creative activities for leisure time (and are practiced as such today—the tea ceremony for brides, kendo for kids), there was and is an expectation that the student will give total devotion to the way of that art. Martial arts texts are full of terms like shisshin (devotion) and doshin (devotion to the way; literally, "way-mind"). The idea is for the student to be exclusively and totally devoted to the mastery of the kata of the particular endeavor. In an almost religious sense, students should cut themselves off from the secular world and enter the world of their chosen art. They should find the time to concentrate on their art so that, sleeping or waking, every moment is devoted to mastery.40 The great Muromachi Noh master Zeami said it for all geido in his discussion of the attitude required in mastering Noh: "One who would attain this Way must not engage in the non-Way."41 What he meant by "nonWay" was any other activity, any other form of learning or art form. A singleminded devotion to a particular way was widely advocated, then. Injunctions to concentrate wholeheartedly are especially common in martial arts texts. In Nakabayashi Shinji's words: "It is advocated in keiko that one ought to concentrate powerfully (but without stubbornness and contentiousness), obediently, and purely on the way. And one ought to focus single-mindedly on this way not just during the time one practices the techniques; keiko lies in achieving a unitary focus in all the aspects of one's daily life, so that in each and every activity, the way is one. A great number of martial arts texts express the idea that the way lies in the behavior and conduct of everyday life."42 If someone is devoted to achieving total understanding of a single way, then paradoxically that understanding cuts across all ways. This is in accord with Miyamoto Musashi's claim that after years of devoting himself singlemindedly to martial arts, he came to be conversant with a variety of geido, all without the aid of a teacher.43

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Epilogue

BOTH SWORDSMANSHIP AND ARCHERY developed from military skills into modern sports. The transformation of archery came much earlier, partly because of the ease with which competition could be staged and victory measured. But perhaps an even more important consideration is that it is not necessarily linked with violence and bloodshed: it is as easy to shoot at a target as at a human being. The hesitancy to spill blood for nonmilitary purposes derived from both native Shinto and imported Buddhist sanctions and was, I have argued, a primary reason why all combat activities in Japan developed into sports so slowly, and into highly controlled, ritualized affairs at that. This concern, as well as the technical difficulties of devising appropriate safety devices, contributed to the much later development of fencing out of swordsmanship. For both archery and fencing, it was the dramatically changed conditions of Pax Tokugawa that facilitated, indeed almost dictated, the transformation of military, or at least paramilitary, exercises into mature sporting activities. Extended peace changed the samurai from warriors into bureaucrats, while literacy expanded their intellectual horizons, and urbanization wrought extensive changes in their attitudes toward economic endeavors and even leisure activities. During the long Tokugawa period, the military government tried to enforce a rigid stratification of society into four tiers—samurai, peasants, artisans, and merchants. Mobility was strictly prohibited. Over the course of the period, however, fencing and even, to a certain extent, archery emerged

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as forms of competition in which talent rather than ascription determined success. Though by no means open to all, by the end of the Tokugawa period fencing academies provided a good deal of social interaction between samurai of different ranks and clan affiliations, as well as between samurai and other classes—interaction that other institutions had sought to discourage. Being denied mobility within the hierarchy of the feudal domains, a low-ranking samurai might still become a noted fencer, or, as we have seen, a commoner might even rise to be an instructor of fencing to samurai, who made up the only class supposed to have access to swords. Edo's fencing academies did nurture the core of activists who overthrew the Tokugawa bakufii. If not the motive, these urban dqjo were at least the catalyst for change, the arena in which frustrations were shared and plans nurtured. Fencing in Tokugawa Japan, an activity in which class was increasingly irrelevant, moved well along the path of evolution into a modern democratic sport. If my treatment of Japan's two armed combat systems that developed into sport has been more narrative than analysis, there are still several conclusions that I have reached in the course of my study. First, many practitioners consider martial arts not only different from but somehow superior to sports. It seems to me, however, that such a stance displays a basic misunderstanding of the history of sport and neglects the important connections between sport and religion, sport and art, and sport and ritual in many societies, not just Japan. As Richard Mandell reminds us, "The boundaries that we modems use to separate 'sport' from other areas of human endeavor have been indistinct and not worth noticing in other cultures. The Chinese martial exercises which could be engaged in competitively were at once workouts for fitness, paramilitary gymnastics, preparations for spiritual composure, and of course dance."1 The same can certainly be said for Japanese swordsmanship and archery. My own conclusion is that both kendo and kyudo have sufficiently long traditions of competition to be regarded as sports, without any of the negative connotations that scholars and practitioners like the late Donn Draeger or Taisen Deshimaru give to the term. Second, the religious element, especially the Zen Buddhist element, can be overstressed in both swordsmanship and archery. Although Zen influenced the manner in which once deadly combat techniques were transformed into vehicles for self-perfection and competition, there has been, especially in the United States, a tendency to read far more religiosity into the activity than the facts permit. We should remember that the Zen-heavy vocabulary used

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to describe paramilitary techniques and states of mental composure in a number of martial arts texts, composed essentially after the need for such techniques in actual combat had long passed, ought not to be interpreted as proof that the practice of a "true" martial art is a Buddhist experience. The Western fascination with Zen has caused people to ignore the widespread influence of esoteric Buddhism, Shinto, Daoism, and especially Confucianism on both armed martial arts. The emphasis on the interconnectedness between one's art and other aspects of life, the concern for developing a mental framework in which one's mind flows freely, the tendency toward ritualization, and the focus upon selfperfection through practice are not absent from the Western sporting tradition either. The Romans were concerned with all-round development—in corpore sano, mens sano—and both the British and American sporting traditions are closely connected with moral development and mental health. Placing martial arts within the category of sport does not diminish their worth at all. Indeed, Japanese fencing and archery are fine additions to the richly diverse world we call sport.

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Notes

The following abbreviations have been used for frequently cited works. BRH HM KGS KBK NBT NKH NSK 8MB

Bugei ryiiha hyakusen, by Watatani Kiyoshi Heike monogatari (in Nihon koten bungaku taikef) Kendo gohyakunenshi, by Tominaga Kengo Keishicho budo kyujunenenshi, ed. Keishicho Keimubu Kyoyoka Nihon budo taikei Nihon kengo hyakusen, by Watatani Kiyoshi Nihon shoki Shiryo Meiji budoshi, by Watanabe Ichiro

INTRODUCTION

1. Poliakoff, Combat Sports in the Ancient World, p. 7. A consensus on a single definition has eluded scholars. All of us know what sports are; we just have trouble defining them. For several other views, see Guttmann, From Ritual to Record, p. 7; Coakley, Sport in Society, p. 12; H. Edwards, Sociology of Sport, p. 12, whose definition stresses the necessity of physical exertion, thus eliminating some endeavors that stress manual dexterity more than energy expenditure (p. 55); and Sansone, Greek Athletics and the Genesis of Sport, which offers a challenging definition of sport: "the ritual sacrifice of physical energy" (p. 36). 2. I can think of a few contemporary phrases, such as ippon maitta, which means "to win a point" in judo or kendo. But ippon maitta is often used when one is upset or nonplussed or unable to deal with something. Dohyogiwa de, a term that means "at the edge of the ring," is used by extension to mean "at the last moment." 3. Deshimaru, Zen Way to the Martial Arts, p. 2.

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4. Intellectuals do not hold the study of sport in much esteem, though the situation has improved since Paul Weiss observed in 1969 that "if philosophers did take the commonality of sport to be a sign of its insignificance, and then supposed that its character tainted the study of it, they committed a double blunder. The common can be good and desirable. And whether it be so or not, it can be dealt with carefully and thoughtfully, and from a perspective not necessarily known or shared by its participants. . . . Whatever the reason for its neglect, the opportunity to deal with sport philosophically was let slip away by the Greeks and their followers. From their time to our own, sports have not been taken seriously enough as a source or instance of large truths or first principles." Weiss, Sport, p. 8. 5. Two excellent recent works dealing with the military aspect of the samurai are Friday, Hired Swords; and Farris, Heavenly Warriors. CHAPTER I. MARTIAL ARTS AND JAPANESE CULTURE

1. Draeger, Martial Arts and Ways of Japan, 2:23—40; and Draeger and Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, pp. 90-94. 2. Draeger and Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Systems, pp. 90-91. 3. Ibid., p. 92. 4. Ibid., pp. 92-935. Morohashi Tetsuji, Dai Kanwajiten, 6:686. Certain other terms, most prominently heiho ("military method"), employ the character hei, alternatively pronounced hyo. Heiho was sometimes used in premodern times to refer to a specific martial art; it was much less usual to say kenjutsu, jujutsu, etc. But words with the character hei are much less common as generic terms for the martial arts in both traditional texts and modem usage. 6. KGS, p. 15. Seki Humitake, in Nihon budo no engen, p. 35, argues in a similar vein that in analyzing the martial arts of Japan, we have to consider bu a homophone of the bu that means "to produce," "to give rise to," "to give life to." Thus he interprets bu to mean "active cultivation of peace." Seki is head of the Kashima Shinryu Federation of Martial Science, whose teachings are based on the ancient tradition of shimbu ("divine martiality"), which dates back to the Age of the Gods. See Friday, Legacies of the Sword, pp. 63-64. A totally different interpretation of bu holds that it is composed of the character meaning "spear" plus the character for "foot" and thus has the meaning of "to go forth with spear" or, by extension, "to be armed." Nakabayashi, " 'Budo' no meigen ni tsuite," p. 2. 7. KGS, p. 15. 8. NSK, 1:218-219; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 138. The gloss for the characters has takekiwaza rather than bugei. 9. KGS, pp. 16—17. Azuma kagami, the official history of the Kamakura bakufu, records the entry of one of Minamoto Yoritomo's chief supporters into Kamakura in 1195: "The priest Kumagai no Jiro Naozane proceeded [to Kamakura] from the Capital. Ever since he renounced yesterday's martial arts [budo] in order to seek the Buddha's providence in the future, he has fixed his mind solely upon the Western Paradise." Azuma kagami, in Shintei zoho kokushi taikei, 1:463 (Kenkyu 6/8/10). Naozane's story is celebrated in Japanese literature. After causing the death of the young Taira general Atsumori in the Battle of Ichi no tani, Naozane became a monk to pray for Atsumori's soul. The death of Atsumori is chronicled in Heike monogatari in an especially moving fashion. HM, 2:219-222. For English

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11-14

translations, see McCullough, trans., Tale of the Heike, pp. 315-317; and Kitagawa and Tsuchida, trans., Tale of the Heike, pp. 561-563. 10. Nakabayashi, " 'Budo' no meigen ni tsuite," pp. 3-4. 11. For a translation of Yuzan's work, see W. S. Wilson, trans., Budoshoshinshu. 12. KGS, p. 17. See also Nakabayashi, " 'Budo' no meigen ni tsuite," p. 4. 13. The text, Yuken sosho, is quoted by Tominaga Kengo in KGS, p. 17. 14. Kaibara Ekiken, Bukun, in NBT, 9:20. The same idea is repeated in similar words on pp. 18 and 19. 15. Hurst, "From Heiho to Bugei." 16. Imamura Yoshio notes that whereas budo has long been an inclusive term for various bujutsu, not until the Meiji period were there publications that transmitted that sense of the word to the public at large. In the Tokugawa period, budo was essentially used to mean bushido, "the way of the warrior." He notes that the Ministry of Education first used the term budo in physical education plans in 1942. See Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," pp. 24— 2517. Nakabayashi, " 'Budo' no meigen ni tsuite," p. 8. 18. When Funakoshi Gichin brought this Okinawan-style fighting art to Japan proper in the early 19208, it was called todei (Chinese hand) in the Okinawan dialect. But the characters were soon pronounced karate, a rendering that sounded more Japanese but had the same meaning. It was apparently owing to nationalistic concerns that in 1929 the Keio University karate club and then other karate clubs throughout Japan began to use the characters meaning "empty hand" to downplay the Chinese connection. Japan was already fighting in north China, and a decidedly anti-Chinese feeling was in the air. See Fujiwara Ryozo, "Karatedo no rekishi," in NBT, 8:28-29. 19. The Japanese term bugei juhachibanji ("eighteen martial arts"), like the concept, was based upon the Ming Chinese original, with slightly different arts being emphasized. See BRH, pp. 190-242 passim. 20. Draeger and Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Systems, pp. 83-84. 21. An excellent introduction to samurai films is Silver, Samurai Film. 22. Japanese literature on the subject is extensive. Perhaps the best place to start is with two general works: Takeuchi, Bushi no tojo; and Ishii, Chusei bushidan. Three excellent recent English-language works on the subject—though with somewhat differing viewpoints—are Friday, Hired Swords; Farris, Heavenly Warriors; and Ikegami, Taming of the Samurai. See also Hall, Government and Local Power in Japan, esp. pp. 129-154; Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan; and Shinoda, Founding of the Kamakura Shogunate. Two useful coffee-table books dealing with the samurai are Stony, Way of the Samurai; and Tumbull, Samurai. Varley, Samurai, is a short, general introduction for the nonspecialist. 23. On the Kamakura bakufii, see Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan; Mass, "Emergence of the Kamakura Bakufii," in Hall and Mass, eds., Medieval Japan, pp. 127—156; and Mass, "Kamakura Bakufii," in Yamamura, ed., Medieval Japan, pp. 46-88. 24. This was certainly the observation of many at the time. See, e.g., Kitabatake Chikafusa's evaluation of the "delegation of authority to Yoritomo," in Jinno shotoki—Masu kagami, in Nihon koten bungaku taikei, p. 155. For translation and commentary, see Varley, Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns. See also the observations of the Fujiwara scion and Buddhist

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prelate Jien in Gukansho, in Nihon koten bungaku taikei, p. 265. For an English translation, with commentary, of this historical work, see Brown and Ishida, Future and the Past. 25. See Hayashida Shigeyuki, "Nihon zairaima no genryu," in Mori, ed., Nihon kodai bunka no tankyu: Uma, p. 237. Mori Koichi, "Kokogaku to uma," in Mori, Nihon kodai bunka no tankyu, p. 48, quotes the Weizhi to this effect. 26. Mori, in "Kokogaku to uma," discusses archaeological evidence of horses in early Japan. 27. Ledyard, "Galloping Along with the Horseriders." Gari Ledyard's article provides a provocative reinterpretation of Egami Namio's original thesis, but it has run into criticism on archaeological grounds. Walter Edwards, in "Event and Process in the Founding of Japan," refocuses attention on the process of state formation. Gina Barnes, in Protohistoric Yamato, pp. 21-22, argues that the fifth-century polity "can be regarded as a quantitative expansion and hierarchical ordering of cellular units of organization already present in the fourth century. It was stimulated into existence through conflict and/or competition with the Kyushu area—which the chronicles reveal to have been hostile at this time." 28. According to Hayashida, in "Nihon no zairaima genryu," p. 254, the small horse, characteristic of southern China, probably made its way to Japan in Jomon times; but he believes that from the Yayoi period (300 B.c.~3oo A.D.) into the Tomb period (300-552), the medium-sized horse of central Asian origin—not the Mongolian type—came into Japan via the Korean Peninsula. See the chart on the Asiatic distribution of horse types on p. 255. Mori, in "Kokogaku to uma," pp. 45-46, emphasizes that from the sixth century on, when the horse was distributed all across the Japanese islands, the predominant use of the animal was for warfare. In the same volume, Goto Tomio, in "Nairiku Ajia no kiba yubokumin," p. 185, also deals with the Weizhi notation that third-century Yamato (Japan) had no horses. Goto feels that the Chinese envoys were likely talking about domesticated animals, so the report that they did not encounter such animals in the areas that they visited means that Yamato people were neither raising nor utilizing domesticated horses. He concludes that even though we find archaeological evidence of horses in Japan prior to the Weizhi, we should not assume that they were domesticated, much less ridden. Rather the few horse bones that have been found are probably from wild animals that were hunted, perhaps for food. Goto assumes that the envoys were surprised at the absence of horseriding in Japan, given their long experience with central and northeast Asian horseriding peoples. William Wayne Farris, in Heavenly Warriors, pp. 15—18, also discusses the introduction of the horse and the spread of mounted warfare in early Japan. 29. Piggott, Japanese Kingship, p. 8. 30. Bronowski, Ascent of Man, p. 80. 31. NSK, 1:459-461; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 336. 32. Takeuchi, "Uma no minzoku," pp. 162-171. Yanagida Kunio first pointed out that ancient Japanese believed the spirits of the gods descended into the world of man on horseback; but I believe this was little more than a reflection of the awesome appearance of armed horseriding people. For a study of ema—with little speculation on their origin— see Iwai and Koyama, Nihon no ema. 33. An Aouma festival is still performed at Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka in imitation of the old Aouma no sechie of the court. Aouma—meaning "blue horse" but written with the Chinese characters for "white horse"—was first written with the character for "blue" supposedly because of Chinese yin-yang associations. That is, the horse is a yang animal

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IJ-2I

in yin-yang cosmology, and the color blue is associated with yang. The idea behind the original ceremony seems to have been that the horses would drive away evil spirits and cause the yang element to flourish. Although Aouma no sechie was already written with the characters for "white horse"—in keeping with the actual color of the animals—by the Heian period, the phrase occasionally appeared with the "blue" character. Kurabayashi, ed., Nihon no matsuri to nenjii gyoji, pp. 11—12. Ivan Morris, in The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, p. 267, notes of the Festival of the Blue Horses, first introduced from China in the early eighth century, that "originally the horses were steel grey (hence the name 'blue'); but, since such horses were very rare and since white was the colour of purity in Shinto ritual, they were replaced in the tenth century with white horses." Kurabayashi, in Nihon no matsuri to nenjii gyoji, p. 12, says that the first recorded instance of an Aouma festival was in 775, during Emperor Konin's reign. 34. NSK, 2:163. 35. According to the Okagami, Michinaga "rode a famous high-spirited horse,. . . controlling it with admirable skill." McCullough, trans., Okagami, p. 196. 36. Friday, "Teeth and Claws," p. 153. For more on the formation of a national army, see Friday, Hired Swords; and Farris, Heavenly Warriors. 37. Hurst, "Kobu Polity." 38. Summarized from Ishii, ChUsei bushidan, pp. 110-112. On p.m, Ishii diagrams this information. For an English adaptation of the diagram, see Farris, Heavenly Warriors, p. 350. 39. The scroll is included in several Japanese art collections. Perhaps the most accessible published source is Nihon emakimono taisei, vol. 12. See also Nihon emakimono zenshu, vol. 18. 40. Listed in the Shin sarugakki are the martial accomplishments of the "husband of Naka no kimi," a man regarded as the "supreme warrior in the land [tenka daiichi no musha]." Included in his repertoire were these nine different forms of archery, along with skill in fighting battles and skill in undertaking night attacks. Shin sarugakki, in Hanawa, ed., Gunsho ruijH, 9:342. 41. The quotation is from an 1108 entry in the Choyuki, diary of Fujiwara Munetada, describing Taira Masamori's entry into the capital after chastising the outlaw Minamoto Yoshichika, who had rebelled in Izumo Province. Choyuki, in Zoho shiryo taisei, 3:325 (Ten'in 1/1/29). 42. An example is the story, in Konjaku monogatari, of the duel between Minamoto Mitsuru and Taira Yoshifumi, translated in W. R. Wilson, "Way of the Bow and Arrow," pp. 197-199. Also see Friday, "Mononofu," pp. 14-15, for a partial translation and analysis of this story. 43. Because of the Buddhist concept of the transmigration of souls, which meant that a human being could be reborn in animal form, there was considerable sensitivity to the killing of animals, although the injunction did not keep warriors from indulging their passion for hunting. Konjaku monogatari contains a touching story of an especially talented archer, a retainer of Fujiwara Yasumasa, the governor of Tango. One night before a hunt, the retainer had a terrible dream. His dead mother appeared to him, saying that because of her evil deeds, she had been reborn as a female deer in the area where the hunt was scheduled to take place. She told her son that if he saw a large female deer during the hunt, it would be her. She would draw near him for protection. Disturbed by the dream, the retainer tried to absent himself from the hunt by claiming illness. But the governor

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demanded his participation. Soon caught up in the hunt, the retainer drew his bow and, forgetting the warning in his dream, shot and killed a large female deer. When he looked at the deer's face, he recognized the face of his mother. Appalled, he left the service of his lord to become a monk. When Yasumasa learned of what his retainer had done, he became angry and told him that he should have stated the real reason for not wanting to hunt. Had he done so, Yasumasa would certainly have excused him. Konjaku monogatari, in Nihon koten bungaku taikei, 4:75—77. 44. Poliakoff, Combat Sports of the Ancient World, p. 115. 45. Friday, "Mononofu," pp. 112—114. 46. For an account of the history of hunting in Japan, see Chiba Tokuji, Shuryo densho kenkyu; and Chiba, Zoku shuryo densho kenkyu. Also see Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 254-332, for an extensive account of hunting during the Tokugawa era, when, despite shogunal attempts to force hunting into the narrow confines of martial training, it became essentially a sport, a form of recreation for shogun, daimyo, and bushi alike. 47. Gukansho, in Nihon bungaku taikei, p. 271; English translation from Brown and Ishida, Future and the Past, p. 149. 48. Azuma kagami, in Shintei zoho kokushi taikei, 1:488—492 (Kenkyu 4/5/8-6/7). The revenge of the Soga brothers on Kudo Suketsune, who had killed their father some years earlier, was carried out during the expedition, told about below, that left on the eighth day of the fifth month; they took revenge on the twenty-eighth day. Azuma kagami, p. 490 (Kenkyu 4/5/28). 49. Ishii Susumu, in Chusei bushidan, pp. 64-70, expands upon these events. 50. Ishii, Chusei bushidan, p. 66. Interestingly, in the Azuma kagami, pp. 489-490 (Kenkyu 4/5/22), it is recorded that Yoritomo was so pleased with his son's success that he immediately sent his trusted vassal Kajiwara Kagetaka to inform Yoriie's mother, Masako. But Masako dismissed the matter as hardly worthy of such a fuss. What should one expect of the heir of a warrior, she retorted, causing Kagetaka to lose face. CHAPTER 2. SWORDSMANSHIP: THE EARLY TRADITION i. Legend holds that in the reign of Emperor Kammu (781-806)—ancestor of the most important Taira lineage—the emperor was performing a certain ceremony when a crow Hew into the courtyard and announced that it was a messenger from the Ise Shrine. Since a sword was found where the bird alighted, everyone assumed that the bird had brought it. Accordingly, it was named Kogarasumaru (Little Crow) and was deemed to have powers protective of the court. When Taira Sadamori was appointed to quell Taira Masakado's rebellion in the tenth century, the sword was given to him as a symbol of authority. Thereafter, it became a Taira family treasure. Legend aside, the sword is inscribed on one side with the characters for Amakuni, the name of a swordsmith who supposedly lived in the Taiho era (701—703); inscribed on the other side of the blade is the date Taiho 2 (702). There is no proof, however, that the sword was forged by Amakuni or is that old. The real maker of Kogarasumaru and the date of its forging are unknown. See Sato, Nihon meito hyakusen, pp. 111—113. 2. See, e.g., Francisco Carletti's description of tameshigiri as a "Barbarous and Cruel Custom," quoted in Cooper, They Came to Japan, pp. 158—159. Cooper, p. i67n, is also the source of the record number of bodies cleaved in two during tameshigiri.

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3. Newman, The Japanese, p. 108. Another author who uses the sword as a metaphor for Japan is Mannin, Flowery Sword. 4. I encountered some difficulty tracking down a primary source for this commonly quoted Western aphorism about the sword. As the quotation from McClatchie indicates, the aphorism was known even to foreigners in the nineteenth century. The first Japanese textual reference that I have found is in the Tokugawa Nariaki hyakkajo, written sometime during the first four decades of the Tokugawa period. Tokugawa Nariaki hyakkajo, in Kinsei buke shiso, in Nikon shiso taikei, 27:471, article 36. The article reads: "The sword is the soul of the bushi; those who lose theirs shall not be forgiven." 5. Bronowski, Ascent of Man, p. 131. 6. NSK, 1:124-126; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 53. 7. NSK, 1:106; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 36. 8. NSK, 1:138; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 68. 9. When the imperial army was bogged down in its campaign in Kumano, Take Mikazuchi no Kami sent Futsu no Mitama to aid Jimmu. NSK, 1:195; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 115. 10. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 2. The latent nationalism of the author can be gleaned even from the tide of the book: Kokoku, or "Imperial Nation," was used extensively instead of "Japan" in book tides in the earlier part of the twentieth century. 11. "Swords" entry in Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 7:295-296, has the estimated date as fourth to fifth century; and Suenaga, in Nikon buki gaisetsu, p. 21, gives "middle Tomb period." 12. Suenaga, Nikon buki gaisetsu, p. 21. 13. Ibid., p. 22. 14. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 34. 15. Bronowski, Ascent of Man, pp. 131—132. 16. Not, however, totally absent. One story in Konjaku monogatari is about an attack on Tachibana Norimitsu, former governor of Dewa Province. When he was serving in the Imperial Guards, he sneaked off duty one night to visit a woman, only to be attacked by a group of men. Norimitsu had gone out wearing a sword and accompanied by one retainer. He was relieved when he saw that his attackers had no bows with them but were armed only with swords. He dispatched three of them, splitting one's head and cleaving another open from the shoulder. The men who found the corpses at first thought they had killed each other; but one noticed that the victims had all been killed by the same sword, and he was awed by the skill of the killer. Konjaku monogatari, in Nikon koten bungaku taikei, 2:249-252. 17. HM, 1:310; McCullough, trans., Tale of the Heike, p. 153. The weapon that Jomyo "mowed down" Taira warriors with was a halberd (naginata), a single-edged blade attached to a pole. 18. W. R. Wilson, trans., Hogen monogatari, pp. 43-44. 19. Fighting in the "war between the Southern and Northern Courts" (Nambokucho no nairan) was sporadic between 1331 and 1392, when the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, reunited the two contending imperial factions. It is customary not to consider the years between Go-Daigo's rise in 1331 and the end of his Kemmu Restoration in 1336 as part of the Nambokucho period. The war raged in different parts of the country at different

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36-46

times and was characterized by guerrilla warfare by the weaker Southern Court. See Varley, Imperial Restoration in Medieval Japan. 20. McCullough, trans., Taiheiki, pp. 305-306. 21. Ibid., p. 294. 22. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 36; Shimokawa, Kendo no hattatsu, p. 96. 23. Ibid., pp. 38-42. 24. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. 9. 25. Tsunoda et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, p. 319. 26. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi,'* pp. 38-39. 27. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. 8. See also "Gunji seido" entry in Kokushi daijiten, 4:1004. 28. Yamazaki Mihei, Honcho seiji danki seigo, quoted in Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. 929. Quoted in Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 39. 30. One of the best treatments of musha shugyo is in KGS, pp. 63-^9 and 181—182. 31. A good general study of shugendo is in Wakamori, Yamabushi. See also Togawa, Shugendo to minzoku. The standard English-language work is Earhart, Religious Study. 32. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 41; KGS, pp. 65-68 contains several examples of musha shugyo in the late Muromachi period. 33. KGS, p. 55, quoting Sakakibara Nagatoshi's Hompo tokenko. 34. Hideyoshi's Sword Hunt (Katanagari) edict is the best known of these unsuccessful efforts. Noting that the "possession of unnecessary implements [of war] makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings," Hideyoshi exhorts peasants to "devote themselves exclusively to agriculture" and further intends that all confiscated weapons will be melted down and used as "nails and bolts in the construction of the Great Image of the Buddha." Tsunoda et al., Sources of Japanese Tradition, p. 329. The ineffectiveness of Hideyoshi's efforts is underscored by the necessity of the later edicts. 35. Tominaga, Shijitsu Miyamoto Musashi, pp. 18—19. See also Hurst, "Samurai on Wall Street." 36. The information on duels in this section comes mainly from KGS, pp. 409-415. 37. NKH, pp. 24-25. 38. Ibid., pp. 37-38. 39. Ibid., pp. 44-4540. Ibid., pp. 41-43. 41. KGS, p. 5942. For a thorough discussion of the function of kata, see Nakabayashi, "Budo no susume," part 5. See also Friday, "Kabala in Motion." 43. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 4, quoting Watatani's Nihon bugei shoden. 44. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. 12. 45. Saimei (sai names) were rather common in the cultural world of Tokugawa Japan, adopted by artists and professionals in a wide variety of cultural endeavors, including martial arts masters. The character itself means "religious purification." 46. For a genealogy, see NBT, 3:6-7. A short biography can be found in NKH, pp. 1920. 47. For information on lizasa, see, e.g., Tenshinsho-den shinto-ryU heiho demmyaku, in NBT, 3:28-34-

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48. Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai, trans., Man'yoshu, p. 254. A short but useful work on the history of Kashima is Hotta, Kashima Jingu, esp. pp. 1-33 on the ancient period. 49. For Bokuden's career, see Tenshinsho-den shinto-ryu heiho demmyaku, in NET, 3:3031. See also NKH, pp. 23-29. 50. NKH, p. 24, quoting Tenshinsho-den shinto-ryu heiho demmyaku. 51. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 51. 52. NKH, p. 27. 53. NKH, pp. 21-22. 54. NKH, p. 29. Iko (sometimes Ikosai) was apparently a member of a Kumano pirate group that traveled to the coastline of Ming China to pillage and trade. Two decades after Iko's death, in 1561, one Japanese pirate fled to China carrying a copy of the Kage-ryu scroll with him. It was reproduced later in the Ming period in the Chinese martial arts text Wubizhi. 55. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 53. 56. See NET, 1:12-15; NKH, pp. 32-36. 57. See, e.g., Honcho bugei shoden, quoted in NET, 2:130. 58. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi,'* p. 54. 59. Ibid., p. 55. For the meeting with Kanemaki Jizai, see Itto-ryu gokui, in NET, 2:130. 60. Honcho bugei shoden, in NET, 2:130. 61. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 55. 62. Ibid., pp. 33-34; Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. n. 63. Modern scholars commonly treat the stories of founders as so much superstition. But in the Buddhist world of medieval Japan, as William LaFleur reminds us, "muchu mondo, 'conversations taking place in dreams,' are highly valued and are considered so directly relevant to the problems faced by the dreamer that they require no act of interpretation. They are not cryptic messages that need to be decoded by someone with expertise in such things but direct exchanges between dead persons and living ones." LaFleur, Karma of Words, p. 4. CHAPTER 3. SWORDSMANSHIP: FROM SELF-PROTECTION TO SELF-PERFECTION 1. Reischauer and Craig, Japan, p. 91. 2. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 57. 3. Watanabe Ichiro, in "Heiho densho," p. 653, discusses the encounter at Takagamine between leyasu and the Yagyu family and the shogun's offer of employment. 4. Kinsei buke shiso, in Nihon shiso taikei, 27:454. The English translation is from Tsunoda et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 335—336. 5. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 73. 6. Ascetic practices essentially similar to those of mountain monks (yamabushi)—curtailing the intake of food, avoiding sexual intercourse, bathing in cold water—could be practiced without setting out on a special trip. Kumazawa Banzan describes the rigid ascetic life that he set for himself to become a "model samurai" even while on duty in Edo. See Kumazawa Banzan, "The Model Samurai," in Tsunoda et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 387—388. 7. Much of the excitement of the Miyamoto Musashi story revolves around his adventures on a musha shugyo, encountering a variety of noted martial artists—not only

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expert swordsmen but specialists with lance, kusarigama, and other weapons as well— always hounded by Osugi, the vengeful mother of his childhood friend, Matahachi, who blames Musashi for all Matahachi's troubles. See Yoshikawa, Musashi. 8. Scholars divide the periods differently, but Nakabayashi and Tominaga both follow essentially the scheme that I put forth here. For a consideration of several different periodizations, see Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," pp. 3-4. 9. The best biography is Tominaga, Shijitsu Miyamoto Musashi. 10. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 52. n. Victor Harris translated Book of Five Rings faithfully for the edification of a small following, primarily those interested in martial arts or in Musashi's paintings, many of which are nicely reproduced in the volume. It was later marketed by Overlook Press as a guide to doing business in Japan and was frequently placed in the business and economics section of many bookstores. Overlook Press even followed up with a business calendar, the 1983 Business Strategy Planner, each day marked with a quote from Musashi. For analysis and criticism of this perversion of the work, see Hurst, "Samurai on Wall Street." 12. For his paintings, see Addiss and Hurst, Samurai Painters. 13. NKH, p. 78. 14. Ibid., pp. 80-81. 15. Ibid., p. 81. 16. Watanabe, in "Heiho densho," pp. 655-660, discusses Ujikatsu and his relationship with the Yagyu, even touching on the ideas that the Yagyu swordsmanship and Komparu Noh ryuha exchanged with each other—foot movements, techniques, and mental constructs. 17. Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, p. 89. 18. Heiho kadensho, in NBT, 1:99. For an English translation, see Sato, Sword and the Mind. 19. Watanabe, "Heiho densho," pp. 648-667, is an excellent study of Heiho kadensho. 20. Kanseijushu shokaju, in NBT, 2:131. For a good biography, see NKH, p. 87. 21. Ibid., pp. 88-89. 22. Ibid., p. 89. This stipend was later raised to 400 and finally 600 koku. Kansei jushu shokaju, in NBT, 2:131. 23. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 54. 24. NKH, pp. 52—53. A good biography of Nagayoshi can also be found in NBT, i: 324-325. 25. NKH, p. 54. 26. NBT, 3:79-80. The author, quoting Gekken sodan, gives several alternative readings of the characters for Jigen-ryu. In Honcho bugei shoden it is claimed that all these versions derive from the name of Jigenbo, a goblin who appeared to Togo (also known as Setoguchi Bizen no kami) after he spent three days and nights beneath a waterfall, and taught Togo his secrets. Ibid., p. 78. 27. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 69. 28. Ibid., p. 70. For further information on Jion, see NKH, pp. 16-17; NBT, 2:399400. 29. NKH, pp. 55-57. 30. Ibid., p. 56.

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31. A. Craig, in Choshu in the Meiji Restoration, p. 101, divides the samurai of Choshu into two groups, upper (shf) and lower (sotsu), and notes that there were forty separate ranks within these two broad categories. 32. Both Japanese and Western authors and filmmakers—the television mini-series Shogun immediately comes to mind—frequently characterize the Tokugawa samurai as an arrogant aristocrat ready to cut down disrespectful peasants at a moment's notice. Yet search as they might, historians have been able to identify no more than a handful of cases of kirisute gomen throughout the two and a half centuries of Tokugawa history. Hurst, "Death, Honor, and Loyalty," p. 522. 33. Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi, pp. 164—165. 34. Katsu Kokichi devoted a good deal of his time and energy to attending sword markets, where he bought, sold, and evaluated swords to make a living. T. Craig, trans., Musui's Story, esp. pp. 74 and 143. 35. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 58. 36. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 74. 37. Ibid., p. 73; KGS, pp. 267—274. Typically both Nakabayashi and Tominaga refer to the "decline" (suitai, using slightly different characters) of swordsmanship. 38. Huber, in Revolutionary Origins of Modem Japan, p. 14, describes the difficulties that Yoshida Shoin encountered when he left Choshu without permission. Katsu Kokichi faced similar difficulties when he tried to take off on a musha shugyo without a proper travel permit. T. Craig, trans., Musui's Story, pp. 62-63. 39. The specific quotation is from T. Craig, trans., Musui's Story, p. 60; Katsu's dqjo yaburi activities are extensively chronicled on pp. 46-60. 40. There is a tendency in Western works to overemphasize the civil elements of the Confucian tradition and denigrate the military aspects, stressing, for example, the idea that "just as good steel should not be used to make a nail, a good man should not be made into a soldier." It is true, as John Fairbank notes, that the gentleman, "extolled in the classics as the highest product of self-cultivation, should be able to attain his ends without violence . . . [for the Emperor] the resort to warfare (wu) was an admission of the bankruptcy in the pursuit of wen [in Japanese, bun]. . . . Herein lies the pacificist bias of the Chinese tradition." Kierman and Fairbank, eds., Chinese Ways in Warfare, p. 7. But the concept of a balance between the civil and martial aspects of society dates back to the overthrow of the Shang dynasty by the Chou dynasty (1122 B.C.) and the respective roles of Kings Wen and Wu (Japanese bun and bu). Like yin and yang, the two elements are seen not as diametrically opposed but as complementary. While perhaps never being as devoted to the wu element as the Japanese, the Chinese nonetheless have a long and hallowed martial tradition; and the balance between the wen and wu elements is part of the Chinese legacy to the Japanese. A recent, well-received study of the military element in Chinese history is Sawyer, trans., Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. For a detailed discussion of bunbu ryodo in medieval Japan, see Hurst, "Warrior as Ideal for a New Age." 41. The three quotations are from W. S. Wilson, Ideals of the Samurai, pp. 59, 136, and 78. 42. Ibid., p. 131, quoting The Precepts of Kato Kiyomasa, and p. 102, quoting Takeda Nobushige's Opinions in Ninety-Nine Articles. 43. Kinsei buke shiso, in Nihon shiso taikei, 27:456-457.

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44. Ibid., p. 45945. Hall, Japan from Prehistory to Modem Times, p. 219. 46. Some Tokugawa texts combine both elements, but by and large we can distinguish between those works that address the ethical and moral aspects of warrior political life, primarily from a Confucian standpoint, and those that much more narrowly explicate the physical and mental dimensions of the martial arts. The former, texts of the bushido or budo type, may refer to the importance of training in the martial arts, as do many written by well-known Tokugawa-period scholars like Kaibara Ekiken, Ogyu Sorai, and others. But they differ distinctly from bugei texts like Munenori's Heiho kadensho or Musashi's Gorin no sho, which concentrate almost solely upon swordsmanship or some other military skill. 47. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," pp. 17—18. 48. The term is taken from Draeger, Martial Arts and Ways of Japan, 2:41-65. 49. I use "professionalization" here in a looser sense than social scientists normally do. The literature suggests that a profession requires perhaps a greater body of abstract knowledge than that possessed by masters of military skills, although mastering the philosophical subtleties of the basic texts of their schools demands that many of these individuals possess very sophisticated knowledge. I am not certain that the evidence is strong enough to argue for the existence of a "martial arts profession" in the same way that my colleague John Dardess, in Confucianism and Autocracy, argues persuasively for the existence of a Yuan and early Ming "Confucian profession." Tokugawa martial arts instructors were part of a larger community of specialists in a wide variety of cultural forms, most commonly known as geido (Noh, flower arranging, and so forth), who made their living either through paid instruction to students or through the patronage of people who enjoyed the products of their cultural endeavors. It was common for the specialization to be passed down within the family, a process that Japanese refer to as kqgyoka or kageika, literally, "becoming a family business or art." It is in this sense that I use the term "professionalization." For more information, see Chapter 8. 50. Tokugawa swordsmanship instructors were not unlike English masters of arms: both were "professors of an art once a condition of existence, then indispensable as a corollary to education, still cultivated for its aesthetic as well as for its proven physical value." Aylward, English Master at Arms, p. 3. 51. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu. An excellent discussion of the nature of the iemoto system is O'Neill, "Organization and Authority in the Traditional Arts." 52. Even Musashi noted that it was only recently that people like those from Kashima and Katori Shrines started talking of "schools" (ryu) and going around teaching techniques that they claimed had been handed down from the gods. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, P- 5353. Nishiyama Matsunosuke, in "Kinsei geido shiso no tokushitsu to sono tenkai," in Kinsei geidoron, in Nihon shiso taikei, 41:585—586, sums up the significance of kata. See also Friday, "Kabala in Motion." 54. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 74. 55. Ibid. 56. We have to be very careful with the idea of combining Zen and swordsmanship or asserting that "swordsmanship and Zen are one" (kenzen ichinyo). There is no necessary connection between the two, and few warriors were active Zen practitioners. Even the

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practice of a brief moment of meditation (mokuso) at the beginning and end of martial training is at best formalistic, even if those moments do serve to calm the mind. In Isshi Chozanshi's Tengu geijutsuron, the goblin is asked whether famous Zen monks, since they have been able to transcend matters of life and death, can also learn to use the sword easily. The goblin is quick to explain that the purpose of the Zen training is different. The monk does not know how to protect life; it is simply that he does not despise death. The goblin is then asked why, when martial artists meet famous Zen monks, they often come to understand the deep secrets of their own art. He answers that these monks are not transmitting martial secrets. It is just that they expound control over one's spiritual condition as a way to learn to respond correctly to all things. He is careful to point out that the beginner in swordsmanship will be lost if given such information; only a very well trained person might benefit from a discussion with a Zen monk. Tengu geijutsuron, in Yoshida, Budo hidensho, pp. 219-222. For an English translation, see Kammer, Way of the Sword, pp. 53-56. 57. Deshimaru, Zen Way to the Martial Arts, p. 72. 58. A conspicuous example is Hoover, Zen Culture, esp. chapter 5. 59. On Yamaoka Tesshu, see Stevens, Sword of No-Sword. 60. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 52. 61. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 46. 62. Ibid. 63. Ibid. 64. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 54. 65. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 73. 66. Shimbu kenkoroku, quoted in Imamura, Jiikyu seiki, p. 176. 67. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 72-73. 68. Ibid. 69. Draeger and Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, p. 91. 70. Watanabe, in "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 3, notes that this is the conclusion reached by Shimokawa in his classic Kendo no hattatsu. 71. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 53. 72. An excellent study of the concept of do is Terada, Do no shiso, esp. pp. 83-103. 73. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 53. 74. Indeed, one of the most attractive features of the Musashi image is that he was the last of the great sword-fighters who witnessed the transformation of war and turbulence into the settled peace of the Tokugawa period. In a sense, he is somewhat like John Wayne in the film The Shootist, a gunfighter in the age of the automobile. During the Tokugawa period, it was virtually impossible to enjoy the freedom of a Musashi, although some of the young warriors at the end of the era who became caught up in plotting to overthrow the regime perhaps approached that ideal. 75. Shibukawa Tokihide, Kumpu zatsuwa, pp. 57-58. 76. Fujita, Hitachi-obi, p. 493. 77. Imamura, Jukyu seiki, p. 176, quoting Matsushita. 78. KGS, pp. 267-268. 79. Goodman, Japan: The Dutch Experience, pp. 56-58. 80. Hall, Japan from Prehistory to Modem Times, p. 187. See this source also on Yoshimune's concern for mounted archery.

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8 2 —9 1

CHAPTER 4. SWORDSMANSHIP: THE SPORTING ELEMENT 1. The best expression of this idea in English is in Deshimaru, Zen Way to the Martial Arts. A rather good Japanese example of the same idea is Omori, Ken to Zen. 2. Omori, Ken to Zen, pp. 71-72. See also Draeger and Smith, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, p. 92, on the distinction between martial arts and sports. A good Japanese discussion is in Nakabayashi, Budo no susume, parts i and 2. 3. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 73, quoting Sorai. 4. Watanabe, "Heiho densho," p. 648. 5. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," pp. 74—77. 6. NKH, p. 191. 7. Fujita, Hitachi-obi, p. 493. 8. Ibid. 9. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 77. 10. Ibid., pp. 81-89, contains a discussion of these ryuha. See the appropriate sections in NET, vols. 1-3, for the extant documents relating to these ryuha. 11. Quoted in Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 8. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. T. Craig, trans., Musui's Story, p. 60. Other interesting stories of dqjo yaburi and taryu jiai can be found in Yamamoto, Saitama bugeicho, pp. 112-164. 15. On dqjo, see Yamamoto, Saitama bugeicho, pp. 103-111, 177-203, and 226-228; KGS, pp. 409-41516. NKH, p. 205. 17. Ibid., pp. 206-207. 18. Ibid., p. 207. On Terada, see pp. 191-193, and for information on Shirai, pp. 194197. 19. Ibid., pp. 207—208. 20. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 83. See NET, 2:296-341, for documents relating to Chiba and the Hokushin itto-ryu. 21. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 22. 22. Jansen, in Sakamoto Ryoma, discusses the career of Sakamoto, including his days as a fencer. For more on Sakamoto's swordsmanship career, see Shimaoka, Sakamoto Ryoma no shogai, pp. 28-43. On Yamaoka, see NKH, pp. 255-258; and Stevens, Sword of NoSword. 23. NKH, p. 232. NET, 3:345—346, 348-356, contains several interesting documents relating to Saito's dqjo. 24. NKH, p. 217. 25. See the chart in NET, 10:86. For Kido's career, see S. Brown, "Kido Takayoshi." 26. NKH, p. 232. NET, 3:330-338, includes extant documents relating to the dqjo. 27. The Yamaoka quotation is from NKH, p. 235. For Takechi's career, see Jansen, "Takechi Zuizan." 28. NET, 3:295-296. For documents, see pp. 300-326. 29. NKH, pp. 203-204. 30. See the chart in NKH, p. 205.

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TO PAGES 92-IO4

31. Fujita, Hitachi-obi, p. 493. 32. Ibid. 33. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, pp. 180-182. 34. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," pp. 16—17. 35. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, p. 71 (table i). 36. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 17. 37. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, p. 96. 38. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto,*' p. 20. 39. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 80. 40. Fujita, Hitachi-obi, p. 494. 41. Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, p. 149. 42. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," pp. 21—22. 43. Jansen, Sakamoto Ryoma, p. 82. 44. Ibid., pp. 81, 85-86. 45. On Kondo, see NKH, pp. 252-255. 46. Quotations are from Jansen, Sakamoto Ryoma, p. 81. 47. Yamamoto, Saitama bugeicho, pp. 87-88. 48. Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," p. 57. 49. Ibid., p. 58. 50. Ibid., p. 61. 51. Ibid., p. 62. 52. Ibid., pp. 62-63, chart p. 64. 53. Ibid., pp. 64-66. 54. Ibid. 55. Ibid., pp. 66-67, cnart P- 67. 56. This summary is largely from Yamamoto, Saitama bugeicho, pp. 86-93; and Watanabe, "Bakumatsu Kanto," pp. 9-12. 57. Yamamoto, Saitama bugeicho, pp. 120-128. CHAPTER 5. THE WAY OF THE BOW AND ARROW

1. Hardy, Longbow, p. n. 2. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 119. Among the few Japanese works on archery, I have found this one to be the most useful. For an interesting account of famous Japanese archers, see Saito, Kyujutsu monogatari. 3. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 116. 4. See Wada and Ishihara, eds., Gishi wajinden—Gokansho waden—Sosho wakokuden— Zuisho wakokuden, p. 80. The text only briefly touches on the Wa military style: "Soldiers use spears, shields, and wooden bows. The bows are short at the bottom and long at the top. The bamboo arrows are tipped with either iron or bone arrowheads." Although the Japanese bow has thus had an uncentered grip since antiquity, Sollier and Gyorbiro, in Japanese Archery, p. 27, argue that the off-center grip "has been ascribed to the relatively short medieval Japanese bowman's desire to increase the power of his bow." While the placement of the grip may be the result of a desire for increased power, their conclusion suggests a host of questions. One wonders against whom medieval Japanese were measured

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TO PAGES 104-107

as "relatively short," or why other short people did not develop similar bows. At any rate, the Chinese emissaries found the bows unusual, different from those used in China; but they seem not to have inquired into the reasons why the grip was not centered. 5. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 121. 6. European and American commentators all translated the Japanese term tomo as "elbow pads" or "elbow guards," but they were in fact arm guards. Made of deer hide or sometimes bear hide, they were strapped on the left wrist to keep the bowstring from striking the inside of the forearm. Besides textual references, there are examples on haniwa figurines and among the collection of artifacts in the Shosoin at Nara. The sound of the bow string striking the arm guard was apparently considered mellifluous—it is frequently mentioned in poems. Empress Gemmei in 708 composed the following: "Listen to the sound of the warrior's elbow-guards; / Our captain must be ranging the shields / To drill the troops." Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai, trans., Man'yoshu, p. 81. 7. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 124. 8. Sollier and Gyorbiro, Japanese Archery, p. 26. 9. NSK, 1:209-211; Aston, trans., Nihongi, p. 128. 10. NSK, 1:105-107; Aston, trans., Nihongi, pp. 34-35. Scholars have long considered this section as descriptive of an essentially shamanistic performance. Blacker, in Catalpa Bow, p. 105, notes that "when we read that the goddess tied her hair in bunches with vine, wound round her arms and hair long strands of magatama beads, that she carried on her back and on her chest quivers full of arrows, that she brandished a bow, and that in her rage she shouted, stamped and kicked the earth, we are in fact seeing a medium 'seized' by the goddess and in the throes of a divine possession." 11. Throughout Kojiki and Nihon shoki we find numerous references to "heavenly deer bows," "heavenly deer arrows," "heavenly feathered arrows," "divine arrows," and the like, possessed by the deities and their earthly representatives. Even in historic times, the imperial link with archery remained strong. Empress Kogyoku had a messenger present this poem to Emperor Jomei (r. 629-^41) while he was hunting: I hear the twang of the mid-string Of his royal birchwood bow, Which my sovereign, ruling in peace, Loves to handle at break of day, And fondly leans against with dusk. Now he must be out for his morning hunt, Now he must be out for his evening chase; I hear the twang of the mid-string Of his loved birchwood bow! —Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkokai, trans., Man'yoshu, p. 4 12. NSK, 2:443 (Temmu 9/9/9); Aston, trans., Nihongi, pp. 347-348. The characters are written "horse target" but traditionally glossed as "horse bow" (umayumi). 13. Mommu canceled this affair at Kamo Shrine twice, in 698 (Momtnu 2/4) and again in 702 (Taiho 2/4). Shoku Nihongi, pp. 2, 14. The texts provide no reason for cancellation, but the wording suggests that large numbers of people had previously participated in the

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event, so the prohibitions may simply have been to reduce the confusion of having so many archers. The 702 entry notes that people from the local province—Yamashiro—were exempted from the prohibition. 14. Yamato-ryu kyudo kyokun no maki, pp. 312-314. This text, written in 1652 by the Yamato-ryu founder, Morikawa Kozan Yoshitada, sets out the reasons for choosing the name Yamato-ryu, the procedures for granting certification, and the various levels of techniques taught. He emphasizes that Yamato-ryu dates back to the Sun Goddess Amaterasu and was an imperial archery style (teio kyudo) whose practice was then "permitted even to warrior houses*' (busho no ie). The name Yamato-ryu was selected (i) to venerate Japan by adopting the classic name for the country, Yamato; (2) to honor Heki Danjo Masatsugu— the real founder of kyujutsu in Japan—who was from Yamato Province; and (3) to avoid promoting "foolish" techniques and principles of shooting, to "greatly soften [oi ni yawaragu—written with two characters otherwise read yamato] the wicked and conceited barbarian heart." In a longer work, Kyudo jisansho, p. 305, Morikawa also discusses the greater virtues of Japanese archery, noting that Japan is a small country that has "taken larger countries" and that though a small country, it has archers who use a bow longer than that of archers in larger countries. 15. Shida, Kodai Nihon seishin bunka no rutsu, p. 82. 16. Blacker, Catalpa Bow, pp. 106-107. 17. Ibid., p. 107. 18. Minamoto Yoshiie's attendance upon Horikawa when the sovereign was ill is described in the Heike monogatari (HM 1:325). Yoshiie gave "his bow three demon-chasing twangs at the hour of the Emperor's affliction, and shouted in a mighty voice, 'Minamoto no Yoshiie, the Former Governor of Mutsu!' Everyone's hair had stood on end, and the Emperor's affliction had vanished." McCullough, trans., Tale of the Heike, p. 161. This story appears in chapter 5, in which Minamoto Yorimasa performs a great service for Emperor Konoe. The emperor was being terrorized nightly by a demon, and all ^he prayers and rituals performed by great prelates failed to quell it. Following Yoshiie's precedent, Yorimasa stood guard over the emperor. That night Yorimasa saw a vague form in a cloud overhead and shot at it, killing a terrible monster with a "monkey's head, a badger's body, a snake's tail, and a tiger's legs, and which uttered a cry like that of the golden mountain thrush." Emperor Konoe rewarded Yorimasa with a sword, called Lion King (Shishio). Ibid., pp. 162-163. 19. Blacker, Catalpa Bow, p. 107. 20. NBT, 4:393-425, contains four excellent kyoka texts: Heki-ryu hyakkajo uta no maki, Shagi shinanka, Ogasawara shaho waka hyakushu, and Bijingusa. 21. Legge, trans., Li Chi: Book of Rites, p. 446. 22. Ursula Lytton, a German researcher, in a paper presented to the September 1988 meeting of the Asiatic Society of Japan, tried to downplay the mystical aspects of "Zen archery" as described by Eugen Herrigel and others, especially ideas such as "shooting without aiming" and "arrows of pure spirit." Instead, she emphasized the "close connection between kyudo and Chinese cosmology, in which the structure of the universe is explained in yin-yang dichotomous relations." Lytton concluded that "the whole etiquette of the kyudojo" was related to "Chinese cosmology, characterized by the predominance of the left and the south, though the etiquette was now followed without any knowledge of its cosmological implications." See Asiatic Society of Japan, Bulletin, pp. 2—4.

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23. Ruiju kokushi, pp. 323—327, contains a listing of all primary references to court archery matches (jarai) from Nara through mid-Heian times. For these specific references, see p. 328 (Reiki 1/1/17) and p. 339 (Tempyo 12/1/17). 24. Ibid., p. 332 (Tencho 2/1/17). Itijarai shiki, Ogasawara Mochinaga, archery instructor to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, emphasizes the deep connection of archery with the sacred: "The origin of (ground) archery can be seen as a religious event, along with the offering of food and drink in shrine ceremonies. The religious ceremony was to pacify the nation and drive away the interference of evil spirits. Thus bow strings are twanged to drive away illness in the imperial household, and arrows are fired to quell unusual happenings at the palace." NBT, 4:10-11. 25. McCullough, trans., Okagami, p. 197. 26. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," pp. 133-134. Ishioka quotes a medieval chronicle in which the author, Ise Sadabumi, argues against considering these ancient "schools" of archery as true ryuha. 27. W. R. Wilson, trans., Hogen monogatari, pp. 25—26. 28. Kitagawa and Tsuchida, trans., Tale of the Heike, pp. 659-660. 29. Ibid., p. 663. 30. Hanawa, ed., Gunsho ruiju, 9:342. The tide of this eleventh-century text can also be pronounced Shin sarugakuki or Shinsaru goki. 31. "Yabusame" entry in Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 8:283. 32. "Inuomono" entry in Nihon Rekishi Daijiten Henshukai, ed., Nihon rekishi daijiten, 1:408-409. 33. Kawaramono, "people of the river flats," were low-status people in medieval Japan who lived along the banks of the Kamogawa, the river that ran north-south along the eastern edge of Kyoto, having been so created with some extensive riparian work when the capital was established in the late eighth century. 34. Post-Gempei War Azuma kagami entries refer frequently to archery matches, and Yukihira's name occurs most frequently. 35. Azuma kagami, 1:369-370 (Bunji 3/8/15). 36. "Yabusame" entry in Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 8:283. 37. These changes are discussed in Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," pp. 144-146. 38. Taiheiki, trans. McCullough, pp. 21—22. 39. Quoted in Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 149. 40. NET, 4:10-19. 41. Niki, in Chusei bukegirei no kenkyu, pp. 175-210, discusses the Ogasawara as a family of specialists preserving archery rituals. He convincingly disputes claims that Sadamune might have been Takauji's instructor and that Nagakiyo served in the same capacity for Yoritomo, asserting that the position of shogunal or imperial instructor dated only from Yoshimasa's era. 42. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 153. 43. Ibid., p. 158. 44. Ibid., pp. 133-134, 15945. The mystical quality of texts can be gleaned from the documents of various ryuha collected in NBT, vol. 4. 46. For the genealogy of the Heki-ryu and its offshoots, see NBT, 4:25, 27-29. Some

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TO P A G E S 123-137

of the historiographical problems are dealt with in the same volume, pp. 20-23, as well as in BRH, pp. 151-153. See also Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," pp. 161-162. 47. For the Ogasawara family genealogy, see NET, 4:6-9. CHAPTER 6. ARCHERY: THE QUEST FOR RECORDS 1. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," pp. 180-181. 2. See Hesselink, "Warrior's Prayer," for information on Yoshimune's revival of archery, yabusame in particular. 3. Sollier and Gyorbiro, Japanese Archery, p. 23. The assumption results from overstressing in the West the idea that Japanese archery is somehow Zen archery, an oversimplification I hope I have laid to rest in this book. It is the same idea against which Ursula Lytton was arguing in the Asiatic Society of Japan, Bulletin, p. 2. 4. Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery, p. 8. 5. Sollier and Gyorbiro, Japanese Archery, p. 23. 6. Saito, Kyujutsu monogatari, pp. 22—26. 7. Imamura, "Budoshi gaisetsu," p. 13. 8. Information on the transformation of techniques within the Yoshida tradition is best summed up in BRH. See the section on the Izumo-ha, p. 20. Watatani seems to rely heavily upon Hinatsu Shigetaka's Honcho bugei shoden, chapter 3. For an English translation and excellent discussion of this section of Hinatsu's work, see Rogers, "Arts of War in Time of Peace." 9. See BRH, p. 91, on Sekka-ryu. 10. See ibid., pp. 120-121, on D6setsu-ha. 11. See ibid, p. 50, on Okura-ha. 12. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 166. 13. BRH, p. 181, on Yamashina-ha. 14. NET, 4:252. 15. BRH, p. 39, on Insai-ha. 16. Quoted in ibid., p. 40. 17. For biographies, see NET, 4:169-171; and BRH, pp. 102-107 (Chikurin-ha). 18. See NET, 4:21-23, for Noritsugu's genealogy. 19. BRH, p. 102. 20. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 172. 21. Guttmann, From Ritual to Record, pp. 51-54. Guttmann even mentions Japanese toshiya competition, citing the record of Wasa Daihachiro, pp. 53—54. 22. To counter the erroneous impression that Japan somehow "gave up the gun" engendered by Noel S. Perrin's Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879, see the section on Tokugawa-period gunnery in NET, 5:3-210. For an even fuller treatment, see Ansai, Edojidai ni okeru hojutsuka no seikatsu. 23. See Hurst, Insei, p. 269, on the Rengeoin. The temple, located across the street from the Kyoto National Museum, remains a favorite tourist attraction today. 24. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 170. 25. Ibid., p. 171. 26. Ibid. Ishioka, on pp. 173-174 and 176-178, has reduced the important records from the Nendai yakazu-cho into a handy chart.

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138-147

27. Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 222-230. Imamura has also compiled the competitive information into charts; see pp. 223 and 227-230 for Kyoto and pp. 235 and 237-244 for Edo. 28. Ibid., pp. 234—238, has a discussion of Edo competition. 29. Ibid., p. 245, quoting Okinagusa. Astonishingly, Wasa reached his record number of arrows a full two hours before the time limit was up. See Morikawa Kozan, Kyudojisansho, in NET, 4:308-311, for an interesting contemporary commentary on different time frames for shooting, problems of shooting at night, the fatigue suffered by archers, and so forth. 30. This figure and the statistics in the next several paragraphs are from Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," chart, pp. 173-178. 31. See Imamura, Jukyu seiki, p. 247, for several examples of local matches. 32. Ibid., pp. 231-234, has a discussion of the construction of the Edo Sanjusangendo. It was not built for .religious purposes, like its Kyoto prototype, but was simply a place for archery competition. Though essentially a private venture, the building was constructed with the aid of several donations from the bakufu since it was built to fulfill the public function of stimulating the martial arts. After the earthquake damage in 1703, funds were solicited from various daimyo to make the repairs. 33. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 175. 34. Ibid., chart, pp. 177-178. 35. Ibid., p. 175, summarizing the charts from pp. 173-174. 36. Ibid., p. 182. 37. Ibid. 38. Ise Sadaharu, quoted in Imamura, Jukyu seiki, p. 246. Sadaharu is quoting his grandfather Sadabumi's views on toshiya. 39. Ibid., pp. 247-248. 40. The following information on hunting is summarized largely from ibid., pp. 298— 306. 41. For information on Tsunayoshi's prohibitions of killing animals, see ibid., pp. 302305. 42. Ibid., pp. 307-308, quoting Yutokuindono gojikki. 43. The figures come from Zokushigusho, as quoted in Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 3093ii. 44. Ibid., p. 311. CHAPTER 7. SWORDSMANSHIP AND ARCHERY: THE MODERN TRANSFORMATION

1. Thus Tokugawa period treatises continued to emphasize that loyal vassals should assiduously practice martial arts to fulfill their obligation to their lord. See, e.g., the works of such authors as Nakae Toju, Kaibara Ekiken, Izawa Nagahide, and Issai Chozan in NET, vol. 9. 2. In Giving Up the Gun, Noel Perrin argues that for social and aesthetic reasons, Tokugawa Japan abandoned a superior technology (the gun) and returned to an inferior one (the sword). Perrin is only partly concerned with Japan and the gun. Japan's experience is used as an historical precedent to counter technological imperativists. Like Tokugawa Japan, Perrin argues, we are not inevitably doomed to use nuclear weapons but have the

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148-153

capacity to turn back to simpler, less awesome weapons. But in fact, Tokugawa Japan never gave up the gun; gunnery remained a vital part of Tokugawa martial arts, and there were almost two hundred different ryuha by the end of the period. In the absence of an arms race, however, there was not the technological imperative, as there was in Sengoku times, to develop more and better guns. Thus, although Japanese guns were relatively unsophisticated compared to those developed over two hundred years of Western internal and international warfare by the 18505, guns were hardly abandoned in Japan. See Ansai, Edo jidai hojutsuka no seikatsu; and Udagawa, Teppo denrai. 3. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, pp. 222-223. 4. The government, especially in the educational and military institutions, relied heavily upon the long history of rule by warriors and their reputed spiritual qualities to develop an aggressive militant mentality among the citizenry, especially the young men who were involved with both institutions. In the process, leaders perverted Japan's martial history, creating an ultranationalistic modern bushido that, while effective, bore little resemblance to its Tokugawa counterpart. As described in Kokutai no Hongi (Cardinal Principles of the National Entity of Japan), pp. 145-146, "it is this same Bushido that shed itself of the outdated feudalism at the time of the Meiji Restoration, increased in splendor, became the way of loyalty and patriotism, and has evolved before us as the spirit of the Imperial Forces." For an interesting discussion of how even foreigners could come to espouse this bogus bushido, see Goodman, "Nitobe's Bushido." 5. Sakaiya Taichi, "Debunking the Myth of Loyalty," quoted in Hurst, "Wall Street Samurai," p. 7. 6. An excellent discussion of the turmoil of the bakumatsu era is in Totman, Collapse of the Tokugawa Bakufu.. 7. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, pp. 214-215, reproduces bakufu orders establishing the Kobusho, setting the schedules for practice, and outlining the procedures for enrolling. Although Abe was chief councillor at the time, the idea for the Kobusho is widely assumed to have been based upon proposals by both the daimyo Mito Nariaki and the fencing instructor Otani Seiichiro. Imamura, in. Jukyu seiki, pp. 552-553, reproduces Nariaki's proposal to Abe that a martial training facility be added to balance the bakufu's Shoheiko Confucian academy. 8. Imamura, Jukyu seiki, p. 556. 9. Ibid., p. 56410. The bakufu order even established swimming practice from 10:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. during the four summer months. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 214. n. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 79. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 217, claims that the exclusion of the Yagyu house was at Otani's suggestion. 12. The following discussion of the Kobusho is based largely on Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 560-589. 13. Ibid., p. 589. 14. Ibid., p. 596. 15. Ibid., p. 597. 16. For an early articulation of the first view, see, e.g., Smith, "Japan's Aristocratic Revolution." Huber, in Revolutionary Origins of Modem Japan, advances the latter argument. 17. Included among the early oligarchs were several court nobles, like Iwakura Tomomi

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and Sanjo Sanetomi, but most were lower-ranking samurai from the victorious western domains of Satsuma, Choshu, Tosa, and Hizen. 18. The rebellion was led by Saigo Takamori, who quit the government in 1873 when other oligarchs failed to support his proposal to invade Korea. At home in Kagoshima he watched with growing disillusionment as the privileges of the samurai were reduced one by one; and he propagated the martial arts, especially swordsmanship, among the former samurai of Satsuma. But these swordsmen were no match for the modern weapons and training methods of the new imperial forces. For many, Saigo is essentially "the last samurai." An interesting discussion of Saigo's appeal to the Japanese is Morris, Nobility of Failure, pp. 217-275. 19. Ozawa, in Kokoku kendoshi, p. 224, found this especially saddening. 20. NKH, pp. 243—246, contains biographical information on Sakakibara. 21. 5MB, p. 727, reprints an article from the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun of May 5, 1901, a reminiscence on the gekken kaisha by Nomi Teijiro. Nomi says that one day in 1873 he visited Sakakibara's house, and the two of them discussed the negative repercussions of abolishing swords. Nomi claims that he suggested the idea of organizing a kenjutsu show. Sakakibara, he says, was very impressed and determined to carry out just such a project. 22. Ibid., p. 725. 23. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 225. The gekken show so captured the imagination of the public that a number of woodblock artists made it the subject of prints. Several are reprinted at the front of SMB. Watanabe also includes photographs of Katsu Rintaro's portrait of Sakakibara, with the calligraphic inscription by Katsu; a commemorative fan inscribed with the program of that first show; and a copy of the original handbill advertising the show and its featured pairings. See also pp. 729-735 for photographs of other handbills of Meiji gekken shows. 24. 5MB, p. 728, continues Nomi's reminiscences. He notes that two Englishmen— Thomas McClatchie and Jack Binns—"redheads" who were students of Sakakibara participated in the show. McClatchie was a secretary at the British Embassy, a fencer with reportedly no peer in England. He showed up at Sakakibara's dqjo one day requesting a match. After some deliberation, Sakakibara matched him with one of his students, who directly knocked McClatchie to the floor, to the accompaniment of much laughter. McClatchie then became a student at the dqjo. Somewhat later Binns joined, but he was never any good. 25. Ibid., p. 725. 26. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 93. 27. 5MB, p. 725. Ozawa Aijiro, a kendo practitioner and the chief proposer in the Diet of bills to introduce kendo into the Meiji school system, was a strong critic of the gekken spectacles. Introducing his chapter on Sakakibara's efforts, he laments: "Ah! Kendo had thus at length deteriorated into performances. The author can scarcely bear to write such a sad chapter. But I can do nothing about facts, so in order to be true to historical fact, I will record the general outline of these [gekken] performances." Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 224. 28. KBK, p. 4. Kawaji returned from an official visit to inspect police systems in Europe and proposed a separate police organization for the Tokyo capital region. (For an overview of the police system in Tokyo from just before the Meiji Restoration through 1881, see KBK, pp. 1-8.) Following Kawaji's proposal, the Council of State in early 1874 established

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the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and a month later set the number of policemen at six thousand. There are few English-language studies of the Meiji police, but one excellent article on the establishment of the Tokyo police is Westney, "Emulation of Western Organizations in Meiji Japan.*' 29. The early Tokyo police force was heavily recruited from among former Satsuma samurai. As the early Meiji government settled in, concern for security in the new capital region led them to post three thousand patrolmen, called rasotsu, in Tokyo. One thousand were to be brought from Kagoshima (Satsuma) by Saigo Takamori, another one thousand were to be recruited from Kagoshima by Kawaji, and the final one thousand were to be recruited from among former samurai of all other prefectures. KBK, p. 4. One result of the heavy recruitment of Satsuma men was the prevalence of Kagoshima dialect among policemen in Tokyo. Consequent attempts were made by the populace to mimic their speech—so much so that in 1965 (when KBK was compiled), Kagoshima foul language could occasionally be heard in Tokyo. Ibid., p. 7. Another ramification of this Kagoshima corps of Tokyo policemen was that when the Satsuma Rebellion broke out (in Japanese it is called the Sainan, or Southwest, War), former Satsuma warriors were divided in loyalty. Some, like Kawaji, supported the government, and others joined Saigo. 30. Ibid., p. 16, quoting from Yokoyama Kendo's Nihon budoshi. Kawaji was hardly alone in calling for a revitalization of the martial arts, especially swordsmanship, among former warriors. Fukuzawa Yukichi, too, proposed to the government that it should "arouse the martial spirit of the former samurai." Ibid., p. n. 31. Ibid., pp. 24-25. 32. Mishima was instrumental in developing matches in both kendo and judo—in judo he brought the police department into a certain degree of competition with Kano Jigoro's Kodokan. The first major competition at the Yayoi Shrine was a magnificent affair, attended by the Meiji emperor and empress. For Mishima's contributions, see ibid., pp. 2938. 33. Sawa Ryuken et al., eds., Kyoto daijiten, p. 813. 34. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 95. 35. Although bushido is a commonly heard term both in Japan and in international circles, understood as referring to a premodem "warriors' code," the term was little used in Japan before the Meiji period. In Tokugawa times, the term budo was more commonly used to refer to the moral-ethical aspects of martial arts. In fact, it was Nitobe Inazo who popularized the term bushido, with his English-language book Bushido: The Soul of Japan, creating what Basil Hall Chamberlain claimed was an entirely new religion. 36. 5MB, p. 735, reproduces the document setting out Watanabe and Mibu's intentions. 37. Having followed standard international procedure in prosecuting the war and demanding concessions upon victory, Japan was outraged at the intervention of these powers, especially Russia. According to one historian, "The psychological effect of the Triple Intervention lasted for decades, and may not have disappeared entirely today." Storry, History of Modem Japan, p. 127. 38. Article i of the Butokukai Charter, in 8MB, p. 735. 39. Mibu was born in 1835 into the Niwada family but was soon adopted by Mibu Michiyoshi to continue the family line. Deeply involved with Sanjo Sanetomi and other courtiers in overthrowing the bakufu, Mibu served the Meiji government in a variety of military and civil posts. He became a member of the House of Peers in 1890 and was

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l6O-I7I

appointed to his Heian Shrine post in 1895. By his death in 1906, he had risen to the rank of count (hakushaku) in Japan's prewar peerage. A recent discussion of the initial organization and funding of the Butokukai is Nakamura, "Dai Nippon Butokukai." 40. 5MB, p. 373. See also Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 236. Ozawa himself became a hanshi in 1925. 41. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 238. 42. SMB, p. 741; see also Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 238. 43. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, pp. 238-240. 44. Fully described in the association's publication, reproduced in ibid., pp. 312—317. 45. The work was written in English in California, where Nitobe, a Christian married to an American Quaker, was then recuperating. Published in 1899, the book was an immediate success and was translated into French, German, Polish, Swedish, Hungarian, Russian, Chinese, Norwegian, and Arabic. Theodore Roosevelt was so impressed by the book that he bought dozens of copies to give to friends. Suwa, Nitobe Inazo to bushido, pp. 52—53. 46. See Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 97. 47. Ibid., pp. 97-98. 48. Ibid., pp. 100-105, deals with this movement at length. SMB, pp. 761-796, is an excellent compilation of the documentation. Strangely, Ozawa, who played a major role in getting kendo finally accepted into the curriculum, touches on it only briefly in Kokoku kendoshi, on p. 244. 49. Pyle, Making of Modem Japan, p. 74. But Pyle emphasizes the importance of the Tokugawa legacy on pp. 71-73. 50. Imamura, in Nihon taiikushi, pp. 86-143, discusses the panel and its investigation in detail. For the recommendation, see SMB, pp. 770-771. An 1890 ministry report (p. 772) reassessing the situation lists the pros and cons of kenjutsu and jujutsu—four positive, nine negative points. 51. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 101. 52. SMB, pp. 773-77553. Matsumoto's and Ozawa's works are reproduced in SMB, pp. 343—438. 54. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 103. 55. Ozawa, Kokoku kendoshi, p. 244. 56. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 104. 57. Ibid., p. 106. 58. Ibid., p. 107. 59. Sawa and Naramoto, eds., Kyoto daijiten, p. 580. 60. Sengo Nihon kyoiku shiryo shusei, vol. i: Haisen to kyoiku no minshuka, p. 58. 61. See Nakabayashi's summary in Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," pp. 100-110. 62. Rohlen, in Japan's High Schools, pp. 63—76, examines Japanese education from the Occupation period on. 63. Ishioka, "Kyiidoshi," p. 183. 64. Harrison, Fighting Spirit of Japan, p. 25. 65. Yourig, Around the World with General Grant, p. 575. Young covers Grant's Japan stay on pp. 484-613. 66. Ishioka, "Kyiidoshi," p. 184. 67. "Kyudo" entry in Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, 4:340. 68. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 185. 69. Use of the naginata was one of the few martial arts extended to women on a regular basis.

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172-184

70. The work is reproduced in 5MB, pp. 541-574. 71. Uchiyama uses the term kyiijutsu, not kyudo, in all his works. 72. Ishioka, "Kyudoshi," p. 185. 73. Ibid., pp. 185-186. 74. Ibid., p. 186. 75. Ibid. 76. Sollier and Gyorbiro, Zen Archery, pp. 46-53, and "Kyudo" entry in Dai Nihon hyakka jiten, 5:556, show the sequence clearly. See also Herrigel, Zen in the Art of Archery. 77. Sollier and Gyorbiro, Zen Archery, pp. u, 23. 78. Dai Nihon hyakka jiten, 5:556. 79. Tsunoda et al., eds., Sources of Japanese Tradition, pp. 319-320, quoting Teppo-ki. So. Harrison, Fighting Spirit of Japan, p. 141. 81. See, e.g., Hoover, Zen Culture, esp. pp. 57-67. CHAPTER 8. THE MARTIAL AND OTHER JAPANESE ARTS

1. Nishiyama, "Kinsei no yugeiron," p. 618. 2. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, p. 278. Also see Watanabe, "Heiho densho," pp. 646648. 3. Nishiyama, "Kinsei no yugeiron," p. 618. 4. In the bakumatsu era, fencers from various dojo routinely challenged one another to duels to prove supremacy; but the bakufu never hosted tournaments whose purpose was to determine the best fencer in the nation, as was the case in toshiya archery. The closest that the bakufu came to such matches was the mingling of fencers from different schools in the Kobusho. 5. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, p. 145. 6. On natori, see ibid., pp. 105-138. 7. For information on dojo, see KGS, pp. 409-415. Prior to the Tokugawa period, martial arts were practiced largely outdoors, where battle conditions could be approximated. But in Tokugawa times, especially in the bakumatsu era, when individual competitive matches became popular, fencing increasingly took place in dojo. Dojo ranged in size from the tiny—the Yoshikawa family dojo where Tsukahara Bokuden practiced in Kashima is so small that a fencer cannot raise a sword fully over the head—to the magnificent ones in Edo, like the Nakanishi school's, which has some fifteen square yards of wooden floor space. 8. Nakabayashi, "Kendoshi," p. 45. 9. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, pp. 83-84. 10. Ibid., p. 77. In all forms of cultural performance, but perhaps especially in such physically demanding endeavors as martial arts, the student might develop greater ability than the teacher. Thus, special mechanisms were established—family-transmitted teachings, special clothing and ritual implements—to allow even untalented masters authority over their students. n. Most schools had written rules and regulations, often referred to as kokoroe no koto ("things to be understood"), that included matters of financial consideration. See, e.g., the Nyujuku kokoroe no koto of the famous Shinto munen-ryu Rembeikan of Otani Seiichiro in Nihon budo zenshu, p. 152. 12. KGS, pp. 401-402. 13. T. Craig, trans., Musui's Story, passim. 14. Many of these are extant, including the pledges from Tokugawa shoguns to heads

225

NOTES TO PAGES 184-198

of the Yagyu shinkage-ryu school. Four of them—leyasu's, Hidetada's, lemitsu's, and letsuna's—are reproduced in Iwamura, Shiryo Yagyu shinkage-ryu, 1:249-253. 15. Nakabayashi, "Nihon kobudo ni okeru shintairon," p. 109. 16. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, pp. 24—25. 17. Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 184-185, quoting Matsudaira's Riko yakugen. 18. Following Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, pp. 39-53. 19. See "Kumano goo" entry in Nihon rekishi daijiten, 4:95-96. 20. Quoted by Dore, Education in Tokugawa Japan, pp. 149-150. 21. Reproduced in Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, p. 58. 22. Nishiyama, "Kinsei geido shiso no tokushitsu," pp. 589-592. 23. Ibid., pp. 585—586. 24. Nakabayashi, "Shintairon," p. 114. 25. Nakabayashi, "Budo no susume," part 4, p. 14. 26. Quoted in Nakabayashi, "Shintairon," p. 109. 27. Watanabe,- in "Heiho densho," pp. 663-667, discusses Takuan's relationship with the Yagyu and his influence on swordsmanship. 28. W. S. Wilson, trans., Marvelous Record of Immovable Wisdom, p. 20. 29. Ibid., pp. 21-22. 30. Ibid., p. 29. 31. Nakabayashi, "Shintairon," p. no. 32. Minamoto, "Bunbu no gei ni okeru Nihonjin no 'kokoro.' " Examining the writings of Ito Ittosai, Miyamoto Musashi, and others, Minamoto finds that—contrary to his assumptions—swordsmen articulated a different unity of mind and body from that of Zen practitioners, even if at the end they may have arrived at the same form of mental understanding. It was through actual practice, keiko, as I discuss below, that fencers might achieve a state of mushin, not any kind of Zen meditation. 33. Imamura, Jukyu seiki, pp. 188-189, quoting Reiko yakugen. 34. Nakabayashi, "Budo no susume," part 6, pp. 12—13. 35. Nishiyama, "Kinsei geido shiso," p. 586. A good English-language discussion of kata is Friday, "Kabala in Motion." 36. On kata as rules, see Yoshitani, "Kenjutsu kata." 37. Nakabayashi, "Budo no susume," part 5, pp. 14—15. The modem Japanese school system, often criticized as involving nothing but rote memorization, also operates on a somewhat similar idea of gradual, disciplined mastery of basic materials, leading to eventual understanding. See, e.g., Rohlen, Japan's High Schools. 38. Nakabayashi, "Shintairon," p. 114. 39. Nishiyama, lemoto no kenkyu, p. 40. 40. Nakabayashi, "Budo no susume," part 6, p. 13. 41. Quoted in ibid. 42. Ibid. 43. Miyamoto Musashi, Gorin no sho, p. 52. EPILOGUE

i. Mandell, Sport: A Cultural History, pp. 93-94.

226

Glossary

bakufu Headquarters of the shogun; warrior government. bakumatsu The last several decades of the Tokugawa period (1600-1867). budo "Martial ways." Classical term for the martial arts; also refers to the ethical way of the warrior. bugei "Martial arts." Classical term that links martial and other Japanese arts. bugei juhachibanji The eighteen martial arts. bujutsu "Martial skills." The techniques at the base of the martial arts. bunbu ryudo "The civil and martial ways." Term stressing the necessity of combining the arts of peace and war. bushi Generic term for warrior. bushido "Way of the warrior," a term popularized by Nitobe Inazo in his Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1899). dankyu Ranking system in many contemporary martial arts. Students move from lower kyu grades, marked by belts of different colors, to dan grades, distinguished by black belts. dojo Training hall for martial artists. ema "Horse pictures." Votive tablets offered at temples and shrines, ema originally had pictures of horses but later had a wide variety of images. geidd Traditional Japanese arts. ha "To destroy." Second stage of kata training, where the student breaks down the received forms. hakama Thick, dark blue skirt worn by practitioners of kendo, haniwa Clay figurines placed on tumuli in ancient Japan. hatamoto Direct retainers of the Tokugawa shogunal house. iemoto Head, or master, of a traditional family-like martial art or other art organization. inuoumono Form of mounted archery using dogs as targets.

227

GLOSSARY

ishin denshin Nonverbal—literally, "mind-to-mind"—transmission of teachings. kamae Stance or posture in the martial arts. karada Body (of a person). kasagake Form of mounted archery using sedge hats, later planks, as targets. kata Prescribed patterns for practicing techniques in martial and other arts. See also ha; ri; shu. keiko Training or practice in various martial or other arts. kendo "The way of the sword." Japanese fencing. kenjutsu Swordsmanship; techniques of using the sword. kishomon Pledge, especially one submitted to a martial arts instructor by a student agreeing to abide by the instructor's rules and to maintain secrecy. kyudo "The way of the bow." Japanese archery. men Mask worn in kendo competition; literally, "face." miko Female shrine attendant; in ancient times, a shaman. munen "No thought." Term in the martial arts for mental composure. musha shugyo Warrior's quest to polish his skills and character; knight errantry. mushin "No mind." Term in the martial arts for mental composure. muso "No thought." Term in the martial arts for mental composure. naginata Halberd; a sword blade affixed to the end of a pole. natori Subordinate instructor in an iemoto organization, linking the master to the mass of students. ri "To be liberated." Third stage of kata training, where the student reaches full understanding and individual mastery. ryu A school or style of martial or other art. Ryu is usually used as a suffix, as in Kashimaryvi. ryuha Schools or styles of an art. shiai Match or contest in a martial art. shihan Martial arts instructor. The term is often translated as "master." shin (kokoro) Mind or mental state in martial and other arts. shinai Bamboo sword designed to prevent serious injury during practice sessions. shinai uchikomi keiko "Practice by attacking with a bamboo sword," the original form of nonlethal swordplay of the Tokugawa period; forerunner of kendo, shinshin ichinyo "Mind and body are the same." Term in the martial arts for mind-body unity. shinshin ittai "Mind and body are one." Term in the martial arts for mind-body unity. shintai Body (of a person). shu "To preserve." First stage in kata training, involving rote memorization of techniques. shugyo Severe training, as in some religions and martial arts. taisho Two swords, long and short, worn by samurai for much of the premodern era. taryujiai Matches against martial artists in schools besides one's own. yabusame Form of mounted archery using small wooden plaques as targets. yamabushi Mountain priests; itinerant ascetic monks. waza Techniques in martial and other arts.

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236

Index

Abe Masahiro, 149 Academy for Military Training (Kobusho), 14952; disbandment of, 153, 155 Aikido, 4, 8 Aisu Iko, 49 Akushichi Betto, 3 5 Allied Occupation of Japan, 166-67, 172-73 All Japan University Kyudo Championship, 172 Amaterasu no Okami (sun goddess), 17, 29, 31, 46, 66, 107, 108 Archery: ancient Japanese, 103-10; ceremonial court matches, 109-11, 116-17; deities' association with, 105, 107; duels, 44; form as important in, 117; in Heian period, 110-15; inuoumono, 115, 116—17, 120-21, 122, 152, 170; in Kamakura period, 115-20; kasagake, 115, 116, 121; at Kobusho, 151, 152; as martial art, 122, 126; in Meiji period, 169-71; mounted, 20, 107, 116, 122; in Muromachi period, 112, 120-21; poetry on, 109; ryiiha development, 112, 118, 121, 122; in Sengoku period, 121-24; and Shinto, 107-9; as sport, 2, 22, 23, 116-17, 123, 150, 197-99; yabusame, 115, 116, 118, 119, 121, 129, 170; Zen Buddhist influence on, 115. See also Kyudo — Tokugawa-period archery, 125-26; ceremonial matches, 126; competitive sport archery, 127, 135-41; and hunting, 141-43; inuoumono, 125; ryuha, 126, 127—35; yabusame, 126; as Zen archery, 126—27, 175 Arrows: in Kamakura period, 119; magical, 1089; Mongolian style of releasing, 104; toshiya, 140

Arts, 5, 8-9; geido (artistic ways), 189-96; keiko (training) in, 194-96; martial arts transformed into, 76, 77; Muromachi-period development of. 37. 45- See also Flower arranging; Tea ceremony Asari Matashichiro, 88-89, 95, 9 58, 63 Edo (Tokyo), 3, 54, 61; archery grounds, 126; Perry in, 148; competitive archery in, 136, 137-39; fencing academies, 88, 89, 90, 94-95, 97, 198; Kobusho, 149-52. See also Tokyo Education system: kendo in, 154, 161-65; kyudo in, 171, 173 Etna (votive tablets), 16 Emishi people, 18 Equestrian culture, 15. See also Horsemanship Fencing, 42, 57, 83-87, 197-99; commoners' participation, 95-100; dojo, 87-91, 94-95; domain academies, 92-95, 198; at Kobusho, 149. See also Kendo Firearms. See Gunnery Flower arranging, 8, 37, 45, 72, 172, 179, 190 Friday, Karl, 18 Fudochi shimmy oroku (The Marvelous Record of Immovable Wisdom), 60, 192-93

Fujisawa, fencing dojo in, 96 Fujita Toko, 80, 85-86, 93 Fujiwara Akihira, 115

238

Fujiwara Michinaga, 2, 1 1 1 Fukagawa, competitive archery in, 139 Fukuro shinai (bamboo sword), 62, 84 Fukuzawa Yukichi, 65 Futsunushi no Kami (god), 29, 46, 47 Gamo family, 48 Geido (artistic ways), 189-90; kata tradition of, 194-96 Gekken Kaisha (Fencing Company), 155, 156 Gempei War (1180-85), 19, 113 Genroku period, 66 Gloves: in medieval era, 115; toshiya, 140 Go-Daigo, Emperor, 120 Gorin no sho (The Book of Five Rings), 58, 60

Go-Shirakawa, Emperor, in Grant, Ulysses S., 170 Greeks, sporting tradition of, 2—3 Gunnery, 13, 81, 174-75; in hunting, 143; impact of, on archery, 122; introduction of, 38-39; at Kobusho, 151; as a martial art, 147 Gyorbiro, Zsolt, 127, 174 Hagiwara Rennosuke, 96-97, 159 Halberds (naginata), 13, 38, 43, 155, 172 Haniwa (clay warrior figurine), 10 Harakiri (film), 66 Harrison, E. J., 170 Hashimoto Ryuha, 44 Heian period, 9; bow twangers, 108; ceremonial swords, 33; equestrian archery, 20; geido, 190; horse images (ema), 16; samurai, 14, 17-19; swordsmanship, 34—35; swordsmithing, 37 Heian Shrine, 158-59 Heiho (fighting system), 78-79 Heiho kadensho (swordsmanship text), 60, 66 Heike monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), 19, 34-

35. H5 Heki Danjo Masatsugu, 122-23, 128, 135 Heki-ryu, 118, 122-23, 125-35, 140, 171, 177 Heki Yazaemon Noritsugu, 123, 135 Hemmi Taishiro Nahagide, 98-99 Hemmi Yoshitaka, 98, 99 Herrigel, Eugen, 127 Higuchi family, 63 Higuchi Matashichiro Sadatsugu, 63 Hogen monogatari (The Tale of the Disorder in Hogen), 35, 113

Hokushin itto-ryu, 89 Honda-ryu, 171 Honda Toshizane, 170-71 Horikawa, Emperor, 108 Horsemanship: and archery, 20, 107, 116, 14143; and samurai, 14, 17; Western techniques, 81

INDEX Horses: appearance in Japan, 14-15; early warriors' use of, 15-16; Japanese veneration of, 16 Hoshino Kan'zaemon Shigenori, 135, 138 Hosokawa Tadatoshi, 54, 60 Hosokawa Yusai, 48, 129, 132 Hozoin In'ei, 44, 50, 54 Hunting, 20, 23-24; archery in, 115, 141-43; horses used in, 16 lemoto (instructor), 178-79; authority of, 182, 185-86, 190-91 lizasa Yamashiro no kami lenao (Choisai), 39, 45, 46-48, 62 Imaeda Umanosuke Chikashige, 44 Imagawa Ryoshun, 68 Insai-ha, 133-34 Inuoumono (form of archery), 115, 116-17, 12022, 152; in Meiji period, 170; in Tokugawa period, 125 Inuoumono mokuanbumi (archery text), 120 Ise family, 120, 121, 125, 126, 140 Ishido Chikurin, 134—35 I to Ittossai, 50, 6 1 Itto-ryu, 50-52, 58, 61 Izumo-ha, 128 Jansen, Marius, 94 Jarai shiki (Personal Record on Ceremonial Shooting), 121

Jigen-ryu, 62—63 Jikishin kage-ryu, 149, 151, 154, 192 Jimmu, Emperor, 17, 29, 105, 107 Jomon period, 14; bows, 103; swords, 31 Judo, 12; in national education system, 161, 163; as Olympic event, 168, 171; postwar ban on, 1 66; as sport, 3; as term, 8, 12, 78 Jujutsu (wrestling), 76, 152; as term, 8, 12 Kage-ryu, 49-50, 178 Kaibara Ekiken, 1 1 Kai Genji family, 118 Kamakura, Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in, 116, 118, 170 Kamakura period, 9, 27, 35,. 37, 68; archery, 115-20; warrior tradition, 19-24 Kamiizumi Ise no kami Hidetsuna, 45, 49-50, 60, 61-62, 84, 178 Kanazawa, archery schools in, 133 Kanojigoro, 162 Kansei period, 57, 66, 86 Karate, 12; Japanese terminology for, 7; as sport, 3-4 Kasagake (form of archery), 115, 116, 121 Kashima shin-ryu, 29, 48, 72 Kashima Shrine, 46-47, 48, 79, 88

Kata, 8; culture of, 194-96; swordsmanship, 45, 71-73, 81, 86, 157-58 Kata kenjutsu (kata swordsmanship), 72-73, 83 Kataoka letsugu, 132-33 Katori Shrine, 46, 47, 79 Katsu Kokichi, 67-68, 87, 147, 184 Katsura Kogoro (Kido Koin), 86, 90 Katsuramaki Gempachiro, 133-34 Katsuranishi Sonouemon, 138-39 Katsu Rintaro, 68, 91, 151 Kawaji Toshiyoshi, 157 Kazusa Province, 49, 61 Keiko (training), 194-96 Kendo (fencing), 82-83, ! 5 2 > !8o; as competitive sport, 167-69, 198; and Dai Nihon Butokukai, 154, 158-61; federations, 1 68; kata in, 159-60; matches, 160; and national education system, 154, 161-65; postwar, 165-68; protective gear, 83-84; Sakakibara Kenkichi's impact on, 154-56; standardization of, 160-61; as term, 8, 12, 78, 79; and Tokyo Metropolitan Police, 154, 15758; in World War II mobilization effort, 16465; and Zen Buddhism, 74-75. See also Fencing; Swordsmanship Kenjutsu (swordsmanship), 8, 78 Ki no Okimichi, 112 Kobayashi Masaki, 66 Kobusho (Academy for Military Training), 14952; disbandment of, 153, 155 Kogen itto-ryu, 98, 99 Koguryo, Kingdom of, 18 Kojiki (chronicle), 28-31, 33, 104, 105, 107, 194 Kokura Gishichi, 139-40 Komparu Shichiro Ujikatsu, 60 Koyo gunkan (chronicle), 40 Kumamoto, Battle of Tahara Castle in, 157 Kumano goo paper talismans, 188 Kumano Shrines, 188 Kurosawa, Akira, 41 Kyoto: annual Martial Arts Festival, 165; ceremonial archery events, 120; competitive archery, 136-38, 139; Heian Shrine, 158-59; storming of the Shirakawa Palace, 35; swordsmanship ryuha, 46, 48 Kyuba no hajime ceremony, 152 Kyudo (archery), 4, 169-76; Chinese influence on, 109; as sport, 198; as term, 8, 12, 78; as Zen archery, 173-76. See also Archery Kyujutsu (archery), 8, 12, 126 Kyushu: Saga Rebellion, 153; Shimabara Rebellion, 54, 58 Laozi, 70, 175 Leland, George E., 162 JJji (Book of Rites), 109

239

INDEX MacArthur, Douglas (general), 148, 166 Mandell, Richard, 198 Maniwa nen-ryu, 63 Man'yoshu (chronicle), 104 Martial art(s), 53; archery as, 122, 126; bodily understanding in, 191; ceremonial names in, 184; classifications in, 12-13, 40; zsgeido, 18990; gunnery as, 147; Japanese terminology for, 7-12, 78-79; kata tradition in, 194-96; Mac Arthur's ban on, 148, 166; Meiji-period decline, 148; mental and spiritual conditioning in, 191-96; philosophical and religious underpinnings, 70-71, 191-96; professionalization of, 71-72; and selfperfection, 40, 74-75, 78; specialization in, 78-79; as sports, 3-5, 7, 8, 82, 197-99; sword as basis for, 66; Western military systems' influence on, 147-48, 149; in World War II mobilization effort, 164—65, 172; Zen Buddhist influence on, 45, 74-75, 82. See also Archery; Ryuha; Swordsmanship Marume Kurando no suke Nagayoshi, 49, 6162 Matsudaira Awaji no kami Takamoto, 186, 19394 Matsudaira Sadanobu, 86-87 Matsumoto Bizen no kami Masanobu, 45, 47, 48 Matsumoto family, 48 Matsumoto Shintaro, 163 Matsushita Kunitaka, 76, 80 McClatchie, Thomas, 28 Meiji Restoration: and archery, 169-76; and commoners' participation in martial arts, 98; and decline of martial arts, 148; and Kobusho, 149—52; martial arts terminology of, 12; and swordsmanship, 153-64 Meiji Shrine, 170, 172 Minamoto family, 3, 23-24, 33 Minamoto Ryuen, 193 Minamoto Tametomo, 112 Minamoto Yoriie, 23-24 Minamoto Yoritomo, 14, 19, 23, 115, 118 Minamoto Yoshiie, 3, 108 Minamoto Yoshitsune, 3, 46, 113, 115 Mishima Toshitsune, 158 Mito: academy, 93; fencing dojo, 88, 89, 86 Miyamoto Musashi, 3, 14, 39, 41, 45, 54, 196; on heiho, 79—80; on profit making in ryuha, 75-76; on sword as basis of martial arts, 66; on transcendent meaning of martial arts, 75; "Two-Sword School" of, 51, 57-58 Mizoguchi Shingozaemon Masakatsu, 61 Mommu, Emperor, 107 Momonoi Shunzo IV Naomasa, 90-91 Mongol invasions, 38, 114

240

Mononobe family, 17 Mukogaoka Yayoi Shrine tournament, 158 Muromachi period, 9, 27; archery, 120-21; archery ryuha, 112, 118; geido, 190 —swordsmanship, 35-37; among commoners, 41; and cultural arts, 37, 45; dueling, 40, 4144; and introduction of firearms, 38-39; and musha shugyo training, 40-41; ryuha development, 37, 45-52; specialization of training in, 39-40 Musashi, fencing ryuha in, 98 Musha shugyo (quests), 40-41, 55, 57; dueling in, 42; Tokugawa-period decline, 67-68 Naganuma Shirozaemon Kunizato, 84 Nagasunehiko (god), 105, 107 Naginata (halberd), 8, 13, 38, 43, 155, 172 Nakabayashi Shinji, 9—11, 196 Nakanishi Chubei, 88, 96 Nakanishi Tadazo, 84 Nara period, 9; ceremonial court archery, 109; ceremonial swords, 33; horse images (etna), 1 6; noblemen, 17 Nasu no Yoichi, 113, 115 Natori (subordinate instructor), 179 Nendai yakazu-cho (Ledger of the Annual Shooting Competition), 137 Nenju gyoji emakimono (painting), 1 1 1 Neo-Confucianism, 69-70, 191-92 Nihon shoki (chronicle), 9, 28-31, 33, 104, 105, 107 Nihonto (Japanese sword), 33 Ninigi no Mikoto, 29 Ninja, 13 Nishiyama Matsunosuke, 190 Niten ichi-ryu, 58 Nitobe Inazo, 161 Nito-ryu, 51, 57-58, 79 Nobility, 17-19 Noh theater, 60, 190, 196 Occupation of Japan, 166-67, 172-73 Oda Nobunaga, 41, 53 Oei period, 46 Ogasawara family, 118, 120-21, 125, 126, 140 Ogasawara Hidekiyo, 129 Ogasawara Kanejiro, 152 Ogasawara Magoroku, 120 Ogasawara Mochinaga, 121 Ogasawara-ryu, 170, 171 Ogasawara Sadamune, 120-21 Ogyu Sorai, 2, 77, 83 Okada Jissho Yoshitoshi, 94, 98 Okagami (The Great Mirror), 2, in Okawa Heibei Hidekatsu, 98-99 Okura-ha, 133, 140

INDEX

Okura Shigeuji, 133 Onin War (1467-77), 37 Ono Jiroemon Tadaaki, 60-6 1 Osaka Castle, seiges of, 53~54, 58 Otani Nobutomo, 91 Otani Seiichiro, 149, 154 Outlaw samurai, 41 Ozawa Aijiro, 3 1 Perry, Matthew (commodore), 147, 148 Physical education: kendo as, 163; kyudo as, 173 Piggott, Joan, 1 5 Professionalism, 71-72 Protective gear, 83-84 Reischauer, Edwin, 126-27 Religion, 192-96, 199; and horse veneration, 16; as underpinning for martial arts, 70. See also Buddhism; Confucianism; Daoism; Shinto Rengeoin temple, Sanjusangendo Hall of, 13638, 139 Ronin (masterless samurai), 54 RyQha (schools): instructors, 178-79, 182, 18586, 190-91; kata tradition, 195; Meiji-period decline, 152; mental and spiritual conditioning in, 191—96; organization, 177— 83; ritual aspects, 180-82; social functions, 183-84; student pledges, 187-89; student-teacher relationships, 182-83; transmission of teachings in, 178, 183-89 — archery ryiiha, 118, 121, 122; in Muromachi period, 112, 118; in Tokugawa period, 126, 127-35 — swordsmanship ryiiha: Amaterasu's connection to, 29; criticisms of abuses in, 75-77; fencing schools, 86; heiho in, 79; kata training in, 73, 81; in Muromachi period, 37, 45-52; professionalism in, 71-72; prohibition of, 67; in Tokugawa period, 51-52, 55, 57-64 Saito Denkibo, 43-44 Saito Naoyoshi, 127 Saito Yakuro Yoshimichi, 90, 94 Sakakibara Kenkichi, 91, 149, 151, 154-56 Sakamoto Ryoma, 86, 90, 94 Sakon'emon-ha, 133 Sakurai Kasuminosuke, 43 Samurai, 5; competitiveness of, 3; in Heian period, 18-19; horsemanship of, 14, 17; image of, 13-14; lifestyle of, in medieval Japan, 19-20; Meiji-period declassment of, 153-54; outlaw, 41; skills of, in medieval Japan, 20; sword as chief weapon of, 65-68; as term, 14; in Tokugawa period, 54-55, 6465, 77. See also Archery; Swordsmanship

Sanjusangendo Hall, 136-38, 139 Sasaki Kojiro, 58 Sasaki Yoshikata, 128, 135 Satsuma Rebellion, 153-54, 157 SCAP (Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers), 166-67, 172—73 Schools. See Ryiiha Seiwa Genji clan, 118 Sekigahara, Battle of, 53, 58 Seki Rokuzo Ichian, 132 Sekka-ryu, 129, 132 Self-perfection, 40, 78; and swordsmanship, 66, 74-75 Sengoku period: archery, 121-24; bugei, 8; swordsmanship, 37—41 Sen no Rikyu, 181 Shihan (instructor), 178 Shimabara Rebellion, 54, 58 Shimada Toranosuke, 66, 91, 192 Shimazu Nariaki, 125 Shimmen Munisai, 41-42 Shinai (bamboo sword), 84 Shinden kyuho shushinron (archery text), 120 Shingon Buddhism, 70 Shinkage-ryu, 58-60, 84, 177 Shinto, 70, 74, 192, 199; and archery, 107—9, 176; and horse veneration, 16; and musha shugyo, 40; shrines, 46-47; spilled blood as defilement in, 21-22, 197. See also Deities Shinto-ryu, 46-49, 58 Shugyo (training), 194 Sickle and chain (kusarigama), 13, 43, 155 Soga clan, 17, 23 Sollier, Andre, 127, 174 Spears, 9, 38, 43, 151 Sport(s), 1-3; absence of, in medieval Japan, 2022; archery as, 22, 23, 116-17, 123, 150; kendo as, 167-69; martial arts as, 3-5, 7, 8, 8283, 197-99; in Japan compared to ancient Greek, 2-3. See also Competition Sugawara Michizane, 1 1 1 Suizei, Emperor, 9 Sumiyoshi Shrine, 63 Supotsu (sport), 2 Susano 6 no Mikoto (god), 29, 31 Suwabe Bunkuro, 59 Suwa Morizumi, 118-19 Suzuki, D. T., 192 Swords, 27-28; ancient, 31; ceremonial doubleedged, 33; curved samurai, 33-34; of deities, 28-31, 46-47, 66; edicts banning, 41; of emperors, 29; single-edged, 33; symbolic role of, 28; terminology for, 33; test cutting of, 28; Tokugawa-period veneration of, 6566. See also Bamboo swords; Wooden swords

241

INDEX Swordsmanship: at Kobusho, 151; late Heian, 20, 34—37; in Meiji period, 153—64. See also Fencing; Kendo — Muromachi-period swordsmanship, 35-37; among commoners, 41; and cultural arts, 37; dueling, 40, 41-44; and introduction of firearms, 38-39; and musha shugyo training, 4041; and ryuha development, 37, 45-52; specialization of training, 39-40 — Tokugawa-period swordsmanship, 28; among commoners, 95-100; criticism of abuses in, 75-77; dojo, 87-91, 94-95; domain academies, 92-95, 198; fencing competitions, 83-87; as "flowery," 66, 72-78; as heiho, 79; importance of, to samurai, 65-68; philosophical underpinning of, 191-96; professionalization of, 71-72; ryuha, 51-52, 55. 57-64, 86; and self-perfection, 66, 74-75, 78 Swordsmithing, 27, 33-34, 37; symbolism in, 28 Tachi (sword), 33 Taiheiki (Chronicle of the Great Peace), 36, 120

Taira family, 33, 118 Taira Masakado, 33 Taisha-ryu, 62 Taisho period, 164 Takayama Hachiemon, 133 Takayanagi Matashiro, 89 Takeda family, 48, 118, 120, 125, 140 Takeda Nobumune, 120 Takeda-ryu, 170 Takeda Shingen, 40, 49 Take Mikazuchi no Kami (god), 29, 46-47, 66 Takuan, 60, 192-93 Tamiya-ryu, 151 Tea ceremony, 8, 37, 72, 172; kata mastery in, 196; schools, 178, 179, 181, 190, 194 Temmu, Emperor, 107, 109 Teppoki (chronicle), 38 Terada Muneari, 84, 89 Tochigi Prefecture, Kashima Shrine in, 46—47, 79, 88 Togo Shigekata, 62-63 Token (sword), 33 Tokitaka, Lord, 174-75 Tokugawa Hidetada, 41, 55, 59, 61 Tokugawa lemitsu, 55, 59, 78, 125-26, 142 Tokugawa lenobu, 142 Tokugawa leyasu, 53-54, 55, 59, 61, 123, 142 Tokugawa period, 2, 53-57; civil culture, 68-71; feudal hierarchy, 197-98; geido, 190; impact of peace in, 64-67, 72, 197; martial arts

242

classification in, 12-13; martial arts terminology in, 8, 11-12, 78-79; samurai, 1314; transmission of martial arts teachings in, 185-89; urbanization in, 64-65 —archery, 125-26; ceremonial matches, 126; competitive sport archery, 127, 135-41; and hunting, 141-43; inuoumono, 125; ryuha, 126, 127-35; yabusame, 126; Zen archery, 126-27, 175 —swordsmanship, 28; among commoners, 95100; criticism of abuses in, 75—77; dojo, 87— 91, 94-95; domain academies, 92-95; fencing competitions, 83-87; as "flowery," 66, 72-78; as heiho, 79; importance of, to samurai, 65-68; philosophical underpinning of, 191-96; professionalization of, 71-72; ryuha, 51-52, 55. 57-^4. 86; and self-perfection, 66, 74-75, 78 Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, 142 Tokugawa Yoshimune, 80-8 1, 126, 142-43 Tokyo: Meiji Shrine, 170, 172; Metropolitan Police, 154, 155, 157-58; Olympics, 168. See also Edo

Tomb period, swords of, 31 Tomo Goro Tokihide, 80 Tomomatsu Seizo Nyudo Ian, 63 Tomo no Wataketamaro, 112 Toshiro Mifune, 14 Toshiya (competitive archery), 136—41 Toyotomi Hidetsugu, 129, 131, 136 Toyotomi Hideyori, 53-54 Toyotomi Hideyoshi, 41, 53 Tsukahara Bokuden, 39, 43, 45, 47-48 Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine, 116, 118, 170 Uchiyama Tsutomu, 171-72 Ueda Castle, Battle of, 61 Ueda Umanosuke, 91, 157 Uji River, Battle of, 34-35 Urabe clan, 47 Urbanization, 64-65 Virtues, civil, 68-71 Wa people, use of long bow by, 104 Wamyoshu (document), 33 Warriors. See Samurai Wasa Daihachiro, 138, 139 Watanabe Kazan, 86 Watatani Kiyoshi, 45 Wooden swords, 20, 62, 83, 86; bladed furidashiken, 63; dueling with, 41, 43 World War II, martial arts in Japanese mobilization effort in, 164—65, 172 Wrestling, 20

INDEX Yabusame (form of archery), 115, 116, 118, 119, 121, 129; in Meiji period, 170; in Tokugawa period, 126 Yagyu Jubei, 80 Yagyu Munenori, 54, 59-60, 66, 80, 192 Yagyu-ryu, 58-60, 84, 177, 192 Yagyu Sekishusai Muneyoshi, 45, 49, 50, 51, 5860 Yamamoto Kansuke, 40, 44 Yamana Hachiman Shrine, 63 Yamaoka Tesshu, 74-75, 90 Yamashina-ha, 133 Yamato Province: equestrian culture, 15; mounted archery, 107 Yamato-ryu, 107-8 Yayoi period: long bow, 104; swords, 31 Yoshida family, 127-35, 177

Yoshida Izumo no kami Shigekata, 128, 132 Yoshida Okura, 137, 139, 140 Yoshida Shigekatsu (Sekka), 129, 131, 132 Yoshida Sukezaemon Shigemasa, 128, 135 Yoshikawa Eiji, 57 Yoshikawa Kaga no nyudo, 47 Young, John Russell, 170 Yuhigahama, mounted archery in, 1 16 Yuminagashi (drama), 182 Zeami, 196 Zen archery, 4, 126-27, i?4~75- See also Kyudo Zen Buddhism, 4-5, 70, 193-94, 198-99; and archery, 117, 173-76; and swordsmanship, 45, 60, 62, 74-75, 79, 82 Zhuangzi, 70

243