What World War 2 did to Japanese Martial Arts ?

[NickR]

Just wondering what would be the state of Japanese Martial Arts if WW2 never happened (or atleast Japan did'nt get involved), would Kano's Judo be less Sport Orientated (It was an agreement by the occupying US after WW2 that Judo was to be sport oritentated), would there have been more/further input from the Koryu Jutsu (WW2 was pretty much the last nail in the coffin IMHO). Would karate of ever reached mainland Japan, how did Aikido get affected by WW2 ?
Im sure theres more points to consider ?

Opinions and speculations please :)

[Blackwood]

Well, Karate had already reached Japan by the time WWII came along.

An interesting question!

I think one factor might be that the martial arts would not have spread nearly as far or fast, as returning servicemen were a major factor in bringing the arts to North America and Europe.

[Budoka 34]

Karate changed significantly after WWII. Japanese Budo took on a very different tone after their defeat. A more peaceful or passive tone seemed to permeate post war Japan.
Due to the ban on the practice of anything deemed "Martial" imediately following the war many of the arts took on a more pasive tone. As time went on more competitive forms of Karate and Judo took shape in keeping with the American and British occupiers love of sport competition.

I'll look throught my books and see what I can find. There are some good histories of post war martial arts development.