Can you truly understand budo without training in Japan?

[pboylan]

This is a question that I've been thinking about for a while, and recently someone asked me this point blank. I didn't have a short answer, so here is my full answer in the form of a blog post.
http://budobum.blogspot.com/2013/10/can-you-truly-understand-budo-without.html

So, am I a complete idiot, or am I on the right track?

[cxt]

pboylan

Honestly not sure I'm in any fashion qualified to answer the question--to many variables IMO.

I'm sure that many people training/that have trained in Japan could tell you stories of TEACHERS that embodied the best of "budo" principles and some that did not.

In my limited opinion "budo" implies an attitude about your training and you either have it or you don't. And although I'm open-minded about it--I'm not sure that you can "train" such an attitude or that such an attitude can be acquired by going to japan.

(Although I have heard you can acquire it from specific teachers :) )

I'm sure that there are people training all over the place that have never been to Japan, never trained with Japanese teachers etc. that would be a credit to the term "budo."

I liked the article and tend to agree with you BTW.

[Andrew S]

I'm with Chris on this one, but here's my ￥2 worth. Feel free to disagree.

Can you fully understand budo without training in Japan?

If the conditions are right - yes.

On the flip-side, can you train in Japan and still not understand budo? Yes.

(and just to be facetious, and because I'm a cynical ALT: Can you be Japanese and have no idea what budo is? Absolutely.)

[Hissho]

I think you might understand it differently...if you want to learn budo, you would either have to go to Japan or seek an instructor with a lot of time there. And the latter would still not be the same.

I equate it to "can you truly understand 'combat' if you've never been in a serious fight?" Again a nuanced answer. But the question skewers a lot of "martial" ideas just as the budo question does cultural ones.