Likes Likes:  0
Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Bushido...? Maybe?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    18
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default Bushido...? Maybe?

    Just curious where this list comes from. Is it straight out of Bushido: Code of the Samurai?

    1. Live each day prepared to face death tomorrow.
    2. Honor.
    3. Humility.
    4. Loyalty to Obligations: All warriors are born with 6 obligations:
    5. Obligation to God.
    6. Obligation to Self.
    7. Obligation to Parents.
    8. Obligation to Country.
    9. Obligation to Employer.
    10. Obligation to Sensei.
    11. Respect all living things.
    12. Maintain the skill of your art to the best of your ability.
    13. Never strike an unjust blow.
    14. Never show fear.
    15. Never show pain.
    16. Never lose composure.
    17. Never draw a weapon until the decision has been made to use it.
    18. NEVER ACCEPT FAILURE.
    James Cavin

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Japan
    Posts
    92
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    ...and never forget to 'sweep the leg'
    Jim Cotter

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    18
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    Never! Just worked on some Naihanchi last night actually...
    James Cavin

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    318
    Likes (received)
    3

    Default Uh....Nope.

    All,

    The whole burrushitto thang has been bandied around and analyzed and debunked in prior posts. Suffice it to say that the list submitted seems to be more a modern (American hard-butt-ryu) interpretation via too many Jan Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal movies, I think.

    Sometimes it helps to have a good bawl now and then. It lets out the inner, sensitive feminine samoorai side in ya. Yah, I'll wear that pink saya now, thank you. Sometimes it's OK to admit failure as long as you get up and go again (eight times down, nine times up). Sometimes you gotta realize that some teachers or parents or friends are abusive and sadistic, and giving them your loyalty is letting them take advantage of you. Sometimes, what they call God, country, business and empire is all wrong and you have to listen to your inner spirit and the real heart of the universe apart from dogma. (To every thing there is a season, turn, turn, turn, under heaven. Cue up that song from the '60s) Sometimes it's OK to admit you hurt like bloody hell. Sometimes it's better to turn and run like heck. Sometimes it's OK to lose. Live to fight another day.

    Sometimes, hey sometimes, you should pet your puppy and hug your spouse and be kind to little children and cut yourself some slack before you break apart like brittle glass trying to uphold some fantastical nonexistent "code" that no bushi ever adhered to.

    OK, seriously: Tom Cruise's "The Last Samurai" was a ridiculous paean to some American notions of what bushido was. Watch "Seven Samurai" or Hiroyuki Sanada in "Twilight Samurai" to see what the noblest of them were really about.

    "Have you hugged your keiki today?"
    --Wayne Muromoto

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    18
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    I agree.

    But, I am just curious where that particular passage came from. A friend of mine had it on paper from back in like the 70's. I'm just wondering where it came from.
    James Cavin

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    318
    Likes (received)
    3

    Default Not sure but...

    James,

    I'm not sure where it came from, but it certainly didn't come from a Japanese source. It sounds more like home spun American machismo to me.

    Wayne Muromoto

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Fayetteville, AR
    Posts
    18
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    That's kind of what I was thinking. I'm no Japanophile so I tend to question a lot of what is given and said to me. Probably annoys the hell out of my teacher, but that's just in my nature.
    James Cavin

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Seattle WA
    Posts
    737
    Likes (received)
    2

    Default

    Slow this morning, so coffee in hand, I search the internet. This is where those precepts of bushido James posted came from as best as I can tell. Admittedly, 2 minutes of google search is not all that in depth.

    Chenoweths pro Tae Kwon Do website.
    http://www.angelfire.com/planet/mmaa/

    This PDF for download has the same things you posted.
    www.angelfire.com/planet/mmaa/bushido.pdf

    This page has the lineage for the school. Lots of soke-ship type associations involved.
    http://www.angelfire.com/planet/mmaa/lineage.html


    I agree with Wayne, this ain't no Japanese bushido thingy. It might be fine stuff in what is taught physically at the school, but the mixture of things presented strikes me as odd at best. For them to be teaching Okinawan derived karate, combined with Korean Tae Kwon Do (admittedly shotokan karate derived), with no connection to any samurai art and using bushido and Japanese derived cultural aspects is weird to me.

    They may be doing good stuff, be good people, but those precepts of bushido are pretty funny to me.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    318
    Likes (received)
    3

    Default By way of contrast...

    By way of contrast, the "dojo kun" of my own dojo in Japan has real samooorai homilies like:

    --Don't get into arguments or fights with people from other martial arts schools. It creates needless animosity.

    --Keep your dogi clean and washed so as not to offend other people in the dojo.

    --Keep a bucket of water always handy by the door in case of fire.

    And so on. Much more practical stuff.

    Wayne Muromoto

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    California
    Posts
    359
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.
    ~W. C. Fields
    Best regards,
    Bruce Mitchell

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Western NY
    Posts
    45
    Likes (received)
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by JCavin View Post
    17. Never draw a weapon until the decision has been made to use it.
    Ive seen this one bandied about before. While I appreciate the intent (don't draw a weapon unless necessary), the implication seems to be "dont draw unless you are going to fire".

    I've drawn my weapon numerous times without ever firing it. If you wait till it's trigger time you are behind the curve.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    318
    Likes (received)
    3

    Default More...

    Over the past weekend I had a great time meeting folk from different ryuha. One really great guy asked what the Takeuchi-ryu philosophy is. Rather than bore him with convoluted theories about combat and seeking peacefulness, I said, well, you can boil it down to one sentence:

    "Grab 'em and stab 'em."

    Wayne Muromoto

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •