武道之完成
Budō No Kansei
The Complete Martial Path
This is the PDF version of a web-page that was written to explain the full repertoire of the martial traditions extant within Japanese martial arts (Nihon budō). Many western practitioners are largely unaware of the material, and its importance. All contained within these pages, and more, are an integral part of the martial traditions of Japan, and in the opinion of many, make up the larger part of it (as opposed to the rudimentary physical methods of armed and unarmed combat.)
These contents derive from two separate facts of history relevant to Nihon budō (Japanese martial arts):
Nihon budō is derived from and in some contexts an integral part of Shintoism. Like most older native religions, Shintoism contains a very healthy focus on the basics of life, what Christianity would have called an “earthy religion” meant to provide the necessary tools for survival in this world. The tendency in such religions as Shintoism is to espouse life in this world and to provide the tools and means by which one might live a better and happier life. As such, being descended of Shintoism, Nihon budō also contains a certain amount of this information, however, it often has something of a paramilitary bent in it's interpretations, due to the intended role of Nihon budō in Japanese society.
The outplay of history which eventually produced and afforded us with Nihon budō includes the events of social transformation sparked by the advent of merchants and capitalism in our societies. Mercantilism is the practice, methods and spirit of merchants and commercialism. The theory and system of political economy prevailing in Europe and elsewhere immediately after (and one major cause of) the decline of feudalism. The advent of mercantilism caused people to realize that another path of accomplishment existed and that social conventions such as nobility could be acquired by routes other than by birth-station. It also brought to their attention the fact that proper business concerns for one's own affairs could easily result in much improved lifestyles. Japanese martial traditions also went through these transformations (the tale is an interesting one, check it out sometime) and so many ryūha schools of bujutsu ended up abandoning the fighting arts and instead became practitioners of mercantilism. But to this day, they are still budō ryūha they just don't teach or practice fighting... they do mercantilism. Modern budō is chock full of these concerns, codified and standardized. Westerns usually don't know this and so are berefted of this very valuable aspect of martial arts.
THE ENTIRE TEXT AS A PDF FILE HERE
一身上の経済 Isshinjō No Keizai Personal Business Affairs
所持金及び所持品 Shojikin Oyobi Shojihin Money in one's possession and possessions in hand
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