Budo (3): What Is the Purpose of Budo?
Updated: 3 days ago
In the two previous parts we asked what the word "budo" says and what the term defines. In this part I ask a different question: why do we train? What is the purpose?
Everything written here is my personal view, as it took shape over years of training in the Bujinkan, the organization of Masaaki Hatsumi in which we train. It is not the only possible answer.
The obvious answer: defeating the opponent
If you ask most people what the purpose of the martial arts is, they will probably answer "to subdue the opponent". That is what I thought too at the beginning of the way. Today I think this answer is not enough, for two reasons:
Winning a fight does not end the conflict. An opponent who was subdued can recover and come back. And even if not, he has friends, family and supporters. Complete and final subjugation is possible only by eliminating the opponent, and even then it usually brings only a temporary calm.
Harm has a price. In the past, killing was an accepted part of fighting. Today, whoever causes harm beyond what is necessary may pay for it in the legal system, and a state that causes harm exposes itself to sanctions. The immediate victory may turn into a loss in the long run.
The ultimate goal: peace
What really ends a conflict is peace: the opponent stops being an opponent and perhaps even becomes a friend. This is the same ancient reading of the character 武 that we met in part one, "stopping the spear". It is not the original meaning of the character, but it is certainly a worthy aspiration.
This idea also appears in the official definitions:
Kano Jigoro, the founder of Judo, formulated a principle of "mutual welfare and benefit": training is meant to benefit the practitioner and the society around them. He wrote this, for example, in his article "The Contribution of Judo to Education" (1932).
The Budo Charter of 1987 states that the practitioner's aim is to build their character and contribute to society.
But peace is a long-term goal. At the moment someone attacks you, there is no time to build a friendship. So what do you do now?
The immediate goal: control
My answer is control, in two stages.
First of all, self-control. Whoever is dragged along by the opponent, offended or frightened, has already lost control over what is happening. The Japanese tradition has several terms that describe this state of mind:
Fudoshin (不動心, "the heart that does not move"): not rigidity, but a mind that is not dragged along and does not cling to any one thing. The Zen monk Takuan (1573–1645) wrote that the mind should not be fixed on one point, because then it stops moving freely.
Mushin (無心, "no mind"): a clarity in which action flows by itself, without a thought stopping it. This is how the concept is defined in the exhibition "Dō – Spirit of the Way" at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
Zanshin (残心, "the remaining mind"): alertness that continues even after the action, because the conflict does not end with a single blow.
Muto dori (無刀捕り, "capturing without a sword"): originally, facing a sword with empty hands. In the Bujinkan: the ability to act correctly under great threat, without relying on a weapon or a fixed technique.
What they all have in common: self-control is not tense restraint but freedom.
Then, control of the situation. Whoever controls himself can also control the opponent and, above all, the situation as a whole. When I control the situation, I can lead it to the outcome I want, with minimal harm to the opponent and to myself. And here the immediate goal connects to the ultimate goal: minimal harm leaves an opening for calm and perhaps even for friendship.
A well-known Japanese story illustrates this idea. According to the story, the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi boasted in front of an old man. The old man laughed. Musashi was offended and attacked him with his sword. The old man, who was a skilled swordsman, blocked the blow with a wooden pot lid. Musashi was impressed, apologized and became his student.
The story shows exactly the two stages of control. Musashi was dragged along by the insult and lost his self-control. The old man stayed calm, controlled the situation without harming his opponent and ended the conflict at a point where the opponent became a student. All the goals of this part are found in one scene. This is, of course, a traditional story and not a historical record.
So how do you achieve control over another person? In my view it has two main levels:
Physical control: learned and carried out through fighting techniques: movement, distance, locks, throws. This is the part you see in training, and it is relatively easy to measure.
Mental control: a much more complex and elusive subject. In the Bujinkan it is learned too, and as I understand it, it is an inseparable part of Ninpo. But perhaps because of the sensitivity of the subject, and perhaps because of its complexity, it is passed on in an indirect, not open, way, and not all teachers teach it.
The two levels are connected: technique without mental control remains mechanical, and mental control without a physical foundation will not hold up at the moment of truth.
In summary
To the question "What is the purpose of budo?" my answer is control: first over myself, and then over the situation. And above control stands the ultimate goal, peace.
This is the last part of the series. To the previous parts: Budo (1): Bu and Do – The Meaning of the Word; Budo (2): Bujutsu, Bugei and Budo.
Sources
Kano Jigoro, 1932: The Contribution of Judo to Education
Japanese Budo Association, the Budo Charter (1987): on the Nippon Budokan site
Takuan Soho, Fudochi Shinmyoroku, translated by William Bodiford, in Sources of Japanese Tradition, vol. 2: PDF
The kenshi247 site: Zanshin
Michael Mattner, 2020, Acta Periodica Duellatorum 8(1), pp. 183–198: Understanding the No-sword with no teacher
Bujinkan Greece dojo: Mutō dori
Tel Aviv Museum of Art: Dō – Spirit of the Way
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