How do you perceive karate's 'eastern' meaning?

[Monkeymagic]

More research for my dissertation here. Please answer freely. the word 'eastern' is open for interpretation.

 

Thanks again

 

Edited May 22, 2004 by Monkeymagic

[JEM618]

Eastern? Asian? Korean? Chinese? Japanese?

 

Not sure what you are asking here.

 

When you say meaning do you mean the definition, or the essence?

 

Karate - 空手 - is a kind of a generic term. It’s made up of up of two characters; ‘kara’ 空, or empty, and ‘te’ 手, which means hand. It’s used to describes any ‘empty-hand’ fighting style as opposed to a weapon based style, e.g., kendo 剣道 (sword fighting) or 弓道 (archery). There’s not much meaning to it besides the fact it describes the fightiong style. Perhaps you are referring to budo 武道 or bushido 武士道 which have much broader meaning and encompass all styles? (They are the basis of the samurai code).

[Monkeymagic]

Eastern? Asian? Korean? Chinese? Japanese?

 

Not sure what you are asking here.

 

When you say meaning do you mean the definition, or the essence?

 

Karate - ?? - is a kind of a generic term.

 

I mean essence. Thanks for asking, I am trying to word my research dissertation question, and you just helped.

 

I realise karate is a mixture of different martial arts and historical influences from China, Japan and Okinawa in the original sense of the art but more recently the west.

 

As a practitioner, how do you perceive karate's eastern essence? What is it to you?

 

[JEM618]

OK. Look up this word in a Japanese – English dictionary.

 

武道 (budo): the definition will almost certainly be ‘martial art’ of ‘the art of war’.

 

When westerners first arrived in Japan and observed Japanese training or fighting methods they said, Oh! Martial Arts!

 

Then a westerner said to a Japanese, ‘Hey, what are you guys doing? And the Japanese said, ‘武道 (budo)’.

 

Then the guy who writes the dictionary said, ‘Ah, I see, they call martial arts 武道 (budo)! Better write that one down before I forget.

 

But he got it completely backwards. YES, completely backwards.

 

武道 (budo) is made of two kanji 武 (bu) and 道 (do).

 

You probably already know this one 道 (do / dou) most Japanese arts end in this.

 

Aikido： 合気道

 

Judo： 柔道

 

Kendo： 剣道

 

You’ll notice 道 (do) at the end of each of these words, too.

 

Shodo： 書道 (calligraphy)

 

Kado： 花道 (flower arrangement)

 

Sado： 茶道 (tea ceremony)

 

‘do’ which is also pronounced ‘michi’ means road, but is also translates as the way or path. (Very important addition: not just ‘way’ or ‘path’ but can also mean way or path towards spiritual enlightenment.)

 

Buddhist monks practiced calligraphy, flower arrangement, and tea ceremony, all as part of their spiritual training.

 

Interesting, isn’t it? Aikido, kendo, judo, shodo, kado, sado all end with the same character – all with the same purpose self improvement or spiritual enlightenment.

 

Anyway, take a look at the first kanji 武 (bu).

 

It’s made up of two different kanji. Actually one kanji can be easily recognized, and the other is a derivative another kanji.

 

止： (tomaru) means stop (this one you can see on the bottom left side)

 

矛： (hoko) means halberd (the shape has changed but if you look at the line that runs top to bottom on the right and hooks out to the right, it signifies a ‘long, bladed, thrusting, or cutting weapon’. Again, this could signify a halberd, sword, spear, etc.

 

So, put it all together and what have you got?

 

武道 (budo): ‘the way to stop the spear’. Budo is not the art of war, or a martial art as westerners would define it: it’s the way of peace; the way to stop the fight or keep the peace.

 

There are other words in Japanese that do actually mean ‘martial arts’, ‘the art of war’ ‘tactics of fighting’ etc. But words that end in 道 (do) are generally considered ‘arts’ not ‘martial arts’ a way to develop your mind and body.

 

For example kenjutsu 剣術 (swordsmanship) or ju-jutsu 柔術 (grappling).

 

剣術 (kenjutsu) is what the samurai learned for battle with swords and柔術(ju-jutsu) is what they practiced for ground fighting.

 

術 ‘jutsu’ simlpy means technique.

 

These are not considered 道 ‘do’ they are fighting skills or ‘real’ martial arts. They would be closer to the definition of martial arts as we perceive them. (Much like training you would receive in the army in basic training all the way through Green Berets, or Navy Seals.)

 

[Monkeymagic]

So, put it all together and what have you got?

 

武道 (budo): ‘the way to stop the spear’. Budo is not the art of war, or a martial art as westerners would define it: it’s the way of peace; the way to stop the fight or keep the peace.

 

So, you perceive karate's real essence as a peaceful art rather than what the westerners would generally see it as a 'martial' art?

 

What would you say about those western martial arts that seem quite agressive, such as TKD and kickboxing? How much of the real reason for martial arts have they forgotten, ignored or not focussed on anymore?

 

[JEM618]

 

So, you perceive karate's real essence as a peaceful art rather than what the westerners would generally see it as a 'martial' art?

 

What would you say about those western martial arts that seem quite aggressive, such as TKD and kickboxing? How much of the real reason for martial arts have they forgotten, ignored or not focused on anymore?

 

 

There's nothing to perceive. The western interpretation or translation is incorrect.

 

道 is an apple.

 

術 is an orange.

 

They are both fruits but completely different.

 

During the American occupation in Japan all martial arts were outlawed.

 

Japanese were not allowed to practice any fighting art. (Martial arts / skills)

 

The founder of judo adapted ju-jutsu; i.e., he turned ju-jutsu into a sport with the underpinnings of a fighting art. He was able to convince the Japanese and American governments at that time that to preserve Japanese culture people should be allowed to practice judo because it was not simply a fighting art but a means to spiritual development.

 

The same holds true for ken-jutsu; it became kendo. Rather than a technical fighting skill, it was called a means for spiritual development.

 

Those western martial arts that seem quite aggressive, such as TKD and kickboxing are more sports than martial arts (Although it could be argued they are martial arts, I can't see the value of being a top level TKD point fighter on the battlefield. I.e., Green Berets and Navy Seals are not taught to fight like TKD Olympic hopefuls). In any case they are not 武道 (budo), they lean more towards 術 (jutsu).

 

Anyone who studies, what ever they study, has to decide what level they want to study at. Do they want to study their skill as a sport (to stay in shape, fight if they have to) or as an art (to find the deeper more spiritual meaning and essence of the art).

[Monkeymagic]

There's nothing to perceive. The western interpretation or translation is incorrect.

 

What do you think the western interpretation is? I have another thread on this forum related to this if you want to answer there or here.

 

Ta