The Rise of Unarmed Combat Methods in Ancient Japan

The Rise of Unarmed Combat Methods in Ancient Japan

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The Rise of Unarmed Combat methods in Ancient Japan Unarmed combat has been around in Japan since ancient times. There are many references to unarmed fighting in the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters), the Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan), as well as the gunki (War tales) such as the Taiheki. Unarmed fighting incorporated what we know as typical striking methods, as well as grappling techniques. Unarmed fighting skills were taught as part of a comprehensive curriculum that centered around a core of weapon based skills. Japan, was an armed society. Many clans were in the process of fighting each other for dominance, in a massive game of Go. The curriculum in a classical clan art would typically include skills such as the Ken(long sword), Yumi(bow), Yari(spear), Naginata(halberd), a variety of short weapons such as the tanto(short blade), kusari gama(weighted chain with a blade), kakushi buki(hidden weapons), fundo(chain) and so on. As you can easily see, unarmed fighting centered around the defeating of an opponent while you were both armed and locked

in position, one opponent had his weapon out and you did not, one was armed and the other not, or finally both opponents were unarmed. The rise of battlefield based arts of the Sengoku Jidai(Warring States period 1467-1568), were typically known as katchu bujutsu, or O yoroi kumiuchi (grappling while clad in armor). These arts, were later modified by practitioners during the Edo Jidai (Edo period 1600-1870), into arts known as suhada bujutsu (fighting in normal clothes (Kimono or Hakama). Sengoku Jidai based arts On the battlefield the primary objective was to kill the enemy, and move on to fight again. This was a giant melee of combatants fighting for their lives. Falling to the ground, usually meant the death of a soldier. Therefore techniques for close combat included many ways to throw, or off balance your opponent, as well as methods for rebounding from the ground safely if you had lost your footing or were thrown down. A samurai was often a walking arsenal, moving onto the battlefield. He was always armed with a sword, but often would carry a Bo, yari or naginata, as well as a short sword and tanto. Knowing that weapons could break or be ripped from your grasp by a dying opponent, a samurai would need a fall back weapon to rely upon. There often many ranges involved when dealing with attackers, so again a layering of weapons makes strategic sense.

The space between losing or moving to a new weapon, or when you were locked together with an opponent, necessitated a method of grappling and striking, so as to free yourself and counter attack the enemy. With many methods for striking with the hand or foot, somewhat limited by the armor being worn, methods of off balancing, throwing, joint locking, removing oneself from an opponent s grasp, and even pinning became highly prized survival skills. Skill with striking is secondary to that of controlling your opponent, in most Japanese systems. This becomes evident when one looks at why. The majority of attacks were from an armed attacker, if you struck and did not seriously injure or subdue your opponent, he would quickly cut you down. Further more, as stated earlier, on the battlefield you wore armor. Most blows from an unarmed opponent were not lethal, and therefore were less of a concern than an armed attacker. Edo Jidai based arts With the rise of a more peaceful era, the samurai, were typically not found wearing armor in public life. Therefore a trend to the suhada bujutsu arts rose to meet a new need. Basing their arts on the past dictated that an art was based around an armed attacker (primarily a samurai), arts began to emphasize smaller, more rounded, and flowing movements. These movements, although present to some degree in

the past, were hindered by equipment worn or carried by a combatant. These arts again dealt with releasing oneself from an opponent s grasp, throwing, joint locking, pinning as well as more effective attacks to kyusho. As a samurai had many levels to which he could defend himself, it would have been unseemly to kill a peasant or low ranking samurai, when it was not necessary. During this relatively peaceful time, samurai had a lot of time on their hands to refine their techniques, as well as to reflect on the philosophy of their ryuha. Countering an armed attacker rose to new heights, both for a samurai and the Shogunates police force, which had the task of disarming samurai who violated the law or were endangering the public. As this has been a brief introduction to the two major classifications of combative arts, future articles will focus on specific aspects of each area. Note: We are fortunate that the Bujinkan Dojo contains methods of both styles of training, as seen in the differences between the Kukishinden ryu, and the Takagi Yoshin ryu curriculums. This allows us a unique perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of both combative styles.