Talk:Japanese swordsmanship

message: In summary, I agree we need to retain Japanese Swordmanship as a hub to the specifc elements of it. I know there is a fair bit of confusion, which is to be expected when people from one culture attempt to understand another.
Let me begin by stating the 'facts' as I understand them. Feel free to criticise me on this, because obvious it'll affect the validity of my argument.
My understanding of modern Japanese martial arts (nihon bujutsu), is that they are of two main and philosophical types.
Do & Jutsu.
Do translates to 'the way'. Such that 'kendo' is the way of the katana[ken] (see the next topic), and that 'aikido' is the way of 'spirits in harmony'[aiki]. Its about gaining understanding and enlightment by improving one's form.
Jutsu translates to 'practical art' and is used in modern & western society to signify the battlefield or combative form. Its generally more aggressive and hands on then a Do form. Its about gaining understanding and enlightment by being able to kill/disable people more effectively.
Difference between Ken & To
Now one thing I think which is part of the confusion around here is the misunderstanding of the difference between 'To' &
'Ken'. Look up the kanji and you'll notice that they're two different characters.
To means sword or blade, it is a very generally and broad term in the japanese language. Hence, the kanji is used to generally describe any sword of just about any length. You can see this in the usage of the terms 'tanto', 'shoto' & 'daito'. The kanji is two downward strokes with the first stroke travelling across before down, which by no conincidence is also the main technique of cutting with just about any japanese sword.
Ken is a completely different kanji character, with that sort of house resembling shape on one side and two strokes to the right of it. Ken refers to the old fashion 'ken' style sword, which was eventually replaced by the 'katana'. As a japanese term, it generally refers to a sword between two and two & half shaku in length. Never do you hear a tanto described as a specifcally as a ken. The favour for the term 'Shinken' as opposed to 'Shinto' is probably to reduce confusion with the practice of Shinto.
This should be also easily confirmed with a good book on kanji, and searching of the web.
My point to this is such, the japanese translation of 'Swordfighting' is To-jutsu, not ken-jutsu. Ken-jutsu would be like saying 'Broadswordfighting'. Hence we should NOT merge kenjutsu with Japanese Swordsmanship. They're two seperate things.
In my opinion to-jutsu (japanese swordmanship) can be split to the following:
Ken Techniques
Kenjutsu - free sparring with katanas, and the drills and kata associated with a drawn katana.
Kendo - The 'art of tapping' as my ryu like to call it, with references to its origins in kenjutsu.
Iaijutsu - The practical art of drawing to make a cut, with focus on the speed and power of the draw & cut.
Iaido - The more 'artiste' art of drawing to make a cut, with focus on the technique and form.
Batojutsu - The mix of both iai & ken to form a practical art of drawing the sword to make a cut, then making a few more cuts on the same or other opponents, and putting the sword back away.
Other Techniques
Shoto-jutsu - all of the above, but with a Shoto (wakizashi). There's not as many kata so it can be practiced as one art.
Tanto-jutsu - as above but with the good old armour piercer (tanto).
Ni-to-jutsu - Musashi Style! fighting with two swords, essentially of any combination of any lengths.
Anything else can probably fit under one of the above (i.e shinkendo, shinkenjutsu)
Also we should include the kanji for various terms, to help explain the differences. Afterall, japanese martials arts are rather meaningless if you don't understand basic japanese language and culture.
Links to
The various Ryu
Naginata-jutsu
So-jutsu
Nagamaki-jutsu
bo/jo/tanjo-jutsu
Aikido.
--BloodMagus 00:31, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Confusion of Terms