Establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603) included strict con-
trol over weapons and the activities of the samurai class, but encouraged
their continued cultivation of a “martial spirit.” In this environment,
jûjutsu and ultimately jûdô developed. Meanwhile, in China, Zheng
Ruozeng’s Strategic Situation in Jiangnanhad been published (ca. 1568). In
addition to discussing the strategic situation in China’s coastal provinces
and mid-sixteenth-century campaigns against Japanese marauders, it lists
martial arts styles, including escape and seizing techniques (pofa, jiefa, na),
among boxing styles of the period. Also, the Complete Book of Miscellany
(1612 and 1746 editions) contains illustrations of some of these techniques
with a hint of jûjutsu in them. At the same time, some Chinese migrated to
Japan in the wake of the Manchu conquest in 1644. One of these, Chen200 Japanese Martial Arts, Chinese Influences on
Kagamisato (left)
and Yoshibayama
(right), Japanese
sumô wrestlers
during a match in
Tokyo, 1952. In
addition to native
elements, sumô
shows evidence of
Chinese influence.
(Library of
Congress)