which the details of the school’s arts revolve. This core becomes increas-
ingly perceptible to initiates as they advance in their studies, particularly as
they turn their attentions beyond the initiatory functions of the bugei as
arts of war to their deeper purpose as arts of peace and self-realization. To
adepts who have entered this realm, each one of their school’s terms and
concepts reveals multiple levels of meaning—mechanical, psychological,
moral, and so forth—understood not as sequential steps, but as interpene-
trating spheres of activity. As the koryû conceptualize it, the value and the
benefits imparted by the practice of the bugei lie in the combination of all
the various elements involved. Koryû see this combination as having a spe-
cial meaning and existence over and above the sum of the parts. Thus ko-
ryû bugei is a means to broad personal development that exists only in
whole form: Studying a koryû necessarily involves a willingness to embrace
the whole package in a particularly defined way.
The arcane nature of the arts themselves, the lack of competitions and
other sportive applications, the cabalistic atmosphere surrounding admis-
sion and the educational process, and the length and seriousness of the
commitments expected from initiates limit the appeal of classical martial
art for modern audiences in, as well as outside of, Japan. Moreover, the
aversion of most headmasters to licensing branch instructors and acade-
mies severely restricts opportunities for training for those who might oth-
erwise be attracted. Thus koryû bugei are, and will likely continue to be, a
rather small part of the Japanese martial art world. Nonetheless, the koryû
are, historically and conceptually, the core of this world, and remain a vi-
tal—and quintessential—part of it today.
Karl Friday
See alsoBudô, Bujutsu, and Bugei; Form/Xing/Kata/Pattern Practice; Japan;
Samurai; Swordsmanship, Japanese
References
Draeger, Donn F. 1973. The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan. Vol. 1,
Classical Bujutsu.New York: Weatherhill.
———. 1973. The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan.Vol. 2, Classical Budô.
New York: Weatherhill.
Friday, Karl. 1997. Legacies of the Sword: The Kashima-Shinryû and
Samurai Martial Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Hurst, G. Cameron, III. 1998. The Armed Martial Arts of Japan:
Swordsmanship and Archery. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Skoss, Diane, ed. 1995. Koryû Bujutsu: Classical Warrior Traditions of
Japan.Berkeley Heights, NJ: Koryû Books.
———. 1998. Sword and Spirit: Classical Warrior Traditions of Japan.
Berkeley Heights, NJ: Koryû Books.Koryû Bugei, Japanese 305