experiences and systematized their fighting arts remain our best sources for
understanding the development and essential characteristics of Japanese
martial training. Finally, one cannot fail to mention the early textbooks that
laid the foundation for the development of the modern competitive forms
of martial art that are practiced throughout the world. Thus, our survey
covers the following genres: war tales, warrior exploits, military manuals,
initiation documents, martial art treatises, and educational works.
War Tales
War tales (gunki mono[9] or senki mono [10]) consist of collections of fic-
tional tales and chronicles about historical wars and warriors. Literary
scholars often confine their use of this term to works of the thirteenth
through fifteenth centuries, such as Heike monogatari[11] (Tales of the
Heike; i.e., the 1180–1185 war between the Minamoto [12] and Taira [13]
clans) or Taiheiki[14] (Chronicle of Great Peace; i.e., Godaigo’s [15]
1331–1336 failed revolt against warrior rule), which originally were re-
cited to musical accompaniment and which evolved orally and textually
over a long period of time. In a broader sense, however, the term sometimes
applies even to earlier battlefield accounts such as Shômonki[16] (Chron-
icle of Masakado [17]; i.e., his 930s revolt). None of these tales can be read
as history. Their authors were neither themselves warriors nor present at
the battles they describe. Episodic in nature, they derive dramatic effect pri-
marily from repetition of stereotyped formulas (e.g., stylized descriptions
of arms and armor, speeches in which heroes recite their illustrious ge-
nealogies, the pathos of death). Overall, they present the rise of warrior
power as a sign of the decline of civilization and sympathize with the los-
ers: individuals and families of fleeting power and status who suffer utter
destruction as the tide of events turns against them. Thus, Heike mono-
gataristates, in one of the most famous lines of Japanese literature: “The
proud do not last forever, but are like dreams of a spring night; the mighty
will perish, just like dust before the wind.”
In spite of the fact that war tales are obvious works of fiction, from
Tokugawa times down to the present numerous authors have used these
works as sources to construct idealistic and romanticized images of tradi-
tional Japanese warriors and their ethos. The names of fighting techniques
(e.g.,tanbo gaeshi[18], dragonfly counter) mentioned therein have been
collected in futile attempts to chart the evolution of pre-Tokugawa-period
martial arts. Excerpts have been cited out of context to show that medieval
warriors exemplified various martial virtues: loyalty, valor, self-discipline,
self-sacrifice, and so forth. At the same time, however, these texts also con-
tain numerous counterexamples in which protagonists exemplify the op-
posite qualities (disloyalty, cowardice). Perhaps because of this very mix-
Written Texts: Japan 761