Sports and Budo

Today after practice in Ikebukuro, an issue was brought up about people who see the organization's website and indicate their interest in iaido is sports related. While this might not seem like something that would be a problem, the sheer number of Japanese people who approach iaido from a sports background is staggering. On the other hand, just about every foreigner who comes to watch a class or joins is interested in the cultural aspects of the art and the appeal that comes with doing something esoteric. Why are so many Japanese people thinking that iaido is sports related? I think I know the answer.

After World War II, Japanese society was entirely in the hands of the US. Even today, these influences are clearly demonstrating their staying power in a country that has very little idea of how to care for itself. School lunches are still 1950's style (milk with every meal, even if milk doesn't go with Japanese food). Kids are encouraged to play western sports, and high school baseball has a larger fan base than traditional Sumo wrestling. Most public schools, required in the early twentieth century to teach Judo and Kendo, now only offer baseball and soccer for boys and volleyball and badminton for girls as after-school sports programs. The Kendo clubs at my junior high schools have about three or four students each and the teachers and staff pay zero attention to them. At least most kids know what Kendo and Judo are, but they have no idea how Kendo and Judo came to be. Since it's been sixty years since the end of the war, there are now three generations who know how to play baseball. How many people know anything about budo other than the fact that Kendo and Judo are "what the samurai used to do?"

Since Kendo and Judo are at least widely known and practiced, most people think that Kendo and Judo are budo. Kendo and Judo are based on budo, but are not budo themselves. They are sports, and that needs to be made clear. Most Japanese people think that iaido is very closely related to Kendo, which is not their fault since the All Japan Kendo Federation's umbrella organization includes several styles of iaido. Most true koryu (old) styles of iaido are independent of this organization, however, and do not even come close to fitting the definition of "sports," the key element of which is competition.

Why are sports like Judo and Kendo different? Simple. The practitioners train for competition, not simply to improve themselves. Comparing your training to someone else's training is meaningless, which is exactly what competition encourages. Competition in confrontational, and the true heart of budo should be harmony with others. (PS: Yes, I am saying that competition incourages hostility, especially in contact sports.) While some people in the sports-budo community are able to strike a balance between the two (self-development and competition, learning from loss, etc.), most people lack the ability to do so, the reason being exposure to western sports like soccer and baseball at an early age. Thus, the sports/budo connetion is made.

Coming back to my original point, why is this such a big deal for our organization? This conversation came up after practice because of an incident we witnessed this afternoon at the Toshima Sports Complex. A group of college Judo kids and their sensei had rented the budo dojo after us and were waiting for us to leave. We had the space until 3 o'clock and were rushing to get changed so that the Judo folks could start their tournament. We left at 2:50, politely greeted the Judo group and proceeded towards the elevators. When we got to the 9th floor lobby, we were shocked to see the head sensei berating two of the Sports Complex workers for making them wait in the lobby. "We want to START at 3, not get changed at 3! How dare you keep us waiting in the damn lobby!" The workers explained that many different groups from around the city rent that space, and our iaido group has that space almost every Saturday until 3. Obviously, if we're using the dojo, they can't be using the dojo. For some reason, this bit of logic didn't sink into the Judo sensei's head, so he kept screaming with his college kids standing behind him trying to look as menacing as possible.

Why doesn't this sort of thing happen in our style or other traditional styles of budo? Two reasons: We're not competitive, so we lack such sassy attitudes (most of us anyway), and if we were to act that way, the head of the style of strip us of rank and title and tell us how unfit we are to be practitioners of traditional budo. True practitioners of budo are completely encompassed by their training. They are their training. They take it a step further and allow their training to inundate their daily lives. Budo solidifies and harmonizes every aspect of a person's life (or can harmonize every aspect if the individual is mature enough, unlike me!), including how they interact with other people.

Gosoke always says, "If you can't be a positive, polite person, how can you be a budoka? You can't. It's impossible." Amen.

What I Should Expect From Myself in 2008

Due to various health issues, work, end of year antics and the like, it's been a while since I last updated this blog. Well... I'm just a lazy bum. That's the truth of the matter. Having said that though, I don't like to update my blog with short random entries that do little more than inform my readers (hahaha, that's a laugh) how many times I went to Starbucks in the past 48 hours (once) or what kind of weird festival I saw on my way home from the station. I tend to use this blog as a means to vent frustration or express an opinion about something that really is much more mundane than it seems to be. Since I've discovered that I am indeed a very opinionated person, despite my Friends School upbringing and extremely liberal college education, I strive to post anecdotes and whatnot that have a point... again, not how many effing times I went to Starbucks this week (three times).

Since it's the beginning of a new year, and I managed to totally screw over the last one, for the first time in my life I actually have a list of resolutions. And no, the last thing my skinny butt needs is to lose weight (59 kilos).

First off, I need to go home at least twice this year. I don't know how I'll manage that, but I should have a clear picture come April. Usually I get at least a month off in August and two weeks at the end of the year. We shall see. This sense of urgency to get states-side stems from two things: 1) I've been in Tokyo too long without a break (since my last break in the summer of 2006), and 2) I was supposed to go home this holiday season, but wussed out for several reasons, health being the main one.

Next up: health. The bugs over here are different, and by some bizarre twist of evolutionary fate, much more aggressive. Maybe the fact that Japanese doctors working in hospitals only hand out two days worth of medicine the day before they close for the holidays thereby keeping the patients sick (moi) far too long has something to do with it as well, but maybe it doesn't; what do I know? Anyway, I've been sick since the week before Christmas all because the damn doctors at the local hospital wouldn't give me more than two days worth of antibiotics. My goal for this year is just to not get sick. Period. Family practices are all well and good, but in a pinch sometimes the hospital is the only choice. I'd rather avoid hospitals in this country. They don't seem to have their priorities straight.

My third priority is work related. I love teaching junior high school kids, but I'd like to translate for a living. Anything I can do to get on that track would be nice. It's time to make that happen.

Last, but certainly not least, consistent keiko, especially aikido. 2007 saw a slump in my aikido training, which ain't a good thing. Helping Gyokufukai get off the ground was a high priority during the latter half of last year, but aikido fell by the wayside as a result. The last few months I was only getting two days a week. Not good. If I can get four days a week this year, I know I'll see some progress in both my aiki and iai training. Also need to sit more than four times a week and get my sorry self to the West Coast Tourny in August... which would coincide nicely with resolution numero uno, getting home this summer.

At the time I didn't think that what I was doing would end up being regretful courses of action, but hindsight is always 20/20, and looking back I can safely say that 2007 was a travesty of good decision making. Bah-Humbug.