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.