Evaluation Period.
The
history of Japan and the doctrine of the martial arts in
particular don't give a definite or precise answer to this
question.
The
Japanese national records and the many manuscripts form
various schools of martial arts refer to ancient methods
of combat codified long before actual records were kept.
The first records are said to have been introduced sometime
in the sixth century.
Between
the 8th and 11th century (Heian era) Japan had evolved it's
political organization, social and clan structures.
Up
until the 11th century Ju-Jitsu was the popular system of
combat for the aristocracy, the nobility and in 1156 the
beginning of the feudal era saw Ju-Jitsu being monopolized
by the elite Bushi or samurai warriors as their training
programmes. This was so until the late 19th century when
the samurai class was dissolved.
During
the reign of emperor Meiji was a period of restoration in
Japan including the legalisation of Christianity, the dissolve
of the samurai class and the opening of trading links with
the western world opposed to those held by the black ships.
The
dissolving of the samurai class left the government with
a huge problem.
Thousands
of highly trained fighting men whose talents were now superfluous,
twinned with the western demands for the Japanese race to
become more tolerant and less barbaric in the eyes of the
westerners.
The
solution took many years to come to. Essentially it involved
the cultural development of everything Japanese, which of
course included the martial arts whose schools by now were
highly specialized. The government's ultimatum was resisted
by many traditionalists who felt the only way for them was
to flee the country and become exiles, , remaining true
to their individual values. This is how in fact martial
arts methods arrived in the west. Many of these masters
became seamen to escape and taught their skills wherever
their ship landed at port.
For
those who stayed and faced the Cultural Revolution, they
had to endure the reshaping of martial systems, which we
now know today. In 1905, the majority of diverse systems
and main stream Ju-Jitsu schools had merged and synthesized
together under the auspices of professor Jigaro Kano to
produce the method of combat then known as Juido later to
be known as Kodokan Judo.
Aikijujutsu
schools and following the cultural wave his Schools later
became Aikido. Much later the striking arts shared the same
fate at the hands of Gichin Funakoshi who did for the arts
of striking what Kano and Uyeshiba had done for Judo and
Aikido respectively. These forms are practised worldwide
today and have become almost household names. What became
of the old schools; Well the old schools still survive today
but in a greatly diluted form. The format known as Jujutsu
has shared many names over the years viz. Wa jutsu, Taijutsu,
Yawara, Kogusoku, Chikara kurabe, Hakushi, Torite, etc
The
schools of Aiki-jujutsu did not join Kano's synthesis of
the 'jutsu' arts, preferring to remain independent. Morihei
Uyeshiba was virtually the last representative of the ways
to redirect their skills - sport was a popular choice, Sumo
being particularly favoured among the biggest and strongest.
Clearly the Meiji government applied all their energies
and resources into the new Cultural Japan and tried to leave
the shackles of the old Japan behind but this was not met
without resistance.
The
birth of the new Martial Ways (budo) systems had happened
and was picking up impetus in various countries of the world
through the now many foreign trading connections. Just as
it seemed to be gaining popularity, along came the next
problem. World War 1.
Then
followed a difficult period of rebuilding the new budo,
only to find, 20 years later war destroying this development.
World War 2 was much more protracted than the proceeding
war and saw the Japanese fight to the bitter end. However,
once the war was over and government began allowing freer
trade to industry and passage to their peoples, the development
of budo was back on track with the full support of the Japanese
government.
Now,
systems such as Karate, Judo, Aikido and Kendo with the
official backing of the Japanese government began to flourish
both in Japan and abroad. USA, Hawaii, Germany, Australia,
Holland, France, South Africa, Great Britain, Philippines
and Spain all shared a resurgence of interest in the Japanese
methods of combat.
Many
ex-servicemen returned to their home countries and started
teaching a form of Judo, though many of the techniques were
founded upon Jujutsu. But few had any real Knowledge of
Jujutsu and even fewer were qualified to teach.
Then
there is the notion that generally people usually like to
take the easy way out and in stark contrast to some of the
old forms, budo forms were considered by traditionalists
to the soft option. Certainly from the standpoint of marketing
a combatative form, the Japanese took this softer option
in order to attain the acceptance of the western world.