Japanese "Manly Accomplishments" from 1875

[Bill Mattocks]

The copyright on this has long since passed into the public domain. I thought it was a set of interesting notes about some of the Japanese Martial Arts traditions, including fulminations on the life of a Samurai. Given the date written, I feel it quite interesting. Hope you enjoy it.

[URL="http://books.google.com/books?id=dKtFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51&dq=jiu-jitsu+date:1800-1890&lr=&as_brr=1&as_pt=ALLTYPES&ei=SNahScClGo6mM8j2jJQN#PPP3,M1"FU-SO Mimi Bukuro][/URL]

FU-SO Mimi Bukuro
Or
A Budget of Japanese Notes
BY C. Pfoundes
REPRINTED FROM THE "JAPAN MAIL."
1875.
Printed And Published At The "Japan Mail" Office, YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.

Manly Accomplishments.

Gel Jitzu (Faculty of Accomplishments) may be divided into two great classes.

Bun Gel or literary; and Bu Gel or chivalrous. Eighteen divisions or classes were originally brought over from the Continent (China), but the following is what was taught till the present decade, and is still affected by the conservatives or Kiu-hei.

The Bun Gei or Oakumon, the literature, or rather "Chinese letters" or characters, may be subdivided into Kan Gaku, or classics of China; and Wa Gaku, or native literature.

Kan Gaku, or classics of China, and works written in the same style include Gun Gaku, or 'War Teachings,' which had several Riugie or styles, the principal being Yamada, Takeda, Togunriu, Echigo, Kurama, and Naganuma.

Ba jitsu (horsemanship) is divided into Otsubo, Ogasa- wara, Kisha.

Jiujitsu (wrestling) is also taught, but not much practiced by gentlemen.

The use of the following weapons is taught:—Yumi, archery ; it has also its riugie, Ogasawara and Heiki being the best known.

Kama is a weapon like a bill-hook and is thrown at an enemy. It has its riugie, the Shosetsu, Shinkage and Kusare.

Bo a staff of hard wood a fathom in length, more used by farmers than by samurai. Naga maki is a yard long staff to which a sword is tied, as our rioters would a scythe.

Exercises with the Tsuku bo satsumata, the Mojiri, and other weapons which were to be seen at the guardhouses in older times, used to lay hold of dangerous characters, and the methods employed to tie up prisoners with the Tori nawa, are also practised.

Shiu-ri-ken was a piece of iron about three inches long, thrown from the hand, a dangerous missile when used by the expert marksman.

Yari (lance) there are many forms of this weapon and styles of using it, such as Taneda, Hozoin, &c.

Ken jitzu or Fencing. The principal styles taught are Shin huge, Shinto, Yagiu, Ono-ha-itto, and Ni-to-riu, or two swords, one for each hand. The Naginata, a short lance with a large curved blade, although considered more as a woman's weapon, was taught in the Shin-kage and Shidzuka systems.

Ho jitsu, or the art of handling fire-arms, has numerous riugie or styles, of which the most common are Inouye, Taisuke and Oyieno, the latter, introduced with the use of foreign weapons, demands peculiar modes of handling the weapon and is somewhat complicated.

The teachers of fencing, and the use of these Weapons after the various styles, most jealously conceal the peculiarities of their methods from all but their pupils, who also are discreet, but the secrets are mainly confined to holding the swords &c., and aiming with the fire-arms.

Bun-gei, Polite letters. We will for convenience divide these into Wa (native) and Kan (classics of China.)

Shin gaku is divided into the Yoshida kei, Suiega ha, and formerly there existed some other sects, worshiping at the same shrines, but with somewhat different ceremonies necessary to be studied by the accomplished man.

Wa gaku. The native literature, history and poetry, and the more admired native authors must be known to the Japanese gentleman.

Kan gaku. (Classics.) The standard works of the Chinese classics must be somewhat familiar to assist in composition.

Sanjitsu. (Arithmetic), is not generally much studied, and many native gentlemen and officers are unable to use the soraban (abacus) with facility.

Rei or Shitzukegata. Politeness, good behavior, is absolutely essential, and is studied from the earliest age. The Tokugawas followed the Ogasawara style of polite observances. There is also the Iseriu.

Shi, consists in composing verses in Chinese.

Oata or native poetry, renga haikai, &c., have their admirers. In reciting these verses the voice rises and falls somewhat after the tones of the Chinese. The scholars in the capital may be heard frequently reciting in this, to us, mournful tone.

Taka-Jo, Hawking, was anciently an Imperial pastime: latterly the Tokugawa family and subsequently the great Daimios practised it. It is a sport rarely to be met with now.Shiukiku or Kemawari; Foot ball. Yoklu (small bows).

Fishing, Hunting, Shooting, with the cross-bow, fowling piece or other weapons, boar-spearing, &c., are all more or less affected by the daimio's retainers.

The practice of musical instruments also forms part of the accomplishments of a finished gentleman; he understands too the No dances, the arranging of flowers, gardening, &c., and unfortunately many less innocent accomplishments are studied by the young samurai. Each had his peculiar hobby, many of them coming under the head of 'Pastimes' or of some special avocation. Men reared in the city or in the provinces had their special and peculiar tastes and experiences, and many of the poorer classes of the samurai filled up their time and supplemented their scanty incomes by working at some trade, (Nai Shoku.)

 

[kaizasosei]

Sorry but i put this in the wrong thread. I meant to place it in original samurai arts..

I believe that the concept of ju in jujutsu is definately more than a watered down remnant of the past. It clearly shows that the core of the philosophy was not only passed on but almost universal to all of the japanese islands...
whilst through time and forgetting, it would come to be synonymous with unarmed combat, the idea of softness winning over strength is an idea common in many martial systems of the east.
What i find interesting is the practice of many jujutsuryuha of fighting from kneeling position. There can be many reasons for this. 1. Japan is known for sitting on floor, so it is understandable that one would need to be able to fight well from the seated position. 2. Like in other japanese arts such as sword arts, great stress is placed on the training of the tanden and kneeling and firm seat is a vital aspect thereof. 3. The ceilings were generaly quite low so it may have be strategically better to remain lower to the the floor.

Furthermore one aspect that i believe was left out, was that in peaceful times and places, there would still be police forces. Often single guys wandering their turf with jitte and the like...hojojutsu, another war related art, was practiced to such an uncanny level that is is safe to assume that other war arts were also practiced to the point of virtual perfection.
Thing is about hojojutsu, you need to subdue the prisoner first using jujutsu techniques or supplementing with small weapons. Stands to reason that because talent and passion is not restricted to noble family alone, that an ordinary caretaker could easily be a formidable fighter-possibly even ommiting sword or spear-heavy weapon use alltogether.

What i think is interesting is that you see bjj and mma grapplers today also practicing from kneeling position-part of that is because they wish to skip the hassle and risk of injury sustained in takedowns..
but maybe it is a natural aspect of grappling and i would not be surprised in the least if at various times in japanese history, jujutsu schools would flourish and excel in their arts to the level of modern mma or bjj. Let's face it, without the basic groundwork of judo and other similar fighting styles, mma would have had to reinvent the wheel all over again. Now you can see kids on youtube with intense amounts of grappling knowledge and strategy.

About the book secrets of the samurai, i think it is a decent and educational work...sure it is somewhat superficial and written from a western point of view, but the material is not really incorrect i find. Recently i went to the library at the culture center and while getting myself some jujutsu, mudra and go books, i took a look at the nipponbujutsudaijiten- and basically, it was very similar to secrets of the samurai. Of course it is much more detailed and precise in the form of an encyclopedia, but in essence the structure is not unlike that of secrets of the samurai. I am quite sure that such encyclopedias were some of the main resources used in putting together the book.

From the perspective of an actual practitioner, although the japanese bujutsu encyclopedia has named every little part of every accessory and weapon imaginable, it too seems fairly superficial to me. Still there are pictures of karate techniques, sumo and sword techniques, boshuriken throwing techniques-much more than in secrets of the samurai....i didn't find too much on hojojutsu although i didn't spend too much time looking-
Was permitted to take a number of pictures with which i copy the works quickly without trace. Mostly i took pictures of the sumo techniques and karate techniques.

Basically, the work lists warriors, schools, parts of armour and weapons such as the sickle and chain with a short paragraph explaining.


j

 

[jtweymo]

That's a very nice post indeed.

I like that very much, good material.

It's similar to the post war doctrines my jujutsu school teaches
especially Ishinjo no keizai from the Jumbi no goho. But our stuff doesn't date back to the 1800's it's post war (maybe back to the 1940's ?)

Still, I guess those kind of older sentiments probably are where such post war doctrines have their roots. Makes sense I guess.

 

[sandanbob]

I have two comments to make- first, it is interesting that arithmetic was not considered important, and two, I have been conditioned to consider the shuriken to be 'ninja' weapons.

 

[girlbug2]

I love it--Flower arranging, gardening, and dancing are the pastimes of a finished gentleman. Knowing one's poetry is also important, but math is not.

 

[Tez3]

I love it--Flower arranging, gardening, and dancing are the pastimes of a finished gentleman. Knowing one's poetry is also important, but math is not.

One had servants to deal with the boring things in life like maths!

 

[girlbug2]

Sounds good to me. And you know by those standards, I'd make a very manly "gentleman."

 

[Senjojutsu]

Sanjitsu. (Arithmetic), is not generally much studied, and many native gentlemen and officers are unable to use the soraban (abacus) with facility.

Samurai gentlemen may have been Family Guy fans:
Chris Griffin: Dad, can you help me with my math homework?
Peter Griffin: Math. Math my dear boy is nothing more than the lesbian sister of biology.

Who knew!?

 

[Bruno@MT]

Samurai gentlemen may have been Family Guy fans:
Chris Griffin: Dad, can you help me with my math homework?
Peter Griffin: Math. Math my dear boy is nothing more than the lesbian sister of biology.

Who knew!?

So... math is hot and exciting ...

 

[cdunn]

I love it--Flower arranging, gardening, and dancing are the pastimes of a finished gentleman. Knowing one's poetry is also important, but math is not.

Some of this probably echoes back to the old caste system, which was only abolished legally in 1867, at the transition from the Edo period to the Meiji. As Tokugawa wanted to impose an agrarian society, in which the farmer was the peak of society, the merchant classes were considered to be vulgar. While a farmer need be only minimally proficient at mathematics, a craftsman must be more so, and a merchant most so - and a large portion of what a farmer needs is to keep the merchant from cheating him. You end up with a situation where your skill in math is more or less inversely proportionate to your place on the social ladder. It is therefore unsurprising that math should not be a prized skill.