Whatever happened to Bushido?

"It is a wretched thing that the young men of today are so contriving and so proud of thier material possessions. Men with contriving hearts are lacking in duty. Lacking in duty, they will have no self-respect." - Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure


People today study the Martial Arts for various reasons. Some for physical fitness, some for a hobby, some for competition. The orginal purpose of the martial arts was war. It was combat. Those who practiced it were considered to be warriors. The samurai, Hwarang, even the Shaolin monks.

These men governed their lives in a certain way, always considering themselves to be warriors and with that came certain responsibilities. Today, what happens in your everyday life is never considered. People don't take it seriously anymore. Soccer moms and their kids take classes in the shopping mall because it's considered a "family activity". MMA fighters strut around and try to tell people how a fight "really is" because they fight in a controlled environment with a given set of rules.

All of this has nothing to do with martial arts, nothing to do with Budo. Bushido defined is The Way of the Gentleman Warrior. The samurai lived thier lives being prepared to die in battle.

So how does this translate into the modern landscape? Well, those of us trained in the martial arts have a responsiblity to ourselves and to our instructors to take it very seriously and to train as if we are preparing for war. It doesn't take many newscasts to realize that the world is rapidly becoming a more violent place everyday.

We also have a responsibility to others. We may not like it, but we have the responsibility to defend other people. We are the knights of old who defended a small village against tyrranical raiders.

The martial arts were designed to injure, maim, even kill an enemy. It should never be something we do in between soccer matches or for sport.


"Although it stands to reason that a samurai should be mindful of the Way of the Samurai, it would seem that we are all negligent." - Hagakure