Gendai Goshin Bujutsu
By Brett Denison, Mizukan
Dojo
Most
Martial Arts of today have drifted away from the combat realities of the past,
and have become focused on specific areas of study. Bujutsu, however, continues
to cover a wide range of skills relating to personal protection.
The origin of Bujutsu stems from our
need to protect precious life, what we hold valuable, and bring about
righteousness through the techniques of perfecting the mind and body.
The goal of training in Bujutsu is to
increase your odds of surviving any and all types of threatening situations.
Being prepared for a wide range of possible threats requires more than just
memorizing and practicing and a list of mechanical moves. In Gendai Goshin Bujutsu
the technical training, while quite effective on the physical level, serves a
greater purpose as a means of developing appropriate physical and mental
attitudes and approaches for dealing with all manners of problems, predictable
or sudden.
Bujutsu does not refer to a specific
style, but more to a group of arts, each with a different point of view
expressed by the individual Ryu or school. Bujutsu includes the study of both
unarmed and armed combative techniques, strategy, philosophy, and history.
Koryu and Gendai Budo
In a nutshell, “koryu” means
“old school,” and refers to bugei systems that developed prior to modern
times--essentially bushi (samurai) martial arts. It’s a neologism, coined
sometime during the early 20th century, to distinguish these older schools from
the newer (“modernized”?) forms of martial art that were developed from them
during the Meiji period and since. The latter are sometimes collectively called
“gendai budo” or “gendai bugei”--again, to distinguish them from the
koryu. (“Gendai” by itself, BTW, just means “modern” or
“contemporary”.)
The problem with the term “koryu,”
though (and the source of most of the rancor in discussions about it), is that
it’s imprecise: how old is “old”? Some people would draw the line at 1868
(the Meiji Restoration), others at 1876 (when bushi were forbidden to wear
swords--essentially the end of the samurai as a class). Some even use the term
to distinguish ryuha that existed before the advent of the Tokugawa period (ca.
1600). I’d draw the line at around 1850 or thereabouts, distinguishing bugei
systems developed in the wake of Western influence from what had been around
before.
But the fact of the matter is that
none of these definitions are wrong, and which one you use doesn’t really
matter, so long as you stipulate the definition. Arguments about whether xyz-ryu
is or isn’t a koryu are meaningless, without this kind of stipulation. But
once you do clarify your terms, the argument then becomes one of a) whether or
not the stated definition is actually useful, and b) whether or not the school
in question fits the stated definition.
You could, for instance, stipulate
that by “koryu” you mean any Japanese bugei system with roots in the
pre-Meiji past--in which case pretty much any form of Japanese martial art
(including kendo, judo, jukedo, naginata, and the like) would be a “koryu.”
The problem with a definition like this, however, is that it’s essentially
meaningless, since it doesn’t really distinguish “koryu” from other
“Japanese bugei”.
“Koryu” has, of course, become the
latest martial art fad in the West (just as “Ninjutsu” was during the 80s).
Everyone wants to claim membership in the koryu family, and the Internet heats
up to the point of hysteria every time someone argues against the advisability
of applying this label to some art or other. In the West, the distinction
between “koryu bugei” and “gendai bugei” is starting to hold
connotations of distinction between real and fraudulent martial arts.
This is just plain silly. The fact
that an art isn’t a koryu does not mean that it lacks a history, or even that
it lacks very old roots. It simply means that it lacks a certain kind of
history. “Koryu” doesn’t mean “martial art with a past”; it means
“old school.” It’s just a label for a particular phenomenon, and in order
to discuss anything intelligently, you have to define it and set parameters.
Koryu bugei is just one such phenomenon, but it’s certainly not the whole of
Japanese martial art. There was military training in Japan long before there
were ryuha, and there was unquestionably lots of martial training going on after
the advent of ryuha, outside the rubric of formalized ryuha systems and schools.
Gendai Goshin Bujutsu
Gendai Goshin Bujutsu (hereafter: GGB)
is a modern (gendai) self-defense oriented (goshin) style of martial arts (Bujutsu).
It’s true roots lie in the teaching of Kuniaki Seno sensei and in the mind of
his senior student Walt Bushey. Initially
in the late 1990’s Bushey sensei assisted in the formulation of Gendai Goshin-ryu
Jujutsu along with Ivica Zdravkovic.
Gendai Goshin-ryu Jujutsu serves as one of the primary empty Hand elements
or Taijutsu (body arts) of GGB--along with Gendai Goshin-ryu Aiki-jujutsu and
Gendai Goshin-ryu Karatejutsu).
Gendai
Goshin Bujutsu was created to attempt to recreate the similar structure and
“flavor” of the older koryu Bujutsu systems, but with an emphasis or focus
on modern, practical, and effective self-defense applications. We in no way are trying to represent GGB as a Koryu system,
but the combined experience and training of the founders of GGB does include a
significant amount of traditional Nihon Budo and Bujutsu knowledge.
The premise of Gendai Goshin Bujutsu
is to combine a common syllabus so that other sensei and disciplines can (with a
minimum of training or if applicable, no additional training other than
familiarization with the common syllabus) can cross train or cross rank in a
parent sogo bujutsu that will allow and, indeed, cultivate additional training
in other skills, award applicable rank, promote a common art, and in general,
cultivate Nihon Bujutsu as effective and purposeful in the modern world.
Menkyo System
Gendai
Goshin Bujutsu and its sub arts all utilize the older Menkyo licensing system
and do not utilize the modern Dan system in anyway; this system has only four
levels or stages. Upon completion
of each stage the disciple receives a certificate (inka) with the appropriate
license (menjo). The levels are Menkyo Shoden (Beginning Transmission), Menkyo
Chuden (Middle Transmission), Menkyo Okuden (Deep Transmission), and Menkyo
Kaiden (Complete Transmission). In
addition to the various technical requirements, each level also has very ridge
time-in-grade and minimum age requirements.
This
system is used in place of the modern Dan system to avoid the proliferation of
excessively high Dan levels and to help the deshi and sensei focus on the
training and development of stronger budoka.
Gendai Goshin Bujutsu Ranking
Ranking is
available is several ways within the Gendai Goshin Bujutsu system.
The following is a brief summary of the various ranking options:
- Ranking is available in the
individual sub arts Jujutsu, Karate-jutsu, Kenjutsu, Tessenjutsu, etc).
- It is possible to receive a unified rank for Gendai Goshin Bujutsu if you have established the appropriate ranks in the necessary GGB sub arts. This last option is very rare and available only to the most exceptional of students.
Only instructors
that have received authorization (by being granted a teaching license) are able
to offer instruction in the various GGB sub arts.
Teaching licenses are granted independent of rank awarded in the GGB
sub arts.
Additional Information
- For more information visit the Gendai Goshin Bujutsu page on the Kokukai Gendai Budo Renmei (KGBR) Web site.
- For information on cross ranking and the offical rank evaluation process go here.
- For additioanl contact information and for information about the Gebndai Goshin Bujutsu Board of Directors, go here.
(Please, visit the website of Denison sensei on Mizukan Dojo )