Is the martial art you teach, or study?

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That is a good question. Many people study arts that never mention if they are a "Jutsu", "Do", Or a "Ryu". Makes it confusing when they start to hear for such differences. Ron Cherry explained them to me this way..... A Jutsu is an art that is intended for life protection. It cares not if it maims or kills when needed. A Do is an art that is no longer seen as needing to always be a life or death fight. It may not teach some of the more dangerous techniques, or when it does may change them slightly. Ryu on the other hand means School or system. A Ryu may have only one style within it, or it may have branches or sub styles as part of the overall system.

I have studied both Do and Jutsu. The Kempo that I teach can be taught as either. I prefer the Jutsu point of view.


Edit: the Goshindo that Kara mentioned is much like arts that are called Sogoken arts. Sogo-Ken meaning basically "combined fist method". It involves techniques from more than one style of martial arts but practiced together and only as self-defense, never as a sport. Several of my instructors were students of Shogo Kuniba. Albert C. Church inherited our kempo style and brought it back to the U.S.A years ago. He was both a friend and student of Shogo Kuniba.


Edit: @KW many people say Jutsu when they may actually be trying to refer to a Jitsu. Jitsu and Jutsu are two totally different things. It is however common for even old timers like myself to run into others that will argue as to the correct definition and usage of martial arts terms. The frustration and confusion come into it when people try to use modern Japanese characters, then look up their meaning. I can't tell you how many times i have had someone tell me that their certificates from several decades ago can't be easily read or understood by people trying to look up the characters. Most people think that Japanese is Japanese. However, when you look at the old martial uses of certain words they do not fit the modern definitions as far as the intended meaning.

Edit: @KW people are always using Japanese words that mean different things interchangeably as if they are the same thing. Jitsu and Jutsu are a common example. The old samurai arts were all "Jutsu" arts, meaning they were designed to maim or kill. A few of the Jujitsu systems could correctly be called Jujutsu, if they still teach the art purely as a combat/maim or kill intention.
But most are jot taught for that purpose and are correctly referred to as Jujitsu. The Karate taught in Okinawa originally were all Jutsu arts. These days we have two basic misuses of terms. We have those that choose to use Jutsu because they think it makes them sound more serious or dangerous. some use the terms incorrectly because they don;t know any better. As anyone that has been here much and noticed. Jutsu and Jitsu gets thrown around and abused much. It is like the term Kempo and Kenpo. both are correct for certain arts. but they are not the same thing. In the 1960's if an art was a Kenpo art it meant that it had come to the U.S.A by way of Japan. However, arts that used the Kempo spelling were arts that came here from China. today even some of the high ranked famous people are interchanging the two terms. My Kempo style is not heard of often. most people have never heard of it. It originated in China, moved to Korea, moved to Japan, and was brought to the U.S.A. in the late 1960's. We only use the Kempo spelling due to its lineage. And it is taught as a Jutsu and as a Do.


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Well the "do" art that I have trained in for over 35 years, Shito-ryu and those I trained under was very closely associated with the idea and need for a "jutsu" art and so they always encouraged training and studying that as well. Many "do" arts did not take that approach back then and I think I was lucky and fortunate to find those people in Shito-ryu after first studying Shotokan for several years. It did not hurt that I had already also studied Judo as a child and saw a need for both ground fighting as well as stand-up fighting capabilities if a person was going to be a complete martial artist in my mind also.

Of course many stand-up or "do" arts now include more "jutsu" and or teaching those aspects in their arts to make their students more capable and well rounded. However that was not the case in the late 60s and early 70s in most stand-up arts as I stated earlier. I think its great that they do now and the mark of a good instructor among other things is that they are well rounded and well versed in their art in total-not just those stand-up aspects.

They must of course be willing to learn and train in those aspects as well in order to teach and coach others in those aspects and some are. The only bad side to it is that you still have some that don't and will only focus on and teach the stand-up or "do" aspects of their art and really don't know what they are doing when addressing and teaching the "jutsu" aspects. Then of course the teaching is not so good in some ways but it in some ways might still be better than nothing especially if we are talking about self-defense and if a technique saves a student from being assaulted.

I think also some of all this has also brought about a resurgence in TMA and some people now understanding that some "do" arts always had a "jutsu" aspect to them which was not taught maybe, or as heavily emphasized as it is now....Show more

The main style that I practice aand study is a ryu. It can be taught as do or jutsu. My preference is jutsu.

KW

BJJ is a far cry away from jutsu. it is jitsu. It is a soft or yielding style. With jutsu our objecive or shall I say results will (maim)injure or kill. Reasons being it is meant for survival. We're not trying to hold or control.

Ju is often defined as soft or yielding. Jutsu which is what Kano studied before judo was meant to take you out. It is not meant for tournaments. Everyone would be hurt or either dead if they competed. There may be a small time frame in history of it being used in competition. But of course something like this couldn't last if no one walked away without bad injuries like broken legs, arms, etc while others were carried out.

Edit:

The sad thing is that many people that have been around many years don't know what they are teaching. They think they are teaching a traditional or classical art, but in reality they are teaching a sports version of the real art. There are many others that at one time or another that participated in them and don't know they are in some watered down version of a real art....Show more

I do Ryukyu Kempo Tomari-te and Tai Chi Chuan. In application, they are both "jutsu(s)". In practice they are both "Do(s)". What I mean is that when Im training I do things that help keep me healthy (the "Do" side), kata and kihon waza for exercise but, I also train bunkai and randori for self-defense (the "jutsu" side). So, it's a combination of the two. The lines for me are kinda blurry, I train just about everyday and even when I'm not training I'm thinking about training, constantly. I am always paying attention to my surroundings, in case I need to take action which means that the "jutsu" has become the "Do". I'm sure that others have had the same experience. Good question, I've never really put much thought into it before, thanks!...Show more

I cannot find anywhere that makes "jitsu" any different than "jutsu". Only from Pugpaws2 have I heard what he is saying. I do not agree with the "jitsu" interpretation meaning something different than Jutsu. I've even contacted many people regarding this, including Shihan John Roseberry of the Shoreishobukan Dojo, and he informed me he was unable to find any such thing as well. No one I've contacted can, and I truly tried to find it. I wouldn't argue this other than I believe it to be false. 術 and じゅつ/ジュツ is Jutsu. If you spoke Japanese you would never make the lasy i used in order to say "jitsu". I urge everyone to try and find it out yourself and not solely take the word of a person as an absolute (In everything, not just in regard to this).

芸術 (げいじゅつ), 手術(しゅじゅつ), 技術 (ぎじゅつ), 催眠術 (さいみんじゅつ), 錬金術 (れんきんじゅつ), 魔術(まじゅつ), 忍術 (にんじゅつ), 体術 (たいじゅつ), 柔術 (じゅうじゅつ)! Hell, even 呪術 (じゅうじゅつ), ... All are Jutsu.


That aside, my answer is this: I study Jutsu, but I practice Do. To clarify, I'm not trying to take anything away from the styles I study, however, I simply have my own perspective that I try and create. I guess that would make it a combination....Show more