Budo Mountain

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After a recent discussion with Oshiro Zenei-Sensei (an old student of Ei’ichi Miyazato-Sensei, now living in Paris), and Jenni Molloy-Sensei of the Jundokan Leeds Tsuyoikokoro Dojo, at the Jundokan 2019 end-of-year party, I would like to share the following idea of his about the Budo Mountain…

Oshiro-Sensei explained the concept of how all of the different martial art (budo) forms (e.g.: Karate, Judo, Kendo, Aikido, etc.) and each respective style and school (e.g.: Goju-Ryu, Shotokan, Shorin-Ryu, etc.) belong to a single ‘mountain’. The goal of each art is to ‘climb the mountain’, or master the art, by developing a deep understanding of the principles involved through years of hard training, effort, and perseverance.

Each art and style begins at a different point around the base of the Budo Mountain. Practitioners of each style all see the point of the mountain in front of them as different because of the different ‘scenery’ (or style) at each location. It is not until they climb that mountain over many years that they realise the scenery begins to look more and more similar as the mountain gets higher and narrower. Finally, once they reach the summit after many years of climbing, they realise they’ve all been on the same mountain together the whole time.

This, Oshiro-Sensei said, is what Budo is all about. Everyone who begins a new martial art style starts out believing theirs is different from all others. As they work their way through their own training, they come to see similarities between their style and that of others, and finally, after many years of training and mastering their own art, they realise that Budo is Budo, and we’re all just doing the same thing.

I think these are wise and important words to keep in mind as we engage in our own training and watch that of others. Reaching the ultimate summit of the Budo mountain, that is, mastering the art completely, is very difficult and, indeed, most of us will never achieve it.

What we can do, however, as we walk our own path up the mountain is train our minds, bodies and spirits, develop practical self-defense skills, and, perhaps most importantly, establish and strengthen companionship and camaraderie with others who walk alongside us.

At the end of the day, regardless of the art, style, or school, we’re all climbing the same Budo Mountain… so why not do it together?

In true budo there is no enemy or opponent. True budo is to become one with the universe, not train to become powerful or to throw down some opponent. Rather we train in hopes of being of some use, however small our role may be, in the task of bringing peace to mankind around the world. - Morihei Ueshiba (Founder of Aikido)

Blake Turnbull copyright ©2019