JUTSU TO DO. .
THE ART AND THE WAY
The understanding of the Japanese character leads to the understanding of the meaning.
The key to the meaning is the gateway to the training.
What is the difference between Judo and Jujutsu? Aikido and Aikijutsu? Iaido and Iaijutsu?
Some people think it is a `trade name' that enhances the particular skill they are training in.
To really understand, we must look more closely at the two characters that make up the suffix of each word.
The character JUTSU has many dictionary meanings, for example: Art, Trick, Resource, magic and other similar meanings. This will not help us
discover its rlevance to martial skill, for that we must look much deeper.
   
When the character is dissected, we are left with two other characters.
The central character alone means `millet', and if the two outside characters were brought together they would mean `ko' or `iku', which means to
go or travel.
This interpretation is a journey along a road lined with hedges of millet. The martial arts meaning of this, is the knowledge and skill we
develop along our road of endeavour. The hedges represent our stages of learning the technique, to progress we must leave each stage behind and
move on. In the end fhe journey is made up of individual experiences we leave behind, but the sum total is the understanding of those
experiences, not the existence of the experiences themselves.
When we look at the character DO in dictionary terms it means: Province, Road, Moral Doctrine, Justice etc, and these are perhaps nearer to the
actual martial arts interpretation of this particular character than of the firmer JUTSU.
  
The outer section of the character represents movement. The inner section of the character means `shu' the head or 'kubi' the neck. Lets look at
this in terms of the word `shusoku' which means the whole body, in a process of advancement. DO or in Chinese TAO is the road or path that is
taken towards enlightenment. It is not an etherial journey devoid of realizm or effort, but a difficult road that is chosen for its barriers and
pitfalls. It is only along such a path that true understanding can be reached.
In martial ways, the technique is a means of confronting barriers and learning from their
experience, the way is never ending and at each stage a new enlightenment reveals itself and disappears, thus the journey continues. Let me draw
an analogy, suppose two men are heading towards the same town .in an attractive part of the countryside. One man just wants to get to his
destination, so he takes the quick straight road, he arrives there in no time at all. The other man takes an uncharted course across the country,
he experiences the hardship of bad weather conditions, he crosses the rugged terrain, but at the same time enjoys the fleeting glimpses of the
countryside, the quiet of a small spring hidden in the woods or the sudden glimpse of a wild animal before it darts to cover. On arrival at their
destination, which of them will have benefited most from his journey?
DO is the path you may decide to take, it is not just the suffix to the type of training you happen to be doing.
In more understandable terms, the difference between JUTSU and DO is quite straight forward. All the classical styles of Martial Arts that are
pre 'Meiji Restoration' and carry the suffix JUTSU, have their emphasis on victory in combat. The secondary considerations were moral and
spiritual development. To qualify even further as a true JUTSU system, the style should have completed its development and growth within the
confines of the feudal period.
The modern systems with the suffix DO, have their emphasis on moral and spiritual development. The secondary consideration is the practical
application of the technique. Both contain the same ingredient but in a different order of importance and in varying degrees of intensity. There
are of course many shades of these two primary colours, too numerous to discuss here.
From an article I saved by Sensei Mike Finn many years ago.
Malcolm
Yoshiki Goshin Jutsu
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| Self protection based on goshinjutsu or go shin jitsu. Using the stronger elements of ju jutsu or jujutsu, sometimes pronounced jujitsu, combined with the striking components of kyusho jutsu to generate a viable modern self defense, also spelt as self defence. |
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