buddhist Martial arts

>>2709101
Depends on what you mean by Buddhist. If its ordinary buddhist people, then ordinary people may have different types of martial arts.

If you're talking about Buddhist institutions like temples/monasteries, then there's certain that they teach self-defense as basic training. What type depends on who's teaching or heading the temple/monastery.

Elite samurais of the time would study Zen Buddhism as well to hone their concentration and ethics system. Once they retire, some of them go on and join temples/monasteries. Those ex-samurais would sometimes teach their swordsmanship, spearsmanship, archery, etc. if they desired.

>>2709126
So if I was to find out what martial arts the buddhist's were taught I would have to know who was the head of these temples and then figure out what those specific people taught?

>>2709101
Considering most japanese people were mahayana buddhists I'd say everything

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>>2709101
That's a complex question, Japanese at the time really didn't separate religion and everyday life, or Buddhism from Shintoism.

Anywhere you have an active milita, which included Buddhist temples you would probably have some form of military drill. whether this was out of practicality or they mixed in elements of Buddhism is hard to say though in japan they probably did.

esoteric Buddhism was popular with martial artists of that time because of the advanced breathing methods and meditation techniques those schools taught.

Aside from the physical benefits and religous meaning of these practices, many martial artists sought satori, an enlightenment experience or vision that would allow them to reach a higher level of marital art.

the cult of Marishiten, a Buddhist war deva, She was incredibly popular among the bushi in general and specifically martial artist, being accredited with providing the inspirations to many of the most historically important sword arts.

"After practicing the secret rituals of Marishi-sonten day after day for a long period...I received an inspiration from the deity and suddenly, from my heart (the shinkage ryu) gushed out"

-Kamiidzumi Ise no Kami Nobutsuna, founder of shinkage ryu hyoho

The best academic work on this subject is probably produced by Dr. David Hall

http://www.brill.com/buddhist-goddess-marishiten

Bodiford's Zen and japanese swordsmanship reconsidered is also worth looking at.

Zen was a late influence on the marital arts and much more important in the Edo era than in the period you're taking about

Roald Knutzen "Tengu" is a good source of information on the various esoteric practices that influenced Japanese martial arts, though he is found of untenable speculations.

http://www.brill.com/tengu

A good book on Buddhist militia would be "the claws and teeth of the Buddha" which dispels alot of myths about them

Also look into hozoin ryu its founder was a monk.

http://www.koryu.com/library/dlowry10.html

>>2709379
So, all of this is really helpful, and thank you for that information. Though I'm having trouble finding any martial arts that existed in the time frame that I'm speaking of. Most of what we consider "Traditional Japanese Martial Arts" were actually founded in the early 1900's.

However, with the thought of how Buddhism was carried over from China, could one assume then that the chinese martial arts that the Buddhist's practiced at the time were practiced by the Japanese as well?

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>>2709467
>"Traditional Japanese Martial Arts" were actually founded in the early 1900's.

while such arts as kendo, judo and karate, in Japan those are called gendai budo, or modern martial ways.

arts founded before the meiji Restoration and the sword ban act are called koryu, and a handful of them date back to the time period in question

http://www.koryu.com/

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>>2709467
>However, with the thought of how Buddhism was carried over from China, could one assume then that the Chinese martial arts that the Buddhist's practiced at the time were practiced by the Japanese as well?

Unlikely. While a few Chinese martial arts seem to have transplanted themselves into Japan by the early edo period none survive and little is documented about them.

Japanese martial arts in general do not look like Chinese martial arts and follow a different androgogy, The only real exception to this is spearmanship, both nations slide the spear through their hand, though this might be convergent evolution.

While the founders of a number of prominate early edo period martial arts did spend time in china and study Chinese martial arts, the techquies they demontrate are just adaptions of Japanese techquies. The main thing they got from the Chinese were various methods of breathing and reorganizing the body for martial movement. These you see in these arts and those related to them. Its also likely that jujutsu got its striking techniques from Chinese martial arts or manuals.

Chinese martial arts manuals were very popular for a time in the late sengoku and early edo and were supposedly passed around by Japanese martial artists like playboys. Its likely warriors looked at these and tried to rework it to see if there was anything they could use.

To sum up: The Japanese took breathing techniques and qi gung from Chinese martial arts, and perhaps some striking and spear techniques. Some of it was probably reconstructed from Chinese manuals rather than handed down through a teacher.

Among the surviving arts with the strongest Chinese influence are the jiki shinkage ryu kenjutsu, the shindo youshin ryu jujutsu, both emphasized various exercises and breathing techniques to develop power and stability. Also of interest is the daito ryu, while the origins of their methods are no known they practice exercises similar to those of the two other ats

>>2709200
Yes. There wasn't any globalized buddhist self-defense mandate. Each school chooses its own course. Some hardcore buddhist school probably don't even think its right to use self-defense.

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>>2709101
I just want to note those men appear to be using a shiba-uchi, a special sword made for wood cutting in certain religious rituals such as goma fires. Ive read that medieval shiba-uchi were more like a real sword than the modern version.

the weapon is associated with the yamabushi, a sect that combined elements of Buddhism, Shinto, and Taoism. The sect is heavily associated with early Japanese martial arts

>>2709101
By conincidence I started reading about Omori Sogen, a prominent zen monk, right wing activist, calligrapher and a teacher of jiki shinkage ryu kenjutsu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omori_Sogen

His movements in the kata he demonstrates show that rather than a rote practice of "I do this the bad guy does that" they are rather a way of training breathing, balance and power generation while using a sword.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHLz9PEw11k

Nice thread. I hope this helps.

The prominence of the sōhei rose in parallel with the ascendancy of the Tendai school's influence between the 10th and 17th centuries. The warriors protected land and intimidated rival schools of Buddhism, becoming a significant factor in the spread of Buddhism and the development of different schools during the Kamakura period.[2]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sōhei