Dojo translates very roughly to "way and place" Referring to the place one is currently parking their derriere is where they may explore the way. What is the way? Anything one endeavors. Martial arts, weaving Indian rugs, or excavating magic nose goblins.
In America, dojo is almost exclusively used to identify a place as a martial arts school. The Japanese language, typical of it's vagueness and non-confrontational grammer does not directly identify martial schools linguistically. The most common wordings for any type of training area are dojo, kan and ryu. The dojo, referring to a place which helps you along your "way". Kan, referring to hall or sometimes a house(Uses: Shotokan, Budokan). The incredibly vague "Ryu" describes a flow. A form of ideology rather than a physical location(Uses: Goju-Ryu, Shito-ryu).
WTF? What about jiu jitsu? Jitsu, another astonishingly vague precept is defined(barely) as "art" or technique. Jitsu can be applied all over the place. For example I've trained in bo-jutsu(6 ft staff) , ken-jutsu(sword fighting), tanto-jutsu(knife fighting), iai-jutsu(sword draw), aiki-jujutsu, and hojo-jutsu(combative rope fighting!). The "jutsu" spelling was very common before the BJJ rage.
Interestingly, there used to be and probably still is a major split between the "jutsu" and "do" crowds. Kendo, aikido, judo, iaido at one time were considered sports, games, non-combative exercises...useless for combat. Whereas, the prideful ken-jutsu, ju/jiu-jutsu/jitsu, iai-jutsu guys differentiated themselves by their practical combative nature. Probably some small measure of truth. My ken-jutsu training was pretty wild, with ruthless bladed attacks. Punches to the face were actually considered fair game! Read Miyamoto Musashi's "Book of the Five Rings" and he babbles all about busting some guy in the eye socket during a sword fight! Ballsy, but totally practical according to him. Look at the section entitled, "The Water Book". It states, "You must bear in mind that you can always clench your left hand and thrust at the enemy's face with your fist." Awesome! I think of this even when grappling. On occasion, I exercise this intent. :)
The iai-jutsu sword draw training I did, didn't look any different than typical iaido...Yet, the intent was different. Much different. Infact, the intent was to cleave clear through a dude, starting at his right floating rib and exit out his left jaw. Leaving two pieces of meat for the dogs. Anything lesser, was a waste of our time. Think of your intent.
So I leave you with this question posed by Anko Itosu in 1908:
You must decide if karate(or any martial art) is for your health or to aid your duty.
Later!
- Mark
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