Sakuraba Takeshi - The Development of Judo from the Meiji Renovation - 2/3

Introduction and warnings

Sakuraba Takeshi further develops the discussion which begun in the previous chapter, illustrating the details of how the Kōdōkan jūdō progressed within the Japanese School System not motu proprio, i.e. by virtue of its superior qualities, but because it fitted into a precise educational and political strategy. Our gentle readers surely won’t fail to notice the high occurrence of such terms as “People”(國民 Kokumin), “State”(國家 Kokka), “substance of the Nation” (體國kokutai),the latter deeply rooted in the Japanese ideology and propaganda of both pre-war and war periods. We are merely suggesting to look into these words as research opportunities.

We ask all readers to take note of the following:

• Japanese terms are given in ancient characters, as they are found in the original text.
• Where we considered necessary to add, in the body of the text, a word which is implied in the original text in order to clarify the meaning of the sentence, this is accompanied by the acronym (TN), translation note. All the notes to the text are edited by Acqua Autunnale and are not part in the original text.

The text

In this chapter we will write about the manifestation of jūdō on a legal level from the year Meiji 14 [1] onwards.

The education of the feudal age, which focused on the ideal of the combination of military arts and literary arts [2], and which dealt not only with the knowledge necessary as bushi, but also with (one’s, TN) complete maturation from the point of view of the human being, it was temporarily lost with the advent of the Meiji era and its laws.

Here follows how it happened that, once a year Meiji 44 [3], it reappeared, albeit insufficiently, in the official regulations.

Article 24 of the Official Rules of the Higher Normal School states:

"It is necessary to consider gymnastics[4] as gymnastics, exercise, games and competition, and also to offer an educational method. As for male students, in gymnastics, it is possible to add (the practice of TN) jūdō and kendō. "

Article 13 of the Executive Regulations for Middle School, states:

" It is necessary to consider gymnastics as gymnastics , exercise, games and competition, and also offer an educational method. In addition (to it, NDT.) Can be added Judō and Kendō

"This lasted a long time, encompassing the period up to the reform of January of the year Showa 6 [5]. Thus, it was natural to come to the formulation of an official regulation for jūdō and the kendō as well, which became, as a result of the recognition of their merits, so-called "optional" subjects. However, it is a fact that exceptional prudence was exercised in relation to them. In the Educational Program of the School Gymnastics of the year Taishō 2 [6] the following recommendations are found:

"We must emphasize kendō and judō as a form of spiritual training[7], although it is said that their main theme is the physical training and mental. It is necessary to refrain from rushing to learn all the techniques and make competition the only goal ".

It is possible to think that there were strong objections to the motion to make (kendō and judō, TN) compulsory curricular subjects as a consequence of the fact that, in the same period, The Authority of the Ministry of Education suggested to be cautious so as not "hurry up to learn all the techniques and make competition the only goal".

Later, among the didactic materials [8] for gymnastics published in the New Gymnastic Teaching Programme in the year Taishō 15 [9], it is found that:

"The didactic material for gymnastics includes gymnastics, training, games and competition. However, in Male Normal Schools, in the Male Middle Schools and in Male Professional Institutes it is possible to add kendō and jūdō "

and within the same Programme, Article 2, "various activities to be practiced outside the gymnastics", "Kendō as game and competition, and also jūdō"

Jūdō is referred to as the so-called optional subject to be taught within a curricular subject, and to be practiced outside of school hours. So, with regards to which interconnection should be implemented between jūdō and the other didactic materials for gymnastics, in the same document, under the heading Recommendations about teaching - 2, we find the following idea:

"Gymnastics, training, games and competition, jūdō and kendō, because they each have their own peculiar characteristics and all contribute to formation the System of Physical Education[10], and since they are all elements that lead to complete physical and mental shaping, we must not selectively limit ourselves to only one of them " .

In some cases, these recommendations on the teaching method illustrate direct recommendations on each specific teaching material, while other recommendations take a general position. For example:

"1 - The teaching of gymnastics must always pledge to satisfy its objective, with an adequate education that, instead of hurrying to acquire all the techniques, pays attention to the physical and mental development of each student" .

or:

"3- Efforts are needed to understand the importance, in gymnastics, of the educational movements at the physical level and their rational execution, and also to form the habit of practicing them constantly",

or again:

"5- In the teaching of gymnastics and in the choice of teaching material it will be necessary to take the local circumstances, the seasons, the climate and into consideration, and adapt to them ".

And so forth. There, the word jūdō itself is not employed, but it is natural that it is included in the speech. Reading the Fourth recommendation,

"It is necessary that the place for the practice of gymnastics is always clean. It is necessary to pay attention to the tools and the rest of the equipment, taking care in their use and handling. Furthermore, it is necessary that, within the environment, ventilation and lighting are sufficient "

Tt may be easy to think of the opposition of gymnastics centers, now that we have centers of jūdō and kendō in their own right, but it is reasonable to see how arragements were made so that the word "gymnastics centers" also included the centers for the study of budō. Therefore, this recommendation itself is to be seen as concerning jūdō as well. Furthermore, in the Programme of the year Taishō 2, the document that clarified the main goals of budō and the one that subsequently outlined the points on which it was necessary to exercise caution were one and the same,, but with the revision of the year Taishō 15 they were separated, the precautions necessary for the concrete realization of the main objectives became the First recommendation, and they were extended to all material of the subject of Physical Education. In particular, the Tenth recommendation on the subject of jūdō and kendō states:

"The competition of jūdō and kendō must attach particular importance to the body and must, under no circumstances, be taken for a vain search for victory".

Moreover, with regards to jūdō and kendō, the Programme did not indicate anything precise:

"Regarding kendō and jūdō, no established method is indicated, but a suitable method must be decided and this should be maintained".

There are no traces of many other constructive efforts by the Ministry of Education, once obtained by law the teaching of kendō and jūdō as curricular subjects, and having them included in the Official Rules, to promote their diffusion.

However, during the years Taishō 14 and 15 [11], under the influence of war and disorder in Europe, the period in which the voice of "returning to one's country" spread in all countries [12]. Consequently the voices for the promotion of budō increased just the same. Even in the Imperial Council the motion for the diffusion of the budō was approved unanimously by both chambers, but it had not yet reached the point of manifesting itself through a law.

The fact that in the year Shōwa 6, within the Reformed Educational Regulations for each order of Middle Schools, presented together, the Jūdō came to possess and show an autonomous reputation, was explained in the previous chapter.

The Official Regulation of the Normal High School, Article 24, reported, as it was originally:

"The essence of gymnastics is to grow all parts of the body uniformly, to maintain a correct posture, to make the body strong and healthy, the movements agile , educate the habit of cooperation, respect for the rules, a vital spirit, resistant and persevering, and clarify the method to teach gymnastics in elementary schools. Gymnastics must provide gymnastics, training, games, competition and also an educational method ".

The previous wording, "with regards to male students, it is possible to add kendō and jūdō to gymnastics", was amended in "for male students, kendō and jūdō must be added to gymnastics", and the same sense is found in the Regulations for the Application of Middle School of All Orders, as follows:

"Gymnastics must offer gymnastics, training, play and competition. It can also be added to kendō and jūdō ", the previous formulation was amended in" gymnastics must offer gymnastics, training, kendo and jūdō, play and competition ".

This was an unprecedented change which is really worthy of careful observation in the History of jūdō. So let's try to offer some comments.

We first illustrated how, after the great war in Europe, the thought of returning to ourselves spread in every country. Even the countries which had joined in the League of Nations, in accordance with the ideal of American President Wilson, could not achieve peace and stability only thanks to their particular conditions, but they all needed to make preparations, as if something suggested the situation of peace that precedes the mountain rain.

In other words, the nations had externally united in the League of Nations, but when observing their internal circumstances, as someone said, internationalization was an extraordinary storm and each nation tried to avoid it by closing its doors. In these cases, the nations that had achieved good internal control [13] could preserve their own future, their strength and their own development, but to those that had not succeeded there was no other way but disintegration.

There are several important points for internal control, and among them is a noble spiritual tradition that transmits to the people those peculiar characteristics that only their own country possesses, which in turn must form the basis for the education of the people, and that people can rally around. This is to say that the current State has not developed and has not been preserved only thanks to the people of today. The spirit of our predecessors, through the strength of those who have already passed away, has accomplished half of that development and preservation. Here lies the great origin of the control of the State, and therefore of the development of the State [14]. On closer inspection, it is here that the individual nations claimed having to return to themselves, and it is here that they have done so through an education that cultivates the foundations of the future development of the State. This was the case for the United States, for Germany, for other countries, to a greater or lesser degree.

In our nation, following the ideal of democracy [15] born as a movement of opposition to the great war in Europe, for a while the world of ideals was on everyone's lips, the army was considered a barbaric thing, everywhere people that they considered the budō a vestige of past centuries roamed  and seemed about to overwhelm cities and countryside. This lasted for a few years, but suddenly Heaven sent the warning of the great earthquake of the year Taishō 12 [16], and with the addition to the international instability of European nations, the thought of returning to itself spread also in our nation, elementary and middle education was rebuilt, and finally the request for scrutiny and reconstruction of the education of the people became urgent and urgent.

Therefore, the governor established the Council for Civil Administration [17], gathered the most authoritative experts of the country, and as a result of years of research and examinations were promulgated, in the year Shōwa 6, the Reformed Laws and Decrees. Considering this point today, we can discover, written in the texts as dripping blood, the destination and the way to grow our Imperial Nation  forever, just as our predecessors had envisioned it, beautiful and pure, and therefore a strong and noble nation, and the spirit according to which one could not perhaps thus strive for the world [18].  

To begin with, as stated in the Summary of the Education of Students in the Official Regulations of the Normal High School:

"1 - It is considered particularly important, for those worthy to be called teachers, to have a spirit full of loyalty to Sovereign and to the Country. It is therefore necessary to clearly promote the morality of devotion to the Sovereign and filial piety towards parents as an ideal befitting the people. "

At the beginning, it requires " a spirit full of loyalty to one's sovereign and to one's own homeland". Therefore, the summary and the program of each subject clarify exactly the meaning of loyalty to the Sovereign with meticulous words for the encouragement of the spirit of love of the Fatherland, but leaving out to describe them one by one, we try instead to investigate this meaning on the basis of Official Reformed Regulations of the Normal High School.

Let us start by explaining the reasons why it was necessary to reform the Official Rules of the Normal High School, which are as follows:

"Recent social trends make for an urgent task for the education of the people, therefore, without ceasing to request the training of ever-higher qualified teachers, this time there is an important part of the main sections of the official regulations, as many changes are made to the amount of years of training, the system of school subjects, the content of teaching etc. "

So, further down, we find:

"With regards to the content of the subjects of study, the reformed points and not few. To cite but the main ones, with respect to the past, in order to cultivate a greater spirit of the People, we expect the concept of kokutai to be manifested in physical and moral training[19], to make ethical faith stout[20] and to embrace a just and balanced vision of human life[21]. It was decided to:

- In National Language and kanbun[22], multiply the materials that contribute to the cultivation of the essence of the People[23]

- In History, reduce the history of foreign countries and further deepen national history.

- In Geography, in foreign geography, and in particular with regards to government, economy, industry and transport, evaluate those areas that have a closer relationship with our Nation and help promote Popular awareness.

Moreover, through each subject, we expect, in addition to making the teaching useful and appropriate to practical life, to make efforts towards the growth and understanding of the strength of the heart and mind[24]"

It is naturally clear what the intended message is.

"We must educate pupils by further abiding by the Reformed Regulations of the Middle School, Chapter 1, to the Summary of what is to be taught to students, Article 1, and in particular the topics mentioned below."

So, regarding these topics, here we are the four articles:

"1- On the basis of the aims and purposes of the Imperial Rescript on Education[25]", we must expect that a virtuous education will be conducted starting from the education of the schools of every order, that the pupils will be guided on practical basis, and in particular by paying attention to the cultivation of the People's virtue, which make us understand the basic principles of the foundation of our Nation and the nobility of our kokutai, clarifying the great cause of loyalty and filial love and make strong the faith in it "

2- It is necessary to strive to cultivate the concepts of honoring responsibility and respecting collaboration, of nurturing the habit of loving to work, to grow an independent and self-reliant spirit

3-Having set the the greatest physical and mental realization as goals, we must expect to grow a useful and appropriate intellect to social life, without systematically lingering in vain on some specialized discipline .

4- We must have the intention of making the students' physique robust, and at the same time train their spirit and increase the generous nature of youth[26]"

It is natural that there are different points regarding the sense of the reform of the Normal School, but the meaning of the reform concerning the content of the teaching of the subjects of study is quite the same, and in conclusion, aimed at the realization of the main object of the higher common education, and through it, at a cultivation of the strong and educated people .

In each high school and in each middle school, those reforms were designed according to the ideal of the Eternal State, but within those reforms there is a point to which we must pay particular attention: in this reform, the matter of the jūdō became mandatory. The substance of the passage is as follows:

"Kendō and jūdō have been made compulsory subjects within Physical Education. Since kendō and jūdō have been recognized as unique budōs of our Nation suited to cultivating a sober and austere popular spirit and to train body and spirit, they have therefore been made obligatory. "

In addition to the above, naturally the budō became obligatory also in commercial, agricultural and industrial schools. This is explicitly written in the Official Regulations of Technical Institutes, Article 10, Official Regulations of Agricultural Institutes, Article 8, Official Regulations of Commercial Institutes, Article 8, in the Official Regulations of the Mercantile Marine Schools, Article 7.

The following passage shows it clearly:

"Although the reform of technical and practical institutions preceded that of the Normal School, Middle Schools and Elementary Schools, having been launched in the year 5 Shōwa[27], it goes without saying that this also came from the objective of growing individuals of capital importance for the good of the State.

Since the objective of technical medium education is to cultivate individuals of capital importance who dedicate themselves to productive work, it is not enough to teach only knowledge and professional skills, but, while always paying attention to the formation of individuality and the cultivation of common sense, it is essential to make efforts to provide the necessary education to a steadfast people and to righteous citizens. "

Thus, as described above, through the sense of the reform of the Middle education, jūdō became a compulsory subject in Middle school education. At the same time, it was taught in many elementary schools, youth associations and high schools, sometimes as an optional subject, sometimes as a curricular subject, to the point that nowadays there is practically no educational institution in the whole country where it is not taught.

Until next time

Acqua Autunnale

gasshō _ / \ _

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[1] 1881

[2]文武 兼備 bunbu kenbi, an alternative formulation of the better-known bunbu ryōdō 文武 両 道

[3] 1911

[4] 體操, literally "maneuver" (操) "the body"(體),used here in place of "Physical Education"

[5] 1931

[6] 1913

[7] 精神的訓練 seishin teki kunren, in this context, the meaning is close to the idea of ​​"psychological".

[8] 教材 kyōzai, not necessarily "material" in the sense of “tangible”, but also of “activity”.

[9] 1926

[10] 操體 taiso in the original text, but used, as explained in note 4, to indicate the Physical Education at school "

[11] 1925-1926

[12] 自 國 に 帰 れ jikoku ni kaere, literally "go back to your own country!", Used to express the idea of ​​isolationism.

[13] 内の統制 uchi no tōsei, literally "control, regulation, command" (統制) Interior (内)

[14] 國家の統制, して國家の發展 kokka no tosei, soshite kokka no hatten.

[15] 理想 モ ク ラ シ ー の 理想 demokurashii no risō. Demokurashii is one of the rare examples of katakana of the original text, whose use in this case is to be understood as  highlighting the extraneousness of the concept to Japanese sensitivity, in contrast with the terms kokka (State) and kokutai (Substance of the Nation, State ordering), written in kanji. Risō is akin to the meaning of utopia, something unattainable in practice. In essence, Sakuraba is saying that the democratic utopia, even though temporarily on everyone's lips, could not last in the Japanese nation, which was destined for something else. (TN)

[16] The Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923.

[17] 政審議會文 Council with decision-making powers active between 1924 and 1935. It produced 12 reports about educational issues.

[18] 以 て 世界 に 奇與す る 所 あ ら し め ん か と 云 ふ 精神 motte sekai ni kiyo suru tokoro arashimen ka to iu seishin, literally: "the spirit that says: thus, could not this perhaps be a way of contributing to the world?". Note the virile use of classical grammar arashimen ka? in place of the modern nai de arimashō ka?

[19] 修身shushin, literally "correct the body", it indicates the correction of their actions through the control of their bodies.

[20] 道 徳 的 信念 not a religious faith, but faith in the Confucian ethics synthesized in the principles of loyalty to the Sovereign and filial love for parents.

[21] 健中正なる人生觀穏 ōken chūsei naru jinseikan

[22] 漢文 texts written in classical Chinese

[23] 國民 性 kokuminsei characters and feelings shared and possessed by an entire people.

[24] 心力 の啓 培 shinryoku no keibai .啓培is short for 發培養啓 keihatsubaiyō, that is "to cultivate and open knowledge."  心力 is the strength (力) of心, which combines the concepts of "mind" and "heart".

[25] 教育 に關す る 勅 語 Imperial document promulgated on October 30, 1890, which laid the pragmatic and ideological foundations of the Japanese educational system.

[26] 気 風kifū,

[27] 1930