Kyushindo

Infobox_martial_art

logocaption = Kyushindo Martial Arts Association
logosize =
name = Kyushindo
focus = Hybrid
hardness = Semi-contact
country = flagicon|Japan Japan
creator = Kenshiro Abbe
famous_pract = Kenshiro Abbe
olympic = no

History

Kyushindo was an ancient and defunct Japanese religious philosophy which Kenshiro Abbe came across during his academic studies whilst at the famous Budo Senmon Gakko, possibly related to the 'Ancient Way of the Gods' or Kushindo. After his experience of Satori or enlightenment, at the age of eighteen, he found this revelation to coincide with the old writing. Upon graduating from the College he spent the next twenty years in research and development of the principles, before declaring a new system.

Philosophy

Because of Abbe's fame as a Budo master people have very naturally assumed Kyushindo to be a theory of martial discipline but in fact martial discipline is only one application of Kyushindo. The very limited field of martial disciplines is too narrow an application to make the principle of Kyushindo clear and can be no more than the means employed to attain a far higher goal. The theory of Kyushindo has application in any study, or activity that can be named simply because it does not deal with the form and technique of anything, but with the fundamental principles which such forms and techniques represent.

The principle may be likened to the hub of a wheel from which an infinite number of spokes or forms radiate. The task of perfecting an art by the laborious process of studying each 'form' is doomed to failure because the possible variations are endless. By discovering the central principle it can then be applied in any direction at will.

Kyushindo states that the accumulation of efforts is a steady motion about the radius and center of gravity and that all things resign to this basic cyclic pattern. The normal perception and focus of awareness in the human being, flies along the outer periphery of existence, events flash past too rapidly for the mind to grasp. By re-discovering the original center of things, events turn more slowly in perception and the general scheme is more easily viewed [The Japanese Fighting Arts, John Goodbody, A.S. Barnes & Co. New York, NY 1969, p.108 [http://www.kendoglasgow.net/downloads/arts.pdf Abridged Version (p. 35)] ] .

This is the meaning of Kyushindo, which is evident in its name.

* KYU: To desire, or to search after something. The translation of study is partially correct but lacks the stronger spirit of very deeply yearning towards a thing.
* SHIN: Heart, mind, spirit, the essential essence of anything. In Kyushindo the meaning of Shin is the true and fundamental nature, as opposed to the superficial appearance.
* DO: A way, or a path. Do is never used as the 'way' a thing is done, but as a far-reaching and all-inclusive direction.

Kyushindo means in simple terms:

The way of longing for knowledge of the fundamental nature of anything.

Kyushindo has also been interpreted as:

"The search for the perfect way"

"The search for the truth"

It is this longing and desire to penetrate to the very heart of a thing which results in perfection of action due to complete unity with its underlying principle. Under this principle to know any one thing in its absolute entirety is automatically to know all things, for everything stems from the same source and exists under the same order of behaviour. The more one properly understands the workings of this principle in one application, so the more one is awakened to the nature of other things.

Kyushindo was the central statement for Abbe's personal approach to martial arts. He felt that there were three fundamental principles within Kyushindo which should be reflected in the Martial arts and in his outside life.

* All things in the Universe are in a constant state of motion (Banbutsu Ruten). [nihongo|Banbutsu-ryūten|万物流転:ばんぶつりゅうてん is the Japanese translation of Heraclitus' famous aphorism "Panta Rhei".]
* This motion is rhythmic and flowing (Ritsu Do).
* All things work and flow in perfect harmony (Chowa).

Martial Discipline

Despite the philosophy as a whole not being related to martial arts, Abbe himself used the philosophy of Kyushindo in formulating his martial style of Kyushindo.

The principle of Kyushindo states the cyclic nature of things. As as such techniques in Kyushindo are based on the natural circular movement of the body.

Today

Today there are a number of organisations throughout the world who teach martial arts based more or less on Abbe's theories of Kyushindo. However, due to the fragmentation of the Kyushindo International Judo Association set up by Abbe, the original theories and teachings that Abbe started may well have been lost forever. Former students of Abbe have set up their own martial arts schools as well as other associates of Abbe, but how closely they match up with Abbe's original teachings is difficult to know.

References

External links

* [http://www.kyushindokarate.com/ Kyushindo Martial Arts Association Headquarters]
* [http://www.kyushindo.info Kyushindo Martial Arts Association]