Originally published in the program for The 14th International Seminar of Budo Culture (March 2002), sponsored by the Nippon Budokan Foundation and International Budo University. Reprinted with permission from Kimura Yasuko.
These days, I don't think it is quite appropriate to say that those pursuing budo will inevitably develop themselves as people. I say this because budo today has become so sportified, so oriented toward competition and focused on winning and losing, that for most people there seems to be neither the time nor an environment in which to study and cultivate such matters of the spirit.
Following the lifting of the post-war ban on budo training, the naginata teachers of that time worked hard to restore naginata training to its former prosperity, and through their efforts naginata was eventually introduced into the physical education curriculums of the nation's schools. Those same teachers had received their own naginata instruction in Japan's pre-war society, and so their learning had included not only technique, but also manners and matters of etiquette, reading and writing, and various customs and practices of everyday life - all of the things, in other words, that they would need to prosper both as people and as teachers.
In contrast, the naginata that has been taught under the public physical education system during the post-war period seems to have taught technique alone, and has been moving steadily toward an ever-narrowing focus on competition. Naginata has become just another official event in both national tournaments and inter-high school athletic competitions, on par with any other type of sport. Unfortunately, I wonder if we have paid a price for this seeming prosperity, namely, the price of having lost the time needed to teach matters of the heart, mind, and spirit - that is, those aspects of education at the root of human development.
When competition is the focus, winners are praised and those who are skilled or who make fast progress become the center of attention. Those not as skilled, and those who try their best yet still do not win for one reason or another, are left cheerless and tasting the bitterness of "not having measured up." When results in competition become the sole criterion for evaluating ability, not only is that stigma reinforced, it also becomes impossible to value the process of effort, or to commend small amounts of progress. When competition is the focus, as long as results in competition are good, everything is thought to be fine. I wonder whether such a situation may make it difficult to achieve so-called "human development" through naginata training. It is said that naginata is a form of single combat or competition in which, through your interaction with your opponent, you come to know yourself. As in playing a game of catch with a ball, if you throw the ball well, good results are returned. Those results help you come to know yourself, help you reflect on yourself, and stimulate you to make even greater efforts. Does not any kind of human development begin with knowing yourself?
To have a feeling heart; to embrace self-reflection; to have the humility to praise one's opponent - these are the kinds of things that I hope we can learn through our naginata training.
Kimura Yasuko
All Japan Naginata Federation