19th-Century Samurai Training Text Deciphered (LiveScience.com)

[eShirl]

A training text, used by a martial arts school to teach members of the bushi (samurai) class, has been deciphered, revealing the rules samurai were expected to follow and what it took to truly become a master swordsman.

The text is called Bugei no jo, which means "Introduction to Martial Arts" and is dated to the 15th year of Tenpo (1844). Written for samurai students about to learn Takenouchi-ryū, a martial arts system, it would have prepared students for the challenges awaiting them.

"These techniques of the sword, born in the age of the gods, had been handed down through divine transmission. They form a tradition revered by the world, but its magnificence manifests itself only when one's knowledge is ripe," part of the text reads in translation. "When [knowledge] is mature, the mind forgets about the hand, the hand forgets about the sword," a level of skill that few obtain and which requires a calm mind. [See Images of the Last Century of Samurai Swordsmen]

The text includes quotes written by ancient Chinese military masters and is written in a formal kanbun style, a system that combines elements of Japanese and Chinese writing. The text was originally published by scholars in 1982, in its original language, in a volume of the book "Nihon budo taikei." Recently, it was partly translated into English and analyzed by Balázs Szabó, of the department of Japanese studies at Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary. The translation and analysis are detailed in the most recent edition of the journal Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae.

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http://www.livescience.com/39280-19th-century-samurai-text-deciphered.html

[Blue_Tires]

1. that sound you hear is ten million simultaneous nerdgasms