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1-1-2013 Bakumatsu Fencing Schools and Nationalism Michael Wert Marquette University, [email protected]

Published version. "Bakumatsu Fencing Schools and Nationalism," in Japan at War. Publisher Link. Japan at War: An Encyclopedia by Louis G. Perez, Editor. © 2013 by ABC-Clio, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission of ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA. \ B

Bakumatsu Fencing Schools swords and armor, the predecessors of and Nationalism modern kendo. Practitioners could engage in full-power striking and sparring, which During the final decades of the Tokugawa were previously considered too dangerous period, the number of fencing academies with wooden swords. During the 19th cen­ (dojo) and swordsmanship styles (ryuha) tury, two interrelated trends dominated the increased. The first styles of fencing and spread of fencing: the increasing number of other martial arts developed in the back­ commoner practitioners and the spread of ground of the Sengoku Era, but were not armored fencing. used to train common troops. Instead, they Martial art schools catered to different developed as one cultural art among many. sectors of samurai society. Fencing styles In one famous example, the writings of the for low-ranking samurai, for example, Noh theater master Zeami, who profession­ received little support from domain author­ alized Noh and systematized how it should ities. Instructors received only a pittance of be taught, influenced the swordsman Yagyii a stipend, and they rarely enjoyed demon­ Munenori. Yagyii copied many of Zeami's stration audiences with the daimyo or pedagogical tools-for example, maintain­ shOgun, unlike styles practiced by high­ ing secret teachings given only to trusted ranking samurai. However, this also meant students who could pay the required fee. that styles practiced by low-ranking samurai He and his ancestors monopolized their fam­ were not as strictly managed by officials. ily style, Yagyii Shinkage ryii, and were Consequently, they tended to engage in instructors to the successive Tokugawa practices considered unorthodox, such as shOgun. holding matches with swordsmen from With war and concern for martial valor other schools, or cross-training. This was disappearing by the late 17th century, swo­ especially so among commoner-dominated rdsmanship entered a period of stagnation. styles in the countryside. In theory, martial Much of the same criticism directed against arts, as a possible tool for violence, were the samurai during the Genroku Period supposed to be monopolized by samurai. (1688-1704)-namely, that they had become The shogunate and domains repeatedly too extravagant and lazy-was also leveled issued edicts throughout the 19th century at swordsmanship, then seen as a simple forbidding the practice among commoners. flowery dance. But for disaffected ronin wandering the Later, swordsmanship again became countryside, and even within Edo itself, popular as a path for self-perfection. More­ teaching fencing to commoners was one of over, changes in the equipment allowed the few sources of income. Commoners swordsmanship to be practiced as fencing. who claimed descent from a former warrior Certain schools adopted the use of bamboo family, sometimes called "rural samurai,"

24 Bataan, Battle of I 2S could reinforce their identity by practicing Further Reading swordsmanship. Growing numbers of rural Hurst, G. Cameron. Armed Martial Arts of entrepreneurs also translated their financial Japan: Swordsmanship and Archery. New capital into social and cultural capital, inves­ Haven: Yale University Press, 1998. ting in rural Noh theater, and forming poetry Morinaga, Maki I. Secrecy in Japanese Arts: and nativist (kokugaku) study groups. Rural "Secret Transmission" as a Mode of swordsmanship became yet another art Knowledge. New York: Palgrave Macmil­ lan, 2005. that gave local elites a chance to imitate their social betters, the samurai. As disorder Rogers, John M. "Arts of War in Times of Peace: Archery in HonchO Bugei Shoden." spread in the form of peasant protests, Monumenta Nipponica 45, no. 3 (Fall gangs, and wandering disaffected samurai 1990): 253-284. throughout the Kanto region surrounding Rogers, John M. "Arts of War in Times of Edo during the bakumatsu period, local elites Peace: Swordsmanship in Honcho Bugei used swordsmanship for self-protection. Shoden, Chapter 5." Monumenta Nipponica Some became rank-and-file members of 45, no. 4 (Winter 1990): 413-447. newly created peasant militias. Others even Rogers, John M. "Arts of War in Times of found employment within domains that Peace: Swordsmanship in Honcho Bugei wanted to reform samurai martial spirit by Shoden, Chapter 6." Monumenta Nipponica forcing their men to train in competitive fenc­ 46, no. 2 (Summer 1991): 174-202. ing, which was deemed more realistic. Rogers, John M. 1998. The Development of For much of the Tokugawa period, fencing the Military Profession in Tokugawa Japan. focused on self-cultivation, a mix of Buddhist Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, Cam­ and Confucian teachings, and lessons from bridge, MA. the Chinese military classics. Thus, during the 19th century, sport fencing meshed with Bataan, Battle of (1941-1942) a broad range of philosophical teachings that reflected the politics of the day-in particu­ Bataan is a peninsula on the big island lar, anti-foreign and pro-emperor teachings. of Luzon in the Philippines; it is some Edo di5ji5 became meeting sites for like­ 25 miles long and roughly 20 miles wide minded samurai from various domains, and and extends south into Manila Bay. The pen­ the biographies of many Meiji Restoration insula figured prominently in General Doug­ figures on both sides of the conflict, such as las MacArthur's plans for defending the Kido K6in, Katsu Kaishu, and Sakamoto Philippines against a Japanese invasion in Ry6ma, were practitioners of popular styles World War II. The original plan called for of the day. After the Meiji Restoration, U.S. and Philippine forces to withdraw into many former fencing instructors continued the Bataan Peninsula, and there fight an to teach in private di5ji5, becoming the fore­ extended defensive battle until reinforce­ runners of modem kend6. ments arrived from the United States. Michael Wert MacArthur changed this plan prior to the See also: Bushidi5 in Sports; Katsu KaishU; U.S. entry into the war following the Dec­ Sakamoto Ryoma; Sonno-joi; Tokugawa ember 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. He Bakumatsu Military Reforms; Tokugawa-Era believed that, even with mobilization of the Peasant Uprisings. Filipino army and promised reinforcements