Judo verfügt über ein großes Repertoire äußerst effektiver Techniken. Manche davon sind spektakulär, andere wirken simpel …

Manche sind sehr bekannt. Man sieht sie in beinahe jedem Wettkampf. Andere, wie etwa die Tritt – und Schlagtechniken des Judo, sind selbst den meisten Judoka unbekannt.

Während sich nun ganz langsam die Erkenntnis durchsetzt, daß Judo auch etliche sehr wirksame Tritt- und Schlagtechniken enthält, scheint eines festzustehen: Waffen hat es im Judo nie gegeben.

Wirklich nicht?

Lesen wir doch einfach, was der Gründer selbst dazu sagt …

Jigoro Kano schreibt 1927 in Sakko, Heft 6 Nr.10:

„Der ideale Judo-Lehrer benötigt folgende Eigenschaften: er muß Angriffs- und Verteidigungstechniken mit Hingabe trainiert haben. Er muß selbstverständlich die waffenlosen Techniken beherrschen, aber auch Fertigkeiten im Umgang mit dem Langstock (Bo) und dem Schwert besitzen …“

(zitiert nach NIEHAUS, S.222)

Hier das ganze noch einmal auf Englisch, da wird es noch deutlicher:

„In addition to being masters in the skills of unarmed combat, judo instructors should also be skilled in the arts of bojutsu and kenjutsu.“

(WATSON,B.N., „Jûdô Memoirs“, S. 69)

Es gibt zahlreiche Hinweise darauf, daß Waffen im Judo nicht nur in Kime-no-kata eine Rolle spielten. Kano schreibt:

„By rights, spears, naginata, and other weapons used for the purpose of defending against attack should be included in judo.
Swords and sticks, however, have the most uses as weapons, and kendo is one of the essential elements of judo, so should be included in judo in some form.
It is necessary not only in kata but also in competition.“

(KANO in: Mind over Muscle, S. 96)

Kano geht sogar so weit, Waffentraining im Judo bereits für Kinder zu empfehlen:

„However, recently I have come to believe that in judo training for small children, inflatable swords made of rubber or cloth rather than bamboo swords should be used right from the start to teach kata in which they learn to strike or thrust at each other and to fend off these blows.“

(ebenda)

Es steht fest, daß im Kodokan ab April 1928 „Kodokan Bojutsu“ trainiert wurde ((講道館棒術).
(MARUYAMA, Sanzō: Dai Nihon Jūdō shi (Jūdō-Geschichte Groß-Japans). Tōkyō: Kōdōkan 1939. Seite 206)

Für dieses Training war eine eigene Abteilung geschaffen worden, die als Bojutsu-bu (棒術部 – wörtl.: „Bōjutsu-Abteilung“) bezeichnet wurde.
(Ebd., 206; sowie auch z.B.: HIOKI, Takasuke: Bōjutsu no shugyō-hōhō (Übungsmethoden des Bōjutsu). Teil 1 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 3, 18)

Dieses Bojutsu-Training wurde nachweislich zumindest bis Frühjahr 1939 durchgeführt.
(MARUYAMA 1939, 206)

Sehr wahrscheinlich führte man dieses Training auch nach Kanos Tod (1938) eine Zeit lang weiter fort. Informationen über die Bojutsu-Abteilung findet man z.B. in der zwischen März und Oktober 1936 vom Kodokan herausgegebenen Monatszeitschrift „Judo“.
(HIOKI, Takasuke: Bōjutsu no shugyō-hōhō (Übungsmethoden des Bōjutsu). Teil 1 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 3, 18-24. Teil 2 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 4, 30-35. Teil 3 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 5, 24-29. Teil 4 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 6, 24-26. Teil 5 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 8, 26-32. Teil 6 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 9, 20-21. Teil 7 in: Jūdō 7 (1936) Nr. 10, 39-44.)

Dazu lesen wir bei Fumiaki Shishida:

„From March through October of 1936, “How to practice bo-jutsu” was published serially in
Judo. The author was Ryusuke Heki, whose title was Instructor, Bo-jutsu Division, Kodokan.“

(SHISHIDA, Jigoro Kano’s pursuit of ideal judo and its succession: Judo’s techniques performed from a distance, Tokyo 2010)

Fumiaki Shishida fährt fort:

„Kano (1918b, p.5) placed a high value on bo-jutsu (staff fighting techniques) as an indispensable martial art because kenjutsu and bo-jutsu are the best armed martial arts that can be used in a variety of circumstances.
In fact Kano himself learned Yagyu-ryu bo-jutsu (1) from master Oshima as a youth (1935b, pp.2-5), and thought since that time that bo-jutsu practice was a worthwhile addition to judo practice.“

(ebenda)

„After 1926, when Kano announced the establishment of the Laboratory of Martial Arts, he observed bo-jutsu and a board breaking demonstration at Haha in Okinawa, on January 7, 1927.
He visited a Katori-shinto-ryu (which includes kenjutsu and bo-jutsu in its curriculum) dojo, and observed the katas of its instructors on Feburary 27.
Soon after, Kano gathered the members of Kodokan and declared that they would start to practice bo-jutsu in the Kodokan from 12 March.“

(ebenda)

„In May 5, Kano met four instructors of bo-jutsu who were invited from Katori in Chiba.
He decided that they would teach bo-jutsu to members of the Kodokan dojo.
Around 1931, Kano invited Ryuji Shimizu, instructor of Shinto-muso-ryu jo-jutsu to teach and encouraged senior judoists to practice bo-jutsu at the Kodokan (Kano, 1935b, p.3).“

(ebenda)

„The reasons that Kano (1935b, pp.2-5) cites why he adopted bo-jutsu are,
1) Bo-jutsu is most suited to practical use in modern times when carrying a regular weapon such as a sword is prohibited by law;
2) There is a possibility that bo-jutsu would become extinct;
3) It is easy to find a bo (stick or staff) in daily life.

His main focus here is on actual fighting.
Kano (1935b, p.4) says, „I think that I hope to promulgate bo-jutsu as a part of Kodokan judo throughout the world, like I accomplished the spread of the current judo, based on some old jujutsu schools, throughout the world.“

(ebenda)

An dieser Stelle möchte ich abschließend noch einen Text des Gründers selbst zu diesem Thema zitieren, den ich vor einigen Jahren einem (inzwischen leider geschlossenen) amerikanischen Forum entnahm:

„The reason why the Kodokan has made available to the teaching of Bojutsu (Practice Staff) to anyone who is interested.“
Jigoro Kano – Kodokan Shihan

When I was young, I practiced bojutsu of Yagyu-ryu with a man named Oshima.
As my practice of this discipline has not reached the level of shugyo (depth study), usually do not mention it. However since then I thought there was value in the shugyo bojutsu. As I said previously, I am convinced that larger studies are desirable, those of Jujitsu, the Bojutsu (stick) and kenjutsu (sword).

Looking at the reality of our current society, we are talking about men, women, young or old, excluding the few people who actually jobs that give opportunity to bring a sword in his belt, no one carries weapons. Consequently, in the event of something unexpected, the martial art that is more useful that can defend themselves without weapons. Considering things from this point of view, today the value of kenjutsu is relatively poor, but are convinced that this, along with Jujitsu, has had in our country for many years a great value as a method of spiritual development (lit. development laws of moral culture). In addition to Jujitsu, we must consider the experience of Bojutsu, which is a very important thing and that seems to be overlooked by many people today.

That is about eight years ago (Showa 2, 1927), we gathered people interested in the Kodokan and we started practicing in bojutsu Tamai Sensei, Sensei Shiina, Ito Sensei and Sensei of Katori Shinto Ryu Kuboki, all from the prefecture of Chiba. About four years ago we received, from Fukuoka, Shimizu Sensei of Shindo Muso Ryu (jojutsu), and still continue the practice of this technique. Today, thanks to Sensei and Takeda Sensei Hioki, and with the help of others, we are increasingly able to practice these arts. In addition to the beginner we recently about 50 participants, so that we must practice the principal of the Kodokan Dojo.

In the future, in addition to the efforts made so far, we intend to continue to invite the great masters of Bojutsu.
As we took the essence of various schools of jujutsu to develop the basics of judo, we have had great success in gathering techniques bojutsu many schools and doing searches of these.
Now, as a branch of the Kodokan Judo, we created the Kodokan Bojutsu.
I hope that we will be able to spread throughout the world.

Although I said you put my energy in the development of Bojutsu, I still think that the unarmed martial arts have a greater value. After that, I think, however, that the study recommended the most is the one where you learn to attack and defend with the use of weapons. About weapons, I think is more important than the study of Kenjutsu (sword arts) rather than that of the Yari (spear) or naginata (halberd). People normally have easy access to tools such as sticks (Jo – short stick), walking sticks or umbrellas. It is usually easy to have at hand something like a stick or a piece of wood that, in case of emergency, can be used as an improvised weapon. In any case, the Bojutsu is useful not only for the reasons described above, but also because it is suitable for routine practice.
Similarly, all Bujutsu (fighting arts) requires practice. As I say constantly about Atemi Jutsu (art of hitting with your bare hands), used in Seiryoku zen’yo Taiiku that I have developed and which uses dell’Atemi Jutsu, that the following consideration. As you study Atemi Jutsu, in practical case it is very difficult to make best use of this art. Consequently, the great value of these techniques is that their practice can be used as a means of physical education.

It ‚also important to consider that the technique of hit and dell’afferrarsi takes a large part of the exercises, and practice from the beginning that it requires simple equipment to obtain (for example, just a jo bare hands or the same).

So recently I did some research Bojutsu and I decided to share it. I urge the start of the practice of this art as soon as possible for those who are interested in the whole country, region by region, under the guidance of instructors qualified to be a new branch of judo.

In developing the Kodokan, becoming capable in these practices, we will be successful and train instructors to be sent around the world. In a bit ‚of years I think, such as Judo is spreading throughout the world, there will come a time in which to spread abroad also Bojutsu.“

(Magazine „Judo“, year Showa 10 (1935) April)

Ich denke, dass damit die Frage, ob und in welchem Umfang es Waffentraining im Judo gegeben hat, eindeutig beantwortet werden konnte.

Ich persönlich bin der Ansicht, dass man sich als Judoka unbedingt mit dem Kodokan Bojutsu intensiv beschäftigen sollte. Kano selbst hat ja ausführlich begründet, worin der Wert eines solchen Trainings für das Judo liegt.

(Ich möchte mich ganz herzlich bei allen bedanken, die mir bei den Recherchen für diesen Artikel geholfen haben. Mein besonderer Dank gilt dabei vor allem Dieter Born, der mir zu diesem Thema wichtige Informationen zukommen ließ.)