日本剣道史(その2)

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No specific age or persons can be mentioned, as stated in "History of Japanese Kendo" which was carried in the Bulletin of the Institute of Physical Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, with regard to the origination and development of "Kendo" (Japanese fencing or swordmanship). Besides preparation of swords there were arts of using swords as another factor in the development of "Kendo," which brought about changes in swords through accumulation of experiences. Also, with its development backed by contemporary social thoughts and social conditions, "Kendo" flourished in some ages and declined in other ages with the changes of times. There are only a few books and no other literature about the history of "Kendo." The author will comment on principal books in this paper. There is little difference among "History of Japanese Kendo" written by Jirokichi Yamada, "Kendo" written by Sasaburo Takano and "Development of Kendo" written by Ushio Shimokawa. Those books say that swords were consistently in the background of many historical facts and that they were valued greatly. For example, the books describe historical facts concerning swords, and refer to how greatly swords were valued in ancient times. As to "Kendo," they admit the existence of arts of using swords by carrying the stories that Toyoki-no-Mikoto, the son of Emperor Sujin, dreamed of climbing Mt. Mimuro and wielding a spear and a sword facing toward the east, and that, as told in "Kaifuso," Otsunomiko was mighty and used his sword well, but say that what was performed is unknown. With regard to relationships with social thoughts, Section 2 deals with relationships between social thoughts and swords in ancient times. That is to say, in the history of the age of the gods, swords were already used as tools for religious services and administration rather than as weapons for which they had originally been intended. This kind of stories have existed, though fragmentarily, since the mythological age. In those stories swords were sacred as typical tools for unification of the nation. Furthermore, swords came to be looked upon as gods themselves, and constituted an important element of social thoughts. In the primitive, ancient society, religious and administrative services including incantations and purifications, natural phenomena and separation of souls were important. With swords existing as mediate objects for those important things, or as "gods" themselves, the arts of using swords already ceased to be needed. The designation "Kendo," which was quoted from the aforesaid books, originated in the Tokugawa era, and came to be commonly used only recently. In ancient times it was called "Tachigaki," "Tachiuchi," "Heiho" (strategy), "Heijutsu" (tactics), "Kempo" (swordmanship), "Toho," "Tojutsu," "Shigeki" (stabbing), "Gekken" (fencing), etc., but there are few literatures which dealt with swords in those times. In the age of Northern and Southern Dynasties, Kamakura period and the age of civil wars in Japan, words close to swordmanship in expression appeared gradually, but designations or expressions for swordmanship were very rare as compared with those in the cases of other weapons. Force of arms is absolutely necessary for the existence of the nation. In the period of origination of swords, there were excellent arts of using them. Later they came to be used for religious and administrative purposes, and experienced declines and changes of times. Battles in ancient times were battles of intellects involving a small mumber of persons. In such battles swords already had a religious significance. Efficient means of beating the enemy was to use more strength than in such ancient arts of battle as stone-throwing and stone arrow or in the use of a sword. Thus, there was a trend for making light of the arts of using swords. It seems that the arts of using swords have been gradually reshaped with the background which accelerated their development.

日本剣道史(その2)

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