WARSKYL: A Christian Martial Art?, 2

Continued from "WARSKYL: A Christian Martial Art?"

Having arisen out of the heart of Buddhist faith and practice, the Eastern civilian arts developed as more than methods of self-defense. They served as a means to pursue self mastery & perfection and, ultimately, to escape the limitations of existence.

Under the Meiji regime in Japan, the samurai were suppressed, along with the unarmed combat arts. In response, the arts downplayed their self-defense applications and emphasized their disciplines as philosophical paths to enlightenment.

Thus karate (whose ideograph can be interpreted as Chinese fist), became karate-do (now interpreted as "the way of the empty hand"). Jigoro Kano transformed jujitsu (supple technique) into Ju-do (now interpreted as "gentle way").

Jujitsu seems to be the first Eastern art to gain a following in the West in the late 19th & early 20th Centuries. Among the best of the various manuals of jujitsu published in the US during that period was Secrets of Jujitsu by Captain Allen C Smith.

As a logical-thinking Scot, Smith was able to assimilate, analyze and explain the aspects of Eastern arts that are difficult for Westerners to understand. He transformed his jujitsu into a Western art by separating it from its Eastern philosophical and mystical environment.

I have had enough jujitsu training to know what will likely work & what won't. Smith's book teaches principles and includes training exercises that provide a practitioner with the necessary kinesthetic sense to achieve a measure of proficiency in the art.

One of my long-range plans is to include Smith's instruction, along with comments and supplementary drills, in a Big Book of WARSKYL Self-Defense and Combat Skills. It would also include material from my "12 Techniques" book and from the WARSKYL Conference.

At any rate, World War II rekindled an interest in the combat arts. W E Fairbairn combed through the techniques of the Eastern arts to isolate a few that were brutally effective and simple enough to learn in a short period of training.

Thus, WWII Combatives came into the world as a true martial art.

To be continued.