Quote for remembrance Sunday
Published: Mon, 11/10/14
This week's quote is partly an extract from a sermon preached
at the evening service yesterday. The morning service did the
Remembrance Sunday ritual but since I was preaching in the evening
I was able to attempt a more nuanced look at violence and the
spiritual response to the necessity for the use of force. I was
speaking from the point of view of a preacher who has military
experience and currently teaches martial arts. I am very grateful
to David Lowery and his explanation of the term Bugei in his book
'Sword and Brush'.
"Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God."
Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 5 verse 9 (NIV
translation)
What does the term 'martial arts' really mean? We use the
term in a very casual way to mean anything from children's
exercise classes to film stunts to brutal combat sports. It is no
wonder that people get confused when it is suggested that they
might like to take up martial arts training for themselves.
Stav is not a classical Japanese training system. It is based on
European principles and tradition. However, Ivar Hafskjold, our
chief instructor and heir to the Hafskjold Stav tradition did spend
14 years in Japan and trained to a high level in traditional bugei.
So Stav, in its modern form owes a great deal to the Japanese in
terms of training methods and approaches to teaching. We also
derive from the Japanese the true concept of 'Martial
Arts'. The Japanese word that is translated as
'martial' and there for as 'war' is Bu, hence the
terms 'budo' (martial way), 'bushi' (feudal class
of warrior gentility, often referred to as Samurai). The term I
most closely relate to is bugei meaning martial skills. If you
were going to use a Japanese word to describe Stav then I believe
it can be described as a contemporary european way of teaching
bugei.
However when the term Bu is written in Japanese kanji or
ideographic form the symbol means spear and suppressing of a
revolt. So martial arts is not so much the art of making war,
rather skills in restoring order and harmony. Of course
suppressing a revolt can mean maintaining an oppressive tyranny as
well as it can mean simply maintaining law and order. But justice,
mercy and fairness are as much weapons in creating peace and
harmony as the spear or, in our own time, guns and tear gas. In
reality peace cannot be maintained with out both the ability to
defeat those who would use violence and a willingness to hear and
redress genuine grievance. So a true exponent of bugei, martial
arts in its true sense is not a war maker but a peace bringer,
understanding violence in a similar way that a doctor understands
disease or a fire fighter engages with fires.
Personal self-defence is not so much about learning to fight other
people. Combat sports can be highly entertaining activities but
they often have little to do with practical self-defence. True
self-defence, real martial arts training, is about learning how to
manage the self so that we are aware of how we relate to the world
physically, mentally and energetically. From there we learn how to
read other people and understand their motivations and intentions.
Once we understand ourselves and others we can see how to manage
situations so that the best outcomes are achieved for all
concerned. Sounds simple and essentially it is, but that
doesn't make it easy. Ivar Hafskjold and Graham Butcher, your
local instructor have around 90 years of martial arts experience
between them. Let us share some of that experience with you.
regards
Graham
PS Course in Salisbury on the 15th, this coming Saturday, 10 am to
1 pm will focus on using Stav principles for self defence. We will
look at both how to avoid trouble (always sensible) and what to do
if the worst does happen. More details at
http://www.iceandfire.org.uk/train.html