The Philosophy of kyshindo as practiced by the TBCI

Philosophy of The Tokushima Budo Council International

The TBCI Philosophy and Technique go hand in hand. They are mutual to one another and should not stand in isolation. Philosophy should not be confused with religion. The TBCI does not align itself with any form of accepted religion. Students are encouraged to study Philosophy as a vehicle to help one on the path of understanding and as such covers a multitude of subjects all pertaining to the study of Martial Arts.

This page allows you to access philosophy papers written by both Kancho Alfred Bates Judan Hanshi and members of the TBCI. They are papers design to stimulate the thought process, to help you on your journey of understanding.

They are presented here as free and open documents for you the reader to do with as you will. However they do have copyright and as such we request that they do not form, directly, a part of any document you may wish to construct yourself. It is hoped that they will give guidance and inspiration to the reader as you follow your own personnel path towards self enlightenment.

Balance

Balance is all important in the field of Budo, every student is taught how to break balance, and fall correctly, but how many do in fact fully understand its implications?

The students are taught to break balance in eight basic directions, each direction is termed a positive action, each action different from the other. As an example, a student standing in a natural posture will have their shoulders immediately above a line under the ball of their feet. Any slight nudge in any direction will stagger them and force them to take a step in what ever direction they have been nudged, or they simply fall over.

Budo

The first step of studying Budo, is to master the basic mechanics involved in moving, either to strike, throw, immobilize, or avoid an opponent, This involves careful study of the laws of movement and many years in training the body to conform to these laws. This is why it is better to study techniques as representative of general principles, rather than to regard them as a set series of actions. This is what is so particularly bad when we hear talk of 'small man's' and 'large man's techniques, or 'contest' and 'formal' techniques.

Kyushindo

The late Kenshiro Abbe, founder of the system of Kyushindo, began working on his theory as far back as the 1940s. He had a clear vision of the ideas, based on universal laws and principles, which were due to revolutionise Budo. Judo was to benefit most as Abbe Sensei was first and foremost a Judoka of extraordinary ability. As with any discipline, basic fundamentals have to be taught correctly, for the learning and demonstration of any Kata, interaction between Uki and Tori has to be harmonious in body, mind and spirit.

Master Pupil

It is of the utmost importance for one to understand the relationship between master and pupil. Unless one does, one can never be free to discover the riches that lie beyond the scope of the mind. For the mind that makes this discovery, there is joy. Most of the relationships between master and pupil are relationships of power. Power always centralizes. Power always corrupts.

Universal Laws

To understand KyuShinDo is to understand Universal laws and the principles which make up those laws. Nature has its way to balance all things, which is transpired in circles and spirals which are constantly changing.

Things which we call permanent monuments are never the same from one fraction of time to the next, as nature has its way to change all things, whether they be rocks, mountains, seas or buildings. They all react differently from one second to the next. Even man himself.

Universal Power

For years one can struggle with techniques and training, but at the point one begins to work on oneself and to improve one's character, all techniques become childishly easy to understand and do. As long as one thinks of technical ability as somehow separate from one's actions as a human being, understanding of BUDO is impossible, we cannot think that something we do in everyday life has no relationship to what occurs within the Dojo. Within the Dojo Budo is a means of putting ourselves under a microscope in the application of natural, universal laws.