“I am not sure if I can ever master the five principles of the ‘dojo kun’, but I try each day. Some people believe that ‘budo’ requires a willingness to die for your country or another person, but I don’t believe it has to do with death or how you die. It is more like a way of life that incorporates how you will die. I think someone who declares “I would die for my country or organization” is more into the entertainment, the drama.

But the purpose of ‘budo’ is about how you can help others, how you contribute to others. Budo is equal to helping someone. You can’t help people if you die. If you write ‘budo’ in the Japanese way, ‘bu’ can be interpreted as stop the spear or stop the halberd, and ‘do’ is, of course, the way. I interpret it to mean stopping someone’s negative emotions, such as fear, anger, upset, frustration. You try to stop harm coming to another human being.”

From: “Mind And Body – Like Bullet, Memoirs Of A Life In The Martial Arts”, by Yutaka Yaguchi & Catherine Pinch, © 2008

Reinhard Kargl

Journalist and media professional currently based in Los Angeles, California. Focusing on science and technology.