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Koryu
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is a Japanese word that is used in association with the ancient Japanese martial arts. This word literally translates as "old school" (ko--old, ryu--school) or "traditional school." Koryu is a general term for Japanese schools of martial arts that predate the Meiji Restoration (the period from 1866 to 1869 which sparked major socio-political changes and led to the modernization of Japan). While there is no "official" cutoff date, the dates most commonly used are either 1868, the first year of the Meiji period, or 1876, when the Haitorei edict banning the wearing of swords was pronounced.
The systems of Japanese martial arts that post-date the Meiji Restoration are known as gendai budo.
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is a Japanese word that is used in association with the ancient Japanese martial arts. This word literally translates as "old school" (ko--old, ryu--school) or "traditional school." Koryu is a general term for Japanese schools of martial arts that predate the Meiji Restoration (the period from 1866 to 1869 which sparked major socio-political changes and led to the modernization of Japan). While there is no "official" cutoff date, the dates most commonly used are either 1868, the first year of the Meiji period, or 1876, when the Haitorei edict banning the wearing of swords was pronounced.
The systems of Japanese martial arts that post-date the Meiji Restoration are known as gendai budo. The most well known of these arts include judo, kendo, some schools of iaido, and aikido. These newer systems are commonly valued as sports or arts for self-improvement. The koryu systems of martial arts, however, are commonly far more revered as they are considered the teachings of the true Japanese martial arts, because they were formed from Japan's feudal military culture.
The koryu systems of the Japanese martial arts often contain both unarmed and armed fighting techniques. Within these ancient systems several different weapons are commonly taught to the students of the these arts.
Kobudo is a Japanese term that can be translated as "old martial way." It was formerly known as Kobujutsu ("old martial art"), however, with the advent of martial arts generally becoming practiced for reasons other than that of practicality, it is now more commonly known as Kobudo. Within Japan, it can refer to any traditional martial art (such as Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu) and is synonymous with Koryu, but outside of Japan it generally refers to several different weapon traditions of Okinawan origin.
Han
During the feudal period of Japanese history, many koryu schools were the otome ryu, (literally, "that which flows but remains at home") of the han (domain). Being an otome ryu entailed that the heads of these ryu (schools) would get a rice stipends from the hans total koku (a unit of measurement used to calculate rice revenues and used to measure the relative wealth of a han) in exchange for training the samurai of the han. However, there were exceptions to being funded by a specific han, and many ryu were never or only partially supported by a han. For example, Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu was solely supported by donations from local landed bushi and was never attached to a specific domain. Likewise, Maniwa Nen-ryu was founded and supported by the peasant farmers of Maniwa village in Gunma Prefecture, as a means of village protection. A third example is Kashima Shin-ryu which took its name from a famous Shinto shrine which would acquire funds to support itself from taxing the activities associated with lands owned or regulated by the temple, as well as serving as hereditary guardians of the Kashima shrine. These kinds of arrangements therefore allowed the heads of schools to devote themselves full-time to teaching in the schools, while providing assorted services to the school's benefactors.
It was not until the Meiji Restoration when this almost 500 year arrangement started to fall apart and various heads of schools had to seek other means of employment. Teaching their ryu to the general public was only one of many options. Today, few, if any, headmasters of a koryu or kenjutsu school make a living teaching their art, yet through their devotion, ensure their arts continue to thrive for generations.
It is often believed that kendo and iaido are more modern and thereby more advanced and or better systems of kenjutsu and koryu; this is inaccurate at best. The aims of bujutsu (lit. "martial methods") and budo (lit. "martial way") are two distinct practices that serve distinctly different aims.
The primary objective of a student of a koryu is to engage in the practice of bujutsu in order to develop the combative mindset of his or her ryu, through which he will come to understanding the effective utilization of a broad range of weapons in mortal combat. The objective of budo is rather less terse, while many people enter into budo for reasons of self-defense, most gendai budo (modern martial arts) also seek to develop the spiritual, ethical, and or moral aspects of the individuals in conjunction with the physical and/or sporting aspects. Koryu has no sporting component and free sparring is rarely used due to the danger. While bujutsu and budo remain two distinct practices, they are not mutually exclusive, and the terms are used almost interchangeably in the Japanese language. The distinction, however subtle, between bujutsu and budo points to the essential difference and qualities of each approach and their relationship to koryu.
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