武道の文化性とスポーツ化

抄録

Though the International Judo Federation established the rule called “Koka”, the All Japan Judo Federation decided not to adopt it. In order to understand this conflict, we have to consider the process how the martial arts - their thought, spirit, and techniques - have been built up in Japan, in relation to modern sports.
In the past, under special circumstances of Japan, the ideal of bushido or samurai spirit sprang from the martial arts, and they were bound up with those in authority. Even today, technically speaking, we have adopted all of the jujutsu-waza in modern Judo, even though we make most of nage-waza. Psychologically speaking, in the age of jujutsu, the style of “rei”, or formal greeting to one's opponent, was not more than a supplement, as it were. In our modern democratic times, this concept of “rei” has been changed into the one which stands for respect co-operation and so forth; moreover, “Kata”, or stylized performances, have been introduced. “Kata” possess the sense of the s pirit of rei, and are performed neither for the purpose of victory nor defeat.
In other words, the quality of Judo is found in Japanese traditional culture, possessing strong ties with politics and society. In Judo we have pursued, both mentally and physically, morality, religion, the sense of art (that is, technique) and so forth. A rule is not always unchangeable, but rather it is to be modified bit by bit when necessary. In Judo too, there has been a tendency to decide the winner by points, although in the past it has been decided only “Ippon”.
Thus we are now at a grave turning point. Should we acept the modification of rules only on condition that the essential quality of Judo is not changed? Or should we go on modifying the rules without considering the real quality of Judo, regarding Judo as just an ordinary competition sport?