“… we must unite the concrete with the abstract.”
I don’t know about you, but a younger Naive David Paprocki saw the arts of Ju Do and Jiu Jitsu (Also Spelled Ju Jutstu) and thought, “Hey, they both have the same first syllable. I wonder if that means something?” Well, It turns out young naive David wasn’t that naive after all… well at least when it came to basic martial arts knowledge. Yes, the syllable Ju means gentle. If you have trained in any martial art, you likely know that Ju Do means, The Gentle Way. The first syllable being the same is somewhat interesting, but the real interesting part is how the last two syllables are different and what they mean.
Different arts can have both Do and Jutsu applied to them. You have likely heard of Karate Do, but Karate Jutsu does in fact exist. They both have the same kata and kumite practices, but the way they approach these two things are completely different.
When you train in a “Do” version of an art, there is a large influence on the way that you carry yourself in and out of the training space. There is a heavy influence on the moral code that supports those arts. Character Development is a huge component; after all, “Do” means ‘Way of Life’. Think of “Do” as a Lifestyle Brand.
When you train in a Jutsu style of art there is much more of an emphasis towards the technical aspects of the training. The Jutsu variants also tend to be more martial than the Do variants since they were meant to be for training soldiers. The ‘Way of Life’ aspect wasn’t forgotten, it just wasn’t what the students were in need of at the moment. The soldiers needed a more combative aspect of training so that they were ready for battle. That was the priority.
In the earlier days, the divide from the “Do” and the “Jutsu” were more prominent than they are today. Today, there is a spectrum of where we as martial artists fall when we look at our own training. Let’s put the style we train in aside. What are our goals for training? Are we training for self defense, or self expression? The “or” here is an inclusive one. You can say yes to both! You may just have a different balance of it than I do.
When we look at the two words “Martial Art” we see two contrasting words put together. “Martial” and “Art” have very different meanings but they are together! Have you ever thought of that? In his personal philosophy, “Moo Do Chul Hak”, Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Founder Hwang Kee goes into great detail on this. He explains how as martial artists and on a more basic level, human beings, we must combine the martial aspects of our lives with the artistic aspects of our lives. He describes this as the “Moo Do” Philosophy, literally translated to “Martial Art”. As such, we must unite the concrete with the abstract. We must unite Theory and Application, and we must unite Design with Implementation. How good is an architect without knowing material properties? At that point they are simply no more than an artist!
When it comes to your training and your life, where are you on the Do/Jutsu Spectrum? What do you want to get out of your training? Don’t worry, it’s not a quiz. Don’t feel self conscious about the particular style you are training in, but please do take ownership of how you decide to balance your training and really balance your life. As Bruce Lee Said, “To Be a Martial Artist, is to be an artist of Life.”
