Using a Sword in Japanese martial arts and being a Christian Samurai.

[ChristianSamurai88]

Greetings! I have a few pointers to make on the misconceptions about a Christian using a sword and why it is relevant to today...
Also going to cover what it means to be a Christian Samurai, and the path I walk as one.

Let's start with the meaning of a Christian Samurai:

1) The kanji for samurai is very simple (&#20365 if you want to get technical, it means to serve. As Christians we are called to serve God as we live our lives and walk alongside him, a Samurai is one who serves his master. He/she follows the master who commands him/her to serve unwaveringly. If you look at the concepts, we are servants to God as Christians and we are called to follow unwaveringly and walk alongside Him. These mean the same.
2) As a Christian Samurai myself, my life belongs to no other but God and Jesus. Back in history, many samurai denied their lives were for the master they served when the Daimyo commanded them to commit seppuku or ritual suicide. Instead, they stated that their lives did not belong to the daimyo, but to The Lord, and refused. Many were martyrs and died for that faith. I am not afraid of death in my body because I have eternal life with Jesus.
3) A Christian Samurai is also one who serves his or her people to know Christ. We are called to make disciples in many lands and give the love of God to all. We all have spiritual gifts The Lord has given us, and we should join together in bringing love through those gifts. This means we should also love those who don't love and need it.

For using a sword in martial arts as a Christian:
1) I was taught at a very young age, when I started Iaido (Japanese swordsmanship) by my cousin saying to me that "the sword isn't merely wielded by the hand, but by the heart. If your Heart is for God, and it is full of love, your blade will be after God as well, but if your heart is full of hate, your blade will be evil, and those who don't understand this are unfit to use a blade." A Christian Samurai doesn't use his sword to murder but to protect. I believe God will not judge you if you kill someone in the process of protecting yourself or others, if your heart is for God. Of course, we should fight as a last resort and try to win with the sword in the sheath if possible. A common mistake of society is that as Christians we cannot and are not allowed to kill under any circumstance, but this is not true. There is a verse in Matthew (I think? Unsure exactly) that tells us Jesus told his disciples to sell their coats and buy two swords. Meaning that Jesus was all for self-defense on his mission to save all of us. At the same time, when Peter cut a man's ear off in the garden the night Jesus was betrayed, and Jesus healed the man, He rebuked Peter. This means that Peter was trying to stop God's master plan, even so with intentions of protecting Jesus. However, Christ calls us to use a spiritual sword, the Bible as our guide, and use The Word as our sword and use it in love, coming back to the sword being wielded by the heart. 2) we are called to love our enemies. This is never going to be easy, especially if using a sword, but it comes back to what the intent is. Love means many things and if it means to protect yourself for God's plan for you, it is not wrong.

I am a Christian Samurai and I fight a spiritual battle the world will never see unless they choose The Lord. All things I do, I do in love after God's heart.
If anyone has questions or comments feel free! Amen and God bless you all!

 

[faroukfarouk]

I think often tattoos are part of the marital arts scene; do you have any yet?

Some Christians find faith based tattoos to be effective in witness.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

I think often tattoos are part of the marital arts scene; do you have any yet?

Some Christians find faith based tattoos to be effective in witness.

I do not have tattoos, I don't plan on getting any for the time being. Who isu sensei has a dragon and a cross on his back, showing that he is a Christ loving martial artist.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I do not have tattoos, I don't plan on getting any for the time being. Who isu sensei has a dragon and a cross on his back, showing that he is a Christ loving martial artist.

Okay; I was under the impression that students of the martial arts typically got tattoos relating to them. You being a Christian made me wonder if any you had, or might be planning, would be Christian / martial arts oriented in design.

Blessings.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

Okay; I was under the impression that students of the martial arts typically got tattoos relating to them. You being a Christian made me wonder if any you had, or might be planning, would be Christian / martial arts oriented in design.

Blessings.

I never really considered it much thought, it's no problem!

 

[faroukfarouk]

I never really considered it much thought, it's no problem!

Whatever is best for you; it seemed to me that so many martial arts devotees eventually go to the parlor for ink, anyway.

Maybe you get opportunities for testimony among martial arts student (with or without tattoos)?

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

Not all but a lot of martial artists get tattoos. I go to a church where there are a lot of Korean and Taiwanese people, and we all love God in different ways. Whether it be tattoos, or using a sword, or anything else to glorify God is right.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Not all but a lot of martial artists get tattoos. I go to a church where there are a lot of Korean and Taiwanese people, and we all love God in different ways. Whether it be tattoos, or using a sword, or anything else to glorify God is right.

Yes, this was definitely my impression that sooner or later martial arts students tended to go get a kind of informal rite of passage in the tattoo parlor.

God bless the Biblical witness of you guys.

 

[faroukfarouk]

This was on Pinterest:

 

[Azureknight 773]

Greetings! I have a few pointers to make on the misconceptions about a Christian using a sword and why it is relevant to today...
Also going to cover what it means to be a Christian Samurai, and the path I walk as one.

Let's start with the meaning of a Christian Samurai:

1) The kanji for samurai is very simple (&#20365 if you want to get technical, it means to serve. As Christians we are called to serve God as we live our lives and walk alongside him, a Samurai is one who serves his master. He/she follows the master who commands him/her to serve unwaveringly. If you look at the concepts, we are servants to God as Christians and we are called to follow unwaveringly and walk alongside Him. These mean the same.
2) As a Christian Samurai myself, my life belongs to no other but God and Jesus. Back in history, many samurai denied their lives were for the master they served when the Daimyo commanded them to commit seppuku or ritual suicide. Instead, they stated that their lives did not belong to the daimyo, but to The Lord, and refused. Many were martyrs and died for that faith. I am not afraid of death in my body because I have eternal life with Jesus.
3) A Christian Samurai is also one who serves his or her people to know Christ. We are called to make disciples in many lands and give the love of God to all. We all have spiritual gifts The Lord has given us, and we should join together in bringing love through those gifts. This means we should also love those who don't love and need it.

For using a sword in martial arts as a Christian:
1) I was taught at a very young age, when I started Iaido (Japanese swordsmanship) by my cousin saying to me that "the sword isn't merely wielded by the hand, but by the heart. If your Heart is for God, and it is full of love, your blade will be after God as well, but if your heart is full of hate, your blade will be evil, and those who don't understand this are unfit to use a blade." A Christian Samurai doesn't use his sword to murder but to protect. I believe God will not judge you if you kill someone in the process of protecting yourself or others, if your heart is for God. Of course, we should fight as a last resort and try to win with the sword in the sheath if possible. A common mistake of society is that as Christians we cannot and are not allowed to kill under any circumstance, but this is not true. There is a verse in Matthew (I think? Unsure exactly) that tells us Jesus told his disciples to sell their coats and buy two swords. Meaning that Jesus was all for self-defense on his mission to save all of us. At the same time, when Peter cut a man's ear off in the garden the night Jesus was betrayed, and Jesus healed the man, He rebuked Peter. This means that Peter was trying to stop God's master plan, even so with intentions of protecting Jesus. However, Christ calls us to use a spiritual sword, the Bible as our guide, and use The Word as our sword and use it in love, coming back to the sword being wielded by the heart. 2) we are called to love our enemies. This is never going to be easy, especially if using a sword, but it comes back to what the intent is. Love means many things and if it means to protect yourself for God's plan for you, it is not wrong.

I am a Christian Samurai and I fight a spiritual battle the world will never see unless they choose The Lord. All things I do, I do in love after God's heart.
If anyone has questions or comments feel free! Amen and God bless you all!

Awesome! BTW, does your Japanese signature mean "My Comrade is important. I am a Christian Samurai!"? Also, are you a Japanese? BTW, I am a Catholic from the Philippines.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Awesome! BTW, does your Japanese signature mean "My Comrade is important. I am a Christian Samurai!"? Also, are you a Japanese? BTW, I am a Catholic from the Philippines.

You read or speak Japanese also?

 

[BryanW92]

I think often tattoos are part of the marital arts scene; do you have any yet?

Enough of that silly "Christian stuff". Let's talk TATTOOS!!! Oh yeah...and you can use them for witness, yada, yada, yada.

Tattoos are your idol Farouk.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Enough of that silly "Christian stuff"....

You are saying this, not me, friend.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

You read or speak Japanese also?

I do read and speak Japanese fluently, and I am learning korean

 

[faroukfarouk]

I do read and speak Japanese fluently, and I am learning korean

I would love to learn Japanese and Korean. I think Korean especially has many complicated politeness inflections.

Do martial arts in Japan and Korea differ significantly?

Blessings.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

Awesome! BTW, does your Japanese signature mean "My Comrade is important. I am a Christian Samurai!"? Also, are you a Japanese? BTW, I am a Catholic from the Philippines.

Yes, I am half Japanese and half Russian, and I speak Japanese and English fluently, also learning Korean. My signature means "my nakama comrades or friends) are very important and I am a Christian Samurai.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Whether it be tattoos, or using a sword, or anything else to glorify God is right.

A lot of Christians do use tattoos as a witness, yes.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

I would love to learn Japanese and Korean. I think Korean especially has many complicated politeness inflections.

Do martial arts in Japan and Korea differ significantly?

Blessings.

Well, from a swords standpoint, japanese swordsmanship is called Iaido, and it focuses on drawing the blade and finishing the opponent quickly. As for Korean swords, the emphasis is heavily on killing the head so the body dies. It also involves a lot of jumping, while as Iaido is more on the ground. And swords in Iaido are steel, while as Korean swords are made of iron. They have similarities in design, but are also carried differently.
The Korean and Japanese languages are very similar, in structure for grammar, they are 80% the same. Even some words are similar sounding and mean the same in both. For example, yakusoku means promise in Japanese and yaksok means promise in Korean. They also use different writing, korean uses Hangul and Japanese uses hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It's easier to speak japanese than to read, but as you learn the writing it gets easier.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Well, from a swords standpoint, japanese swordsmanship is called Iaido, and it focuses on drawing the blade and finishing the opponent quickly. As for Korean swords, the emphasis is heavily on killing the head so the body dies. It also involves a lot of jumping, while as Iaido is more on the ground. And swords in Iaido are steel, while as Korean swords are made of iron. They have similarities in design, but are also carried differently.
The Korean and Japanese languages are very similar, in structure for grammar, they are 80% the same. Even some words are similar sounding and mean the same in both. For example, yakusoku means promise in Japanese and yaksok means promise in Korean. They also use different writing, korean uses Hangul and Japanese uses hiragana, katakana, and kanji. It's easier to speak japanese than to read, but as you learn the writing it gets easier.

Fascinating!

So I guess you yourself are more into Japanese martial arts than the Korean variety? is your sword made of steel?

Are Japanese and Korean martial arts more male dominated than many of the academies in North America would be?

The Hankul writing system seems to me to be quite straightforward; the complications seem to arise more in the verb inflections and in the complex Korean codes of politeness.

I can always tell Japanese writing because of the frequent 'no' character.

I ought to get myself a parallel English-Japanese Bible, if such a thing exists.

Blessings.

 

[ChristianSamurai88]

Fascinating!

So I guess you yourself are more into Japanese martial arts than the Korean variety? is your sword made of steel?

Are Japanese and Korean martial arts more male dominated than many of the academies in North America would be?

The Hankul writing system seems to me to be quite straightforward; the complications seem to arise more in the verb inflections and in the complex Korean codes of politeness.

I can always tell Japanese writing because of the frequent 'no' character.

I ought to get myself a parallel English-Japanese Bible, if such a thing exists.

Blessings.

I like both, but I practice Iaido more than I practice Korean martial arts. I do have a steel blade for my ancestor, who was of the samurai class, it is folded and hammered 1000 times. It's a family heirloom. The name of my katana is Cerulean Courage. It's been passed down from 7 generations of my family. There are Japanese English parallel bibles in the niv and nkjv versions. As for Korean, the common fear of learning the language lies in the Hangul characters. It means that from a western view, they are not roman letters so korean will be hard to learn. But actually, Korean is the easiest language in Asia to pick up. Also about my dojo; my cousin is also my sensei or teacher, and teaches on Christian values, as well as learning to "wield the sword with the heart." In actuality, we have more females in our dojo than males, and the females are of higher rankings than some of the male students. We believe skill doesn't come from gender, race, or age, but by using the sword by the heart.