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

[ChristianSamurai88]

I've heard that (avoidance) about Rock and Roll music, tattoos and canned soda pop as well. And motorcycles, too.
Did whoever it was told you this have any sort of Biblical justification? Or is it merely someone with suspicion of all those heathen foreigners?
You whole-heartedly suspect anything 'eastern'? I'm sure it sounds like a good idea, but is really quite shallow.

Especially as the roots of Christianity came from the 'East'. (Middle East, but it's still East.)
The unsubstantiated teaching that anything 'eastern' is bad? Yes.

Eastern 'religions' such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism and so forth all lack God, or even the concept of a single, Creator God. (Hinduism has zillions of gods, but no Creator in the same sense as the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition.) Reincarnation leads people away from the urgency of accepting Christ. Aside from some handy relaxation techniques, there is nothing to seek in Eastern religions.

To jump to the conclusion that any sort of Asian martial arts training requires conversion to an Eastern religion or even contaminates the grace of God is unwarranted. Yes, many Asian martial arts do move into Eastern religion, but they weren't anything to start. Perhaps a mild sprinkling of Christianity when young, but no real commitment or teaching.

Hey sorry to reply so late, however...there are many martial artists that are not Christian, but my dojo is a Christian dojo that takes Scripture and places it in the form training, and philosophy of the Iaijutsu (Iaido) we use a lot of parrallels to samurai and servants. For example a samurai serves one master and fealty to only that master... Think of Jesus as the one and only master we serve fealty to as Christians. It's not the martial art's roots we focus on as a whole, but wholly on Jesus as our master we serve.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Hey sorry to reply so late, however...there are many martial artists that are not Christian, but my dojo is a Christian dojo that takes Scripture and places it in the form training, and philosophy of the Iaijutsu (Iaido) we use a lot of parrallels to samurai and servants. For example a samurai serves one master and fealty to only that master... Think of Jesus as the one and only master we serve fealty to as Christians. It's not the martial art's roots we focus on as a whole, but wholly on Jesus as our master we serve.

ChristianSamurai88: Hi there; so how are your studies and travel plans going?

Blessings.

 

[Bat Melek]

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!

I'm a Warrior for Christ, listen to the call and walking in the path of light that He's called me to walk, there is no better place to be than walking with the Lord for Him. Thanks for sharing the post. Could I share this article, please.
Bat Melek

 

[faroukfarouk]

Some significant posts from back a bit:

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.

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.

Seems like there are some very dedicated people among the Christians who practise Samurai swordsmanship, not least - even sometimes mainly, it seems - women.

(In fact, I wonder if the word swordswomanship would be preferable, according to context - if the word exists.)

 

[Bat Melek]

Some significant posts from back a bit:




Seems like there are some very dedicated people among the Christians who practise Samurai swordsmanship, not least - even sometimes mainly, it seems - women.

(In fact, I wonder if the word swordswomanship would be preferable, according to context - if the word exists.)

That's awesome, no I didn't realize there where so many women who practiced Samurai swordsmanship.
Yes we're to glorify God in our whole live whatsoever we find our hands to do.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Archie the Preacher]

(In fact, I wonder if the word swordswomanship would be preferable, according to context - if the word exists.)

Another alternate would be swordpersonship, but I think both are a bit awkward.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Another alternate would be swordpersonship, but I think both are a bit awkward.

Another word would be swording - but maybe it sounds a bit abstract...

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Another word would be swording - but maybe it sounds a bit abstract...

Abstract? I suppose, but I like it best so far. Now if the rest of the world agrees...

 

[faroukfarouk]

Abstract? I suppose, but I like it best so far. Now if the rest of the world agrees...

Websters swording / crossing swords with the Oxford English Dictionary about whether such a word exists...


psdcollector dot blogspot dot com

 

[Archie the Preacher]

Websters swording / crossing swords with the Oxford English Dictionary about whether such a word exists...

Oxford English Dictionary? Then we're out of luck with nearly half the posters here.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Oxford English Dictionary? Then we're out of luck with nearly half the posters here.

Try a Japanese dictionary...

"Nihon-go ga wakarimasen..."

 

[faroukfarouk]

PS: I would rather like to learn Japanese; maybe I should get myself an English-Japanese parallel text Bible - if such a thing exists...

 

[Bat Melek]

Another alternate would be swordpersonship, but I think both are a bit awkward.

Never worked with a sword personally but a individual would have to practice with the proper skills to use it best.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Never worked with a sword personally but a individual would have to practice with the proper skills to use it best.

In some cultures, a sword is as natural as having a handgun is in some US states. Not so much in Canada, but I think in some US states for a woman to have a small handgun in her purse is pretty widespread, right?

I guess in some cultures, being able to use a sword is pretty similar.

 

[Bat Melek]

Websters swording / crossing swords with the Oxford English Dictionary about whether such a word exists...


psdcollector dot blogspot dot com

That's a cool outfit, very impressive too

 

[faroukfarouk]

That's a cool outfit, very impressive too

In the OP's dogo, a majority of the samurai are women, apparently. I guess this outfit depicted would seem pretty natural to the initiate among them. It's probably becoming increasingly necessary or at least favored for female as well as male participants in the samurai tradition to have some suitable tattoos, don't you reckon?

 

[Bat Melek]

Some cultures favor tattoos as a sign of expressing themselves by various designs.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Some cultures favor tattoos as a sign of expressing themselves by various designs.

While it's increasingly so in North America also (18 year olds do it often as a rite of passage; and apparently 59%-70% of parlor clients in North America are women; and many Christians find faith based designs to be proven effective conversation-starters in witness conversations), I think the ones that Samurai and martial arts practitioners are rather specific to their martial environment, right? I guess for ppl interested in that environment, some would feel a stronger attraction to visible inked signs of their Samurai & martial arts identity than others would.

 

[Bat Melek]

I think that those are good points, and I've notice that people show an interest regarding tattoos wanting to why you choice it, where you got it, so forth so it would be easy to begin a conversation that might led to the other person learning about God even.

 

[faroukfarouk]

I think that those are good points, and I've notice that people show an interest regarding tattoos wanting to why you choice it, where you got it, so forth so it would be easy to begin a conversation that might led to the other person learning about God even.

To some extent it's a generational thing also, right? although there is no age bar.

In Japan, the yakuza have tattoos and so in Japan mixed up with the whole martial arts and tattoos environments is the perception of yakuza identification, which is not present in the West. So in a sense Christians in the West who use ink as a witness means can avoid any yakuza identification. (If this makes sense?)

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