When I hear the word “musha shugyo” it conjures up images of warriors of old traipsing around the Japanese countryside in search of rivals to test their martial prowess. This is of-course the normal definition of the word and a mostly accurate one. The usual suspects used to illustrate this type of activity are Tsukahara Bokuden and Miyamoto Musashi.
In modern day Japanese it still holds that meaning above, but has also expanded to include any study activities (usually academic or in the arts) and with a locale of anywhere other than your immediate area (foreign countries included).
In the last two months alone I have seen the following people that I would describe to been doing Musha-shugyo:
- a Scottish kenshi spent a week in Fukuoka and a week in Osaka practising kendo;
- a young English kenshi is spending a month in Fukuoka practising kendo and took time off to come over to Osaka to experience kendo here;
- an English gentlemen tried for his 8dan then spent 2 weeks travelling between Tokyo-Kyushu-Osaka-Hong Kong doing kendo all the way;
- I met an Italian kendo team member who was over here practising kendo at a university for 10 days;
- an American kenshi came over for 3 weeks to study kendo and experience Japan;
- a young English kenshi came from Nagasaki for 10 days to study kendo and iaido in Osaka and Kobe;
- etc etc. (there are more!)
My point being that the the term MUSHA SHUGYO is one that is still very much alive in the Japanese Sword Arts world (and probably in all Japanese budo). If you haven’t embarked on a trip to other dojos (or other countries) recently, perhaps its about time you gave it a go?
(If you come to Kansai, then please get in touch with my group, EIKENKAI).