Shin-gi-tai as a guiding principle in Kodokan judo. Yet, another example of historical reinvention?

David B. Waterhouse; Carl De Crée

doi:10.18002/rama.v20i1.2504

Authors

David B. Waterhouse Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto
Carl De Crée Ghent University http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9274-4319

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18002/rama.v20i1.2504

Keywords:

Martial arts, combat sports, judo, sport history, ethics, bushido, Haku Michigami, Jigoro Kano, Kito-ryu, Kodokan

Agencies:

The authors received no funding for this work.

Abstract

Judo national governing bodies in recent years through slogans, posters, cartoons, and web site information have attempted to reignite their members’ appreciation for a judo morality constructed on Japanese bushido. Similarly, several judo federations actively promote ‘shin-gi-tai’ (mind-technique-body) as a guiding principle for rank promotions and conduct allegedly in association with Kano Jigoro’s philosophy. Using translation, critical and heuristic analysis of relevant original historical Japanese sources, it is the purpose of this paper to investigate the origin, etymology and justification of shin-gi-tai as a pre-existing principle in Kodokan judo. Our results show that shin-gi-tai was first used in judo by Michigami Haku while teaching in Shanghai in the 1940s. After his arrival in France in 1953, the concept was introduced and distributed within the Western judo world. However, Michigami was not the original author. It was on the island of Kyushu, from where Michigami hailed, that the term shin-gi-tai appears to have been first used in the Heiho shingitai oboegaki (Memorandum on military arts and mind-technique-body), a text authored by Toyoda Masanaga, an 18^th century Niten ichi-ryu heiho swordsman influenced by Miyamoto Musashi. A similar term, shinkitai, later entered sumo through the Yoshida family, also active in Kyushu, who became responsible for the administration of sumo in the late Meiji period. Michigami as a young man had practiced both kendo and sumo. There is no link between Kano Jigoro and shin-gi-tai. While it is acceptable to use shin-gi-tai or any other legitimate meme in coaching athletes, asserting that it represents a fundamental principle that guides rank promotions and ethics in judo is nothing but historical reinvention that lacks any basis.

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Author Biographies

David B. Waterhouse, Department of East Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Toronto

David B. Waterhouse† (1936-2017) was a Full Professor of Japanese Studies at the Department of East Asian Studies of the University of Toronto from 1975 to 2002. Since then, he had been an Emeritus Professor until his passing. A graduate in pianoforte from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in Western Classics, Moral Sciences and Oriental Studies from Cambridge University, David started his professional career at the British Museum. He was a Senior Member of University College, an Honorary Research Associate of the Royal Ontario Museum’s Far Eastern Department since 1969, and a former Adjunct Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University. David published on a wide variety of topics and had special expertise on the 18^th century Japanese woodblock print artist Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1724-1770), about whom in 2013 he produced a seminal work entitled “The Harunobu Decade”, published with Koninklijke Brill N.V. In 1990 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), and also was a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (FRAS). He was a 2017 recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun 3^rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, awarded to him by Emperor Akihito of Japan, and held the jūdō rank of 4^th dan from both Judo Canada and the Kōdōkan Jūdō Institute in Tōkyō. David passed away on Thursday, November 16^th, 2017, aged 81 years. E-mail: not applicable.

Carl De Crée, Ghent University

Carl De Crée is a Full Professor of Medicine (Exercise Endocrinology & Sports Medicine) and a university executive administrator. In addition, he also is a senior scholar in Chinese and Japanese Studies and has conducted research on jūdō since 1981. He is a graduate of the first cohort of the University or Rome’s unique Master’s degree program in Jūdō, and one of only a few jūdō-experts holding the European Judo Union Level-6 Specialized Judo Teacher & High-Performance Coach qualification. He also holds double Trainer-A qualifications in both jūdō and jūjutsu from the Flemish Trainer School, and an International Judo Coach qualification and a Judo Master Teacher Class A Certificate from USA Judo. He has previously resided in Japan and has studied jūdō with, inter alia, the late Felix De Smedt, Marcel Clause, Hirano Tokio, Fukuda Keiko, Imamura Haruo, Abe Ichirō, Daigo Toshirō, and Ōsawa Yoshimi, and with Ashida Kunio, Kurimura Yōji, Ochiai Toshiyasu, Okano Isao, Tokuyama Misao, and Tsuji Yoshimi. He holds an 8^th dan black belt in jūdō and the title of kyōshi. He is a former student in the Inoue Keitarō-lineage of Tenjin Shin’yō-ryū jūjutsu under the late Tobari Kazu-shihan, and the first and only non-Japanese ever to hold menkyo in Kitō-ryū. E-mail: prof.cdecree@earthlink.net

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