Originally posted by Charles Mahan
The Do Vs. Jutsu arguement has been argued over and over again online. Boiled down there are two camps.
Those in support of drawing a distinction between Do and Jutsu arts
Mostly this camp believes that there are two groups of arts. The Do arts are focused on spiritual development and as such they allow their combat oriented techniques to slip. After all martial training to this group is secondary to the real goal of spiritual enlightenment. This camp also believes that the real fighting arts fall into the camp of Jutsu arts. The Jutsu arts are primarily focused on combat effective technique and to heck with spiritual enlightenment.
Those who disagree with drawing a distinction between DO and Jutsu arts
Mostly this camp believes that there is no distinction. This camp will frequently point out that the Japanese use the terms pretty much interchangably. They will also frequently point out that dojo's who use the "do" suffix instead of the "jutsu" suffix and train without combative intent and let their combat oriented techniques slip, are practicing incorrectly. It isn't "do" it's just bad.
I've tried to outline the arguements as unbiasdly as possible. I fall firmly into the camp that thinks the distinction is silly. Yes there is a character building element in Iai, but it's not all that different than any other element of life. It comes from students wanting to emulate sensei with good character, not from anything necessarily inherent in the techniques of the system.
Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu is a good example of why the whole do vs. jutsu arguement is hogwash. MJER has splintered a number of times this century and there are now several distinct branches. I belong to the Seitokai branch which is led by Ikeda-soke, who is the 22nd leader of the style. The Seitokai branch is by far the largest branch with a membership numbering in excess of 10,000. MJER meets the definition of a "jutsu" art as described by those who argue for a distinction between do and jutsu. We train with combative intent and combat effectiveness as the core principles that guide training. There is no extensive meditation or goofy pseudo eastern philosphy lecutres. We learn to kill people with 30" long razor blades, while avoiding a similar fate. So according to the supporters of a distinction we meet the jutsu definition. Yet MJER refers to itself as Iaido most of the time. The MJER Seitokai is a member of the Zen Nippoin IaiDO Renmei. To confuse the matters even more, if you read my rank certificate which was issued by the Seitokai and signed by Ikeda soke you will note the name of the style is MJER Iaiheiho(heiho roughly translates to military matters). So MJER Iaido meets the classic definition of Iaijutsu but signs it's rank certificates with Iaiheiho.
Perhaps this will better explain what I was trying to get at above.
