Nikola Mijatov

Japanese martial arts have gained immense popularity and have spread all over the world. They are a favored recreation, as well as a profession to millions of practitioners. However, the martial arts considered in the article – Judo, Karate and Aikido, bear within them the tradition and culture of their place of origin. The key question is this: are they liberated from their mystical, in fact religious past and ancient practice, in the form of philosophy and methods of training. The article gives a critical analysis of the ideas of the founders of the stated martial arts: Jigoro Kano, Gichin Funakoshi and Morihei Ueshiba and checks to what extent their very ideas and ultimate goals of martial arts are determined by Eastern mysticism, mainly in the form of Zen Buddhism and Shintoism. Besides that, the literature of distinguished domestic authors has also been analyzed in order to see whether the practice of the founders have been neglected or faithfully preserved. Judo has proved itself to be completely secular while the situation with Karate and Aikido is more complex. Funakoshi has preached modern methods of training, the road which is followed by the majority of Karate masters, while some have gone back to older practices: a mystical, irrational approach to martial art and to everyday training. On the other hand, in its essence, Aikido represents a religion and Morihei Ueshiba is its Prophet. In fact, the martial art is yields to the purpose of its final, completely religious goal. Still, by analyzing some Serbian authors, it is evident that this practice has been given up and that the practical part of Aikido as a martial art is dominant. Still, it is possible to also find Serbian authors who devotedly follow the path of Ueshiba and accept his philosophy in its entirety. This article aims to point out the significance of this problem, which does not only affect the philosophies of these martial arts, primarily in the form of defining the “ultimate goal” of the martial art itself, but also spreads its influence on the training methods. It is important to know for every practitioner whether his trainer or “sensei” views the martial art as a form of recreation, aiming to promote it as such, with modern training methods, or if there is a mystical approach to training with religious elements prevailing.

Keywords: Judo, Karate, Aikido, martial arts, mysticism

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