Bun Bu

The Japanese philosopher Nakae Toju wrote that without culture a warrior could not be fully fulfilled. He expressed this in the term Warriorhood and Culture or "Bun Bu". He meant that a warrior should also steep himself in cultural activities such as philosophy, poetry, calligraphy and other arts in order to balance the violent aspects of his martial calling. Without knowledge force is applied aimlessly and potentially for wrong reasons. Now I am not advocating that all fencers go off and study calligraphy, Noh theatre or tea rituals but I do believe that it is important to have a developed and questioning mind if you want to reach your full potential as a fencer. You must be able to question the techniques you are taught, analyse when they are most suitable and recognise and prepare situations where you can employ them. Beyond that, you need to develop an understanding of the rules of the sport plus why they are the rules. Beyond even that, you may wish to understand the history and traditions of your sport to give you a sense of belonging. Beyond even that, you may wish to find out about similar sports or martial arts and apply learning from them into your own tradition. Finally beyond that you may wish to consider the lessons that fencing has given you and how you can apply them to your life and vice versa. The intellectual journey should never end if you wish to be a truly balanced warrior.