Tsukahara Bokuden (The Unbeaten Samurai)

 TSUKAHARA BOKUDEN 

Tsukahara Bokuden (1490 – 1571) was the said to be the most deadly Japanese samurai of his day and that he gained a  reputation by fighting and beating the best martial arts experts the country had to offer. 

He lived during the Muromachi Period and was said to be the perfect warrior who never lost a fight, whether in battle for his Daimyo (warlord) or an individual duel. He held the 'samurai code' of being brave and hugely loyal to his peers and chiefs. 

Tsukahara Bokuden was incredibly unusual that in later life he developed the philosophy that there was more merit in avoiding conflict than there was in fighting and killing an opponent. One should take note that the philosophy he had come to adopt was opposite to the vast majority of other warriors in that era. 

Tsukahara Bokuden was the son of a Shinto priest, however he was able to join the ranks of the samurai warriors as the turbulent times meant that those born from outside the social class could now rise up the military ranks. To gain access to the samurai ranks the individual needed to display exceptional fighting ability and demonstrate the mentality required be a functional warrior. 

From a very early age, Bokuden spent much of his time trying to learn martial arts from  highly respected warriors and by the age of 20, he would get his first real test. Ochiai Torazaemon was a famous warrior who Bokuden fearlessly challenged and defeated. 

Although these types of duels often ended with the loser dying, they were not necessarily fights to the death and Torazaemon had been allowed to live. Being totally humiliated in defeat, he decided to ambush the younger samurai warrior who promptly made his name by killing his more experienced adversary. Bokuden had now gained a reputation as an individual not to be messed with. 

After being given special permission from his Daimyo, Bokuden went on a pilgrimage (Musha Shugyo) to seek out the best teachers to learn from and to challenge the best samurai warriors Japan had to offer. In total, he had thirty-seven duels against the best fighters around and set himself on the path to becoming a samurai legend by defeating all who stood before him. 

Once he had achieved the pilgrimage, he decided to go back to the service of his Daimyo and once again serve in his army. At the age of 37, he was allowed to settle down and open up his own Japanese samurai school called the Shinto Ryu. There, he put his highly honed abilities with a samurai sword to good use and introduce his own style called the 'Single Cut Style'.

By the time Tsukahara Bokuden had reached his 50s he was totally against the need for killing the opponent. The philosophy was now to attain victory without shedding blood to do so. 

One story goes...While travelling on a ferry, a young samurai began bullying and intimidating some of the other passengers, boasting of his fighting prowess and claiming to be the best in the country with a samurai sword. When the young warrior noticed how unmoved Bokuden was, he was enraged and not knowing who he was dealing with challenged the old master to a duel. Bokuden told him:

“My art is different from yours. It consists not so much in defeating others but in not being defeated.” 

He continued to inform him that his school was called The Mutekatsu Ryu meaning "to defeat an enemy without hands". The young samurai saw this as cowardice and demanded satisfaction so he told the boats-man to stop at an island so they could do battle there. When he jumped into the shallow waters to make his way to the fight venue, Bokuden got hold of the boats-man’s pole and proceeded back to deeper waters minus a now irate young samurai. The wise old master laughed and shouted to his would-be adversary; 

“Here is my no sword school!”

On his retirement, Bokuden, a legend in his own lifetime, went to live in a mountain sanctuary where many young samurai came to learn from him. He later went on a second pilgrimage, this time only to teach rather than to challenge other samurai warriors to do battle. His most famous student during this time was the 17 year old Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who was lucky enough to learn martial arts from the  master in 1552. 

In 1571 at the age of 83, the great samurai legend Tsukahara Bokuden died. As that period was one of much civil strife, many of the best fighters of the time died young fighting in wars for their Daimyo and this resulted in many great schools, including the one founded by Bokuden, dying out. 

Though he lived in turbulent times, Tsukahara Bokuden managed to develop a peaceful philosophy and believed that it was better to avoid conflict altogether than to win a fight. Many great masters throughout subsequent martial arts history have echoed this believe such as Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo and Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan karate, showing Bokuden to be a forward thinking legend of samurai history.