Black Belt Information

In martial arts, one strives to bring out the qualities of Bushido in order to become more than a soldier, in order to become a warrior. His authority, his morality, and source of ethical conduct was provided by another person - his leader. Qualities such as fear, greed, hate, prejudice, envy, spite, and laziness not only make one a poor fighter, but a poor human being. And by self I mean those unworthy qualities within us all that prevents us from being the best people we are capable of becoming. In order to become a true martial artist, as the ancient warrior strove to become, one must learn to develop more than fighting skills. Every quality we posses makes up our spirit. He owed allegiance to his commander, and took orders from him regardless of the consequences, regardless of the moral implication of his behavior. The soldier was nothing more than a killing machine. The "bushido" comprised at least eight qualities or traits considered crucial elements of proper living. tal, a soldier was a man well skilled in battlefield tactics and strategy. They included respect, politeness, benevolence, sincerity, bravery, veracity, honor, and loyalty. He was every bit as adept at self-defense as the soldier, but the warrior would rather die than transgress his code of moral behavior, which constituted the major focus of his existence.

On the other hand, a warrior, in Oriental parlance, was one who answered only to his own carefully defined moral code of ethics, commonly known as his "bushido", the warrior's code of conduct, loosely comparable to the medieval knight's code of chivalry. On command he was expected to slaughter men, women, and children, destroy whole villages, and not stop once to ask whether such action was right or wrong.