Database: Martial Arts: Combat Culture

In medieval Japan, most of those who trained for war were samurai. The samurai most often fought on horseback, and their training focused on horsemanship and mounted archery (yabusame). Hunting was considered both a moment of distraction and learning for younger warriors. For archery, they trained on fixed or moving targets, most often dogs, which they shot at with blunt arrows. Samurai also trained in swordsmanship or naginata (pole weapon) on dummies.

From the 14th century, auxiliary infantry troops (nobushi, nobuseri, ashigaru) were increasingly called upon during wars to unhorse mounted warriors. These men were armed with pole weapons to cut the legs of horses, set ambushes where slings were sometimes used, or threw stones from a height. From the second half of the 16th century, these troops were better supervised and trained to maneuver together and were especially equipped with firearms, forming musketeer corps. Yet, as these soldiers were commoners, little information is available about their training methods.

In the 17th century was the return of peace, these combat techniques (bugei, bujutsu) were rationalized around what we now call koryū bujutsu (old-style martial arts) of the Edo period. These techniques, practiced by samurai and police officers, mainly included jujutsu (which later inspired jūdō and aikidō), bojutsu (staff fighting), and kenjutsu (sword fighting). Modern kendō and iaido are also inspired by these old techniques. Finally, taijutsu, rediscovered and codified in the 17th century, is a hand-to-hand combat technique based on blocks and throws.

Ninjutsu (the technique of shinobi) was originally not a martial art per se, but rather a set of infiltration techniques into the enemy's ranks, more related to espionage than combat.