Is bjj a form of budo?

Or do you make yourself superior by dismissing the language of other cultures, especially non-English ones?

I'll remember to tell my friends who teach Jiujitsu to stop counting in Portuguese...because they're just trying to sound like smarties. It can't possibly be because it's useful to learn new things about other cultures than your own, especially if there's some sort of martial arts commonality.

 

Unless there's not quite a suitable alternative in English and there is one which fits what you're trying to say far better in another language. Gestalt, shadenfreude, samaadi, etc.

 

Pointless unless you're trying to explain why something is bu do, and clarify that it doesn't mean anything Japanese in particular.

Using your logic, why not stop using terms like "Zen", "Tao", and so on. These words are used all over literature in the English-speaking world. So, according to your theory, it's pointless? I wholeheartedly disagree. These have meaning outside the Sinosphere.

There's no set rule book on when to use a foreign language and ironically, when using English, you're using/borrowing from many different foreign languages. They speak English in many US-based Jiujitsu classes, except when they choose to count. In China and Japan, they use many English or English-derived words (Shooto).

And ultimately the thread was "is BJJ Budo?". It is based on the meaning of bu do. So why all these other arguments, again?

 

Iron fist, You seem to disagree with the definition of Budo that Donn F. Draeger put forward, why is that? And can you point out why your definition is any better then his?

 

It may not mean anything special in Japanese to a japanese speaker but it definitely has strong connotations to non Japanese speakers.

Much like in English when we adopt words from other languages often the meaning changes as well.

For example the difference between our use of cow (saxon origin) and beef (norman/french origin), beef meaning just the meat but originally taken from the norman/french which just meant the animal.

 

it'll give him something to cogitate over whilst he's off avoiding uni work!

 

Wow. That was unfortunate