KI (Kee) – The Chinese/Japanese Concept of Cosmic Power

How the Japanese Develop and Use

the Force Known as Ki

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

One of the most extraordinary sights I have ever seen in the martial arts field was a very small judo master in his seventies using the power of ki (kee) to literally blast several young judo trainees away from him as if they had been hit by a powerful gust of wind.

The move by the elderly judo master appeared to have been virtually effortless. It was not a violent act. He did not strain himself in any way, and he did not yell out like many practitioners of the martial arts…and some Western tennis players do when they make or return a shot.

As noted in my book, Japan’s Cultural Code Words, Asians, particularly practitioners of Zen in China and Japan, have long held that there is a force [think Start Wars] that infuses the cosmos and all things in it, including human beings, and that this force can be developed and directed toward specific tasks and targets.

Zen was introduced into Japan China in the 12th and 13th centuries, and became part of the training of the samurai class of warriors whose lives depended on developing their senses and their martial arts skills to an incredible degree.

From that era on, the history of Japan’s samurai class is replete with records of accomplishments and actions by individual warriors that were out of the ordinary and often astonishing.

The most famous of these warriors was Musashi Miyamoto, who was born in 1584 and died in 1645. He fought over 60 duels to the death by the time he was 30 years, the first one when he was just 13. In addition to these duels he fought in numerous wars and in hundreds of exhibition bouts without ever losing a single match or being wounded. [It is said that in one fight his opponent managed to cut a small slice in his kimono.]

The use of ki was taught by Zen monks, and eventually spread among artists, craftsmen, garden designers and others who wanted to sharpen their ordinary senses and develop an extrasensory perception.

Ki is variously translated as energy, mind-power, spirit and cosmic breath, and is now most commonly associated with aikido, karate, kendo and other martial arts. Karate masters often demonstrate its power by breaking a large number of boards and bricks with their hands or feet. The power of ki has also been associated with the cure of many ailments—and in that respect the cures would qualify as miracles in Western religious terms.

The Chinese and Japanese say that the human body is infused with ki and that it is the stimulation of ki in the body that makes acupuncture work. [Western scientists are now beginning to accept the idea that there is an invisible power than animates all life forms.]

Large numbers of Japanese businessmen are devotees of Zen and the power of ki and attribute at least some of their success to this cosmic energy. The Japanese government has been backing scientific research into the nature of ki since the 1980s.

The power of ki is developed through a combination of physical exercises and meditation—on focusing the mind to the point that it can exert a physical force on a judo opponent or any other object.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

For more about ki, Zen, meditation and the training of the samurai, see the author’s books: The Japanese Samurai Code—Classic Strategies for Success; Samurai Strategies—42 Martial Arts Secrets from Musashi’s Book of Five Rings; and Samurai Principles & Practices that will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers…all available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and leading bookstores. For a full list of his 60-plus books on China, Japan and Korea see his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.

Changing the Culture of Education around the World!

Training Program

Used by Japan’s Samurai Class
Should be Adopted Worldwide!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

The present-day systems of parenting and educating in the U.S. and elsewhere obviously fail to provide the physical, intellectual and emotional framework that youths need to even approach their potential as fully mature and responsible adults.

I believe an entirely new cultural paradigm is needed to reform and energize the world’s education systems, and I believe that a modern version of the training undergone by the youth of Japan’s famed samurai class could provide a model for this paradigm.

I have identified the principles and practices that made up the educational and training process of samurai youths, and published them in a book entitled: Samurai Principles & Practices That Will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers.

The book covers all of the basics of the samurai training—setting goals, discipline, diligence, perseverance, respect for others and one’s self, maintaining a high standard of personal appearance, keeping things in order, living frugally, using intuitive and emotional intelligence, and tapping into cosmic power.

Japan’s famous samurai warriors ruled the country from 1192 until 1868. During the latter centuries of their reign their training went beyond martial arts to include such cultural pursuits as poetry, painting, calligraphy, history, philosophy and social behavior, making them one of the most remarkable groups of people the world has ever seen.

Schooling in the skills and knowledge necessary to produce a samurai began in early childhood, and was a lifelong effort. Training in karate, kendo and meditation were the paths to learning the skills, morality and motivation that made the samurai so successful—and it was the heritage of the spirit of the samurai that made it possible for tiny resource-poor Japan to overcome the destruction of World War II and become the world’s second largest economy in less than 30 years.

I believe the modernized version of this samurai type of training should be incorporated into the educational system of Western all countries—and that now includes Japan.

The introduction of American culture into Japan following the end of World War II in 1945 resulted in the virtual demise of samurai-type training of the young within a single generation. The negative effects of this cultural shift were painfully conspicuous by the 1980s, prompting a growing number of Japanese to individually take up training in kendo or karate and the practice of meditation to reintroduce a sense of order and spiritual power into their lives.

Obviously, parents and teachers must take the lead in creating the environment necessary to build positive samurai-like qualities into the mindset and behavior of students, but I also hope my book will appeal directly to the millions of students who are into Japanese-made manga (comics), video games, super secret agent ninjas, and samurai films.

Samurai Principles & Practices That Will Help Preteens and Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities and Choosing Careers [based on the present-day sports version of the martial arts of the samurai] is available in both digital and paperback versions from Amazon.com and other online booksellers, Borders Bookstores, Barnes & Noble, and other leading retail outlets.

It is distributed to the trade by Ingram Book Company and Baker & Taylor. A detailed description of the book is also available on my website, phoenixbookspublishers.com, along with my other titles on the way of the samurai.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente
To see a full list of the author’s 60-plus books, including The Japanese Samurai Code—Classic Strategies for Success, and Samurai Strategies—42 Martial Arts Secrets from Musahi’s Book of Five Rings, go to his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Japan’s Martial Arts Culture Spreading around World!

Author Says Karate Training
Would Benefit World’s Young

Jack Culebra

The martial arts that made Japan’s samurai warriors and ninja among the world’s most formidable and feared fighters are now spreading around the world in a cultural invasion that, according to Japanologist/author Boyé Lafayette De Mente, is having a profound influence on the lives of a growing number of people—especially youngsters and teenagers.

Known for his books on the cultural foundations of the etiquette and ethics of the Japanese in their business and social relationships, De Mente says that after the nearly 800-year reign of Japan’s samurai ended in the early 1870s a number of martial arts masters began the process of changing kendo (the way of the sword), judo and karate into modern-day sports designed to instill the most desirable attributes in their practitioners, from a sense of fair-play and courage to rigorous discipline in the pursuit of goals.

But, De Mente adds, these martial arts remained virtually unknown in the U.S. until 1927 when Kentsu Yabu, an Okinawan karate master, staged a public demonstration of karate at the Nuuana YMCA in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Interestingly, among the Caucasian spectators who witnessed the demonstration were members of the First Methodist Church of Hawaii who became students of the art and soon began to hold public demonstrations of their own. Over the next several years other Okinawa karate masters were invited to teach in Hawaii.

Pioneer American martial arts masters like Thomas Young and Ed Parker got their training in clubs operating in Hawaii in the 1930s and 40s, and both were to play leading roles in helping to spread the practice of martial arts to the mainland from the 1950s on.

But the first martial arts dojoh on the mainland of the U.S. was opened in Phoenix, Arizona in 1946 by ex-sailor Robert Trias, who had been stationed in Japan and had studied karate under a Japanese master. Trias established the United States Karate Association in 1948. Other servicemen who had also studied martial arts in Japan began opening training studios on the mainland.

By 1951 the U.S. military had picked up on the idea of making Japanese style martial arts a part of its regular training programs, a move that was backed by the famous World War II air force general Curtis LeMay, himself a student of Japan-trained master Emilio Bruno who was in charge of martial arts training for the Strategic Air Command, headed by General LeMay.

Bruno taught over a dozen karate instructors for the SAC, and they later toured military installations throughout the U.S., giving demonstrations.

In 1952 Japan’s great martial arts master Mas Oyama was invited to give a series of karate demonstrations to the general public across the U.S. His ability to break boards and bricks with his hands, covered by The New York Times and national media, created a sensation and was instrumental in making karate a household word.

From 1955 on this fanfare resulted in large numbers of martial arts masters being trained in Tokyo by the Japan Karate Association specifically to open dojoh in the United States.

It was also in 1955 that former sailor Robert Trias conducted the first known karate tournament in America: The 1st Arizona Karate Championships. Held at the Butler Boys Club in Phoenix, participants were chiefly members of the Arizona Highway Patrol who were Trias' students.

By 1951 pioneer martial arts enthusiast Ed Parker had moved from Hawaii to California where his growing student list included such Hollywood names as Darren McGavin, author Joe Hyams, television executive Tom Tannenbaum, producer Blake Edwards, and the late film stars Nick Adams, Frank Lovejoy, Audie Murphy and—believe it or not—Elvis Presley.

Thereafter, Tannenbaum and Edwards, among others, were instrumental in bringing a long line of films featuring karate scenes to the screen. Dozens of books and a steady flow of magazine articles continued to promote Japanese style martial arts training.

By the 1980s movie and television fare, especially films featuring such real-life martial arts champions as Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Jean Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan, had become a staple of the entertainment diet and a factor in martial arts as a way of life.

Dojoh masters had also begun appealing to women and children of all ages, touting the security factor for women and the character-building benefits for children.

But De Mente says that despite the fact that training in martial arts as a sport and a character builder is now an important industry around the world it has only scratched the surface of its full potential.

“The result of introducing boys and girls as young as five or six years of age to the discipline and philosophy that is part of modern-day martial arts is absolutely remarkable,” he maintains.

“It provides them with the structure, the discipline, and the emotional, intellectual and spiritual foundation they need to become well-rounded adults and function effectively in society,” he adds.

De Mente’s own efforts to promote the benefits of martial arts include a newly published book entitled Samurai Principles & Practices that will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers.

The book is available from Amazon.com, other online booksellers, and through bookstore chains. Booksellers may order the book from the Ingram Book Company,

De Mente says he wrote the book primarily for dojoh masters to use in their efforts to encourage more parents to enroll their children in karate training courses.
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De Mente’s other books on Japan include The Japanese Samurai Code; Samurai Strategies; Japan Unmasked: The Character & Culture of the Japanese; and KATA—The Key to Understanding & Dealing with the Japanese. For a full list of his 60-plus books on Japan, Korea, China and Mexico see his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.