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Fudebakudo
The Book, the man
and the humour
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Fudebakudo
is a martial arts book
with a difference and
rather than trying to
explain we got hold of
the man behind the idea
and asked him a few questions
about this real gem of
a book.
MI:
What
inspired you to make this?
David:
I was training in aikido,
and I was freelancing
as a cartoonist so it
was probably bound to
happen. There's so much
that's plainly weird in
the martial arts that
it's fascinating, and
funny. But, as most people
who train seriously know,
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it
can be profound too. So it's a strange
sublime-to-ridiculous world, and I thought
a cartoon looking at this would be welcomed
by maybe one of the martial arts magazines
here in the UK. There's no point doing
violent humour -- that's not where the
fundamental weirdness lies, and besides,
Tom & Jerry do comedy violence better
already -- so I took a factual, informative
style and ran with it. It was rejected
by every one of the magazines I sent
it to. I really don't think they understood
it. So as an afterthought I tried "The
Cartoonist", a newspaper that had
just launched in the UK. The editor,
who wasn't a martial artist, gave it
space on the back page (in the "Sports"
section). We got feedback almost right
away, so I knew it had struck a chord
with some people. That was in 1993,
and from there the idea of the book
grew. I started getting reports of photocopies
turning up in dojo all over the world.
It took ten years before I had the time
to finish the collection and edit it
into its current form.
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The
book gave me the space to do the
parody properly. I challenge
anyone who reads the book to be
100% confident that they know
which
"facts" are bogus, and
which are not. And this is funny,
because we
train in arts based on an understanding
of history and culture that is,
for most of us, about as historically
accurate as The Knights of the
Round Table. Because I could use
text, as well as cartoons, I could
play with the idea more. For example,
without justification Fudebakudo
provides two quite different explanations
of how Musashi founded the
ni-to ryu. If you're making stuff
up (which so many martial arts
histories do, because almost nobody
checks their facts), you might
as
well make different stuff up.
So I put two accounts in there,
just to
see if anyone would notice.
And
then there's the common experience
of training. The 31-Count Kata
cartoon (in which there are only
24 moves, because the person
performing it forgets what comes
next) is a good example; everybody
who is honest can relate to that.
That cartoon even made its way
back to its spiritual home, because
I know that Saito sensei, in Iwama,
saw it before he died.
Ultimately, Fudebakudo is a parody
of what you could most honestly
call
the bullshit that surrounds the
martial arts, and actually that's
quite
a serious problem. Marc MacYoung,
in his website at
www.nononsenseselfdefense.com
talks about the dangers
of fantasy in
martial arts training. To be honest,
when I started Fudebakudo it was
for fun, but the more research
I did the more fascinating this
became:
why are people who are supposedly
studying genuine, practical systems
so willing to believe the myth
and hyperbole that so goes with
them?
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MI:
What is your background?
David:
I
started aikido when I
was 16, because the poster
lied about it being "the
martial art James Bond
does". No, really.
So I've trained in the
art for over twenty years.
I've trained under some
remarkable teachers,
both in the UK and abroad,
including Japan. I did
a little bit of karate
too, and have always been
interested in seeing other
martial arts (as Fudebakudo
research, if you like).
But I see a very clear
distinction between myself
as the aikido student
and myself as Fudebakudo
artist. Fudebakudo is
about the martial arts
in general, and it's a
shared joke, a parody
with a valid target, but
that's all. I'm not laughing
at the martial arts --
I'm serious about my practice
-- but I am laughing at
the fantasy that surrounds
them. Sometimes people
can't make that distinction.
MI:
Do people ever accuse
you of disrespecting their
art?
David: Some insecure
people, yes. We've had
a stand at Seni [the UK
martial arts expo] for
the last three years,
and there we're careful
(or beligerent, depending
on how you look at it)
not to use the word
"cartoon". We
simply present Fudebakudo
as a martial art and let
people work it out for
themselves. The ones who
don't wouldn't have got
the joke anyway: we say
"it's a system of
movements of the pen based
on movements of the sword,"
and incredibly lots of
people are ready to believe
that. We even had someone
pick up the 31-count kata
postcard and seriously
ask, "is it OK if
I teach my students this?"
Really terrifying: there
are people out there who
think it's OK to learn
technique off cartoon
postcards and teach it
to paying students. The
lack of critical thinking
is staggering; but the
myths that surround
the martial arts have
allowed this kind of thing
to be rife.
On the other hand, I've
been flattered by the
calibre of some of the
people who have enjoyed
it. That includes authentic
teachers across a
range of arts, and even
some very senior Japanese
sensei, but on
reflection maybe that
isn't so odd: I suspect
that their view of seeing
Westerners inaccurately
adopting selective parts
of old Japanese
culture must appear comical
anyway. Stephen Turnbull,
scholar and
author of the well-known
samurai books, contacted
me to say it had made
him laugh; and recently
a judo world-champion
admitted to having used
some of the "time-wasting
techniques" that
are featured.
MI:
Do you have a dojo website?
David: No, of course
I don't have my own dojo;
I'm nowhere near accomplished
enough to teach. Some people
think teaching is the inevitable
progression in training,
but I don't agree with that
any more. I think there's
a role for experienced people
to simply support the good
teachers by training under
them. Besides, the fact
is that my
cartooning is better than
my aikido, and that's not
saying much.
Currently I train at a number
of dojo mainly in and around
London
(although I graded under
Fukakusa shihan at the Thai
aikikai because I lived
in Bangkok for around six
years).
This
is a fantastic gift idea
to anyone who has a liking
to the martial arts and
the illustrations are
fantastic, there is also
lots of good information
and good stories.
http://www.fudebakudo.com/
Many
thanks to David
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by
Paul Swainson
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Ruminations
of an Old Aikidoist
by Howard Pashnez |
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Omori
Ryu: The Foundations of Muso Shinden
Ryu Iaido
by Deborah Klensbigman |
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How
to be a Good Uke
by Doug Edwards |
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| Comics
by Fudebukudo |
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