Shinden Fudo-ryū (Immovable Heart School) was a school of

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usa ...

. Founded in around 1130CE by Ganpachiro Temeyoshi, Shinden Fudo is one of the oldest styles of

Jujutsu Jujutsu ( ; ja, link=no, 柔術 , ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu, is a family of Japanese martial arts and a system of close combat (unarmed or with a minor weapon) that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subd ...

. It focuses on working with one's natural surroundings, and as such most training takes place outside using natural objects as training aids. The school puts emphasis on fighting from any posture one finds themselves in at the time a fight begins, rather than needing to prepare by getting into a stance first. This allows the practitioner to remain receptive to sudden attacks. As an extension of this principle, the school has no formal stance (''

kamae is a Japanese term used in martial arts and traditional theater. It translates approximately to "posture". The Kanji of this word means "base". The implied meaning is 'readiness' or 'be ready'. Kamae is to be differentiated from the word , use ...

''); all techniques start from a natural, loose, standing posture. The curriculum is entirely unarmed; there are no weapons used in this system. The school is of Chinese origin, based on techniques brought to Japan by Buddhist refugees. It was one of the styles studied by

Edward William Barton-Wright Edward William Barton-Wright CE, FRSA, MJS (member of the Japan Society) (8 November 186013 September 1951) was an English entrepreneur specialising in both self defence training and physical therapy. He is remembered today as one of the firs ...

, the founder of

Bartitsu Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting and French kickboxing (savate). In 1903, it was immortalised (as " baritsu") by Sir ...

, and one of the first Westerners to practice Japanese martial arts.

References

Japanese martial arts Ko-ryū bujutsu Jujutsu {{martialart-stub