Bushikai - Its Meaning

Previously I have discussed the meaning of the word 道場 Dojo. This time we'll take a look at the meaning of the word 武士会 Bushikai.

The word 武士 Bushi was first used in the late 8th century but later became synonymous with the word 侍Samurai around the 12th century, though they have very different origins. 武士Bushi means a warrior while 侍Samurai is a political term used to describe a societal class and has the meaning of one who serves a lord.

武士Bushi can be broken into its component parts of 武bu(military) and 士shi (person). The
漢字kanji used to write the word 武Bu can also be seen to be made up of characters meaning 止"to stop" and 戈"spear", "to stop a spear". It has the meaning of preventing harm to the people and not the more commonly translated meaning of "war". Thus a 武士bushi is one who prevents war. It is this hidden meaning of one who protects the people that guides the teachings of our dojo.

The word 会Kai denotes a society or group coming together for a common cause. When you add it to 武士bushi it becomes the society of those who protect - 武士会Bushikai.

It is the second word in our name, 武芸Bugei, that causes most people trouble when learning to pronounce it. Pronounced "BOO-GAY" it means martial arts , but using the character 芸Gei to signify arts in a more comprehensive sense than the more commonly heard 術 Jutsu (pronounced JITZ) which refers to a specific art or skill as in 柔術jujutsu or 刀術kenjutsu, which are arts that are taught within the 武士会Bushikai curricula.
武芸Bugei is used in the name to signify that we are a martial arts dojo and not a dojo teaching other traditional Japanese Arts such as 書道Shodo.