Bugei jūhappan

The Bugei Juhappan (武芸十八般 "Eighteen kinds of martial arts") were a selection of combat techniques and corollary arts used by the samurai of Tokugawa-era Japan. The concept was established by Hirayama Gyozo, based on earlier Chinese traditions such as Eighteen Arms of Wushu.^[1][2]

The eighteen arts consisted of a mixture of native Japanese and imported Chinese martial techniques and tactics. The exact list varies, but is commonly held to include:

• Kyujutsu, archery
• Sojutsu, spear-fighting
• Kenjutsu, fencing
• Iaijutsu, sword-drawing
• Tantojutsu, knife-fighting
• Juttejutsu, fighting with a truncheon
• Shurikenjutsu, throwing weapons
• Naginatajutsu, fighting with a polearm
• Hojutsu, shooting (with firearms)
• Bojutsu, stick-fighting
• Kusarigamajutsu, fighting with a chain-and-sickle
• Hojojutsu, tying up an opponent
• Bajutsu, horseriding
• Suieijutsu, swimming in armour
• Ninjutsu, espionage

Other arts which were often included in the list of eighteen were:

• Chikujojutsu, fortifying a castle against siege
• Yawara, wrestling
• Fukumibarijutsu, needle-spitting
• Yabusame, mounted archery
• Mojirijutsu, fighting with a barbed staff^[3]
• Yadomejutsu, deflecting flying arrows
• Saiminjutsu, hypnotism^[4]
• Jujutsu, grappling and fighting unarmed.

References

1. Friday, Karl F.; Seki, Humitake (1997). Legacies of the Sword: The Kashima-Shinryū and Samurai Martial Culture ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. p. 199. ISBN 0824818792.
2. Chozanshi, Issai; Wilson, William Scott (2006). The Demon's Sermon on the Martial Arts and Other Tales (1st ed.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 9. ISBN 4770030185.
3. Deal, William E. (2007). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195331265.
4. Lowry, Dave; Furuya, Daniel (1985). Autumn Lightning: The Education of an American Samurai. Boston: Shambala. p. 9. ISBN 0394730275.