The Bubishi Puzzle

I remember reading the chapter outline for the Bubishi in one of Patrick McCarthy’s books back in the mid 1980s. At that time the text for the Bubishi was not available.

Then a few years later there were two available editions. One by Patrick McCarthy and one by Ken Penland published with the assistance of George Alexander.

On obtaining both, I was amazed at how different they were.
I read them but can’t say I got a lot from them. Still they made me think.

Then I entered the internet age, that was about 1989.

The first thing I recall was a friend, who was also a Japanese and Chinese translator, and Patrick McCarthy having a quite heated discussion about the translation of one passage of the Bubishi. In fact that was how I met that friend.

Along the way I assisted another friend by translating some Mabuni texts that were published in France in French. Then in time Patrick McCarthy heard about it, and he asked me if I would try and translate the Habsezter book on the Bubishi, I agreed and entered a truly crazy experience. I did however complete the translation, it took me about a year.

Along the way I acquired other Bubishi version, even some in Japanese.

I never really became a Bubishi scholar, however, and to this day have not attemped to memorize any of it.

What I did gain was a huge number of questions about all those translations, But when I tried talking about them on the internet, with the exception of a few friends, all I ever achieved was silence.

I did find the idea that it was a notebook of some Chinese student, interesting in the extreme.

One of my friends, himself is an instructor of a variety of Chinese arts. So I was very interested in obtaining his opinion. Then one weekend he invited me to do a clinic about the Bubishi for his kung fu students. He and I also discussed the book.

His opinion was it was a credible notebook of some Chinese adept. Of course he could not say in which system. He went a bit further and felt that the self defense diagrams shown were just the basic techniques from a wide variety of Chinese systems.

He then proceeded to demonstrate those movements to me. Against attacker after attacker, I would select a diagram, and he proceeded to use that movement. It was chilling to see those from a perspective of a Chinese martial artist. A different flow than those doing so from a karate kata perspective.

I tried to make a case, that he could make a video tape which many would find interesting.

His reply was “Why would I want to do that? I already have enough to do teaching my art to my students. I am not in the business showing karate people what the Bubishi shows.”
We never went further with that idea."

But after decades of attempts at creating discussion, and that never really happening. If anything I am sure I know less and less what the Bubishi really reveals about karate. Many of you are likely more knowledgeable than I. 
  
I know some have presented their own interpretations of how the Bubishi may be used. I have seen them from time to time on YouTube.

On the other hand I know of no program (say Okinawan or American to name a few) that really uses the Bubishi, for instruction on a regular basis, I am sure I am perhaps incorrect about that, but so far I have not seen any evidence that is so.

What I suspect is most of those Bubishi are gathering dust on karate book shelves.