Martial arts were born from men’s combative instincts. Although it was originally intended to wound and kill others, its form has gradually changed over thousands of years, making it the competitive sport with its rich history it is today.

 

In our country—Japan, accompanied with the establishment of the samurai system, martial arts developed into a skill that a samurai absolutely had to master. The purpose of this skill was not merely to wound and kill another, it had developed into an advanced combat sport, holding the philosophical orientation of bushido, the way of the samurai, also known as budo today. The goal of mastering the various martial arts within bushido is not only to learn how to attack or defend yourself, but to make oneself mentally stronger as well. Because both body and mind are trained, and therefore a healthy body and mind are developed, we argue that practicing bushido strongly contributes to forming human beings as well.

 

Shootboxing is a martial art that adheres to the samurai’s fight. By keeping to our principle of being “standing vale tudo”, we pursue the aesthetics and the fighting manners of the samurai. These fighting manners are bushido, the samurai’s pride: one does not merely seek for raw power, oppress the weak, or follow a fallen opponent to the ground. Through Shootboxing, we wish to cultivate healthy young men, who can observe themselves to a strict order, and bring together the philosophy of martial arts and the common sense of regular society.

The purpose

Contemporary Japan is filled with social problems and contradictions. This is reflected in the lives, sayings and doings of our youth—the ones who are supposed to shoulder our country—recognizable  in the form of increased apathy and bullying. This is creating a great stir in our society. Wouldn’t this also be strongly related to the perfunctory state emotional and spiritual cultivation is in? Our young ones spend their free time going to cram schools in order to pass entrance exams, and even when they are playing, they stay indoors playing video games by themselves. They have lost the place to learn about cooperativeness and moral issues, things that they were originally supposed to learn at school through group and club activities. These days, accompanied with the health boom, several types of sports are in the spotlight, and regardless of whether it’s amateur or professional sports, a lot of people are training hard. However, in the end, a sport that can train both people’s body and mind is inevitably desired. It is through bushido that this is possible, as one polishes up one’s techniques, strengthen one’s mind, and learns men’s pain. It is this that forms human beings.


Shootboxing aims to develop into the world as an original Japanese martial art, adhering to the bushido principle of ‘samurai fight standing’, being in the course of establishing its competitiveness widely through society. In this process, we hope that many people, starting with the youth, will come in contact with Shootboxing, strengthen both their body and mind, and come to know how this can play a huge rule in forming human beings.