Originally Posted by
sanshiro
How can we be united if jamby and yawara's statement tells us that the only means of survival is through aggression and force? This goes against the second philosophy of Kano: Mutual welfare and benefit. Cebu Judoka, Will you allow this arrogance to exist in the Judo world? will you allow them to succeed their destructive philosophies? Let me share you something about Sensei Kano's "JITA KYOEI".
JITA-KYOEI (Perfection of One's Self and Mutual Welfare and Benefit)
Kano's ideal of Judo and education consisted in "perfecting one's self and benefitting the world", and the foundation of his conviction was to co-ordinate the two principles, as expressed in his own words: "In order to perfect myself I do not for a moment forget to be of service to the world". Also, "I will dedicate my future activities to the service of society, and for this purpose I shall strive to build up my character, and form a firm foundation for my life". This declaration, so openly made can only be made by a man of firm convictions and unusual greatness like Jigoro Kano. However, he also strongly persuaded others to do likewise. Whatever he firmly believed in doing he eventually counseled others to follow.
We shall now investigate what "perfection of one's self" means. According to Kano it means, first of all, "the object of life is to become spiritually and physically well developed, and attain the highest possible satisfaction which today's culture is able to offer". Those who have attained this objective have done so through perfecting their own Self.
However, it must be borne in mind that" perfecting one's self" does not imply being egocentric. "If everybody does whatever lie pleases there will be collisions everywhere", and self-perfection cannot be attained. Also, "even by obtaining prosperity and satisfaction for one's own self, one cannot attain self perfection." Self-perfection cannot be attained by disregarding one's relation to others. Kano consistently advocated "service to humanity". The basis upon which is found his conviction in laving importance to society side by side with one's self is as follows: "Peace and security cannot be obtained if one were to live absolutely separated from society". "In order to attain self-perfection it is absolutely necessary to desire for the continuation of life with society". But for that, one must possess the "fundamental conditions for social life", and as these conditions he mentioned "mutual help and mutual concession". "Man, when standing alone is helpless, but together with society and with mutual assistance lie is able to do things which are quite impossible when isolated from society....... Therefore, only through mutual concession and co-operation a solidarity based on mutual trust may be formed". Thus, he was firmly convinced that an individual can attain self-perfection as a worthy member of society, and for this reason he strongly advocated "Mutual assistance and mutual concession" which were its fundamental principles of social life. In all probability this is a great ideal and will serve to solve the present day social problems by helping create a democratic liuii-ian relationship which is also the fundamental ideology of modern physical education.
Kano firmly believed that through fulfilment of the above mentioned conditions an ideal state of human existence of which consists of "mutual welfare and benefit" and "co-existence" may be attained, for the realization of which he endeavored throughout his long life.
He explained his slogan "mutual welfare and benefit" as, to attain one's own welfare and benefit, together with the welfare and benefit of others, and thereby attaining welfare and benefit for everyone" and adds that, "therein lies prosperity and development of society".
It is now necessary to clarify the meaning of the words, "mutual", and welfare and benefit", the ideals or the objectives of his principle of "mutual welfare and benefit". First, we shall consider "welfare and benefit". According to Kano, it means attaining perfection both physically and spiritually. In other words, according to Kano's explanation, "It is a condition attained when one is physically healthy and well developed, and in possession of high intellect and morals, together with a highly developed ability to appreciate beauty. Socially, one must have the adequate means to appreciate and enjoy the benefits offered by modern civilization, and furthermore, one must have the love and respect of others, so that people will freely and willingly comply with his wishes, in short an influential man". He further adds that a man who has attained this condition of "welfare and benefit" is "one who as a human being has attained the acme of his desire". This condition is an ideal which every man seeks to attain, however, what Kano emphasized is that the attainment of such a condition becomes of any value only when done, not by an egocentric motive, but by an altruistic motive. In other words, "those seeking welfare and benefit must do so with the desire that others may also obtain welfare and benefit".
Kano consistently emphasized that altruism should always accompany self-interest, and his others", the object of altruism has a very wide concept. It extends from "the other person", the other community", the "other country" to the whole of humanity. Although, as stated above, there are various kinds of "others" as opposed to "self", and all of these "others" must be taken into consideration, and efforts must be made in order to attain welfare and benefit together with them; in other words, "mutual welfare and benefit". However, this is only a general concept and in actuality it is sometimes not feasible as when "one nation is hostile to another." In such instances one must endeavor so that one's own country will be as little harmed as possible by the other, and as a positive measure, one must always bear in mind, above all, the welfare of one's own country". Herein lies the gap between ideal and actuality, however, he is explicit in his statement that even under such circumstances an aggressive attitude is to be avoided. His article in the November, 1922 issue of "Judo" stated as follows: "In the past, many nations used aggression as a means of promoting national prestige. Their only concern was the expansion and prosperity of their own country at the expense of other weaker nations, and constantly watched for an opportunity to prey upon their unsuspecting victims". This kind of policy results in "every nation watching each other with vigilant hostility", However, at present, a nation which openly adopts such an aggressive policy must be prepared to antagonize the "whole world. And if aggression is secretly being contemplated by a nation, it will naturally lose the confidence of other nations, and international relations will deteriorate".
From the same standpoint, Kano commented on armaments. Since, at present, not all nations have adopted the principle of mutual prosperity, complete disarmament is not feasible. Consequently, military preparedness is necessary as a defensive measure. However, "there is a great difference between preparedness for aggression and preparedness for defense", and adds that "armament must be based on self-defense and not on aggression." In short, international relations must be based on "mutual welfare and benefit". His completely pacifistic ideal is manifested by his statement that "a nation should be loved, respected and trusted by other nations. Internally, it should strive for cultural development and repletion of wealth.
This principle should be adopted not only by nations, but by individuals also, because, " long as an individual is a constituent member of a nation he should not stand aloof from the policies of this country" and his principle of "mutual welfare and benefit" should be applied to the relation between self and nation, and also between self and society. As already mentioned Kano, early in his career, advocated that "self perfection" must go band in band with" service to humanity". For example, he wrote that "The standard of human activities must be based on self-perfection and service to humanity" . Also, "In order to truly benefit oneself, one must also take into consideration the benefit of society. The greatest prosperity to oneself can only be attained through service to humanity". However, a weak person cannot benefit humanity, one must have the capacity to do so, and of this he said that "A person who is not able to look after himself cannot do anything to benefit the world in order to give the full benefit of one's effort of service to others one must take into consideration one's own welfare at the same time". Consequently, in order to obtain the highest efficiency of one's activities the best road to success is through "mutual prosperity". He consistently advocated "mutual welfare and benefit" as the ideal in the relation between the individual and society. Accordingly he categorically opposed a philosophy like "survival of the fittest". This outlook on life and the world is of great importance to modern society, especially, his view that without self perfection one is powerless to be of service to humanity, is replete with useful suggestions to modern democratic society.
So far, we have seen Kano's philosophy of the relation between one nation and another, and also the relation between an individual and society. On the relation between one individual and another, he also advocated the philosophy of "mutual welfare and benefit". "The people we come into contact daily are individually just another person". In the practice of "mutual welfare and benefit" one's own relation to society, nation, and humanity naturally should be taken into consideration, but in actuality, efforts must be concentrated on the mutual welfare and benefit in relation to other individuals.
The "mutual welfare and benefit" in relation to other individuals consists in "mutual help and mutual concession". "If everyone does things according to his own liking, confusion will be the result-everyone must strive for his own perfection as well as for the development and prosperity of others" In other words, the manifestation of the ideal relation between one individual and another is "mutual welfare and benefit". III order to attain this goal, Kano advocated the practice of "mutual help" and "mutual concession". Only nowadays, we hear much about "interdependence" and "co-existence", however, Kano had already, throughout his life advocated and actually practiced these principles. It is about time, that we in our modern times should strive to practice Kano's lofty ideal.
Kano attempted to realize this fundamental ideal through Judo, as expressed in the following words, "The ultimate object of Judo, is also the ultimate object of man", in other words "to perfect one's self, and serve humanity". Regarding this, he said that "The two do not seem to be compatible", however, in reality, the two harmonize very well. Only a person who has attained self perfection can be of any consequence to humanity. Self-perfection and service to humanity are not unrelated to each other the two are complementary those practicing Judo must constantly bear in mind and endeavor for self-perfection and service to society.
If Jamby and Yawara still cannot understand Sensei Kano's philosophy, you bring a disgrace not only to the Cebu judo chapter but to the entire Judo world.
"If you think you are good enough, you have just started your decline."
"Thus the principle of Judo, from the very beginning, is not one of aggression, but of flowing with things." Carl B. Becker
I thought all the time
I was learning how to win;
But I realize now:
To win is no more,
No less, than to lose.
Imo ra gi confirm ang trademark ninyo.
Mutual welfare and benefit
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