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Xu Wenfung wrote:
If we do not have the above, it is just another jutsu, a battlefield art which is to maim or kill.
Boon.
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Umm .. nope. Aikido incorporates 'jutsu' as do most of the gendai budo claiming to me ethically or morally superior.
The jutsu-do dichotomy is a false, and persistent, myth probably attributable to the writings of Donn Draeger. He tried hard to express concepts in English that are kind of fuzzy even in Japanese, and as result, spawned some gross misunderstandings in certain areas of budo among folks who haven't done enough research to put what he said into context.
That said, Draeger is a must raed for any budoka, but again, must be taken in context.
The concepts espoused in the 'do' camp were found in many of the 'jutsu' arts, and indeed, many of the old masters use the terms interchangeably.
My best interpretation is that jutsu encompasses the technical aspects of any budo, do encompasses the art and philosophical bases.
If you study, say, Takeuchi Ryu Jujutsu for 20 years, never get into a fight, but as result of your studies and training are a happier, gentler, more balanced human being, have you done budo or bujutsu?
If you study aikido for 20 years, and one day have to use your skills to defend your life or the life of your loved ones, have you done budo or bujutsu?
Do is not morally superior. It's a different aspect of jutsu. And vice versa. Neither can be separated from budo. The use of broad labels such as jutsu to identify those arts designed for practicality over philosophy is misleading. Likewise the belief that a do art is superior (either technically or philosophically). It just ain't so.
It's nice to believe that because 'we' are doing XYZ, we're morally or spiritually superior, but that idea, in fact, really is false and usually the result of insufficient study of the roots and history of what budo is, how the modern arts came to be and what happened to them in the transition from 'jutsu' to 'do' ...
In fact, much of the conversion to 'do' was political, I believe.
YMMV.
Chuck (one of those bloodthirsty jutsu guys)