Have you looked at her other work, entitled Bonds of Civility? I think she focuses more generally on the arts that were opened to the broader social circles, all of which I suspect involved mastering 'forms', as exemplified by those with 'true' understanding. (Chapter 12, entitled, "Hierarchical Civility and Beauty: Etiquette and Manners in Tokugawa Manuals," presents some intriguing evidence of this.) She focuses on the so-called za (= sitting) arts, but I think the link with martial arts is not so distant.