This is more for people who understand Japanese well, but by all means, anyone should contribute what they can. As a student of Japanese and a practitioner of Juujutsu, something that's been on my mind recently is the meaning behind 道場, which literally means 'The place of the way'. Now, given the differentiation between a -術 and a -道, I was wondering if there's any possibility of a place at which one practises a -術 to be called a 術場. It's an odd word, I know, but thinking logically, it seems like a sensible conclusion given the meaning behind the kanji and the compounds. So, is it possible or is 道場 an absolutely concrete term that has evolved to simply mean 'a place where one practises a martial art'? I realise that there are barely any martial arts that should technically be defined as a -術 in modern times and that they are more -道, but ignoring that, shouldn't 術場 be possible?
Firstly, the idea of a major distinction between "do" arts and "jutsu" arts is largely superficial, being a preference of the systems themselves... so the idea of there being "barely any martial arts that should technically be defined as 'jutsu'" is not really correct in the first place. Secondly, "dojo" is a fairly modern term, so applying it the way you are (as an extension of teaching a "do" art) doesn't really have any place here.... it really is just a term for a place where you study a method. So no, it's actually not such a logical idea, nor a correct one.
Ah okay, that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to give me a response. The line about barely any modern martial arts being defined as 'jutsu' line was mainly me regurgitating some article I had read somewhere. I do agree with you that the difference between 'do' and 'jutsu' is largely superficial though. However, I disagree with you saying that it isn't a logical idea. I'm aware that it isn't used at all, but in a linguistic sense (which I guess is where I'm coming from, rather than a practical standpoint), I personally believe that it seems theoretically possible despite its lack of existence. Of course, theoretically possible does not mean that anyone would ever say or use it. I guess I'm just curious about the possibilities of the language and whether terms could be more accurately redesigned.
Well, it might be logical from an English point of view, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to other languages. But to put it another way, it would be like saying you went to "technique school", rather than "art school" to learn to paint. Incidentally, earlier schools for the bushi (warrior class) were referred to as "Juku", rather than dojo, but these were more all-encompassing schools for their overall education. When it comes to the idea of "jutsu" arts not being common (or as common these days), there are plenty of gendai and Western interpretations of things like Jujutsu, up to and including BJJ, then you have Taihojutsu, an art of arresting, Daito Ryu's usage of Aikijujutsu, modern systems using names such as Koppojutsu (unrelated to the Bujinkan's usage of the term), and so on.
I always recommend the book Remembering the Kanji as a way to get into Chinese Characters. No Japanese ability required and the format it extremely user friendly.
