Bunburyō and Berimbau: cross-cultural psychology of masters of martial arts

from Brazil-Japan
Cardias, Fabio
University of São Paulo

In this research, martial arts are comprehended as an complex product of the unfolding process
of the ancient human hunting practice and from the intra-specie combative behavior, for homo
sapiens sapiens specie, developed along many historical periods. Some authors as Draeger
(1969) and Yoshiaki (2000) has already pointed that the techonology of the human ancient
hunting culture, especially styles of archery, was transferred to the attack-defense system of
human versus human, with different adaptations. Hunting strategies provided several tools
which lid to the development of instruments of human contend, weapons. These weapons can
be considered extensions of the natural weapons of the human body, for attack and defense,
especially when homo species reached bipedalism freeing hands to produce stone tools and fire
control leading further to warrior cultures all over the world. Also, hunting differentiated humans
from other primates when developing complex tools making and mating behavior for troop
hunting which gave essential elements to the development of language, religions, stories,
legends, and myths. In the other hand, Lorenz´s modern study on ethology pointed significant
difference in the level of agressiveness for hunting other species as food and the agressiveness
for territorial and sexual intra-specie combat, whereas in territorial and sexual combat there
would be higher levels of agressiveness if compared to the agressiveness needed in hunting for
food only. Anyway, ethologists stress that the human combative behavior reached dangerous
potential which go further and against the interest of specie conservation, once human
technology is able to build powerful mass destruction weapons. However, the literature review
provide me an interdisciplinar and deeper understanding of the origin of warrior practices as
cultures that were spread around the world and in different times. Also, these previous review
supported the main theoretical approach in this research that is Gilbert Durand´s archetypology
framework (since 1960). Despite Durand suffered influences from both Carl Jung and Gaston
Bachelard he stressed biological concepts as patterns of behaviors, innate releasing
mechanism for instinctive behaviors or fixed action patterns to support the adoption of the
psychological concept of archetype as: innate human predisposition for identical structures or
universal images which suffer cultural reinforcement in the form of symbolic means. As primitive
hunting and combating, modern martial arts also provide us several stories, legends, heros and
myths. Martial cultures, as focused in this study, have been developed both in Japan and in
Brazil during relatively close periods. In the century XV to present day, traditional budō, or
martial ways of Japan, was developed during Muromachi (1336-1573) and Edo (1603-1868)
Periods, which after Edo to now budō has been popularized and internationalized. In Brazil, it is
observed the development of the capoeiragem, since Colonial (1500-1822) to Republic (1889-
now) Periods, which has been large popularized from Republic to now and in recent process of
internacionalization. Important to say that both budō and capoeira internationalization has
suffered strong sport fashion bias, despite martial art is not sport, as supported by Japanese
and Brazilian martial art theorists, as Watanabe and Irie, from the so called Tsukuba school, and
Rêgo and Sodré, from Bahia`s Capoeira schools. The main objective of this research is so to
comprehend and to compare symbols, images, regime of images and archetypes related to two
different martial ways by recognizing them into and while analyzing the narratives of life history
of martial art masters from two different cultures, e.g, by the mitocritic as proposed by Durand.
The method used to reach the objective was oral life history interview, as proposed by the
Brazilian psychologist Bosi (1994). The interviews were conduct among masters of martial arts,
being n=2 aikidō aikikai style Japanese masters and n=2 capoeira angola style Brazilian
masters, living in Brazil. The interviews were recorded on digital video disc (DVD). Before
interviewing, general research objectives were explained to interviewees. If they accepted in
participating in the research it was immediatly asked them to sign the term of responsabillity of
pos-information formally allowing the interviewer to use data collected by the interview. Ending
these ethical research proceedings, the interview were conduct at suitable place for that. The
interview consisted of asking the subject to freely report his/her history of life by connecting it to
his/her experience into martial arts. After, transcriptions of the interviews were maden and read
several times to recognise the anthropoligical trajetory and the personality development of
masters of martial arts. Discussion follows as it was possible to identify the symbolic and
archetypical level inside life history collected through interview and by exhausting reading the

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narratives, in accordance with the mitocritic for textual materials as indicated by Durand.
Compared analyzes were conducted organizing data by organizing parts of the narratives where
the regime of images were identified as similar or propensus to comparison, been the images
diurnal images and nocturnal images, in accordance with the durandian imaginarium theory. To
understand compared symbols and archetypes from two martial cultures by life history of
masters of capoeira and aikidō is important to recognize the roots of the martial pedagogy while
considering martial education as martial culture. From this study martial culture can involve the
potential of archetypical images and the regimes of images involved in the biopsychological
balance needed for healthy personality, as reached by long life practice of martial arts by
capoeira and/or aikidō masters.