Heifuku Kumiuchi evolved from the tried and tested battlefield grappling arts of the samurai (Senjo Kumiuchi), but developed techniques in response to combat in normal, everyday clothing in a common setting. In Edo Japan (1600 - 1867) that meant a billowing pants that appear from a distance to be a skirt (hakama) and a kimono (similar to modern day kendo clothing). Along with the practice of the sword, as peace became longer lasting, the unarmed fighting arts of the samurai as witnessed on the battlefield changed. Such techniques were replaced with approaches more effective and useful for everyday life that was, for the most part, peaceful.
The Development of Heifuku Kumiuchi
Samurai at this time were still permitted to carry swords. Indeed, the wearing of two swords (the shorter wakizashi and the more famous katana) was the samurai badge above all others. Techniques then couldn’t entirely ignore the threat of facing an armed opponent (though this opponent was now unarmored), but responses in other, more common situations, had to be developed. Thus, for example, methods of fighting in a kneeling position were created, the kneeling position being the traditional manner in which Japanese people sit upon the floor or a cushion. In addition, as armor was no longer worn as a matter of course and combat was most likely to occur with little forewarning while wearing everyday clothes, greater use of techniques that attacked vulnerable parts of the body could be utilized. While armor had previously covered many weaker areas (with the intention of protecting them against sword strokes, arrows and such like) those same areas were now unblocked. As a result, different defensive tactics also had to be evolved to protect the defender who could not rely now on his bamboo armor absorbing a blow. There was also the assumption that in peacetime a fight would usually start with neither combatant armed. On the battlefield all participants would have drawn their weapons prior to the battle commencing. In peacetime then, new techniques were developed to try and ensure that a weapon couldn’t be subsequently drawn once combatants were engaged. Methods to control the arms (the right arm in particular as the samurai drew his blade from the left side of his body) of the opponent and limit his body movement were therefore experimented with and taught. In turn, Heifuku Kumiuchi schools developed ways to counter these controlling movements. If the worst should happen and a blade was pulled free, the concern of the defender now became to control and disarm the attacker as quickly and efficiently as possible, again departing from the battlefield art where the adversary would be thrown to the ground before his neck were broken. Some evidence suggests however that these latter disarming techniques themselves developed from Senjo Kumiuchi.
During this period commoners were also exposed to different fighting styles and they developed their own unique approach called Shomin Yawara. Commoners were prevented from carrying weapons, unless they were of the smaller variety that were easily concealed, nor did they have time to master difficult techniques over a life time of study. Devoid of a warrior tradition, to the techniques of ju jutsu the peasantry brought a different mentality to that of the samurai and the notion of defense pervaded the thinking and interpretation of the waza. Thus the stage was set to see further development of Heifuku Kumiuchi into modern day judo and, later, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
