ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the situation of martial arts during the Taishō democracy. Taishō experienced more openness and informalisation of manners, especially in urban areas. Nonetheless, it also brought integration conflicts, leading to the use of institutional violence by political parties. Within the Taishō period, martial arts got closer to the Western sports movement but also received influences from nativist and mystic conceptions. Sumō remained a powerful focus of indigenous we-identity but also afforded the idea of professional competition in the form of a ‘national sport’. Okinawan masters introduced karate into mainland Japan.
