Timing in Karate and the Body in Its Own Right

Einat Bar-On Cohen
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Abstract:

Training toward ‘perfect timing’ in karate entails deciphering small movements and interpreting them as signs of an opponent’s decision to launch an attack. It includes the aptitude to perceive those signs and react to them before the attacker is aware of her own decision. It also depends on the ability of the body to perceive and move without recourse to cognition. This article considers the body in its own right as well as how it is involved in social construction. Following Sheet-Johnstone, the article contends that movement as it is performed is a tool of data collecting, sense making, and action. It attempts to show how movement organizes a social setting that enables intentionality and also opens up the possibility of violence obstructing that intentionality.

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Soldados, samuráis y sportmen: el japonismo deportivo llega a Europa

Carlos Gutiérrez García
Universidad de León

Introducción

Las artes marciales constituyen uno de los grandes legados de la cultura física oriental. Hoy en día, en la era de la globalización y del libre comercio, estas disciplinas han trascendido su delimitación geográfica original para extenderse y popularizarse en todo el mundo, de norte a sur y de este a oeste. En las artes marciales el practicante es capaz de encontrar respuesta a numerosas demandas e inquietudes, muchas de ellas contradictorias. Así, las artes marciales se han considerado como violentos y efectivos métodos de ataque y defensa, pero también como caminos espirituales orientados a la búsqueda  de la paz interior y exterior. Se han mostrado como actividades tremendamente duras y exigentes desde el punto de vista físico y mental, a la vez que como métodos relajantes mediante los cuales alcanzar el equilibrio psicosomático. También se han promocionado como prácticas misteriosas, secretas, e incluso sectarias, originadas en la bruma del tiempo, pero también se han estudiado y resaltado sus fundamentos científicos. Unos han visto en las artes marciales deportes reconocidos socialmente, mientras que otros aborrecen esta vertiente deportiva optando por perseguir otros fines más espirituales.

La enumeración de paradojas y contrasentidos propios de las artes marciales puede ser más extensa. Como estudiosos de la Historia del Deporte, nos interesa especialmente desentrañar los procesos mediante los cuales se construyen y evolucionan las actividades físicas y deportivas. De este modo, podemos apreciar porqué determinadas prácticas corporales se desarrollan y consideran de una determinada manera, así como adquirir una conciencia clara de la realidad de las mismas. En el caso de las artes marciales, su ante citada polivalencia invita necesariamente al examen histórico, en busca de los hechos y momentos que han
permitido que su interpretación actual sea tan amplia. El presente estudio analiza la llegada y difusión de las artes marciales en Occidente, y particularmente en Europa, entre finales del siglo XIX y el comienzo de la Primera Guerra Mundial. Este sería un primer momento definido por el exotismo y la superficialidad en el acercamiento hacia todo lo extremo oriental, enfocado particularmente hacia Japón, que también alcanzaría al deporte en lo que nosotros hemos querido denominar como el Japonismo Deportivo.

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Reflections on Audatia as a Martial Virtue

by Dr. Charles H. Hackney


Fiore Friulano dei Liberi, in the prologue of his treatise, Flos Duellatorum ("Flower of Battle"), describes his early life in the small town of Cividale. Wishing to learn swordsmanship from the best instructors available, he left the northern Italian village of his birth. In his travels, he trained under numerous German and Italian masters of defense, Master Giovanni Suveno (Johannes Suvenus) being the most prominent.  After two decades of experience as a soldier and duelist, he eventually entered the court of Niccolo of Este, the Marquis of Ferrara, where he acquired a commission in the early 1400s as a master swordsman. He then began to write his manuscript, in which he describes the techniques central to his approach to the martial arts. The treatise was completed in 1410, and dedicated to the Marquis. Current students of medieval European martial arts often look to Flos Duellatorum as a guide and training manual, and many consider it to be without equal among pre-Renaissance manuscripts on the arts of defense (Kautz, 2001).

In a manner typical of premodern approaches (Hamilton, 1955), Liberi lists and describes ideal virtues of an excellent practitioner of his art. While four virtues are emphasized elsewhere in Liberi’s treatise (Cvet, 2005), he focuses on one singular virtue in the prologue of the Pisani-Dossi version of the manuscript, calling it "the virtue that makes this art" (Lovett, Davidson, & Lancaster, 2005). The virtue which Liberi elevates to this core status is audatia, typically translated as "audacity." The use of this term may strike readers as odd. In common use, "audacity" carries with it the connotation of thoughtlessly trampling standards of polite behavior, which seems to have questionable applicability to the martial arts, and is certainly not characteristic of a gentleman.

Source: Journal of Western Martial Art, September 2006

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Sugata Sanshiro’s Satori

by Walter Klinger
Associate Professor,
University Center for Intercultural Education,
University of Shiga Prefecture

Sugata Sanshiro 姿三四郎tells the story of a young man studying judo in Meiji Japan (1868-1912).  The 1942 novel by Tomita Tsuneo富田常雄 (1904-1967) led to a film the following year by Kurosawa Akira 黒澤明 (1910-1998) in his directorial debut.  Kurosawa also directed a sequel, Zoku Sugata Sanshiro 続姿三四郎 (Sugata Sanshiro Continued).  Tomita expanded the tale in several more prequels and sequels, which over the decades have been turned into 6 feature films, 5 television dramas, 2 animation films, and 4 manga comic books.  The story is appealing from several perspectives.  Besides gripping martial arts competition and combat scenes, it provides interesting insights into Japanese religion; in particular, Sanshiro has a satori or  enlightenment” experience.  The variations of the novels and films as they appeared in wartime and postwar also reveal changes in social values: a number of phrases with militaristic connotations have been cut or have been replaced with more innocuous phrases.

Published in Academic Reports of The University Center for Intercultural Education, The University of Shiga Prefecture, No. 11. Hikone, Japan. December 2006, pp 33-52.
A version without Japanese glosses was published as "Kurosawa's Censored Satori" Asian Cinema 17 NO.2, Fall/Winter 2006, pp. 124-145.

Source: http://www.ice.usp.ac.jp/~wklinger/research.htm

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The Pleasures of Drowning

by Sam Harris

After writing an article on the principles of self-defense, I was inundated with emails and Internet comments—many of which came from experts in the field. The response was very supportive, and I haven’t found anything of substance to amend in my original essay. However, I did take one criticism to heart: I don’t know enough about Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ).

I am now doing my best to rectify that problem. What follows is the first installment of what (I hope) will be an ongoing journal of my progress in BJJ. I suspect that many readers of this blog have no interest in the martial arts and will consider this an unfortunate departure from my main areas of competence. I am convinced, however, that training in BJJ offers a powerful lens through which to examine some primary human concerns—truth v. delusion, self knowledge, ethics, and overcoming fear. I hope some of you bear with me.

Martial artists are often slow to appreciate how their beliefs about human violence can be distorted by their adherence to tradition, as well as by a natural desire to avoid injury during the course of training. It is, in fact, possible to master an ancient fighting system, and to attract students who will spend years trying to emulate your skills, without ever discovering that you have no ability to defend yourself in the real world. Delusions of martial prowess have much in common with religious faith. A crucial difference, however, is that while people of faith can always rationalize apparent contradictions between their beliefs and the data of their senses, an inability to fight is very easy to detect and, once revealed, very difficult to explain away.

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Reinventing the Sword: A Cultural Comparison of the Development of the Sword in Response to the Advent of Firearms in Spain and Japan

by Charles Edward Ethridge

Abstract

Swords have been used throughout history as weapons of war, as symbols of power and wealth and as national and religious icons. Unlike other weapons however, the sword did not simply fade into the background as technological improvements caused the martial value to lessen.

The primary purpose of this paper is to look at the development of the sword as an object of art, specifically in the countries of Spain and Japan, after the invention of the firearm. A brief history of the development of the sword from the earliest manifestations through the Iron Age is provided as way of introducing the subject.

The researcher then delves into the specifics of the development of the sword in Spain and Japan. Areas of focus include the martial uses, aesthetic values and cultural influences affecting the overall formation of sword cultures in both countries.

The transformation of the sword from a weapon of war to a showpiece of craftsmanship and artistic expression after the introduction of the firearms is then discussed in detail. This discussion includes not only Spain and Japan, but neighboring regions as well. Why this transformation took place and who or what were the primary reasons for it are specific topics of interest in this section.

The researcher concludes that the sword, the weapon upon which empires rose and fell for centuries, has moved into the realm of cultural icon. Increased sale values at auction, the infusion into popular media, such as books, movies and video games, and the growing number of collectors and aficionados all serve as indicators of a thriving global sword society.

Source: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11122007-003804/

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Skepticism & Spirituality in the Martial Arts, a lecture with Matt Thornton

A lecture given on 2/21/2012 at PSU (Portland State University), by SBG Founder and BJJ black belt Matt Thornton on the topics of aliveness, skepticism and spirituality in the martial arts.

Comparing Warrior Traditions: How the Janissaries and Samurai Maintained their Status and Privileges During Centuries of Peace

Oleg Benesch

University of British Columbia

obenesch@interchange.ubc.ca

History has witnessed the rise and fall of countless warrior classes, all of which were the tools of rulers, and many of which grew strong enough to usurp power and become rulers themselves. The existence of warrior classes in such a great variety of cultures and eras seems to indicate a universal human disposition for entrusting a certain group with the most dangerous and undesirable task of conducting warfare. In some cases, such as that of the samurai, the warriors came from within the society itself, and in others, including those of the Mamluks, Cossacks, and janissaries, members of certain ethnic or religious groups were compelled to serve as professional fighters. Perhaps to compensate for the obvious occupational hazards involved with being a member of a warrior class, these groups were often respected and/or feared, and were frequently the recipients of certain tangible and intangible incentives that made their positions not entirely without benefit.

While all warrior classes achieved a degree of renown during their existence, the ephemeral nature of their profession generally made their tenure a relatively brief one. Some states, such as medieval France and England, were able to prolong simmering hostilities for centuries, necessitating a perpetually elevated state of military readiness and deployment. This provided a basis for the continued existence of the warrior classes that frequently formed the core of pre-modern armies. However, unlike idealized Orwellian states, few societies have been able to maintain constant and active warfare for several centuries, nor has any military class shown that it would have been able to adapt to the technological and strategic changes that a conflict of such duration would entail.

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Peter van Uhm: Why I chose a gun

Harry Enfield - Methods of Self-Defence