Practising Martial Arts Versus Studying Martial Arts

Abstract

There is often a perceived conflict between practising martial arts and the academic study of martial arts. Those who practise it do not need to know the history of martial arts, and those who study it do not need the physical practice to inform their research. This paper argues that practitioners will improve their practice by study, in particular, they will gain a demystified sense of the origins of martial arts. The construction of traditional martial arts is the result of the East Asian reaction to Western imperialism and modernity. Moreover, this category developed in direct response to the introduction of modern sports into Asia. Critical to this modern creation was the development of styles of martial arts, where before there were scattered and disparate schools. Styles suggested greater national unity and cultural coherence than schools, thus aiding the building of modern nation states in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.     

The Development of Chinese Martial Arts in Taiwan since 1949

Abstract

In Taiwan, the historical development of traditional Chinese martial arts, or kuoshu and wushu as they are called today, has been quite diverse. This paper examines the development of Chinese martial arts from 1949 to 2017 in the context of Taiwan based on available historical evidence and in-depth interviews. The results show that there were three major historical periods in the development of Chinese martial arts. The foundation period was inaugurated when Chinese martial artists fled to Taiwan with the Nationalists. During this period, martial arts studios spread throughout the country and people began learning the traditional Chinese martial arts skills together with the national physical education curriculum incorporated martial arts in schools. Chinese martial arts in Taiwan then entered the competitive sports period when the Chinese government to promote competitive martial arts internationally and to standardize the practice and grading system required for competitions. During this period, standardized rules for nationwide competition were established, and sports instructors and athletes were trained to participate in international wushu competitions. Currently, the Chinese martial arts have been modernized and being practised to build confidence, mental discipline, and physical strength as well as for self-defence, recreational pursuits, and competition.     

The Future of Asian Traditional Martial Arts

Abstract

Contemporary Asia is in the process of not only developing industrialization and democratization, but also establishing Asian homogeneity and intercommunity through the universal cultural phenomenon of sports originating from the West. This paper considers the future of traditional Asian martial arts through Allen Guttmann’s seven characteristics of modern sport. In future, Asia, especially Northeast Asia; South Korea, China, and Japan are likely to become the world’s leading powerhouses based on their infinite potential in human, material and ideological resources. The Olympics will be hosted by three Asian countries in four years: in 2018, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea, in 2020 the Tokyo Summer Olympics in Japan, and in 2022 the Beijing Winter Olympics in China, respectively. This paper examines the development of traditional Asian martial arts in China, Japan and South Korea against the background of modernization and globalization. Also, discussions regarding impediments to the efforts and measures for improvement are provided. Asian martial arts have been transformed in both nature and content and the notion of the characteristics of modern sports Guttmann proposes is prominent.     

中国传统武术发展的研究

目前传统武术的发展不尽人意,改变这种状况是每一位武术工作者和武术爱好者应尽的义务。本文主要运用调查访问文献资料法探析中国传统武术面临全球背景下西方体育文化的冲击、国内党技武术的排挤及其自身的瓶颈等诸多不利因素,提出传统武术要发展,需要解放思想,更新观念,以科学的理论指导实践,与党技武术协调发展,加大传统武术的推广和普及力度,还原真实武林,注重攻防实战,理顺传统武术的继承与发展的渠道,保持民族文化特点,依托中国传统文化、抓住机遇,在普及和推广的过程中扬长避短,开拓中国传统武术的国内外发展空间。     

Conquering the World: The ‘Martial’ Power of Japan Goes Global

Abstract

Throughout the twentieth century Japanese martial arts, or budo, in the West grew from a hardly visible practice for Japanese diasporas and a handful of Japanophiles to an integral part of Western culture. Today, when they have been joined by other cultural exports from Japan, and Karate has been recognized as an Olympic sport in the midst of the decline of traditional martial arts and the rise of Mixed Martial Arts culture, the question of what forces produce such powerful ‘waves’ of Japanese cultural expansion becomes relevant again. To answer this question, the article compares the forces behind the spread of three arguably most popular Japanese martial arts – Judo, Kendo, and Karate – in the West, mainly in America and Europe. Here I offer an analysis based on the division of these forces into those which ‘push’ Japanese culture beyond Japan’s borders (pushing forces) and those which stimulate its consumption in Western countries (pulling forces). Based on the results of the comparison, the article argues that there are certain repeating patterns in both types that form a unique mechanism of Japanese ‘martial’ expansion to the West, with the ‘pulling’ forces being just as, if not more, powerful, than the ‘pushing’ forces.     

Making Martial Arts History Matter

Abstract

This paper examines key ways in which ideas such as ‘tradition’, ‘authenticity’, and ‘history’ are deployed in discourses around Asian martial arts. First introducing how such concepts are used in national contexts such as Korea and elsewhere in East Asia it then examines the case of a dispute between two English language writers on martial arts. It examines these different cases to illustrate the ways that ‘tradition’, ‘authenticity’, and ‘history’ can be deployed for different ideological ends, from nationalism to personal self-advancement, in different contexts. In doing so, the paper theorizes the consequences of antagonisms that have recently arisen between common beliefs about certain Asian martial arts and historical studies that challenge such beliefs. It concludes that the discursive status of ‘history’ is not fixed or permanent, but varies depending on context. This is the case to such an extent that the status of ‘history’ can be said to have changed decisively. Ultimately, the paper argues for the value of rigorous scholarship even when it runs counter to cultural beliefs, and highlights the significance of such scholarship for showing the ways in which martial arts history matters in more contexts and registers than martial arts alone.     

The Japanese and Korean Martial Arts: In Search of a Philosophical Framework Compatible to History

Abstract

The popular discourse about Asian martial arts has often been surrounded by an aura of esotericism, so pervasive that it even influenced the academic discussion to some degree. Moreover, nationalistic motives to promote certain martial arts narratives often prevail. This article focuses on the frequently flawed philosophical and historical discourse surrounding the Asian martial arts. In particular, this study concentrates on the academic discussions of the Japanese and Korean martial arts, and the search for a philosophical framework compatible with historical narratives. The Japanese created a romantic but also nationalistic martial arts narrative that aligned with the ideals of the Meiji Restoration. This romanticized image was naively accepted in the West, often imported along with esoteric ideas of the East. And, as most modern Korean martial arts originated in Japan, the Korean martial arts discussion aligns with that of Japanese martial arts, and this alignment has been a point of heated dispute. Discussions of Korean martial arts reflect a search for a definitive identity of the Korean martial arts community as well as the desire to establish a martial arts tradition independent of those of Japan as well as China. However, the discourse has often been influenced by western, albeit biased and perhaps faulty, historical views, and ideas about martial arts traditions.     

试论中国武术文化的结构

中国武术源远流长,它作为一种社会历史现象,有自己独特的文化体系。中国武术文化是中国传统文化的一个重要分支。本文论述了中国武术文化的结构三要素,即技击观、价值观和伦理观它们之间的相互关系,以及中国传统文化与武术文化的相互作用。     

Reconstruction of Tradition: Modernity,Tourism and Shaolin Martial Arts in the Shaolin Scenic Area,China

Abstract

This paper begins with an interpretation of how Shaolin martial arts were used to provide military service for imperial authorities before 1949, and how it was restricted and forbidden to practise in Mao’s era from 1949 to 1978. It then examines how UNESCO’s international heritage conventions and China’s post-1978 heritage policies have influenced the reconstruction of Shaolin martial arts and tourism development at the Shaolin Temple since 1978. It investigates the relationship between different agents and how they have influenced the reconstruction of traditional Shaolin martial arts and tourism development. This paper argues current Shaolin martial arts, known as Shaolin Kungfu, have been deliberately reconstructed to serve contemporary political and economic needs. Contemporary Shaolin Kungfu is, in fact, a product of the interaction between heritage authorization processes and tourism development. The reconstruction of Shaolin martial arts also demonstrates hierarchical relationships of power between these different actors. This has led to a situation in which ‘experts’ and local residents are positioned unequally. The overarching finding of this study is that Shaolin martial arts worked as a tool for Shaolin monks to develop the Shaolin Temple in history and Shaolin monks have assumed the role of ‘expert’ in reconstructing Shaolin martial arts.     

西北地区普通高校体育课程中武德教育现状浅析

武术在西北地区大多数高校成为大学体育与健康课程的必选内容,在现实教学中武德的教育意义没有被给予足够的重视,在教材中及实际教学中多没有得到体现。本文通过对武德教育的现状进行分析,以期对完善武术教学有所促进。     

高校大学生武术价值观对武术教学的作用

中国武术是有着悠久的发展历史,而且有着博大的文化内涵。大学生作为祖国未来的希望,面对社会文化环境多方面的影响,如何能更好地传承中华武术,极大发挥其价值,是摆在我们每个武术研究人员面前的重要课题。在多种影响因素中价值观作为决定人类行为的心理基础,无疑是最重要的一环。本文旨在探讨何种武术价值观最有利于引导大学生对武术的学习、研究,进而促进大学武术课的教与学。     

Body · Experience · Imagination: The Collective Memory of Chinese Martial Arts

Abstract

In order to understand Chinese martial arts (CMA), people had better find out how native Chinese people picture these ancient arts. Maurice Halbwachs’s theory on collective memory is helpful to cognize the panorama of CMA. In the term of social framework, the contributors of the collective memory of CMA are mainly well-experienced inheritors, shallow-experienced mass practitioners and highly educated intellectuals. They respectively perceive martial arts more or less through bodily practicing, imagination, or fantasy. Among these three contributing groups, inheritors seemingly observe martial arts from the top of the mountain, ordinary practitioners at the foot of the mountain, while intellectuals overlook from the clouds. Inheritors, with professional skills, establish the technique systems of martial arts; mass practitioners, from non-professional perspective, test and verify the various functions, and intellectuals, from transdisciplinary perspective, enrich the connotation and extension of the martial arts. The shared concrete approaches they draw upon to shape such a collective memory are repetitive corporeal experiencing, mental experiencing, and active imagination. Eventually, they build the spectrum of CMA memory which is primarily filled with unique technique paradigms and chivalric spirits. In this way, CMA or Wushu, as an indigenous sport, is provided for consumers in the world.     

大武术观视域下广义的武术概念——基于对武术与体育关系的剖析

为理顺武术理论与实践的关系,确立与“大武术观”相适应的广义武术概念,首先剖析了狭义的“体育武术”概念存在的问题,在回顾武术的体育化进程的基础上,剖析了“坚持武术属于体育范畴”的几个典型观点分别存在的问题,指出并不是所有的武术内容都属于体育,无论是古代,还是现在,或是将来,体育都不能涵盖整个武术。基于以上讨论,遵循形式逻辑界定概念的原则,提出广义武术的概念：武术是源于中国的围绕技击而拓展的徒手或持械的人体运动文化。     

基于功能嬗变的角度论我国当代学校武术教育

以历史脉络为脊线,以武术教育功能嬗变为视角探讨当前我国学校武术教育的现状。武术教育伴随历史时代的变迁有着不同的功能定位。在当代,武术教育负载着武术普及与推广、文化传承及国家意识与民族情怀培育的功能。然而,当前学校武术教育不尽如人意:武术意识模糊,教学过程中矛盾对立俯拾皆是。本研究针对教学中实际存在的问题,围绕武术教育功能的实现提出相应对策。     

在全球化语境中对传统武术与现代武术的文化解读

在全球背景下对传统武术和现代武术进行文化解读,不但有助于提高对其概念的理解,而且更能提高我们对两者的认识,传统武术是建立在我国传统文化基础之上的一种武术文化,而现代武术则是在西方体育文化影响下,在传统武术的基础上发展起来的一种竞技性体育文化。对两者的深入研究有利于武术事业的进一步发展。     

The (Re)Emergence of a Religio-Spiritual Self-Cultivation Focus in Asian Martial Arts Monographs Published in Spain (1906–2009)

This article presents one analytical theme emerging from a bibliometric and content analysis of an annotated bibliography, compiled by the first author, comprising 1564 Asian martial arts monographs published in Spain between 1906 and 2009. The analysis reveals that the use of Asian martial arts and religio-spiritual self-cultivation practices, while very old in their indigenous South East Asian context, only appeared in published texts in Spain from the 1960s and this theme has been increasingly written about in the last two decades. In our analytical discussion, we contextualise this shift from a socio-historical perspective, focusing on three aspects: first and second, how this shift in focus in Asian Martial Art publishing fits with the patterns of societal secularisation in Spain, the rise of the New Age movement and counter-cultural spiritualities across Western culture; third, we comment on how, from this broader socio-historical context, Asian martial arts were well placed to fill ‘cultural spaces’ created by these changes.     

论武术影星与中华武术互动发展的积极作用

武术在现代发展中借助了包括电影在内的现代传媒技术,而电影等也造就了众多耀眼的武术影星。在分析当代武术影星存在的客观必然性和合理性基础上,论述了武术影星与中华武术互动发展的积极作用。     

起点即终点:武术发展的知识向度

采用逻辑分析法,以发展的哲学含义为理论基础,通过对起点、终点、发展三者关系及其哲学意蕴深入分析,认为:武术是中华民族在哲学指导下对技击认知并实践后经验累积的系统化知识;武术发展是指其从产生到灭亡的"过程",并且在这个过程中,武术的"质"具有同一性,其差异仅仅是质在量上的不同;拳种是这个过程中的"阶段性"产物,是武术从历史发展到现在可见、可感的有形表象;现代竞技武术或现代武术是拳种在时代中"用"发展的结果;当下时代对技击认知后形成的经验知识补入到拳种中,不仅是武术产生之初内在规定的延续,而且是武术"体"未来走向的必然;武术的起点与终点因知识而贯通。     

涪陵城区小学武术活动开展现状与对策研究

文章采用文献资料法、问卷调查法、访谈法和统计分析法等研究方法,抽样调查涪陵城区10所小学开展武术活动的情况,掌握城区小学开展武术活动的现状,分析影响武术活动开展的不利因素,从而提出:改善师资状况;提高学生对武术的认识;严格按照《课程标准》,认真制订武术教学计划;通过多种渠道丰富武术教学的方式;开展丰富多彩的武术活动等对策。     

影响高校武术选项课教学效果因素及对策

武术是中华民族传统瑰宝,在社会生活中发挥着日益重要的作用,继承和传播武术文化是我们的义务和责任。高校是武术传播的一条重要途径,高校武术选项课教学效果的好坏直接影响所培养学生的武术修为,从而影响武术文化和运动的继承、传播和发展,因此提高高校武术课教学效果,对于武术运动发展有着极其重要的作用。文章主要运用文献资料法、并结合多年教学体验,从体育教学体制、教师队伍建设、教学水平,以及学生的学习态度等几个方面,论述了影响武术选项课教学效果的相关因素,并提出相应的对策。