“In the west, Asian martial arts are everywhere. They are part of the texture of popular consciousness. Nonetheless I want to argue that they remain marginal. That is to say, although Westerners may see them often, and all... Continue Reading →
Introduction Happy Lunar New Year! In honor of the holiday I decided to publish a couple of posts that focused on the important role that the traditional martial arts, and martial values more generally, have played in the celebration... Continue Reading →
Chinese Officer and Soldier with Ring Hilted Sabers Today's post is an early Christmas gift. When I first decided that it would be wise (for research purposes) to collect and catalog images of period martial artists, I was... Continue Reading →
Introduction The martial arts can speak to a number of important questions, but perhaps to none as directly as popular attitudes towards violence. Much of my recent research has looked at what the organization of martial arts groups... Continue Reading →
The Album Recently I had the good fortune to come across a photograph of a Chinese dadao (big knife) that dates to the late 1930s. Images such as these were sometimes collected by Japanese soldiers in occupied... Continue Reading →
Introduction Conflict seems to inspire trophy hunting. In the west this often takes the form of fading photographs of someone’s grandfather holding a vintage Luger. A large number of katanas also made their way back to the United States... Continue Reading →
***One of the questions that I have been attempting to tackle in my more recent writing is the degree to which we should be thinking about the "traditional" Chinese martial arts as a quintessentially modern activity. From the perspective... Continue Reading →
Introduction No topic within the study of the modern martial arts is more burdened with nationalist myths and legends than military fencing. By the middle of the 20th century blades were supposed to have become obsolete on the battlefield. Yet... Continue Reading →
Introduction It is clear that weapons training is enjoying a renaissance within the modern martial arts community. Recently some of this attention has come to focus on the blades of the Second World War. It is interesting to speculate on... Continue Reading →
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