***Like many of you I am spending the evening watching the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise (and therefore not blogging). So it seems only fitting to dip into the archives and take another look at a post... Continue Reading →
Fitness and Agency Rose clippers are a key symbol within Judkins family folklore. When I was about ten my mother bought my father, who does not garden, a set of rose clippers. These have lived, unused, in a... Continue Reading →
Introduction I have always wondered about the Song period (960-1279) and its connection to the modern Chinese martial arts (let’s say 1850 to the present). One could be forgiven for placing the genesis of our current systems sometime in... Continue Reading →
Its That Time of Year Again! Welcome to Kung Fu Tea’s eighth annual holiday shopping list! These are some of my favorite posts to pull together. They also serve as a reminder to make time for martial arts practice and study... Continue Reading →
Introduction It seems to be taken as an article of faith in much of the popular writing on the martial arts that these hand combat systems provide not only an avenue for self-actualization, but also the ability to bridge... Continue Reading →
“There is a problem with the study of martial arts similar to that identified by Markus Davidson in the case of “spiritual studies”: many of the scholars involved in the topic are themselves practitioners and their work betrays a... Continue Reading →
Can the confused lead others to clarity? Perhaps the title of this essay risks overselling the contents as I can think of no subject within the field more demanding of nuance, yet less likely to receive it, than the... Continue Reading →
Reclaiming Bruce When is a nunchuck, perhaps the most iconic weapon to emerge from Okinawan karate, not a nunchuck? When it is being held by Bruce Lee. At least that is what the discussion in my Facebook feed seemed... Continue Reading →
Unfolding a Story When the opportunity presents itself I try to collect vintage photographs, postcards, illustrations and other ephemera touching on the martial arts. As someone who writes and publishes on these subjects, it is very helpful to have... Continue Reading →
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