Perusing Old Martial Arts Manuals
A Facebook post prompted me to take a look at a few old martial arts manuals today.
Introduction
This post mentioned that a book published in the 18th century in Japan, titled Morokoshi Kinmō Zui, or Illustrated Encyclopedia of China, contained copies of Chinese texts, specifically texts from Chinese generals Qi Jiguang and Yu Da You. I had mentioned them before in the post Mail Call: Sword Treatise. I decided to track down the aforementioned encyclopedia and see what it looked like.
I preface this post by saying I am not a Japanese or Chinese language or history expert. I was simply interested in finding the original texts I read about on Facebook. Here I am documenting what I am learning.
Before getting to the documents, I want to say a few words about the two main characters mentioned earlier.
General Yu Da You and the Sword Treatise
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| Sword Treatise, Jack Chen Edition |
The first is General Yu Da You 俞大猷, who lived 1503-1579. For the purposes of this post, we are concerned with his book Compilation of Vital Energy (Zheng Qi Tang Ji 正氣堂集). The part of this book that is likely known to martial artists is the Sword Treatise (Jian Jing 劍經 Jian Jing). Most of this book is text, with only a couple line drawings. You can download an untranslated version of this for free from Jack Chen's site, and buy a cool translation if you like.
Here are a few sample excerpts:
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| Sword Treatise pp 1-2 |
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| Sword Treatise pp 35-36 |
Jack Chen states that this book was published in 1565.
General Qi Jiguang and the Essentials of the Fist
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| Essentials of the Fist, Jack Chen Edition |
The second is General Qi Jiguang 戚繼光, who lived 1528-1587 or 1588. For the purposes of this post, we are concerned with his book New Book of Military Efficiency (Ji Xiao Xin Shu 紀效新書). The part of this book that is likely known to martial artists is the Essentials of the Fist (Quan Jing Jie Yao 拳經捷要). It is chapter 14 in the Ji Xiao Xin Shu. You can access a copy of it online in Chinese via the Internet Archive as New Book of Ji Xiao Volume Eleven - Volume Fourteen. The other volumes might be found by searching here.
This book has many more drawings. Several sources, including Jack Chan, cite that it was published in 1560.
Interestingly, this book by General Qi includes the text of the Sword Treatise by General Yu Da You. If the 1560 date is correct, it means that Yu wrote the Sword Treatise and likely the whole Compilation of Vital Energy before 1560.
Update 2 July 2020: The book Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals states that General Qi's book was published first in 1584, not 1560:
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| Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals by Kennedy and Guo, page 176 |
I am inclined to believe the 1584 date for General Qi's book, because it makes sense that General Yu's book would precede it in 1565.
In addition to Jack Chen's edition, there is this version online.
Here are a few sample excerpts:
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| Essentials of the Fist, document page 131 |
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| Essentials of the Fist, document page 129 Pay attention to the guy in the super low stance on the lower left. We will use him as a reference point going forward. Now that we have an idea of what is in the books by Generals Yu and Qi, let's look at the encyclopedias. |
Enlightening Illustrations (Kinmo Zui 訓蒙図彙) book 7, 1666
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| Enlightening Illustrations, 1666 |
The first book I found was Enlightening Illustrations (Kinmo Zui 訓蒙図彙), published in Japan in 1666. Nakamura Tekisai (1629‒1702) compiled it. It was the first illustrated encyclopedia produced in Japan. You can access all 20 volumes (in 14 books) courtesy of the World Digital Library.
I didn't realize when I found it that it was not simply an older version of the Morokoshi Kinmō Zui, or Illustrated Encyclopedia of China, mentioned in the Facebook post. So, I looked throughout, and did not see anything from generals Qi Jiguang and Yu Da You.
I did, however, find material of a military nature in the 7th book, an example of which appears above. I did not see imagery of anyone doing martial arts.
Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmō Zui 唐土訓蒙図彙) vol 2, 1718-1719
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Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmō Zui 唐土訓蒙図彙), 1718-1719 |
Next I located a two-volume version of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmō Zui 唐土訓蒙図彙), published in 1718-1719. We know the artist's name was Tachibana Yuzei, aka Tachibana Morikuni. I found material from general Qi Jiguang in the second book, online courtesy of the MET Digital Collection.
This is clearly a different book from that of 1666, and its first publication appeared in 1718-1719, according to this article.
Apparently the compiler incorporated material in whole from General Qi Jiguang and probably General Yu. However, as I am using images to find evidence, there's not much for me to find using the non-existent imagery from General Yu's book.
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Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmō Zui 唐土訓蒙図彙), 1718-1719 |
Notice our friend in the super low stance on the upper right page above.
Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 唐土訓蒙圖彙 全編) vols 6-8, 1802
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| Illustrated Encyclopedia of China vols 6-8 (Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 唐土訓蒙圖彙 全編), 1802 |
Next is the 1802 edition of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 唐土訓蒙圖彙 全編, or Morokoshi Kinmō Zui Zenpen). Volumes 6-8 contain the martial arts material. The publisher was Kawachiya Kichihē. You can access all volumes on the Smithsonian web site.
Again we find material from General Qi.
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I liked seeing the images redrawn here too. Our friend is on the upper right again.
Illustrated Encyclopedia of China Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 平住專庵 vols 6-7, 1880
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| Illustrated Encyclopedia of China Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 平住專庵 vols 6-7, 1880 |
Finally I discovered an 1880 edition of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of China (Morokoshi Kinmo Zui 平住專庵). Volumes 6-7 contain the martial arts material. Thanks again to the Smithsonian for making a digital copy available online.
As before, here is our friend in his low pose.
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This edition is particularly clear.
Conclusion
I enjoyed taking this tour through old martial arts manuals. There's so much more to consider, such as the relationship between these manuals and the story of Chin Gempin. There's also this 2019 thesis by Dr. Sarah Basham on the 1621 edition of the Wubei Zhi 武備志. I'd like to find out the source for the images used at this site. This site does a lot of work with it too.
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