Martial History Team

  Introduction  Once in a while I will encounter a reader who has fallen for a 115-year-old scam perpetrated by martial arts authors trying to capitalize on the name of judo founder professor Jigoro Kano. In today's post, I'd like to take a look at this scam, and make it easier for others to know what they are reading. It doesn't mean readers should avoid the book. I'm more interested in "truth in advertising." The (so-called) Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo) That scam is the 1905 book  The Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo) by H. Irving Hancock and Katsukuma Higashi, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. Interior of The Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo) by H. Irving Hancock and Katsukuma Higashi, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1905. The foreword to the book says the following: The Complete Kano Jiu-Jitsu (Judo) by H. Irving Hancock and Katsukuma Higashi, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1905. It reads in part "This volume, therefore, presents, in its entirety, the Kano system...

  Dr Paul Bowman interviewed Dr Peter Lorge again on his excellent series on martial arts studies. I took the following notes and decided to publish them, in case anyone also finds them interesting. Not everything in China is at least 2000 (or 5000 years old).  China is not "unchanging and forever." Not everything good about Japan, Korea, or Vietnam came from China. French wine in a foreign country doesn't become domesticated, but physical practice does. "Confucianism" was an attempt by European scholars and missionaries to create a secular intellectual tradition in opposition to Taoism and Buddhism. They viewed what they called "Confucianism" as being like Christianity, except without Jesus, and it became their means to try to convert Chinese people to Christianity. Buddhism entered China around the first century CE. Dr Lorge prefers the term " Ruist " to "Confucian." "Confucianism" has changed over time based on who ass...

  This is Richard Bejtlich writing today.  I wanted to offer a quick update on the status of Martial History Team .  It's been about two months since the last post to the blog . I haven't had the focus to work on any dedicated, longer-form research for the team during the last few months. The primary reason is that in my spare time I've been working on the second volume of my latest cyber security project , shown in the image. I plan to finish that book this month, and then turn my attention to volume 3. Working on that book is a project outside of my day job, which also involves cyber security. While writing these books, I'm still reading martial arts history and research. I'm also producing regular social media content on the Martial History Team Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook pages. Thanks to Matthew Krueger, we also have a few new Martial History Team podcast episodes! Finally, in fits and spurts, I write book reviews for Martial Journal . I've also be...