Martial History Team

   Did Miyamoto Musashi Say "There is more than one path to the top of the mountain."? Introduction I came across this quote in one of my martial arts Facebook groups. I am completing a survey of books by and about Miyamoto Musashi (1582-1645), and I did not recall reading this phrase. The sentiment also appeared to be completely opposite to what Musashi thought, as he is very direct and precise about how to live. I decided to research this quote. The Source The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings, 1994 The source of this saying is easy enough to find. It appears in the book first published by Tuttle in 1994 as  The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings , by Steve Kaufman. The subtitle says "The definitive interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi's classic book of strategy." Since 2004, Tuttle has sold it as  Musashi's Book of Five Rings . I already described why this book has nothing to do with what Miyamoto Musashi actually said. Please see my post  Did Mi...

  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...

Jigoro Kano at Gakushūin, between ages 22-28  Did professor Jigoro Kano earn a PhD? TL;DR: No. For the details, keep reading! Introduction  I (Richard) address Jigoro Kano as "professor" when writing about him. I do so for two reasons. First, he was a professor at multiple schools in Japan, teaching academic subjects. Second, the tradition is Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a derivative of judo, is to address certain instructors as "professor."  However, I have seen references to professor Kano as being "Dr. Kano." "Dr." in this sense does not refer to a medical doctor, or MD. Rather, it implies receiving a Doctor of Philosophy (referenced as a PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil, from the Latin philosophiae doctor or doctor philosophiae. )  I encountered this once in what I consider to be a reliable source, and other times in less-than-reliable sources. What is the evidence? The Mat Ball Article A 2005 article called The Accomplishments of Jigoro Kano  by Mat Ball is p...

Did Socrates really say "I swear it upon Zeus, an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler"? TL;DR: The image says it all. For the research, and what Socrates and others really said about wrestlers and runners, read on! Introduction Recently I debunked a quote falsely attributed to a Japanese thinker and warrior , so I thought it was time to do the same for a Greek thinker and warrior -- Socrates. First, some background. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived from approximately 470 BC to 399 BC. He did not write anything on his own, or at least nothing he wrote survives to this day. Everything we know about him comes from his students and biographers. Chief among these are students Plato and Xenophon, and biographers Plutarch (46 AD to about 119 AD) and Diogenes Laërtius (third century AD) and Plutarch.  To see if Socrates said anything like the quote attributed above, I queried many sources online, and then I reviewed the following works. Each initia...

I am not a life coach! Introduction Aside from sourcing so-called "Bruce Lee quotes,"  I usually don't pay much attention to other sayings attributed to martial artists. I ran into this quote yesterday, however, and it triggered my radar: "There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker, or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside of yourself." The quote is attributed to Miyamoto Musashi, the famous Japanese swordsman who was the topic of the first official Martial History Team podcast episode . The question is, did he say anything like this? The Source The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings, 1994 The source of this saying is easy enough to find. It appears in the book first published by Tuttle in 1994 as The Martial Artist's Book of Five Rings , by Steve Kaufman. The subtitle says "The definitive interpretation of Miyamoto Musashi's clas...

Muromachi Period Samurai, 1538, Wikipedia Commons,  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muromachi_period#/media/File:MuromachiSamurai1538.jpg Introduction Quite often we in the martial arts hear the idea that the Japanese learned martial arts from the Chinese. The next step in that conversation is the mention of the Chinese scholar Chin Gempin (1587-1674), aka Chen Gemin / Chen Yuan-pin / Ch'en Yuan-pin / Chen Yuan-Ping / Chen Tsu U / Gin Chin Pin. He's sometimes cited as being responsible for the creation of grappling arts in Japan. In this post, I'd like to set up some context, and then provide an annotated version of a classic article that casts Chin Gempin's true role in Japanese arts, with a focus on grappling. Mentions of Chinese Origins for Japanese Grappling Arts Fundamentals of Shuai Chiao (Jiao) by Dr Daniel Weng, 1984 In Dr Daniel Weng's 1984 book Fundamentals of Shuai Chiao , we find claims like the following: "It has been proven that ...