Martial History Team

 Welcome to the January 2022 book survey. Introduction In January 2022, I (Richard) continued my reading plan that prioritized print books that have been on my shelf for months, or years. This post describes a mix of print and digital books I read in January. Read on to separate the wheat from the chaff. A Complete Guide to Judo: Its Story and Practice, Robert W. Smith, 1958/1961 I bought A Complete Guide to Judo: Its Story and Practice  by Robert W. Smith strictly for the martial arts book bibliography at the end of the volume. I chose the hardcover, but in the two years since then, Amazon has released paperback and Kindle editions. The Kindle version appears to be a print replica, meaning it's a PDF wrapped in Amazon formatting. The hardcover is a reproduction of the 1961 third printing of the original Tuttle version. The book, beyond the bibliography, is a collection of material from other sources. I made the following notes on the contents. Page 29 begins with an arti...

  Welcome to the December 2021 reading survey!  Introduction In December 2021, I (Richard) continued my reading plan that prioritized print books that have been on my shelf for months, or years. This post describes a mix of print and digital books I read in December. Read on to separate the wheat from the chaff. Weapons of the Samurai, Stephen Turnbull, 2021 Weapons of the Samurai is one of the latest additions to the impressive catalog of Dr Stephen Turnbull. I devoted an entire post to him in March 2021 titled Survey of Stephen Turnbull Samurai Texts . This new book offers what you'd expect from publisher Osprey -- great illustrations, modern scholarship, and beautiful presentation. I was surprised to read about the use of Chinese-made firearms in Japan as early as 1468, well before their introduction by the Portuguese in the famous 1543 event. Dr Turnbull mentioned there is a record of a samurai being wounded by a firearm in 1524 or 1527 (p 55), for example. I liked how th...

  Welcome to the November 2021 reading survey!  Introduction In November 2021, I (Richard) continued my reading plan that prioritized print books that have been on my shelf for months, or years. This post describes books on Bodhidharma, Shaolin, Tai Chi, and budo. The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen, Jeffrey L. Broughton 1999 I turned to The Bodhidharma Anthology to try to find a reliable source for the semi-mythical figure who many assume brought martial arts to the Shaolin Temple. That is basically a myth, as later books in this survey series will reinforce.  The author is Dr. Jeffrey L. Broughton. His biography on the California State University Long Beach Emeritus Faculty site notes: "Professor Broughton’s specialty is Buddhist Studies (early Ch’an texts). He has a B.A. from Columbia University in English Literature and Oriental Studies and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical Chinese from Columbia’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. We c...

Introduction I (Richard) enjoy comparing translations of texts. For example, last year I published Comparing Translations of Itosu’s Ten Precepts of Karate  and Did Miyamoto Musashi Say Something Like "There is nothing outside of yourself..."?  Translation is key to this post as well. Douglas Wile Today I started reading T'ai Chi's Ancestors: The Making of an Internal Martial Art by Douglas Wile, 1999. I had just taken a look at his 1996 book  Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty . In the 1999 book he includes the following story on pages 3 and 4: "Allusions to soft-style martial arts theory go back to the classical period. Chinese history and literature record two interesting encounters between martial artists and monarchs. The Wu-Yueh ch'un-ch’iu , Annals of the states of Wu and Yueh ) compiled during the Han (206 BCE - 221 CE) relates a dialogue between the King of Yueh and a woman warrior named Yueh Nu. In response to the King’s pl...

Welcome to the October 2021 reading survey!  Introduction In October 2021, I (Richard) continued my reading plan that prioritized print books that have been on my shelf for months, or years. This post describes the biographies of a collection of martial artists -- some famous, some not. The Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee, Linda Lee, 1975 Linda Lee (Cadwell) published  The Life and Tragic Death of Bruce Lee  in 1975. This is the London-based Star Books edition. In the United States, the book appeared as Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew, via New York-based Warner. This book seems ghost-written, but it might not be the case. It integrates some material from the late Mr. Lee's (1940-1973) writings, most or all of which have subsequently been published.  I like this book because it is one of the earliest by a family member, and it contains bits of information not seen elsewhere. For example, Ms. Lee notes that Mr. Lee participated in reserve military training as a stude...