Martial History Team

In September 2021, I (Richard) started a new reading plan. I prioritized print books that have been on my shelf for a while, or those that I had read decades ago. The result is this month's book survey, which lacks a coherent theme compared to previous months. I will return to theme-based surveys once I read the print titles sitting in my library Introduction This month's survey includes several books on Bruce Lee, a few books on famous judoka, and a mix of other excellent titles. The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems, Chuck Norris, 1996 The first title,  The Secret Power Within: Zen Solutions to Real Problems , has been in my library for 25 years, but only while reading it the second time did I recognize that there is little chance Mr. Norris wrote this book himself. While Mr. Norris credited his ghost writer, the famous Joe Hyams, in his first book, The Secret of Inner Strength: My Story (1988), he appears to have stopped that practice beginning with this b...

Martial History Team is now live on Buy Me a Coffee . You may know about our Amazon Wish List . If you would like to help us get books to read and review from that list, then please consider supporting us via Buy Me a Coffee . Thank you. 

My (Richard's) reading theme for August 2021 was books on judo and associated topics. This was my last set of books from my old reading plan. I'll talk about my new plan at the end of the post. Introduction I started August 2021 with a plan to read books on judo history. I made progress with a list I had made, then decided to take a detour when I saw the release of Rickson Gracie's biography, Breathe: A Life in Flow . I also managed to borrow a copy of  Unlocking the Secrets of Aiki-Jujutsu via inter-library loan. Soon the month had ended, and I still needed to write this post. I thought it best to post the notes I had and press on with my new plan. Judo in the U.S.: A Century of Dedication, Michel Brousse and David Matsumoto, 2005 Judo in the U.S.: A Century of Dedication , Michel Brousse and David Matsumoto, 2005 I am a fan of books by Dr. David Matsumoto, although most of them are out of out of print and some are difficult to find. This book, Judo in the U.S.: A Centu...

Introduction Martial History Team member Dr. Jonathan Clements is the author of today's book review. For more posts featuring Dr. Clements' work, please see this label . The Abrupt Appearance of Martial Arts True to the historical record, Lu Zhouxiang’s A History of Shaolin: Buddhism, Kung Fu and Identity (Routledge, 2019) has relatively little to say about the Shaolin monastery’s connection to the martial arts before the 16th century. His early chapters are thick with detail on the various ebbs and flows of Buddhist traditions at the temples, and come with meticulous genealogies of the various leading monks. Shaolin, after all, is a prime site in the history of Chan (i.e. Zen) Buddhism, but Lu points out that it was also an important and respected institution in several other sects, which co-existed peacefully with the one that made it famous. Then, suddenly, we see the temple’s public image radically transform. Lu quotes Cheng Shao, who wrote in 1620: “ Taking a rest at Sha...

What is the true story behind Bruce Lee's "Definite Chief Aim" letter? Introduction I (Richard) was tracking down another bogus Bruce Lee quote, as part of the Sourcing Bruce Lee project. Along the way I encountered an article titled  Bruce Lee’s Never-Before-Seen Writings on Willpower, Emotion, Reason, Memory, Imagination, and Confidence , published by Maria Popova for Brain Pickings on August 1, 2016. I looked quickly at the contents and realized I had already seen at least some of it in the Bruce Lee Library and more .  This line caught my eye, however: "[H]ere is an exclusive look at several pages from his 1968 pocketbook, penned shortly before Lee’s twenty-eighth birthday, each transcribed below, beginning with Napoleon Hill’s “Daily Success Creed,” which Lee copied into his notebooks." It is rare to see an author recognize when Bruce Lee copied material into his notebooks. (It happens, as noted in my writings, but not as frequently as it should.)  I had a...