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Post by legacyofthesword on Jan 6, 2018 6:18:11 GMT
I'm interested in getting a book that traces the history of martial arts (the empty hand kind) from their first appearance in China and/or Japan, their spread to various other countries, to their various modern day forms (kenpo, kung fu, jujitsu, judo, etc.).
Is there a good book or couple of books that cover this?
Thanks.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jan 6, 2018 23:48:49 GMT
For a single book that covers what you ask, maybe Clements, A Brief History of the Martial Arts www.amazon.com.au/Brief-History-Martial-Arts-Fighting/dp/1472136462/is the best. I read this after the various books below, and I didn't feel it had anything really new in it, but I think it might be a good introduction to the topic. For a general overview of the history of Chinese martial, Lorge, Chinese Martial Arts: www.amazon.com.au/Chinese-Martial-Arts-Peter-Lorge/dp/0521878810This mostly discusses armed martial arts, because that's the majority of Chinese martial arts until recently. It does discuss unarmed martial arts. For the late Ming and Qing evolution of unarmed Chinese martial arts, Shahar, The Shaolin Monastery www.amazon.com.au/Shaolin-Monastery-History-Religion-Chinese-ebook/dp/B014N3997O/For the early Republican evolution of Chinese MA, Kennedy & Guo, Jingwu: www.amazon.com.au/Jingwu-Elizabeth-Kennedy-Brian-Guo/dp/1583942424/The books on the evolution of the modern MA tend to focus on individual martial arts. There are various histories of the evolution/growth/spread of karate out there, but I've only dipped into them a little, and can't think of any to particularly recommend. You should be able to find histories of judo (but I've read them even less, so again, no recommendation). For taekwondo, a good book on its evolution from Japanese karate and subsequent growth and fragmentation, Gillis, A Killing Art: www.amazon.com.au/Killing-Art-Alex-Gillis-ebook/dp/B01EXBFMEA/is excellent. For the spread of Chinese MA into SE Asia, you can find brief mentions of the history on kuntao in various books on Filipino and other SE Asian martial arts, but mostly they just say "it came from China, and nobody wrote anything down, so we don't know any of the details". While you ask specifically about Chinese/Japanese martial arts, perhaps others might be interested in the broader spectrum, so I'll add: For Central Asian martial arts, Levine, A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat: www.amazon.com/Game-Polo-Headless-Goat-Discovered/dp/B01NH07N7J/More about modern survival of these, but has some history. Unarmed arts included are Persian and Indian wrestling and Turkish oil wrestling. There are some good histories of (Western) boxing and wrestling, but I've read few and have no recommendations. For African martial arts, perhaps www.amazon.com/Fighting-Honor-Atlantic-Carolina-Lowcountry/dp/1570037183/is good. I haven't read it. The reviews look promising but are too brief to judge meaningfully.
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jan 7, 2018 0:35:22 GMT
Yep, that's what I was looking for. Great - thanks again Timo.
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Post by ambulocetus on Jan 8, 2018 6:18:44 GMT
I have a couple of favorites that you might like to know about: First is The Spring and Autumn of Chinese Martial Arts - 5000 Years by Kang Ge Wu. Some of his conclusions are a bit controversial, although he has done much research to back it up. It is a good book for a broad overview of the subject. I'm not really into Karate, but I found The History of Karate: Okinawan Goju-Ryu By Morio Higaonna, to be well written and very interesting. Unlike the previous book, this is more history at the personal level. Higaonna Sensei has done much research on the origin of Karate, tracing it back to Fukien Crane style of mainland China. Chineselongsword.com has translated some ancient manuals and also makes reproductions of some of them, including traditional binding. He is an amateur translator, but he does a pretty good job, and he translates some stuff that nobody else does. Reasonably priced, so check it out.
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Post by Cosmoline on Jan 8, 2018 18:25:24 GMT
I'd go with Rodell's translations personally. www.amazon.com/Scott-M.-Rodell/e/B001K8ZF56What's surprised me is how recent these arts actually are. Most of them emerged between the 18th and 20th centuries, though they all claim ancient roots. Whatever the monks were doing way back when we'll probably never know in detail.
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Post by legacyofthesword on Jan 8, 2018 18:30:08 GMT
Great stuff guys, thanks - I'll check it all out.
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