So, the question is "What are we doing here?". We're here, in large part,
because there's a dearth of quality writing on the martial arts in
a format which is accessible to the average reader. This is especially true with
respect to comparative studies; such material may be out there, but if it is I'm not sure where you'd find it.
Before getting in to the thick of the discussion I think its important to emphasize that, in the end, I'm just a
guy with a web-page. I make no claim to any sort of formal training; the only
assets I have in my favor are an abiding interest in the martial arts,
facility with the written word, a few brain cells, and time to kill. Much of
what I say will be based largely on my own personal experience and
perceptions; I hope that this project will provide me with the impetus to
conduct more formal research and perhaps draw other people with interesting
things to say out of the woodwork. I'm also somewhat limited in my
perspective; my direct experience involves East Asian martial arts as
practiced in the United States, so I've undoubtedly got some big blind spots. Caveat lector.
Caveats out of the way, why is it so hard to find good writing on the
martial arts? Or is that putting the cart before the horse? I've not yet
demonstrated my basic premise; before you look at the "whys" of a phenomenon
its behooves you to be sure that such a phenomenon actually exists. Since
"there's a dearth of quality writing on the martial arts" is a matter of
opinion the best I can hope to do is persuade rather than prove.
Consider the experience of buying a book on the martial arts. You go into
Borders or Barnes & Nobles and head towards their sports sections. To
their credit most of the mega-booksellers have a couple shelves dedicated to
the martial arts, but the contents of those shelves are hit-or-miss. What are you
likely to find therein?
In my mind I tend to group the books into three rough categories:
- Crap
- Practitioners' guides
- Everything else
Let's take a look at each of these categories:
Crap
I think that the single biggest problem with the practice of the martial arts
in general is that, to borrow a word from Orac, its totally infested with
"woo" of various kinds. In the United States the martial arts are strongly
associated with Orientalism and/or Oriental mysticism, leading to the
propagation of a great deal of information of dubious provenance and merit.
Credulous consumers can buy books on how to become a ninja, improve their chi,
kill with a single touch, etc. These books often suffer from low production
values and give no assurance other than the author's word that ey're not just
making shit up. There's little doubt, in my mind at least, that many of the authors and publishers are playing on people's hopes, dreams, and insecurities to
make a quick buck.
Practitioners' Guides
This category contains all of the single-art manuals out there, which seem to
account for the majority of titles you're likely to find at the book store.
These books are intended for people who are learning/want to learn a
particular discipline. They obviously vary greatly in quality but, unlike the
crap above, at least they represent authentic traditions with time- and
field-tested techniques.
But these books also, as a general rule, share a couple of deficiencies. Their authors are
preaching to the choir. They don't intend to demonstrate the virtues of the art to the skeptical, but rather guide those who have already committed to its practice. As such they tend to be pretty heavy on the received wisdom, emphasizing the "what" of the practice but not spending much time discussing the "why". Their emphasis on a particular tradition and the emulation of its forms also makes them vulnerable to the propagation of erroneous information, though obviously to a much lesser degree than the crap. Lastly, and this is less a critique than just the nature of these books, they almost always limit their discussion to just one particular art.
Everything Else
What's left are the books which a) aren't obviously crap and b) aren't "howto" manuals for a particular discipline. Your best bet to find thoughtful writing about the martial arts falls in this category, though the real gems are few and far between. If you're lucky you'll find items like The Book of Five Rings, a (somewhat) discipline-agnostic discussion of martial practice. Sometimes you can find various encyclopedias of the martial arts, but I have, as a general rule, been disappointed with their quality, finding them to be little more than general descriptions accompanied by pretty pictures. While certainly useful these books also skimp when it comes to trying to get a deeper understanding of the "whys" of the martial arts.
I think the above demonstrates some general trends in the available literature. Materials which are currently available tend to be:
- woo-ish
- heavy on description and light on explanation
- limited to specific disciplines
I believe that there's a lot to learn by writing specifically to counteract these tendencies. The posts which follow will (hopefully) tend to:
- be empiric
- describe the "whys", not just the "hows", of martial practice
- be cross disciplinary
Sifu Brian Bateman, of the Rochester Shaolin Training Academy, once told me that the martial arts are like bread: there are many different types of bread, but they all start with flour and water. By this I believe he meant that, though the outward forms may look different, all martial arts are grounded in common principles. It is my hope that, by comparison of practice across a number of disciplines, I can begin to elucidate the "flour" and the "water".
