Culture of Martial Arts

[dubljay]

I am taking a cultural anthropolgy class this semister and we have to do a project of observing another culture. I am going to try to do this on the culture of martial arts.

I know MA is influenced by the culture where it originated (i.e. Japanese arts, Chinese arts, Western arts ect.) I think despite there being different cultural origins there are some things that are a common thread within all martial arts. I would like to hear your ideas on this. Any thoughts at all, including if you think its a bad idea, or can't be done.

Thanks in advance.


-Josh
(Not too sure where to post this thread)

 

[KenpoNoChikara]

I'm not sure about what falls under the catogory of culture

Mybe this is completely useless, but some things I find common among martial artists are: Spending 90% of your life in sneakers and a uniform, healthy food, and constantly coming across the stark contrast of humble, respectful martial artists and egotistical, arrogant ones

 

[Eldritch Knight]

That's a big monster you're trying to tackle. Are you including MMA or RBMA? Because in that case you'll have very little cultural similarity to more traditional schools. Probably the only thing I can think of that binds all martial arts together is the philosophy to train hard and train often. A school that doesn't do that probably isn't teaching martial arts. Then again, they could be teaching distance running or pole vaulting, or any number of other activities.

 

[Makalakumu]

An interesting topic that might be more do-able would be "How American Culture has influenced martial arts..."

 

[MJS]

I am taking a cultural anthropolgy class this semister and we have to do a project of observing another culture. I am going to try to do this on the culture of martial arts.

I know MA is influenced by the culture where it originated (i.e. Japanese arts, Chinese arts, Western arts ect.) I think despite there being different cultural origins there are some things that are a common thread within all martial arts. I would like to hear your ideas on this. Any thoughts at all, including if you think its a bad idea, or can't be done.

Thanks in advance.


-Josh
(Not too sure where to post this thread)

I think its an interesting project! I agree that there are many things that are similar in every art. Of course, those things that are similar are in a way very different depending on how they're applied.

This is also a very good point:

An interesting topic that might be more do-able would be "How American Culture has influenced martial arts..."

I'm sure that if you went this route, you'd find some very interesting differences. I'm sure that you'd find that certain traditions may have been dropped once the art was Americanized.

Mike

 

[dubljay]

Thanks for the input everyone. I really do appreciate it. I like the approach of "Amrican Culture of Martial Arts". I still have to get this topic approved for the class, but I'm considereing writing it anyway. I will have lots more questions, probably more specific once I get going on it. Depending on how the paper turns out I may post it online for others to read.

Thanks again everyone.

-Josh

 

[dubljay]

I'm not sure about what falls under the catogory of culture

Mybe this is completely useless, but some things I find common among martial artists are: Spending 90% of your life in sneakers and a uniform, healthy food, and constantly coming across the stark contrast of humble, respectful martial artists and egotistical, arrogant ones

Just about anything can fall under the catagory of culture. Think about some of the little things martial artists may do differently than others. The social interaction between students, the ranking system (or lack there of). How a martial artist may behave differently in a 'normal' setting.

 

[still learning]

Hello, This is a good topic, maybe " How the martial art's influence the American culture? Many people in America has change there life style because of martial arts here in USA.....Aloha

 

[stabpunch]

A culture of respect?

 

[thescottishdude]

I think your own culture molds the martal art, you do not notice that many changes in your culture when learning martial arts. except maybe the bows which seems abit odd in western culture.

 

[Giorgio]

I find that most martial arts i've come across try to take the aggression out of combat. They try to counteract the basic instinct to assault, flail and thrash, and replace it with a methodical, scientific treatment of combat. Although many martial arts, like muay thai, build on what your basic instincts may be already, and many do things which are very counter-intuitive(t'ai chi, for example), they all have the attitude that in a fight, you should be calm, cool-headed, and at ease.

Socially, this promotes a culture of respect, and almost every dojo/camp I've seen fosters a close camaraderie between students, and humble deferrence with regards to the master. This is something which I find almost every eastern martial art shares, but which western ones somewhat lack. (by western, I mean things like fencing, savate, queensbury boxing, and to an extent, MMA) Other factors which are similar may include the idea that self defense is a more important factor than attack, and in the case of Chinese martial arts, the influence of taoism.

Interesting topic, though.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I find that each martial art attempts to represent its culture of origin and that you get a major culture clash from school to school. I suppose there is some overlying culture but its just like existing with like.
Sean

 

[matt.m]

I would think the American take on martial arts is awesome. Considering we adapt martial arts tradition to our own so to speak. What a marvelous idea.

 

[Giorgio]

To be honest, I don't think American adaptations of martial arts has brought anything to them, beyond commercialising them, regulating them, and possibly watering them down. Of course, there are many schools that maintain the tradition of the martial art and are very good about that, but I don't really see anything in the American culture which could be added to a martial art positively. That said, I'm not american, so I don't know the American culture well enough. Someone correct me?