What all these authors have recog- nized is that the traditional is not a moribund museum piece s... more What all these authors have recog- nized is that the traditional is not a moribund museum piece suitable for folkloric exhibits, nor does it hold all the secrets of combat. Nei- ther is it true that the modern is merely a hodgepodge of moves tak- en from a few different styles and called something new; or alterna- tively, that the modern is a more scientific, effective, and efficient way of doing things. Our bodies have not changed too dramatical- ly since the Neolithic Revolution that led to the beginning of settled villages, the domestication of ani- mals and crops, and the need to ac- quire more or defend the property that one had. In this struggle, new technologies and new tactics were continuously introduced. Training the youth to prepare for combat in settled areas led to a plethora of unarmed and armed fighting styles of various forms of lethali- ty and ways of training or practic- ing to prepare the youth for their expected obligations as warriors. Weapons change, rules of engagement change, but there are a limit- ed number of ways to use the body either offensively or defensively to maximize a move’s power, ef- ficiency, and efficacy.
A fight! A fight is not merely a chaotic, meaningless act. Where all hell breaks loose and combat... more A fight! A fight is not merely a chaotic, meaningless act. Where all hell breaks loose and combatants, yell, scream, curse, boast, moan and give way to the untamed beast within. Yes, all this can be true of a fight, but at the same time it is so much more. Combat is a highly meaningful and social act where people move their bodies in traditionally effective, culturally approved and morally correct ways. Looking at the unspoken rules and movements and meanings of how men fight is the object of hoplologists. Hoplology first emerged as a social science parallel to the rise of Anthropology during the19th century. At this time when colonial expansion was reaching its peak, colonial administrators, scholars and intelligence officers sought to classify all the tribal peoples they encountered as living examples of the evolutionary progress of mankind from the uncivilized promiscuous horde to the civilized urban industrialized society where they lived in. While anthropologists looked at kinship systems, religious rituals or languages, hoplologists focused on how primitive and tribal people fought. What were the origins of the bow, the spear, the sword? What type of social complexity was necessary for these weapons to develop, and how did these weapons spread across a region? This was the principal concern of early hoplologists such as R. F. Burton and E.E. Evans-Pritchard who correlated the use of specific types of weapons to increasing levels of civilization. For example, where did the bow and arrow originate, how did the technological knowledge to create a bow spread across and area, and how did the composition and style of bows change as new peoples adapted them to their needs? Technological advances in warfare and the consequential casualties of 20th century wars resulted in the decline of hoplology as a discipline as people recoiled in horror of the killing fields of trench warfare in Flanders, or the bloody campaigns of island-hopping in the Pacific against the Japanese. Not long after WWII ended, veteran and lay-scholar Don Draeger began a study of contemporary Japanese combative traditions, soon shifting his interest to earlier still extant battlefield-oriented arts. Draeger's efforts to learn and publish his results led to a number of young people moving to Japan
ST ICK THE BOOK OF THE THE ORIGINATOR OF hoplology, Sir Richard Francis Burton, stated that "The ... more ST ICK THE BOOK OF THE THE ORIGINATOR OF hoplology, Sir Richard Francis Burton, stated that "The history of the sword is the history of humanity. The 'White Arm' means something more than the 'oldest, the most universal, the most varied of weapons, the only one that has lived through all time." 1 As the present four-part volume shows, we would like to go 1 Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Sword (London: Chatto and Windus, 1884), xi.
What all these authors have recog- nized is that the traditional is not a moribund museum piece s... more What all these authors have recog- nized is that the traditional is not a moribund museum piece suitable for folkloric exhibits, nor does it hold all the secrets of combat. Nei- ther is it true that the modern is merely a hodgepodge of moves tak- en from a few different styles and called something new; or alterna- tively, that the modern is a more scientific, effective, and efficient way of doing things. Our bodies have not changed too dramatical- ly since the Neolithic Revolution that led to the beginning of settled villages, the domestication of ani- mals and crops, and the need to ac- quire more or defend the property that one had. In this struggle, new technologies and new tactics were continuously introduced. Training the youth to prepare for combat in settled areas led to a plethora of unarmed and armed fighting styles of various forms of lethali- ty and ways of training or practic- ing to prepare the youth for their expected obligations as warriors. Weapons change, rules of engagement change, but there are a limit- ed number of ways to use the body either offensively or defensively to maximize a move’s power, ef- ficiency, and efficacy.
A fight! A fight is not merely a chaotic, meaningless act. Where all hell breaks loose and combat... more A fight! A fight is not merely a chaotic, meaningless act. Where all hell breaks loose and combatants, yell, scream, curse, boast, moan and give way to the untamed beast within. Yes, all this can be true of a fight, but at the same time it is so much more. Combat is a highly meaningful and social act where people move their bodies in traditionally effective, culturally approved and morally correct ways. Looking at the unspoken rules and movements and meanings of how men fight is the object of hoplologists. Hoplology first emerged as a social science parallel to the rise of Anthropology during the19th century. At this time when colonial expansion was reaching its peak, colonial administrators, scholars and intelligence officers sought to classify all the tribal peoples they encountered as living examples of the evolutionary progress of mankind from the uncivilized promiscuous horde to the civilized urban industrialized society where they lived in. While anthropologists looked at kinship systems, religious rituals or languages, hoplologists focused on how primitive and tribal people fought. What were the origins of the bow, the spear, the sword? What type of social complexity was necessary for these weapons to develop, and how did these weapons spread across a region? This was the principal concern of early hoplologists such as R. F. Burton and E.E. Evans-Pritchard who correlated the use of specific types of weapons to increasing levels of civilization. For example, where did the bow and arrow originate, how did the technological knowledge to create a bow spread across and area, and how did the composition and style of bows change as new peoples adapted them to their needs? Technological advances in warfare and the consequential casualties of 20th century wars resulted in the decline of hoplology as a discipline as people recoiled in horror of the killing fields of trench warfare in Flanders, or the bloody campaigns of island-hopping in the Pacific against the Japanese. Not long after WWII ended, veteran and lay-scholar Don Draeger began a study of contemporary Japanese combative traditions, soon shifting his interest to earlier still extant battlefield-oriented arts. Draeger's efforts to learn and publish his results led to a number of young people moving to Japan
ST ICK THE BOOK OF THE THE ORIGINATOR OF hoplology, Sir Richard Francis Burton, stated that "The ... more ST ICK THE BOOK OF THE THE ORIGINATOR OF hoplology, Sir Richard Francis Burton, stated that "The history of the sword is the history of humanity. The 'White Arm' means something more than the 'oldest, the most universal, the most varied of weapons, the only one that has lived through all time." 1 As the present four-part volume shows, we would like to go 1 Sir Richard Francis Burton, The Book of the Sword (London: Chatto and Windus, 1884), xi.
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