1570 By doing single backward aerial somersaults, an Italian moun-
tebank named Arcangelo Tuccaro becomes modern Europe’s
first famous trapeze artist. Due to problems with ropes and
springboards, double back flips were usually fatal until the
1890s, while triple back flips were equally hazardous until the
1920s. These statistics about world-class gymnasts are worth
recalling whenever one encounters tales about the exploits of
legendary heroes.
1571 To increase his power, prestige, and wealth, the Japanese lord
Oda Nobunaga orders the destruction of the Buddhist temples
on Mount Hiei. (When King Henry VIII of England dissolved
all Catholic monasteries in Britain between 1535 and 1540, he
almost tripled his private income. Although these two men
didn’t know each other, doubtless they had similar hopes and
expectations.) As Nobunaga’s persecution caused the surviving
monks to begin living in towns instead of monasteries, the
destruction was partially responsible for spreading Buddhist
martial arts into the Japanese cities.
About 1578 To secure the support of the Tibetan theocracy for his son Yon-
ten Gyatso, the Golden Horde’s Altan Khan orders that people
start referring to the young man as the Dalai Lama Vajradhara.
The phrase means “the teacher whose wisdom is as great as the
ocean.”
1578 Lord Oda Nobunaga hosts Japan’s first major sumô tourna-
ment. Although referees and heroic ring names, or shikona,
also date to the 1570s, the straw-and-earthen ring, or dohyo,
only dates to the 1670s.
1579 Lai Qidai becomes the first Chinese philosopher known to have
illustrated his explanations of the Dao (Tao) using a circle of
interlocking black and white fish. Lai’s goal was to emphasize
the Dao’s central nature, yin and yang, rather than its outward
nature, seen in the sixty-four trigrams of the Yijing (I Ching;
The Book of Changes).
About 1588 In a stage play called The Wounds of Civil War,the Eliza-
bethan playwright Thomas Lodge becomes the first English
playwright known to have included lusty rapier work in a secu-
lar entertainment.
1588 To ensure the safety of his tax collectors, the self-made gener-
alissimo Toyotomi Hideyoshi prohibits Japanese farmers from
owning weapons of any kind, which in turn forces peasants to
choose between being samurai or farmers. Nevertheless,
firearms, swords, and other weapons remained easily obtain-
able throughout the Tokugawa era, and as late as 1840, per-
haps 80 percent of the participants in Saitama Prefecture fenc-
ing contests were commoners.
1592 A massive Japanese invasion causes a desperate Korean
government to create a Hullyon Togam(General Directorate
for Military Training). Its purpose was to teach peasants to
be musketeers, archers, or pikemen. Its pedagogy came from
the 1562 Chinese military treatise called New Text of
Practical Tactics (described under that year). An unintentional
result was the publication of some of the first detailed de-808 Chronological History of the Martial Arts