was something composed for the educated elite. Some historians have read
Ming literati writing on the martial arts transparently as simple descrip-
tions of practice and the martial arts environment during the Ming
Dynasty. Of course, these texts were written for other literati, often as a
means to justify the author’s peculiar interest in the martial arts. The act of
writing about martial arts was itself a statement of the author’s relation-
ship to the balance of civil and martial culture, and his perceived or
constructed place within that milieu.
Certainly the highly refined literati of the Ming, while for the most part
not themselves participating in the martial arts, were quite interested in
many aspects of the martial arts and martial culture. Sword collecting, for
example, became extremely popular in the Ming, with literati, like scholars
in any time or place, developing quite discerning opinions about the merits
of swords and long swords from different periods.^1 Swords were collected
and traded, and given as gifts to demonstrate one’s own knowledge, to
cement relationships, and even for purposes of self-defense. It is less clear
whether the recipients of such gifts were expected to have any knowledge
of fencing or if it was assumed that being armed in some way was pref-
erable to being unarmed if one were attacked. Of particular interest to
some collectors were Japanese swords captured from pirates after the
wokoupirate raids of the sixteenth century that included many Japanese
fighters.
Sword collecting was its own world, of course, quite divorced from
questions of hand-to-hand combat. As objets d’art, swords could be
appraised and discussed by gentlemen at some remove from either the
military or the martial arts world. At the same time, however, a number of
literati maintained direct relationships with generals. A sword was still a
weapon, even if it were traded for a painting. At court, the military still
held an important place–less so during times of peace, and more so during
wars. Generals were well aware that their status and the importance of
their skills were directly related to the government’s need for their services.
Some emperors were more interested in war than others, though some had
war thrust upon them. After thefirst two emperors, as so often was the
case, Ming emperors had no real military experience. War and the martial
arts were intellectual rather than physical matters.
The involvement of Ming literati in martial culture was extremely varied,
with some directly engaged with generals on a personal level, some dabbling
in the martial arts or in writingfiction portraying martial arts, and others
keeping everything martial at a distance. Literati attitudes reflected a strong
undercurrent of the sharp civil-military split that developed during the Song
The Ming Dynasty 161