the sword” in European tradition; the use of knives, trips, and tackles in the
“weaponless kicking art” of capoeira;the spears and swords (and kicks) of Chi-
nese “boxing” (wushu);and the no–holds (or weapons)– barred nature of
Burmese thaingcompel a reformulation of the distinctions among martial arts
that have informed our popular conceptions of them.
In this context, even the notion of “art” is problematic. First, the term may
be used simply as a means of noting excellence, as a reference to quality rather
than attributes. A more serious issue, however, arises from the fact that, in West-
ern European culture, we commonly draw distinctions between art and life, the
aesthetic and the utilitarian, work and sport, and art and science. These Euro-
centric distinctions break down in the face of Thai ram dab,Indonesian pentjak
silat,and Brazilian capoeira,which are at once dance and martial exercise, and
have been categorized as both, depending on the interests of commentators who,
with a few notable exceptions, have been outsiders to the traditions.
In addition, attempts to comprehend the nature of “martial art” have been
further obscured by distinctions between self-defense/combat and sport (itself a
culture-bound concept). George Godia characterizes the lack of fit between the
contemporary category of sport and the physical culture of traditional societies
well. “To kill a lion with a spear needs a different technique and different train-
ing than to throw a standardized javelin as far as possible. Spearing a lion was a
duty to the young moran[Masai warrior], and different from a throw for leisure,
enjoyment or an abstract result in terms of meters, a championship, or a certifi-
cate” (1989, 268). Perhaps for the same reasons, both our mechanisms for con-
verting combatives (i.e., combat systems) to sports and for categorizing them
cross-culturally frequently have fallen short of the mark.
The present volume does maintain some working parameters, however.
Martial arts are considered to be systems that blend the physical components of
combat with strategy, philosophy, tradition, or other features that distinguish
them from pure physical reaction (in other words, a technique, armed or un-
armed, employed randomly or idiosyncratically would not be considered a mar-
tial art). While some martial arts have spawned sports, and some of these sports
are considered in this volume, the martial cores of such activities rather than the
sports per se are emphasized. Also, entries focus on those martial systems that
exist outside contemporary military technology. Thus, topics include Japanese
samurai (despite their part in the Japanese armies in earlier centuries), American
frontier gunslingers, and nineteenth-century European duelists (despite their use
of firearms), as well as the sociocultural influences that have led to changing
fashions in modern military hand-to-hand combat.
Moreover, this volume is not instructional. Rather, it strives to present clear,
concise descriptions of martial topics based on sound research principles. In an
effort to ensure this, the overwhelming majority of authors are both academics
and active martial practitioners.xvi Introduction