1881 The Japanese army replaces neo-Confucian bushidôwith
tokuho,a Prussian-inspired “Soldiers’ Code.” (Although
trained by the French, the Japanese liked imperial German and
Austrian political philosophy.) After making some additional
changes that emphasized the primacy of the emperor, the Sol-
diers’ Code was renamed bushidô(the way of the warrior) in- The brutal excesses of the Greater East Asian War, as
the Japanese call World War II, are therefore owed to early-
twentieth-century military codes rather than the neo-Confucian
bushidôof the Tokugawa-era samurai.
About 1883 Kanô Jigorô decides to divide his jûdô students into two sepa-
rate groups, ungraded (mudansha) and graded (yudansha). This
ranking system was innovative, as Japanese martial art schools
previously awarded rank using scrolls (menkyo) rather than
colored belts.
1884 Britain’s Edgerton Castle publishes a history of European
swordsmanship called Schools and Masters of Fence.Probably
the most influential swordsmanship history of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries, it presents theories that came under
savage attack during the 1990s. Particularly contentious aspects
include the following: first, that Renaissance Italy was the
birthplace of systematic European fencing; second, that older
German swordsmanship was mere rough and untutored fight-
ing; and finally, that nineteenth-century sport fencing repre-
sented linear evolution toward final perfection.
1889 Hooks become common in Australian and North American
boxing, as do corkscrew punches and combinations of three to
five punches thrown in rapid succession. Queensberry-rules
boxing with padded gloves was the reason—padded gloves pro-
tected knuckles and thumbs from breaking on the opponent’s
head, while ten-second knockouts and rounds that did not end
when a player fell to the ground encouraged boxers to throw
flurries rather than carefully aimed single shots.
1889 Female boxing becomes popular throughout the United States.
Champions included Nellie Stewart of Norfolk, Virginia; Ann
Lewis of Cleveland, Ohio; and Hattie Leslie of New York. The
audiences were male, and the fighters sometimes stripped to
their drawers like men. Savatefights in which kicking was al-
lowed were also popular. Girls as young as 12 years headed
the bills.
1896 The First International Games are held in Athens, Greece; these
are subsequently renamed the first modern Olympics.
1896 The Spanish close a Manila fencing academy known as the
Tanghalan ng Sandata(Gallery of Weapons) because its active
students include the rebel leader José Rizal y Mercado. The
master of the Gallery of Weapons was Don José de Azes, and
his academy was located at a Jesuit private school known as
Ateneo de Manila.Since de Azes taught both rapier fencing and
Filipino nationalism, either he or his students are probably the
creators of the theory that Spanish fencing influenced the devel-
opment of arnis.
1899 An English engineer named Edward W. Barton-Wright pub-
822 Chronological History of the Martial Arts