p>General Choi Hong Hi has long been a controversial figure in the Republic of Korea (ROK; South Korea) despite his extreme influence on Taekwondo. The “Conference for the 100<sup>th</sup> Anniversary of Choi Hong Hi: Taekwon-Do and Life; How to View Choi Hong Hi” was held on November 28, 2018 at the Korea National Sport University. This report on that conference intends to disseminate the speakers’ findings to a wider audience and establish new directions for academic discussions on International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) Taekwon-Do. This conference also illuminated some problems with Taekwondo literature; namely that ITF literature is greatly overshadowed by research on its Olympic counterpart. Additionally, it seems that the only ROK Taekwondo governing body interested in reestablishing General Choi’s legacy is the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation. Nevertheless, even though he was a taboo topic in the ROK a decade ago, the political climate in the ROK has changed and General Choi’s legacy is re-emerging slowly.</p
p>The COVID-19 pandemic has caused governments to establish quarantine and social distancing for the population in order to decrease the contamination peak, factors that have affected the athletes’ preparation. In this context, we developed some high-intensity interval training (HIIT) recommendations for Olympic combat sports athletes that can be performed at home. The HIIT protocols should be added by body mass-based muscle strengthening exercises (similar to technical exercises), with the goal to preserve athletes’ muscle mass and physical fitness. Finally, emergency situations require contingency plans for sport.</p
This essay analyzes Japanese-American immigration into the American West through the prism of athletics, specifically by examining a series of contests between judoka and wrestlers from 1900 to 1920 in California. The popularity of these matches demonstrates the complex relationship between Japanese-Americans and the dominant European-American culture of the western states during this period. This complexity will be shown first by looking at the way in which martial arts are closely linked to national and ethnic identity. The strong barnstorming tradition in both judo and wrestling led to a number of matches of great interest to European-Americans of the period. These matches appealed to an interest in Japanese culture, a desire to see stereotypes reinforced, and nationalist tendencies during an age of uncertainty.
This essay analyzes Japanese-American immigration into the American West through the prism of athletics, specifically by examining a series of contests between judoka and wrestlers from 1900 to 1920 in California. The popularity of these matches demonstrates the complex relationship between Japanese-Americans and the dominant European-American culture of the western states during this period. This complexity will be shown first by looking at the way in which martial arts are closely linked to national and ethnic identity. The strong barnstorming tradition in both judo and wrestling led to a number of matches of great interest to European-Americans of the period. These matches appealed to an interest in Japanese culture, a desire to see stereotypes reinforced, and nationalist tendencies during an age of uncertainty.
Mikel Pérez Gutiérrez y Carlos Gutiérrez García. León: Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de León, 2008. 110 páginas. 23,7x17 cm. I.S.B.N.: 987-84-9773-396-0.
p>David B. Waterhouse (1936-2017) was a Professor emeritus, Japanese studies scholar, and humanities polymath. Educated to concert pianist level, he graduated in Western Classics, Moral Sciences, and Oriental Studies from the University of Cambridge. It is there where during his freshman year he had attended for first time a live judo demonstration, and had decided to start his judo career. Professor Waterhouse would eventually join the University of Toronto, where he would spend the rest of his professional career as an educator and scholar. David aptly understood and taught judo as it was meant by its founder, i.e. as a form of pedagogy striving for both physical and intellectual development. Consequently, his academic judo classes at the University of Toronto’s Department of East Asian Studies attracted an enthusiastic crowd of students. Professor Waterhouse’s scholarly legacy is vast, showing a remarkable breadth in topics which he surveyed, investigated and mastered, but he was particularly proud of his magnum opus, i.e. a two-volume catalogue of woodcuts by Japanese artist Suzuki Harunobu published in 2013. The manuscript of his book on judo’s cultural and technical history, unfortunately, remains unfinished due to his untimely passing.</p
em>Introduction: After the signing of the alliance among Japan, Germany and Italy’s governments in September 1940, several journals arose in order to spread the Japanese culture among people who knew very little about Italy’s new allied. Some documentaries also had the same function. Methods: The numerous textual and iconographical references concerning the Japanese warriors’ anthropology published in some Italian magazines during the 1940s have been compared, as well as to the few Italian monographs on the same theme and to some documentaries by Istituto Nazionale Luce, government propaganda organ. This subject has also been compared to the first Italian cultural production, concerning Japan, which dated back to the first decades of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Moreover different intellectuals’ biographies of those times have been deeply analyzed. Results: Comparing to each other the anthropological references about Japan in the Italian cultural production during the Second World War, we can notice a significant ideological homogeneity. This can be explained through their writers’ common sharing of the militaristic, hierarchical and totalitarian doctrine of the Fascist Regime. The Fascist ideology can be summarized in the Bushido concept, as Inazo Nitobe defined it in 1916. This concept was already known in Italy on the early 20<sup>th</sup> century, far before Fascism. Discussions and conclusions: We can see how Italian perception of the Japanese anthropology on the early 20<sup>th</sup> century didn’t change over time and how its features will re-appear in the 40s under the influence of the Italian-Japanese coalition. So, Bushido became the essence of the Japanese military and national identity that Fascist Italy took as example for mass education. Some of these stereotypes will re-appear after the war and until recent times in popular culture and in mass perception of Japanese martial arts.
p> Background and aim : Despite having been institutionalised in the Brazilian Confederation of Pugilism (1941) as a sport, at that time there were not any regulations for Capoeira competitions. Two symposia (1968 and 1969) were held in Rio de Janeiro (Guanabara) aiming to establish a set of regulations for the discipline and, as a consequence, to provide equal conditions for the competing athletes. In order to do so, representatives from Bahia and Rio de Janeiro were invited to discuss the matter. The present study analyses the first three proposals for the regulation of Capoeira, which came from the states of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro and were presented at the symposium held in 1968.
Method: The ethnographic and historical methods were used along with content analysis, praxeological analysis and semi-structured interviews for the survey, processing and interpretation of data, and subsequent comparison of the proposals.
Results: We observed that the proposal from Bahia was characterised by gymnastic, recreational and ritual elements, whereas those from Rio de Janeiro were characterised by the agonistic aspect of the discipline. Differences regarding personal and stylistic views and territorial interests proved to be a major hindrance and no regulations were established. Therefore, we conclude that the ideal conditions for the sporting regulation of Capoeira could not be met at that time.</p
The purpose of this study was to create an annotated bibliography about Leonese wrestling. The first author's library was the starting point and then the catalogs of the National Library of Spain, Public Libraries of Spain, Spanish University Libraries Network, as well as the Spanish ISBN Agency Database of books published in Spain were consulted by using the keywords “lucha leonesa” and “aluche”. The annotated bibliography comprises a total of 19 monographs, published between 1977 and 2015. As a whole, they show the eminently local dimension of this traditional sport, the support it has received from several public and private institutions, as well as its double dimension as a sport and as a tradition solidly rooted in Leonese culture.
p>The 1<sup>st</sup> International Academic Taekwondo Conference Youngsan University was held on October 4, 2019 in Yangsan, Republic of Korea (ROK; i.e., South Korea). In an effort to bring together international researchers of taekwondo, three non-Korean presenters were invited and three accomplished academics, two non-Korean, made up the conference’s invited panelists. The topics presented were: 1) the shift in taekwondo’s peace promotion duties, 2) a discussion of mudo (“martial way” of life) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; i.e., North Korea), and 3) the decline of taekwondo as a combat sport. Although small in scale, the conference built upon previous taekwondo academic endeavors in- and outside of Korea. Most importantly, the conference highlighted the fact that non-Korean academics are furthering the research field beyond the nationalistic concepts still held in the Korean taekwondo community. The event immediately garnered interest in an expanded conference for 2020.</p
The text resumes the communications and posters presented at the 2011 Scientific Congress on Martial Arts and Combat Sports (2011 SCMACS), held on 13, 14 and 15 May 2011, in the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal). In an environment characterized by a significant international presence, a total of 36 communications and 25 posters were exposed, organized in eight sessions: 1) Study object, research and systematic of martial arts and combat sports (MA&CS); 2) Pedagogical and didactics dimension on MA&CS; 3) Physical dimensions on MA&CS; 4) Physical and technical dimensions on MA&CS; 5) Psychological and tactical dimensions on MA&CS; 6) Socio- cultural dimensions on MA&CS; 7) Socio-cultural and philosophical dimensions on MA&CS; and, 8) Posters. A formal meeting of the International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society (IMACSSS) also took place as an extraordinary event. The results of the congress gave us the possibility for observing the growing interest of the academy in this particular subject, as the evident development of an international network.
p>The aims of this study were: to describe the anxiety levels of competitive judokas who participated in the 41st Inter-army Military Championship of Judo, year 2017; to detect differences in anxiety levels depending on sex and weight categories; to explore if there was a relation between the anxiety levels and the judokas’ final results at the tournament. The sample was composed of 28 judokas (18 men and 10 women) belonging to two teams (Army and Guardia Civil ), having an average age of 34.29 years ( SD = 5.12). Before competition, the ISRA-B questionnaire, answers version, was administered. The results showed that judokas had lower levels of cognitive anxiety ( p <.05), physiological anxiety ( p <.001) and motor anxiety (p <.001) than other samples of athletes. Likewise, there were significant differences in anxiety levels according to sex, having women higher levels of motor anxiety in ( p <.05). In terms of weight, only significant results were found in male judokas ( p <.05), where the heavier judokas had higher levels of cognitive anxiety ( p <.05). Only significant correlations were found between motor anxiety levels and the position obtained in competition in the male group ( rho = -.635, p <.05). The results confirmed the necessity to perform differential psychological interventions considering the sex and weight category variables.</p
p>The International Academic Conference for Taekwondo (iACT) 2019 was held from February 17-18 at Stanford University. The two-day conference featured numerous taekwondo social science researchers and scholars from around the world and several international taekwondo organizations. iACT 2019 was the first time an academic conference on taekwondo–or any combat sport–was held at a world-renown, elite-level university. Holding iACT 2019 at Stanford University validated taekwondo’s researchers and their ideas and unquestionably legitimized taekwondo as an academic research field. This report outlines the conference’s events and summarizes the most poignant concepts presented at iACT 2019.</p
The present report provides a brief account of a workshop entitled “Organising, Managing and Regulating Martial Arts” organised during the 21st EASM conference held in Istanbul (Turkey) on September 12th, 2013. It was the first scientific workshop with regard to the organisational and policy related aspects of (full contact) martial arts. During this international meeting four scientists described in-depth the recent history and current situation regarding the organisation and regulation of martial arts in their country (i.e., France, Flanders (Belgium), Italy and the Netherlands). The workshop was a unique meeting which provided a good opportunity to obtain a better understanding of the specific situation with regard to the regulation of martial arts in some European countries and to exchange results of current research concerning this topic. Further research could be helpful to gain more insight in dealing with problems related to governance, regulation and management of martial arts within a European context.
The report deals with the symposium of the International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society (IMACSSS) which was held as a part of the 10th International Conference on Kinanthropology at Masaryk University. The symposium was organised by the Department of Gymnastics and Combatives of Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, the Czech Republic. The symposium was attended by 20 members who contributed their knowledge and experience, which provoked the international cooperation aimed at spreading and developing experience with training in martial arts and combat sports. The members of the symposium discussed new approaches and knowledge in martial arts, combat sports, self-defence and education in security field. Presented topics showed the progress and continuous development in the field of martial arts and combat sports at the scientific level.
p>This report outlines the 7<sup>th</sup> International Congress of the International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society (IMACSSS) and the 4<sup>th</sup> World Scientific Congress of Sports and Martial Arts (Rzeszow, Poland, October 17-19, 2018) to provide constructive criticism for future conferences. The conference drew numerous scholars from four continents and showcased research on both well-known martial arts and combat sports (e.g., Judo and Taekwondo), while providing a spotlight for less-researched arts (e.g., Malaysia’s Silat and various Polish art forms) as well. Presentations were on qualitative and quantitative research and spanned several academic disciplines. While the three-day conference was organized well and expertly run, slight changes to the schedule could maximize participants’ overall experience at future IMACSSS events.</p
p>This is a report covering the 5<sup>th</sup> Annual Martial Arts Studies Conference, held in Orange, California (USA) on May 23-24, 2019. There were a total of six parallel sessions comprised of 44 presentations. Although the conference theme was “martial arts, culture, and politics,” the thematic organization extended beyond this premise to all aspects of martial arts as a field of investigation. As a whole, the conference was impressively orchestrated and quite well attended by representatives from around the world and is notable as the first official Martial Arts Studies Research Network event to take place in North America.</p
p>This study aimed at examining the benefits and challenges of practicing Taekwondo (TKD) to adolescents in Addis Ababa. In so doing, the study investigated the nature of TKD training, benefits of practicing TKD, and challenges/problems related with practicing TKD. A descriptive concurrent mixed methods research design was used. Accordingly, the quantitative part of the study had 108 TKD adolescent participants while the qualitative part had 12 participants (eight TKD adolescents and four TKD coaches), from four TKD clubs in Addis Ababa. Both one-stage cluster sampling technique and purposive sampling technique were employed to select participants for the quantitative and qualitative parts of the study, respectively. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from participants. Results of the study indicated: (1) the TKD training provided by the four TKD clubs was more of a modern/sport form of TKD; (2) TKD adolescents and coaches perceived that the benefits of TKD for adolescents are multifaceted, i.e., social benefits, physical benefits, mental benefits, self-defense, addiction avoidance, and other benefits; and (3) though majority (63.6%) of the respondents claimed that they did not face any problem as a result of practicing TKD, the following were identified as major problems that could threaten the wellbeing of TKD adolescents: family-related problems, community-related problems, and competition-related problems. In general, results show that the training of TKD can have a multifaceted positive contribution to adolescents’ wellbeing.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of taekwondo (TKD) training on the subjective well-being (SWB) of adolescents (12-18 years old) in Addis Ababa city. A cross-sectional survey method was used; self-administered questionnaire was the main data collection tool. A total number of 162 adolescents (108 TKD adolescents from four randomly selected TKD clubs and 54 non-TKD adolescents from a randomly selected public high school), participated in the study. The study sought to determine TKD adolescents’ level of SWB as measured by the Personal Wellbeing Index – School Children (PWI-SC). Besides, adolescents in different groups (TKD adolescents in three groups according to rank/belt level and TKD adolescents and non-TKD adolescents) were compared based on their score of PWI-SC. Results of the study showed that: (1) TKD adolescents had high level (mean points) of SWB as measured by the PWI-SC, i.e., 81.95 (95%CI: 79.70 to 84.20); (2) there was no significant difference in SWB among the three groups of TKD adolescents (lower, middle and high level belts) (F(2, 81) = 1.58, p > .05.); and (3) when compared with non-TKD adolescents, TKD adolescents were found to have a significantly higher mean points of SWB, (t = 4.25(77.97), p < 0.001; d = 0.79). Overall, the results of this study indicated the training of TKD can have a positive contribution to adolescents’ well-being.
Japan is preparing for a major social change that is setting the stage for the revamping of the educational curriculum. The nation of Japan is planning for the first time to allow mass immigration in order to cope with a declining population. Public and private schools are gearing up for this major societal change and are seeking ways to internationalize the educational curriculum so that the next generation of Japanese will be able to easily assimilate into this new world. On Okinawa, an unlikely school subject, physical education, is being used to foster a global perspective and to develop what can be defined as an international character. The educational community is introducing Okinawan karate as a physical education requirement for graduation. Educators hope that the character traits that are developed through martial art training will aid in the acceptance and assimilation of the predicted new immigrants as the indigenous Japanese population declines.
The present essay, with theoretic nature, assumes as an object of study the exhibition of the fundamental guidelines, on a didactic model, of the initiation to combat sports. For that, the contributions of several different authors were analyzed, who, from different points of view, consider that the initiation to combat sports does not imply a specific knowledge on any of the subjects that compose them, but their integrated and cross-curricular treatment. These alternative conceptions decreases the importance of the specific technical models, through the strengthening of the common elements of the combat sports, highlighting what is usually called “fighting knowledge”; that is, the capacity that allows the fighter to find solutions for the different situations that take place during a fight.
Based on an ethnographic study conducted from 2002-2005 in Canada, this paper argues that the practice of Aikido within a specific community of practitioners does not simply exist as a medium for acquiring martial knowledge, but is also a viable conduit for acculturating or essentializing aspects of Japanese culture and identity. This is made possible in light of the highly embodied and corporeal dimension of Aikido practice, which requires one to develop the necessary dispositions and strategies for the construction of an Aikido habitus. Consequently, the path towards becoming an Aikidoka enables one to potentially embody, in similar but also unique ways, the cultural and moral worldviews that the art seeks to represent within intercultural and transnational spaces.
The objective of this article is to give a short overview of different types of a product called “Persian watered steel” and show its beauty through examples of edged weaponry. I use the terms “watered steel,” “Damascus steel,” and “crucible steel” interchangeably throughout this article, and those terms are also explained. Watered steel is produced from steel made in crucibles, and the resulting differences in properties occurring during the process will be explained. The resulting quality is vital in producing edged weapons that are of praiseworthy significance. Another section of this article deals with the production centers of crucible steel and gives a short overview of this topic, including a discussion on watered steel in historical accounts. Lastly, the classification of properties of watered steel in early modern times is discussed.
This article is intended to both explain three traditional methods of manufacturing Persian crucible steel and to describe recent attempts by three German bladesmiths to replicate the results of traditional crucible steel making. The article will explain the process of making crucible steel, from the making of crucible steel cakes and forging of crucible cakes into bars, to polishing and etching these bars to reveal the crucible steel pattern. First described are three traditional methods of making crucible steel that are mentioned in Persian manuscripts. Second, elaborations are provided on three different modern processes carried out by three different talented German smiths, Achim Wirtz, Andreas Schweikert, and Cyrus Haghjoo. Finally, illustrations are shown some finished crucible steel blades made by Achim Wirtz and Andreas Schweikert as well as some crucible steel knives, made by the talented Belgian knifemaker Salsi Alessio, made from crucible steel bars provided by Achim Wirtz.
Taekwondo (TKD) is a combat sport, focusing on head-height kicks, spinning kicks and skipping. The emphasis on technical-tactical combinations with speed and agility is an essential characteristic of this modality. Therefore, this review aims to contribute to the critical analysis of technical-tactical actions of TKD athletes, using relative effort and pause moments of official competitions. This review investigated tactical arrangements (i.e., attacks, defenses and blocks), technical performance (points), kicks and punches, regarding to weight category, age class and gender. In fact, rule changes in recent years have increased defensive actions in the senior category, with about 50% of actions in attacks, followed by 30% in defenses and 20% in blocking actions. While juniors tend to adopt an offensive strategy, with about 90% of the actions in attacks. Since the introduction of the scoring electronic system, high-performance athletes need to perform accurate and correct techniques to achieve scoring, so elite athletes have used short-distance techniques with kicks from the back leg. This action shows effectiveness in scoring and assists competitors in increasing defensive capability and counter-attacks. Consequently, training programs need to be specific to the rules, weight divisions, gender and age categories in elite athletes in TKD.
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of functional fitness training that was practiced in the ancient Shaolin Temple as part of their regular physical conditioning regimen. This type of training—done with equipment (iron rings, bamboo, vases, etc.) or without equipment—can bring a combat-ready fitness level equal to the Shaolin monks. This article introduces iron ring and hard qigong exercises that are based on fundamental principles also found in modern training methods, such as weightlifting, and my own experience and studies in the Shaolin martial tradition. These exercises may be incorporated in any martial art practice and hopefully provide insights into the time-honored Shaolin tradition.
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Silat (a.k.a. gayung ) tempur is a combat sports competition introduced to provide early preparation for the beginners to master the basic techniques of silat before they shift to silat olahraga (advanced level competition). The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of actions and outcome during action time between winners and losers in national silat tempur competition. The notational analysis focused on five different types of action categories in silat tempur; kick, punch, topple, block and catch. The action categories were divided into three outcomes; Hit Target (HT), Hit Elsewhere (HE) and Missing Opponent (MO). The researchers observed 19 female silat matches (each with three round games) aged 14 to 17-year-old. The observations were made through series of videos. Matched Paired t -test was used to analyse each action performances and outcome between winners and losers. Results showed that the winners performed more actions than the losers ( p < 0.05). The winners frequently used more kicks to attack their opponents ( p < 0.05). However, there were similar performance between winners and losers in punch, block, topple and catch categories (all actions, p > 0.05). The winners performed more successful actions (HT) than the losers ( p < 0.05), particularly on kicks and blocks (both actions, p < 0.05). The losers significantly missed (MO) more catch actions than the winners ( p < 0.05). The author concluded that kicks were the main actions that both exponents used during silat matches, with the winners performing more successful actions than the losers.
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El siguiente artículo trata la cuestión de cómo las artes marciales chinas sobrevivieron como parte de la cultura tradicional en los tiempos modernos y generaron un interés a nivel mundial. El trabajo se centra en el proceso de modernización de las artes marciales chinas en el contexto de las transformaciones sociales masivas de China durante el siglo XIX. Analiza diferentes aspectos del proceso de autoafirmación de las artes marciales y señala las consecuencias de la ruptura radical con el sistema tradicional.
The following article deals with the question of how Chinese martial arts as part of traditional culture survived into modern times and created a worldwide interest. The paper focuses on the process of modernization of Chinese martial arts against the background of massive social transformations in China during the 19th century. It analyzes different aspects of the self-assertion process of martial arts and points out consequences of the radical break with the traditional system.
![Professor emeritus David Waterhouse (1936-2017) (second from left) with his wife Matsubara Naoko 松原直子 (far left), Consul-General of Japan Nakayama Yasunori 中山泰則 (second from right) and his wife Nakayama Chizuko 中山千鶴子, at the occasion of a conferment ceremony hosted on June 29 th , 2017, by the Consul-General for Professor Waterhouse, who had been awarded the Kunsantō KyokujitsuChūjushō 勲三等旭日中綬章 [Order of the Rising Sun 3 rd Class, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon] by the Emperor of Japan.](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326420604/figure/fig2/AS:649028064800771@1531751757886/Professor-emeritus-David-Waterhouse-1936-2017-second-from-left-with-his-wife_Q320.jpg)
