Cultural characteristics of martial arts

2010. 1. 10. 22:16Report/Martial Arts

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Write by Dr. Heo
 UNESCO World Intangible Cultural Heritage and Martial Arts
2009 World Martial arts Aeminar,  World Martial Arts Academy

 
Competitionalization
Martial arts change a lot in the process of development. The change occurs in various types depending on cultural factors. The training martial arts have been competitionalized because of the influence of external culture, sports. A lot of martial arts have already existed as global culture in the current global age.
Because of the invention of weaponry, modern martial arts have changed from combat skills to training skills. Since then, martial arts have developed into sports after the emergence of international martial arts organizations. The rules of western sports have been accepted, and martial arts have become a sporting game.
Recently, some old martial arts have developed into a sporting game. Because of the growing popularity, various international events have been held. Furthermore, the related games have been directly and indirectly advertised across the world. In fact, competitionalization of martial arts has been recognized as a very efficient means of globalizing martial arts. Judo and Taekwondo have already been accepted for the Olympic Games. Other martial arts such as Kendo, Karate and Smo have been hold internationally.

While physical or mental training is evaluated subjectively, competitions are objectively evaluated based on certain rules. When practical martial arts existed in diverse sects in the past, the physical and mental training were evaluated subjectively. In Japan, however, the objective evaluation was first introduced during the matches between sects. As the victory-oriented value was formed among the sects, the skills have also changed.

As martial arts develop into a sporting game, their intrinsic value has been lost, emphasizing their competing aspect only. In other words, too much focus on martial arts sports has slowed down the development of social martial arts. So far, various martial arts such as Judo, Taekwondo and Wu Shu have drawn great attention from the general public through international sports events like the Olympics and Asian Games. In addition, school and social physical education has given students a chance to learn martial arts. However, most martial arts are still available as demonstration performance in local events. As more martial arts became competitionalized, a conflict started to take place. Those who stand up for the competitionalization of martial arts insist that martial arts need to be competitionalized by keeping their intrinsic values. They also say that the virtues of martial arts such as observation of rules, respect for the opponent, fair play spirit, self-sacrifice and endurance could be spread through the sports games. Because the ultimate goal of martial arts training is to beat myself not the opponent, the spirit of martial arts is just like the religious virtue.

Because of globalization and internationalization in the 20th century, both the eastern and western societies have experienced a collapse of the traditional virtue system and emptiness of moral virtues. In reality, the completion of martial arts would mean the unity between the philosophies of sports and martial arts. Basically, both conflict and opposition may work as a driving force to develop martial arts. However, the explicit and implicit reasons of the conflict and opposition, which were caused by the competitionalization of martial arts are somewhat shallow.
Recently, martial arts have become more popular as a part of sports in living. In turn, they have become more commercialized. This kind of commercialism may cause many problems during the operation of martial arts games and see martial arts as a means of
making a profit only.

 Globalization

Martial Arts are the culture of a country or a nation, and are also an important element of the physical culture. The modern martial arts are spreaded all over the world including Asia, and are becoming an important of the world physical culture, and have become form of the global physical activities that are being trained in all countries or societies in the world. The globalization of the martial arts is not an old aged phenomenon.
Taking an opportunity of introducing the Chinese martial arts to the U.S.A., the Gold Rush to the California from 1848 to 1863, and the Kung-fu was introduced due to the importation of Chinese laborers for the railroad construction and the Wu-shu training place of Bruce Lee was opened in 1960. This could be realized through the Japanese farming immigrants who advanced to Hawaii and California.

In 1879, the U.S. President Grant, visiting Japan, watched the 19 years old Kano Jigoro's exhibition game, and in 1889, the Yale Professor Ladd trained himself Judo at Kodogan, and in 1902, Yamada Yosiaki, a Japanese national, began to instruct Judo in U.S. However, the full-scale and large scale advent of the martial art to the Westerners could be thought from the start of World War II.

In the World War II, the experiences of American and British troops at the battle with Japanese having the spiritual and physical tenacity and the Bushido Spirit, and the recognition of martial arts training as an educational means for it, made an emergency of the policy of forbidding the martial arts training by the military government under the General Mac Arthur. At the backdrop of this political prohibition, the mystical curiosity and awareness to the Oriental martial arts by the Westerners might be existed together. The reason is that the Oriental martial arts were spreaded to the Western society including the U.S.A, by American troops on a large scale. An example that a war contributed for globaization of the Oriental martial arts may be seen in Korean War and Vietnam War for the worldwide spread of Taekowndo.

Besides war, what martial arts much influenced to the West may be the movie.  As a matter of fact, the worldwide fashion of martial arts is the movie of Bruce Lee. It was in 1921 that martial arts emerged as a theme of American movie. In the movie, the figure which the martial arts decorated as mystery and superstition of the Orient has decisively governed the ordinary people's consciousness on the martial arts not only in the Western society but also in the Oriental society. On top of that, the martial arts itself is trying to reappearing its image constructed by this movie.

With the economic success in South East countries mainly by Japan, and with the enhancement of value recognition over the Oriental culture greatly emerged in Western society in late 1980s, the martial arts has been greatly popular worldwide, and as a result of it, it has become an important factor for understanding the physical education, sports and physical activity of Western society. In particular, the martial arts have a meaning not limited by a simple sports or physical activity culture of the West.

The popularity of martial arts in the Western society is a representative thing which satisfies the expectation of the Westerners over the Oriental culture. The martial arts do have all mysterious factors such as Oriental religious, thought, and sorcery technique. In particular, these factors can be seen through the physical technique, and the martial arts which are existing as an experiential type are seen as an optimal mediation accessible to the Oriental culture by the Westerners.

In the Western society, the Zen philosophy has beer greatly popular, but the realization of the Zen was difficult, and thus it was limited in the theoretic popular through books.  But the curiosity and request for the Zen by the Westerners is very much satisfied through the training of the martial arts.

In the martial arts, a long historical cultural art form exists. In the traditional martial arts, there are a large and deep meaning in which the philosophy, aesthetics, ethics, tactics and medicine are included. This meaning can not approached by the modern sports, and the martial arts display various functions such as physical training, protection of oneself, cultivation of character, amusement and disease prevention, and at the same time the martial philosophy, ethics, theory and medicine were spreaded all over the world.

The martial arts conduct as a spreading mediation of all Oriental culture to the Western society, but on the other hand, we cannot disagree that the martial arts do as an adverse function of distorting or misleading much of the Oriental culture in the process of spreading. In particular, mass commercial movies and magazines on martial arts, and the mysteriously expected mind of the modern martial arts training people may do as a large portion for this phenomenon. However, we must recognize that a meaning of cultural globalization made through the modern popular martial arts and the potential value cannot be overlooked.

Convergence with Foreign Culture

Culture may be relatively independent or mutually co-related. In the midst of culture, the change of culture closely related with people's life is relatively great, and a relatively easy new cultural factor is produced, and the foreign culture is easily absorbed. In the process of combining the culture and factors adapted from outside, it becomes to have a new shape and meaning, and thus a brand new thing different from the original shape will appear. This kind of example can be easily seen in the case of Korea. It is accepted without a special objection that Buddhist art, and Sung Confucianism are same and Christian belief type has very much changed from the original one. Dress and ornaments culture, dwelling culture, food culture are alike. Relatively stable or slow changes are the religious culture, the political system culture, the law system culture, the etiquette culture. However, cultures have relations in the midst of various or mutually affects. Relatively quick changing culture gradually affects to the relatively stable culture, and changes the quality, quantity, contents or structure, and thus may change the basic shape of the all cultural structure.

The Chinese martial arts, in its growth period, have been much influenced from old Indian Buddhist culture or Arabian culture. Foreign culture and Chinese martial arts culture have been sometimes converged and absorbed, and at the same time been resisted, rejected or sharply confronted. But these foreign cultures were as the same age's things, neither the basic theory of Chinese martial arts have fundamentally changed, nor brought about a big change of the thought. By the way, the situations after the Opium War were very much changed. China isolated by the strong capital countries could not but open its door reluctantly. In this regard, due to influx of Western culture, the martial art culture, a traditional Chinese culture, had been greatly influence, and thus a series of changes had been erupted. 

After the Chinese Revolution, the spread of martial arts in South East Asia was accelerated, and after Shanghai Martial Arts Association began training in 1920, the Fuzen Long Spring Martial Arts Association (福建永春武術會) exchanged martial arts in Singapore, etc., in 1929. After that, the Wu-shu martial arts troupe was already formed at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and the exhibition game was introduced at international stage and thus began the first step for the formation as sports.
Chinese martial arts greatly affected to foreign martial arts. In case of Judo, the flexible method, harmonious method, and physical tactics of the bare hand form are the arranged arts, and in case of Karate, it is re-arranged arts of Japanese Karate, the Taekwon, the national martial art of the Thailand was an arranged arts conveyed when the reign of the King of the Ming dynasty in 1378.

The tradition and origin of the martial arts are clear. But, the feature of new martial art is either a mixed type of Chinese martial art with Japanese one, or that of partially being grafted. Through the change or regeneration of these martial arts in our society, the current martial arts are being made. These martial arts are far from the World Intangible Heritage yet. The reason of it is that its change does not finish in our society but it is in the process of continuous change. Even so, is it good for these martial arts being looked away? I don't think so. A number of opportunity of exchanges of global martial arts will be given, and they can co-exist in the large cultural category of martial arts. Considering that the handing down and the correct restoration having much value as a world legacy, we need good consideration over martial arts which we can present with our necessary concerns. We must congratulate in the process that every martial art get recognition as a World Cultural Legacy, and have concerns that many martial arts can do their roles.

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