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A Brief History of the Martial Arts: East Asian Fighting Styles, from Kung Fu to Ninjutsu
'If I had to pick a single general martial arts history book in English, I would recommend A Brief History of the Martial Arts by Dr Jonathan Clements'
RICHARD BEITLICH, Martial History Team blog
From Shaolin warrior monks to the movies of Bruce Lee, a new history of the evolution of East Asian styles of unarmed combat, from Kung Fu to Ninjutsu
Folk tales of the Shaolin Temple depict warrior monks with superhuman abilities. Today, dozens of East Asian fighting styles trace their roots back to the Buddhist brawlers of Shaolin, although any quest for the true story soon wanders into a labyrinth of forgeries, secret texts and modern retellings.
This new study approaches the martial arts from their origins in military exercises and callisthenics. It examines a rich folklore from old wuxia tales of crime-fighting heroes to modern kung fu movies. Centre stage is given to the stories that martial artists tell themselves about themselves, with accounts (both factual and fictional) of famous practitioners including China's Yim Wing-chun, Wong Fei-hong, and Ip Man, as well as Japanese counterparts such as Kano Jigoro, Itosu Anko and So Doshin.
The history of martial arts encompasses secret societies and religious rebels, with intimate glimpses of the histories of China, Korea and Japan, their conflicts and transformations. The book also charts the migration of martial arts to the United States and beyond. Special attention is paid to the turmoil of the twentieth century, the cross-cultural influence of Japanese colonies in Asia, and the post-war rise of martial arts in sport and entertainment - including the legacy of Bruce Lee, the dilemma of the ninja and the global audience for martial arts in fiction.
RICHARD BEITLICH, Martial History Team blog
From Shaolin warrior monks to the movies of Bruce Lee, a new history of the evolution of East Asian styles of unarmed combat, from Kung Fu to Ninjutsu
Folk tales of the Shaolin Temple depict warrior monks with superhuman abilities. Today, dozens of East Asian fighting styles trace their roots back to the Buddhist brawlers of Shaolin, although any quest for the true story soon wanders into a labyrinth of forgeries, secret texts and modern retellings.
This new study approaches the martial arts from their origins in military exercises and callisthenics. It examines a rich folklore from old wuxia tales of crime-fighting heroes to modern kung fu movies. Centre stage is given to the stories that martial artists tell themselves about themselves, with accounts (both factual and fictional) of famous practitioners including China's Yim Wing-chun, Wong Fei-hong, and Ip Man, as well as Japanese counterparts such as Kano Jigoro, Itosu Anko and So Doshin.
The history of martial arts encompasses secret societies and religious rebels, with intimate glimpses of the histories of China, Korea and Japan, their conflicts and transformations. The book also charts the migration of martial arts to the United States and beyond. Special attention is paid to the turmoil of the twentieth century, the cross-cultural influence of Japanese colonies in Asia, and the post-war rise of martial arts in sport and entertainment - including the legacy of Bruce Lee, the dilemma of the ninja and the global audience for martial arts in fiction.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 13, 2016
19 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Clements
153 books124 followersJonathan Clements is an author, translator, biographer and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Marco Polo, Mao Zedong, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi. He also writes for NEO magazine and is the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 12, 2023
Enjoyable and written with a sense of humor.
If you train in a martial art then at some point you become interested in its history beyond what your school gives as its history and background. And depending on how deep you begin to dig, you may discover conflicting information.
The loss of written records over the years and the “rediscovery” of historical background is very interesting to me and I enjoyed reading the results of Clements challenge to find out where the history of various martial arts came from.
When you read the Goodreads reviews for this book you’ll see one in all caps stating what an awful book and what an ignorant person the author is. How can someone who doesn’t train in a martial art write about the history of martial arts?
Clements has a Wiki page so people can go look him up and read about his background.
I found the book enjoyable and contributed to my understanding of history. There are pages and pages of sources should one wish to follow the breadcrumbs.
If you train in a martial art then at some point you become interested in its history beyond what your school gives as its history and background. And depending on how deep you begin to dig, you may discover conflicting information.
The loss of written records over the years and the “rediscovery” of historical background is very interesting to me and I enjoyed reading the results of Clements challenge to find out where the history of various martial arts came from.
When you read the Goodreads reviews for this book you’ll see one in all caps stating what an awful book and what an ignorant person the author is. How can someone who doesn’t train in a martial art write about the history of martial arts?
Clements has a Wiki page so people can go look him up and read about his background.
I found the book enjoyable and contributed to my understanding of history. There are pages and pages of sources should one wish to follow the breadcrumbs.
September 26, 2018
I picked this up on a whim, being a fan of wuxia movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Fist of Legend and stuff like Big Trouble in Little China. I really like the fantasy element of a lot of these movies but martial arts histories can be hard to come by so I was very interested in picking this up.
Like some of the other reviews, you have to take some of the information in here with a grain of salt. Just like you wouldn't take the claims of professional wrestlers seriously, neither can you take the boasts of martial arts masters, some who claim to be able to dodge bullets (Morihei Ueshiba) or to be over 150 years old (Buddahabhadra - the legendary founder of Shaolin Temple (I think.) But putting the development of the varied martial arts in a historical perspective was interesting. Of course there is more coverage from the Nineteenth century on because there are more verifiable sources. He goes on to cover the future of martial arts where the selling and marketing of martial arts is overshadowing the religion and philosophy that it was rooted in was a grave concern.
An especially interesting passage was his discussion of ninja in the historical martial arts world. Although there were certainly samurai who did specialize in espionage and the like, Clements posits that the pop culture ninja are largely the invention of twentieth century artist and writers, with the occasional ninja expert like Masaaki Hatsumi claiming to be the latest in a long line of secret ninja grandmasters giving the belief credibility.
A quick read, it gives a casual reader an basic overview of the history of martial arts. Though there might be more detailed and in depth histories out there. But for the casual reader, I found this to be entertaining as well as informative.
Like some of the other reviews, you have to take some of the information in here with a grain of salt. Just like you wouldn't take the claims of professional wrestlers seriously, neither can you take the boasts of martial arts masters, some who claim to be able to dodge bullets (Morihei Ueshiba) or to be over 150 years old (Buddahabhadra - the legendary founder of Shaolin Temple (I think.) But putting the development of the varied martial arts in a historical perspective was interesting. Of course there is more coverage from the Nineteenth century on because there are more verifiable sources. He goes on to cover the future of martial arts where the selling and marketing of martial arts is overshadowing the religion and philosophy that it was rooted in was a grave concern.
An especially interesting passage was his discussion of ninja in the historical martial arts world. Although there were certainly samurai who did specialize in espionage and the like, Clements posits that the pop culture ninja are largely the invention of twentieth century artist and writers, with the occasional ninja expert like Masaaki Hatsumi claiming to be the latest in a long line of secret ninja grandmasters giving the belief credibility.
A quick read, it gives a casual reader an basic overview of the history of martial arts. Though there might be more detailed and in depth histories out there. But for the casual reader, I found this to be entertaining as well as informative.
August 12, 2018
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
This tragedy of supposed history of martial arts, is not even close to an accurate history or account of anything martial. Mr. Clements throws around terms and clinched references in a farce that to layman is supposed to represent the educated, researched, FACT oriented overview of what martial arts are and where and when they came. The author clearly has never legitimately studied any form of martial art, if so he would truly be embarrassed to have his name associated with such trash! I tell ANYONE who seeks to learn ANYTHING about martial arts to find ANY book besides theism one, as there are no facts in this book just movie plots and myths and legends backed by NO reasonable research on the subject matter! It saddens me that unfortunately unaware people will buy this poorly penned drivel and believe that this is fact! All I can recommend is DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
This tragedy of supposed history of martial arts, is not even close to an accurate history or account of anything martial. Mr. Clements throws around terms and clinched references in a farce that to layman is supposed to represent the educated, researched, FACT oriented overview of what martial arts are and where and when they came. The author clearly has never legitimately studied any form of martial art, if so he would truly be embarrassed to have his name associated with such trash! I tell ANYONE who seeks to learn ANYTHING about martial arts to find ANY book besides theism one, as there are no facts in this book just movie plots and myths and legends backed by NO reasonable research on the subject matter! It saddens me that unfortunately unaware people will buy this poorly penned drivel and believe that this is fact! All I can recommend is DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!! DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!
June 16, 2024
Not horrible, but could probably use a rewrite or an expanded version. He emphasizes that the muddled histories of the Mongol, Ming, Qing, and Communist governments make accurate history extremely difficult, and he spends more time talking either about what *might* be true and why we have no way of knowing for sure or else about the histories that established martial arts schools tell about themselves and why those histories are wrong than he does about any verifiable history. The facts that he does nail down are mostly the backgrounds of well-known founders of different schools; if you type "martial arts founder" into google, you'll probably find their names. By the middle of the book, I was kind of bored.
October 11, 2024
Clements is a great writer of popular history but with the added bonus of evidence scrutiny characteristic of academic history. In this lively and engaging book, that's to the fore because there are so many interruptions in martial arts traditions and their redactions. For instance: changes of Dynasty and the Cultural Revolution. Additionally, there are no real sources for the association of the Shaolin Temple with martial arts for centuries after its alleged beginning. All this is traced and the invention of tradition (not a pejorative) is the focal theme. Fascinating, and I just wished it was longer and more detailed!
January 4, 2020
Offers an overview of near 2000 years of martial arts history. As the title suggests it is brief, partly through necessity given the length of time covered and partly because the earlier history has precious little concrete information to report on.
The chapter on ninjutsu, which was of particular interest to myself as a bujinkan practitioner, is likely to be unpopular but it is at least interesting.
The chapter on ninjutsu, which was of particular interest to myself as a bujinkan practitioner, is likely to be unpopular but it is at least interesting.
April 29, 2024
2.5
I'm normally a fictional/fantasy reader, and it's very rare for me to read non-fiction. Due to martial arts background, I figured that I would have some interest in this book, I was, in all fairness, a bit disappointed.
I found that some of the writing was a bit clunky and that it didn't flow as well as I'd hoped, so it was hard for me to focus on what I was reading. I feel like some sections didn't focus much on its topic and went from one country to another.
I did enjoy some bits of the book, especially when it was mentioned about the idea of qi.
If you're the kind of person who enjoys more factual reading, this is perfect for you, but if you're more of a fiction reader, this will be a struggle to get through.
I'm normally a fictional/fantasy reader, and it's very rare for me to read non-fiction. Due to martial arts background, I figured that I would have some interest in this book, I was, in all fairness, a bit disappointed.
I found that some of the writing was a bit clunky and that it didn't flow as well as I'd hoped, so it was hard for me to focus on what I was reading. I feel like some sections didn't focus much on its topic and went from one country to another.
I did enjoy some bits of the book, especially when it was mentioned about the idea of qi.
If you're the kind of person who enjoys more factual reading, this is perfect for you, but if you're more of a fiction reader, this will be a struggle to get through.
June 28, 2017
An okay book, but I kind of wonder if Clements is trying to do an expose' on the history of the martial arts. I agree that there are a lot of tall tales of magic and claims of origins. But history is full of that. Look at American history.
Still not a bad read.
Still not a bad read.
April 18, 2018
Easy to digest with ample insight into current thoughts on martial studies. Also has a great comprehensive timeline in the back that makes for a useful & quick reference.
March 1, 2022
From A to Z, Clements covers it all in a way that treats each style, philosophy, and adherents with equality. No martial arts enthusiasts will also appreciate the history told here.
April 8, 2022
A great introduction to martial arts. I’m a complete beginner and found insightful and organised fact from fiction. A solid starting point.
May 18, 2022
Interesting to me
As a martial artist, it's always good to get a reality check on the relative modernity of arts purporting to be ancient. This book delivers!
As a martial artist, it's always good to get a reality check on the relative modernity of arts purporting to be ancient. This book delivers!
April 26, 2022
Obviously, I'm no expert, but this was a good listen for the history of martial arts in East Asia. Although kind of dry to listen to, and given about a month's distance from it, not much of the information has sunken in. I was hoping to get some of the legends and explanations that he explicitly says he will NOT cover in the beginning - sticking only to fact as his bread and butter.
I think as a reference volume, this works wonders, but for what I was specifically looking for, not quite there.
I think as a reference volume, this works wonders, but for what I was specifically looking for, not quite there.
May 3, 2017
After a slow start for a chapter or two (worth a read none-the-less) this book becomes a very good read, supporting much of what I have come to suspect over the years from various other sources about the true history of various martial arts but also providing the historical basis for many of the characters who turn up in Chinese cinema in particular.
When it comes to actual historical evidence, almost everything believed and re-transmitted by martial artists as history or foundation story is utter nonsense.
Every martial artist should read this. The only negative comment I have is that it is too short and I think there is still a great deal of myth-busting to be done in the world of martial arts. This book serves the martial arts world very well, if enough people read it to spread the truth rather than the nonsense that we've all been taught.
When it comes to actual historical evidence, almost everything believed and re-transmitted by martial artists as history or foundation story is utter nonsense.
Every martial artist should read this. The only negative comment I have is that it is too short and I think there is still a great deal of myth-busting to be done in the world of martial arts. This book serves the martial arts world very well, if enough people read it to spread the truth rather than the nonsense that we've all been taught.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews