Physical Culture
So, the core idea of this page, martial or physical culture. What does this exactly mean?
To start, let me give a quick amateur's introduction to physical culture. This was a movement in the 1800's and early 1900's in Europe and North America, in where people were beginning to pay more attention to physical exercise as a mean to stay healthy and fit. In the past, people had made obvious correlations between people who did sport and other labor and trimmer physiques, however this wasn't massively well understood. You begin with the gymnasium. As sports culture began to rise in the 1800's, many institutions began to build gymnasiums, places where sportsmen could practice, exercise and develop their skills. Oftentimes, these gymansiums would have light weights and bars, to perform simple gymnastics and weightlfting. Bronze Age bodybuilders, men like Eugene Sandow and George Hackenschmidt. These were very influential men who had early on, espoused the ideals of performing regular exercise to increase your strength, and in doing so, you could avoid many of the common illnesses and sickness of the era. There is a lot of modern science to back this up, not only does regular exercise prevent heart disease and other age related illnesses, it also boosts your immune system. Additionally, these bronze age bodybuilders claimed that exercise would help keep the mind sharp. Once again, modern science proves these early adages to be correct, seeing high correlation between sports and increased grades. As these ideas spread, and the progressive movements of the era began to address the horrendous conditions that many poor urban residents lived in, they began to advocate for gymnasiums to be built in various cities. The YMCA or the Turner clubs are early pioneers of these gymnasiums and provided a place for people to congregate and exercise together. Often times, it was German American immigrants, living in these communities that brought a style of German gymmnastics to these places. Incorporating many iconic gymnastics equipment such as the pommel horse, the hanging rings, parallel bars, etc.
On the other side of the world, the development of Judo and Kendo as the first modern Japanese martial arts was also taking place. Feeling the need to modernize the country amidst the threat of Western powers, many traditional martial artists began to use physical culture as a framework to elevate martial arts as not simply the trade of a soldier, but the foundation of a modern man. Kano Jigoro, the famous founder of Judo, wasn't simply a martial arts instructor, he was a well respected professor, who had studied education. He advocated for the implimentation of judo into the school system, as a supplement to children's education.
So that is physical culture, the historical movement promoting exercise and sports to better support national health. Now what is Martial Culture? Well, I want to apply a lot of the ideas of physical culture into martial arts. A key distinction for that seperates martial arts and combat sports, is the art. Now that isn't to say that combat sports aren't martial arts, or that martial arts aren't combat sports, they are inherently very intertwined. However, the major distinction for me is the word "Art". What is the art in martial arts? Some people dedicate their whole lives to wushu taolu and karate kata, and I would not say that these are not martial artists, but you cannot call them combat sports athletes. They do not practice to fight. They practice to develop the beauty of their forms. On the flip side, a boxing athlete who only trains exactly what his coach tells him to, cannot be called a martial artist, they are simply an athlete, they do not pursue any beauty in what they do, they just repeat what they have seen as directed by their coach like a robot. So, all of these analogies are just a way for me to say that the art of martial arts is the pursuit of beauty in your practice. I want to make a key distinction in that, beauty does not mean flashy or elegant technique here. I find sometimes that an uchimata or seoi-nage is more beautiful than a 540 roundhouse kick. It is the sheer skill and precision in which martial artist can perform their favorite techniques that makes them beautiful to me. A blast double can be beautiful, a jab cross can be beautiful, it is in the pursuit of perfection that martial arts become arts.
As martial artists, I will contest the famous Bruce Lee quote "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own". I take issue with the idea of discard what is useless. I find that in modern martial arts, specifically combat sports, there's a tendency to only pursue what are called "high percentage techniques". That is to say, techniques that are the most used. For example, the most common choke in all of BJJ and MMA is the rear naked choke, accounting for more than half of all submissions, next would be things like the armbar or the triangle choke. Foundational techniques that are used at the highest level and work a lot. I 100% agree that great focus should be given to these techniques, and that especially for beginners, they should be practicing these techniques a lot. However, the discarding of "useless" techniques gives me pause. I think that there are so many techniques that have historically been treated as useless or inefficient or ineffective, but skilled martial artists have picked up these techniques, polished and developed them, and now many of these are seen at the highest stage. A prime example of this is the Mikazuchi geri or crescent kick. It's been common in karate systems for decades, however only now have we seen a resurgence in the technique. Japanese kickboxers are using the crescent kick in high level matches to strike the liver and body using a quicker movement and coming from a different angle than other kickboxers are used to. Another example is the calf kick, once labeled a useless technique or ineffective technique, it saw huge resurgence after Dustin Poirier dropped Connor McGregor using it. I find that all too often techniques are tossed aside without remorse. It's a shame is what it is. I have an enormous soft spot for martial artists who work to make obscure techniques viable again.
So how does this loop back into physical culture? Well, the gymnasium was a place where you went to develop your own body. Similar to gym culture today. There were of course, classes taught by instructors, but most of the time, people spent their time working on their own skillsets and socializing with other members. I believe this kind of system should make a comeback in today's day and age. This isn't a novel idea, this isn't even an uncommon practice, but I think this should be ubiquitous across all martial arts clubs, dojos and gyms. Martial arts can be so much more than a self defense or exercise system, it can be a holistic framework you can center your life on. You can meet people, socialize, develop skills together at a gym. I find that gyms with a rigid framework of diplomas, degrees, rankings, and hiearchical structure is antiquated and reinforces the hostility that many beginners and newcomers can feel when starting martial arts. In the scope of combat sports and martial arts, I find that these kinds of spaces, allow athletes to experiment and grow in ways that they may not have been able to if they were trapped in bubbles per se.
I haven't had the privilege of training at a traditional okinawan dojo, but I have heard that historically, many dojos functioned in this way. Where students would show up, begin their own solo or partner practices, and the sensei would also be practicing on his own, and would walk around correcting mistakes or giving advice if they saw anything.
I'm aware that many gyms with open mats proceed almost exactly in this way. It is partially through my experience at these that led me to form my opinions and ideas on martial culture. The way people training together can work on whatever they choose, whether to go for live rounds, or to work specific techniques and positions gives people the flexibilty to specialize and work on exactly what they want.