Martial Arts Knowledge on and Beyond the Page: From Visual Mantras to Hyperrealism with Words and Brushes

Abstract

Martial arts are cultural phenomena shaped by the societies in which they develop. They were—and still are—transmitted through interpersonal exchanges, from body to body. Martial arts experts use speech for devising these martial skills into complex systems of bodily knowledge. Once the systems are complex or vast enough to be verbalized, they are transmitted through bodies and speech with mnemotechnical texts such as poems, codified knowledge canons or a constellation of technical words associated with metaphors or images. Some of these mantras (mnemonic devices) found their way into writing or depiction. This process is a translation (transcription) from speech to the page, or to depiction. The written word or the depiction of bodies fighting on a wall, a painted canvas, or embedded into a sculpture, endures through time and survives the masters who created them. However, in most cases, those who wrote the words painted the images, or sculpted the stone were not the martial art experts themselves. The documents, depictions, and sculptures preserved for the study of martial arts culture of the past must be explored while taking into account the perspective of those who created them. Based on previous research about the circulation of knowledge based on the dissemination of European fight books, this contribution allows for a new approach to categorization of martial arts knowledge, on and beyond the page, with a focus on early modern fight books.

Martial Arts, Health, and Society

“…For instance, over the centuries, fencing has shifted from a battlefield activity and one for duels to the death to a modern Olympic sport. Yet there has been resistance to the sportisation process and a renaissance of interest in historical fencing and lost styles known as the historical European martial arts (HEMA), which are being researched, re-enacted and revived through the creation of new materials, organisations and events (Jaquet et al, 2020). The techniques and objects are recreated in modern times, which enables us to consider the potential benefits and risks associated with wielding a powerful weapon such as a longsword or a poleaxe.…”