A Reflection on the Modes of Martial Arts (Expressions)

The legendary Bruce Lee once declared that "Martial Arts ultimately means: honestly expressing yourself" (sentence structure and punctuations mine). Of course what he meant by ‘expressions’ has created a gossamer of meanings. As a philosopher at heart and a creator of knowledge, he knew where the martial arts came from and has used this knowledge to create his own ‘expression’. But how do Martial Arts express itself? Or in other words, how does Martial Arts become a medium of expression of the inner workings of the human soul? Is Martial Arts only used as a way to express anger or revenge? Or has Martial Arts become a very important part of ‘humanity’ that the simple ‘way of expression’ has created a network of meanings, functions and forms. In this short article, I shall endeavor to describe the different conventional modes of Martial Arts and at the very end I shall try to expound on the implications of having Martial Arts modes of expression.

         Martial Arts is a not a very ancient term. It’s not far-off to consider that this term only emerged when the West began to come into contact with the East as a part of the ways of the West in naming and cataloging the ‘exotic practices’ of the people of the Orient, for the purpose of popularization and exploitation. Before this time, the essence of the Martial Arts was heavily centered in combat, espionage, strategy, tactics and etc. and was the prized possession and wisdom of the military, those who have been military people or warriors. Fighting had been residing inside the minds of our pre-historic ancestors even before the final-evolution of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ who may unarguably have created systems in order to defend themselves from the various violent forces of their environment up to their social circles and have therefore institutionalize the study of systems to defend from or inflict damage to adversaries. This in turn have evolved into military tactics as civilization advanced where hand-to-hand combat is not practiced in itself alone but along with various military skills. The ‘Bujutsu’ roughly translated as ‘Skills of the Warrior’ of Japan is a good example of this emerging systems which would later spawn the Martial Arts as used by civilians today. Here, it is necessary to point out that the emergence of the modes of expression in the Marital Arts is tied to the social situations and social changes.

As the period of wars end, be it wars within the territory of emergent nations to International and World Wars, and make way for eras of peace, the function of the Martial Arts has changed and has been redefined by the people who study or conserve it. At this period we saw the emergence of other forms of expressing combat. In Greece, Pankration was recognized and turned into a sport basically envisioning a different outcome than the purpose of killing – that is, defeating the opponent without necessarily killing. The integration is revolutionary because here we can see that the civilians can now have a hand in field that was only limited to the military. This is not only in Greece but also in other parts of the world where the evolution of society is clearly manifest especially in China, India, Egypt, Japan etc. When the demarcation between civilian and military was created, with it, it also begun the redefinitions and re-envisioning of the meanings and modes of Martial Arts expressions.

Today, Martial Arts can be seen and felt in so many ways and in a way it helped shape culture, identity and society. The modes of expressing the Martial Arts can be seen as a way to see the conventional types of cultural productions which it produces. I say cultural production because other than its progressive nature in dealing with fighting, it has also become a source of pride for some. Great examples of this are the Hongkong Kung Fu Boom in which the Legend, Bruce Lee, was very instrumental. Another is the Japanese Martial Arts propagation after the Pacific War and also the globalization of Filipino Martial Arts today as it is (although thinly) popularized in Hollywood.

The most common Modes of Martial Arts Expression are Military Tactics, Civilian Self-defense, Martial Sports and I shall add; Performance Martial Arts. We can have an assumption that categorizing Martial Arts in such a way can be an object of History since, through this order we can see the evolution of society and by extension, the redefinition of the functions of Martial Arts, but this needs to be further argued. All assumptions hereby are approximations. What and how then do we describe these Modes?

A. Military Tactics is the Martial Arts used by Military Personnel and the Authorities. This kind of Martial Arts derive from both ancient and modern methods. Throughout history, this has been used at its height during war time or national or international crises where killing is for the most part, an everyday staple. Its primary function is for our authorities to have training in hand-to-hand combat so that they can subdue or even kill an enemy. Usually, the skill set that one learns in Military Tactics does not only employ skills in combat but with it the personnel must also consider many aspects which requires of him for his job, or his mission. Military Tactics as thought to the personnel can vary in kind for they are taught to consider who they are dealing with. If it is a civilian, they should consider the right to life of their constituents whereas if it is an enemy which the government has declared for liquidation, the personnel should also have the necessary skills to deliver. The license to kill aspect can be the deadliest characteristic of this mode.

B. Civilian Self-defense spawned from Military Tactics as wars have receded. However, Civilian Self-defense have also emerged from areas under colonization, wherein the colonized must seek ways to defend against colonial masters who ban the practice of a lot of indigenous martial arts. Great examples of these are Capoeira, Eskrima and Karate. Most of these arts were indigenous systems of fighting which were stripped of their power when colonizers came adding challenge to the continued practice and propagation of indigenous knowledge. Whereby pushing the practitioners of these systems to modify the practice and the techniques so that the more powerful colonizers would not chop their heads off. These modifications have influenced the way these arts are practiced today. Mostly, the techniques are more subdued in a surface level of interpretation (refer to, incorrect or inappropriate interpretations of Karate Kata, Capoeira as dance and the replacing of the blade with a stick in Eskrima) but hides a more gory truth. Besides, as Civilian Self-defense, the art should take life away in the quickest way possible, that is, if we are talking about thugs and thieves threatening our loved ones. However, in the modern times where peace is in a way felt by everybody, many of these knowledge have been lost due to the necessities of society which lead to discarding many practices or branding some practices obsolete, some because masters have felt a need to keep the knowledge to them only even until death. The characteristic of this mode may well be that it may give you skills to survive a street fight or a face-to-face with a mugger or even a way to defend against a number of attackers without necessarily having to kill them (or kill them anyways if they don’t give you a choice) as you know, you are a civilian. Another significant characteristic is that as the practice of these arts advanced, studying these arts have become traditions, have produced values for life and have developed their own philosophies for living.

C. Martial Sports is a mode wherein practitioners of Military Arts searched for ways to practice their art at an almost full capacity without necessarily taking the lights off each other. In times of peace, the practitioners of Civilian Self-Defense and Military Arts have multiplied and the era isn’t quite the time where they can reap the fruits of their labor. So they devised ways so that equally skilled practitioners can surpass their limits with each other. This kind of mentality has spawned both a healthy culture of sportsmanship, camaraderie, and honor and also a culture of inconvenient promotions and frauds, unhealthy mass production and competition wherein each Martial Arts are itching to let everybody know they’re the boss. Martial Sports have created an entirely new system of culture and meaning for Martial Arts, creating icons and promoting products. Although most of the values inherited by Martial Sports come from the philosophies of Civilian-Self Defense and Military tactics, Martial Sports are most volatile of the modes wherein in it easily influence and is also easily influenced by the changes of society thereby modifying the understanding of necessary values. Such can be that instead of learning for self-improvement and develop life, some students, as encouraged by their instructors, just practice so that they could beat each other, or earn the gold no matter what. This is not to undermine the beauty of Martial Sport. In fact, Martial Sport is also the venue where competing Civilian Self Defense and Military Systems of combat can test their skill. But this is the characteristic of Martial Sport which hints for the necessity of improvement. Sometimes, it is necessary that values be maintained even when pressured by popular social changes.

D. Performance Martial Arts is the catalyst for popularization and even the recognition of cultural producers in the field of Martial Arts. This type of Art delves more into the ‘Art’ side rather than the ‘Martial’-win-or-lose side of the Marital Arts. However, this does not mean that Performance Martial Arts is just a joke. Bruce Lee was no joke. He communicated a message which is felt until now with the Martial arts as his medium. That was not all, he was not there to be good performer. First of his priorities was to be a great Martial Artist, and good performance shall follow. But with his art he did not only led win against himself and his adversaries in real life or in the movie, he led a cultural revolution. If we could just imagine how the moves of Martial Arts practitioners so captivated the West that with it, it brought about a mass production of goods and services for the consumption (from movies to video games to impostor instructors) of the amazed world. It didn’t only put Bruce Lee-the man in the pedestal, but with him, he brought China, and the whole of the Orient. As a Filipino Martial Artist, I can even say that I knew Chinese Martial Arts first before FMA almost because of him. And to think, he remotely influenced the influx of FMA in the USA. But anyway, here in this section it is not out of the way if we relate art, or humanities with it. Art the genius of a culture, is a system of knowledge or processes of expression and creation which is governed by meanings, tradition and etc. Together with the practice of art is the study of history and tradition. The artificiality and the spectacle of art is manifest in the systematized performance of movements in fighting that which makes Martial Arts mystical and functional enough to convey messages. Messages imbued with tradition, with identity, with story which captivate the human soul and influence the inner being. This type of mode is one of the most widely influential modes because of the availability of access, by access I mean that anybody can watch a show of fighting but not everybody has the courage or interest of studying Martial Arts.

This is not a full catalog of the modes of Martial Arts. In fact, I would like to tell our dear readers that if you are more of a nerdy type of Martial Artist than a ‘movy’ type of Martial Artist, thou wilt not cry anymore for in the field of Academics the term ‘Martial Arts Studies’ is slowly emerging. I have just encountered this term last 2016 and they have already created a network of academics since the 2000’s.

Reflecting upon these modes, it is necessary to understand that, in learning the Martial Arts we do not only take in every move that is thought to us. Take time to reflect and ask why the move is so, especially if your teacher is not the ‘nerdy’ who explains rather than the ‘movy’ who will just punch you in the face and expect you to memorize the move against that attack. The moves in which we practice did not come from a vacuum. It had a history, and, even a single tweak in the movement, if you know your history and anatomy, can produce miracles. The modes of martial arts sprang because of the necessities of the times and of their creators. More importantly, by dissecting our understanding of the Martial Arts and its modes it will help us to reflect back on the philosophies regarding their purpose. What does it teach us that we can apply to daily life? For sure we do not face an a nodachi-wielding-ronin-adversary everyday especially that most of us practitioners live in a time where the need for Martial Arts is arguably questionable. So, what does the art teach us? What can the successful thousand round house kicks I did teach me when I am struggling with my term papers as a college student? How can my breathing exercise help me in dealing with my irate boss? Shall I punch him between his front teeth or walk away and look for the sound of silence? How should I behave if, as a Sportsman, I became a gold-medalist? Shall I see this as testament of my power and a message to everybody to bow down before me or must I view it as a new challenge ticket for greater opponents which await me? If I practice my Martial Arts, where did it come from? What does the Martial Art tell me of who I am, my identity, my culture, my history? How can it realize my future, for myself or for my country? These questions are in some way tied to our knowledge that the Marital Arts isn’t just for the one purpose of killing, and that there are modes which tell a different side to the story, but essentially are equally important.

© K.A.L.Cinco, Tacloban City