History of Fragmentation and Reunification
In "Shaolin Long Fist Kung Fu," by Yang Jwing-Ming, there is a section that gives a brief historical account of Shaolin Kung Fu, and Kung Fu in general. There is a pattern in the history of the art where, basically, because of the effects of war and politics, the art was created/perfected, then fragmented, then recreated/reperfected, then unified, and so on.
The book contends that many of the diverse styles of Kung Fu are actually the reperfections of old Shaolin Kung Fu, where different practitioners, who had different specialties in the complete Shaolin system, would escape persecution or war by going into hiding, then perfect and teach their "specialized" understanding of the Shaolin system, basically splintering the system into different subsystems that would later become their own styles, such as Tai Chi, Tan Twe, Changquan, and Pa Gua. Later on these arts would be reunified (prior to WWII) then splintered again, then reunified again.
Similar history can be seen in systems like Hwarangdo in Korea and Aiki Daito Ryu Jujutsu, which were splintered into Taekwondo/Hapkido and Aikido/Jujutsu respectively. Also the fact that Chinese Martial Arts were taken to Japan and eventually became Karate, which itself has many variations, is also part of this effect.
I wonder if this history is beneficial or detrimental to the preservation of the art. Many times when the fragmentation happens, it seems things can be lost. But when one art becomes two, the specialties of each side can perhaps be perfected further, which, when recombined, would lead to an improved art. This seems to be the case with the history of Ba ji Quan and Pi Gua Zhang which share a common history but are now separate arts, which, when combined, create a complimentary and powerful system.
More than anything, it seems that the moments in history when the arts and their practitioners are persecuted are the most detrimental. Who knows what knowledge was lost? Be that as it may, we can't tell what the martial arts would be today had such events never taken place?
Mixed Martial Arts is a modern phenomena which reflects this too. Mixed Martial Arts takes arts at an international level, combining western boxing and wrestling with jujutsu, karate, and muay thai techniques. Interestingly, MMA has filtered out a lot from the arts it takes from, keeping mostly what is best proven within the competitive context of MMA, though it cannot go unsaid that many MMA schools do teach techniques that are considered "self-defense only" because of their ability to quickly cause lasting and immediate injury. In all though, the rise of Mixed Martial Arts does demonstrate an example of how the techniques of various specialized arts can be combined into a single more effective/well-rounded system. In this way, MMA is a modern example of a pattern that has pervaded throughout martial arts history.
One can hardly expect that the cycle will stop, although it is a lot easier to preserve knowledge nowadays. Hopefully, the future of Martial Arts has something even more exciting in store...
Similar history can be seen in systems like Hwarangdo in Korea and Aiki Daito Ryu Jujutsu, which were splintered into Taekwondo/Hapkido and Aikido/Jujutsu respectively. Also the fact that Chinese Martial Arts were taken to Japan and eventually became Karate, which itself has many variations, is also part of this effect.
I wonder if this history is beneficial or detrimental to the preservation of the art. Many times when the fragmentation happens, it seems things can be lost. But when one art becomes two, the specialties of each side can perhaps be perfected further, which, when recombined, would lead to an improved art. This seems to be the case with the history of Ba ji Quan and Pi Gua Zhang which share a common history but are now separate arts, which, when combined, create a complimentary and powerful system.
More than anything, it seems that the moments in history when the arts and their practitioners are persecuted are the most detrimental. Who knows what knowledge was lost? Be that as it may, we can't tell what the martial arts would be today had such events never taken place?
Mixed Martial Arts is a modern phenomena which reflects this too. Mixed Martial Arts takes arts at an international level, combining western boxing and wrestling with jujutsu, karate, and muay thai techniques. Interestingly, MMA has filtered out a lot from the arts it takes from, keeping mostly what is best proven within the competitive context of MMA, though it cannot go unsaid that many MMA schools do teach techniques that are considered "self-defense only" because of their ability to quickly cause lasting and immediate injury. In all though, the rise of Mixed Martial Arts does demonstrate an example of how the techniques of various specialized arts can be combined into a single more effective/well-rounded system. In this way, MMA is a modern example of a pattern that has pervaded throughout martial arts history.
One can hardly expect that the cycle will stop, although it is a lot easier to preserve knowledge nowadays. Hopefully, the future of Martial Arts has something even more exciting in store...
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