Polish photographer Tomasz Gudzowaty has a photoessay of Shaolin Temple monks meditating and practicing kung fu.

Hat tip to Visual News via Vanderleun.

When one of those pie-throwing commies went after Rupert Murdoch during Parliamentiary hearings on the News of the World phone hacking scandal, his much-younger Chinese wife, Wendi Deng, sprang to the octogenarian’s defense, delivering an excellent palm strike to the face of the attacker. Approving comments and general applause followed from all corners.

Wendi Deng, it turns out, studied at the Yale School of Organization and Management, presumably after leaving the Shaolin Temple.

Eric Sofge explains that Hollywood has eliminated karate from the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid (1984).

[T]he new movie has nothing at all to do with karate: It’s set in Beijing and centers on the character-building (and bully-slapping) benefits of kung fu. The new version of Miyagi, a handyman by the name of Han played by Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan, teaches young Dre (Jaden Smith) the flowing strikes and quasi-spiritual mindset of a martial art first developed in China’s Henan province, at the legendary Shaolin temple. Forget “wax on, wax off,” and karate’s emphasis on no-nonsense kicks and punches; the new kid learns about channeling and projecting your Chi, and the more varied lessons of “jacket on, jacket off … pick up jacket, drop jacket.” In fact, karate is so irrelevant to the story that the movie will reportedly be marketed as The Kung Fu Kid in non-U.S. markets.

Karate’s relevance to American audiences seems to have declined along with the martial art’s popularity in the United States.

Karate’s decline since then was the result of increased competition in the marketplace. ...[A] flood of immigration from South Korea throughout the 1980s brought on a proliferation of Tae Kwon Do schools, which began to squeeze the karate dojos out of business. The Korean style seemed better suited to American consumers, who craved clear rewards and the opportunity for quick advancement. Tae Kwon Do offered more belts than karate, and the top ranking could be attained in as little as half the time. “It’s not that it’s better or cheaper. ... Americans just like the idea of being a black belt.”

Claude, a then six-year-old Asiatic Black Bear (Ursus thibetanus) demonstrates his mastery of the katas of the Bo at the Asa Zoological Park in Hiroshima, Japan in 2008.

3:21 video

Hat tip to Karen L. Myers.

Barack Obama received a lectureship in Law at the University of Chicago without ever publishing any legal articles or monographs. He won election to the Illinois State Senate (in a solid democrat district) without opposition by disqualifying his primary opponents. He won a seat in the United States Senate effectively unopposed (Alan Keyes ran a token candidacy) because the real Republican candidate withdrew after a democrat judge disgraced and humiliated him by releasing his scandal-fodder divorce papers. Then, Obama was elected President of the United States, having done nothing as a Senator except run for president, with a record completely void of meaningful political accomplishment of any kind. He recently followed up all that by being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for absolutely nothing.

On his current trip to Asia, Obama managed to add yet another meritless achievement to his already lengthy list. President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea, who himself is a practioner of Tae Kwon Do (the Korean version of Karate, noted for lots of kicking) presented Obama with a black belt. Needless to say, the new TKD black belt has never practiced, never tested, never so much as thrown a kick.

Obama could easily identify with the Duke of Wellington who, when asked which of his numerous honors and titles he most esteemed, identified the Order of the Garter because it had “none of this damned nonsense about merit in it.”

LA Times

6:39 video

Hat tip to Right Wing News.

Isao Machii, master of, what I think must be, the Suiōshinryū (“New Water-Gull School”—commonly “Syuushinryuu” on the Net) Iaido, appears on one of those preposterous Japanese television programs where he performs almost unbelievable cutting feats.

9:45 video

The appearance of the short version of this video on YouTube earlier this year attracted many hits.

The video shows a referee, identified as Isao Nakamura Fushiki, putting a decisive stop to some post-karate-match aggression on the part of the contestant in blue.

It was clearly posted with intent, being labeled “Karate Master attacks 17-year-old,” and comments on YouTube and on martial arts sites have been overwhelmingly harshly critical of the behavior of Fushiki.

Apparently, despite the video’s recent appearance, the actual incident occurred a long time (eleven years!) ago at Autonomous University of Tamaulipas in Mexico. No explanation for the video’s sudden appearance has been found.

Isao Nakamura Fushiki is identified on the Net as a 7th (or 10th) dan Goju Ryu master (one source says Shito Ryu) who was World Kata Champion in 1970, 1971, and 1972 (one source says he was champion five times during the 1970s). One commenter in Spanish says that he served as an Imperial bodyguard for Hirohito and was known to Japanese karate fans as “the madman.”

The event was clearly not a conventional karate match, since the blue-clad contestant is wearing a kung fu outfit rather than a gi. Various commenters claim that the contestant in white was Fushiki’s pupil or even younger brother.

His takedown was certainly effective, but his third strike, the foot stomp to the head, seems generally to be thought to have been excessive.

Short version: 0:33 video

Long version: 3:15 video

A Nokia commercial.

1:16 video

Joe Hyams, novelist, screenwriter, biographer, and Hollywood columist (IMDB entry) and author of the much admired Zen in the Martial Arts passed away in Denver last Saturday at the age of 85.

Hyams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and attended Harvard. He served in the US Army during WWII, and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. After the war, he became a nationally syndicated columnist, writing on Hollywood and the film industry.

He studied the martial arts for 50 years.

Alain Burrese describes Hyams’ MA career.

Joe Hyams took up fencing lessons in the 1950’s and through those classes he met film music composer Bronislau Kaper. In 1958, Kaper introduced him to Ed Parker, who was teaching Kenpo in the weight room in Beverly Hills Health Club. Mr. Hyams became one of Ed Parker’s first private students and also one of Mr. Parker’s first black belts.

Joe Hyams was the first person to introduce Bruce Lee into the Hollywood community. He helped Bruce Lee, with whom he trained privately get a foothold in Hollywood during Bruce’s struggling years. Mr. Hyams trained with Bruce Lee for two years, and when Bruce left for Hong Kong to pursue his film career, he suggested that Joe learn from Jim Lau, who trained him in Wing Chun.

LA Times obituary

MartialArtsInfo.com obituary

President Theodore Roosevelt demonstrating some wrist holds

Samuel Hill, a prominent attorney, railroad executive, and businessman of Seattle, Washington, concerned for his son’s health, decided that judu (which he had seen performed while visiting Japan on business) would represent an ideal form of fitness training. Despite his own Harvard background, he made inquiries in New Haven seeking an instructor, and was advised to retain Yamashita Yoshiaki, who was duly hired and imported from Japan.

A demonstration was arranged of Yamashita’s judo for President Roosevelt in March 1904. TR was a devotee of boxing and a strong believer in fitness, and before long Yamashita was giving the President of the United States lessons three times a week.

This fascinating October 2000 article, from Journal of Combative Sport, was recently posted on a martial arts list I read.

Enlightenment that refreshes. 1:03 video

Japanese culture, behavior, customs, etiquette, and social expectations are very, very different from our own. Don Roley provides some useful advice for Occidentals considering studying martial arts in Japan.

When you take a Japanese martial art in Japan the first thing you need to understand is that it is not a business to the teachers. It is a relationship. In many ways it is like a marriage. But unlike a marriage- one side, the teacher, has all the power. The students defer to the teacher and follow his directions. There is no negotiations, no pick and choose of what to follow or not. The student pretty much jumps when the teacher says jump and sits when the teacher says sit. Your only choice should you not like the situation is to sever your ties and leave. Again, unlike a marriage leaving this relationship is much cheaper. Since you place so much control over yourself when you enter into this relationship, finding a teacher worthy of that trust is important.