Globalization and the Martial Arts Essay - Help!

[Tenseiga]

Hi Everyone,

Writing an Essay for my Comparative Education class. Desperately need sleep, but here's my very rough outline. Suggestions and recommended resources would be very much appreciated!

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Effectively Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge, National Identity, and Globalization in Education: A Case Study of Martial Arts in Japan

Martial Arts in Japanese Society
- The Samurai in History: The Ruling Warrior Class
- Remnants of Martial Culture in Modern Society
- How Modern Society views the Martial Arts

Martial Arts in Japanese Education
- The Budo Senmon Gakkou: Martial Arts in Imperial Japan
- The Kodokan: Scholarly Study of the Martial Arts
- Physical Education and bukatsu in Primary and Secondary Schooling
- The International Budo University

How does Martial Arts preserve indigenous knowledge?
- The ryu-ha and koryu bujutsu: Classical Warrior Education
- Shinto and Buddhist practices in the Martial Arts

How is Martial Arts used in a curriculum to transmit citizenship education in Japan (National Identity)?
- History and symbolism
- Rei: etiquette

How can Martial Arts in Education prepare students for jobs in a global society?
- Global Popularity: Foreign Practitioners in Japan
- The Olympics
- The Isolated Island meets the World Face-to-Face

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[Joseph Svinth]

How many years do you have to devote to this task?

I'm not being facetious. Tom Green and I took two years to revise and rewrite Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia with the help of dozens of contributors (the 2010 book is a totally revised edition, by the way), and we did not get to all of that. The reason is that much of the groundwork still needs to be done.

So, if you need to get this done in the next 3-6 months, I'd cut way back on that very ambitious outline. Pick one of the bullet points, and let that expand your horizons by itself.

[Tenseiga]

Hi Joseph,

You are definitely correct! I created that "outline" on the brink of passing out without realizing the monster I created! Looking at it now, I think I was just brainstorming.

I think that all I need is to explain how martial arts in Japan are related to traditional indigenous-like knowledge, the presence of it in modern society, and how it proves that traditional knowledge can be reconciled with globalization.

Thanks for the advice!

[Joseph Svinth]

Ah, but at the same time, don't forget the invention of tradition. Just because somebody calls something old doesn't mean that it wasn't created out of thin air sometime in 1973.

Also follow the money. God, gold, and glory drove conquistadors, and still drive people today.

What is the source documentation? Epiphany, for me, was realizing the way to tell if a Grandmaster was lying was to see if his lips were moving.

And, finally, think Existentialism. Opening one door closes another, and after a door closes, it probably never opens (for you) again.

[pgsmith]

Sounds to me like it would be an essay about the current global dissemination of the koryu arts.

[Joseph Svinth]

As described, it probably is. Dissemination of aikido, judo, karate, kendo, kyudo, and Shorinji kempo each follow their own very different arcs.

In that regard, sumo should be interesting to watch over the next couple decades. Sumo is now part of SportAccord, which means it is going to have to have women's divisions and amateur divisions. It also needs to be in dozens of countries around the world. My guess is that letting Samoans wrestle straight up with Japanese, without the outcomes being prearranged as they are in Japanese pro sumo, will impact sumo about the same way that letting Wilt Chamberlain and other gentlemen of color play in the NBA changed pro basketball in the USA.

[pgsmith]

My guess is that letting Samoans wrestle straight up with Japanese, without the outcomes being prearranged as they are in Japanese pro sumo, will impact sumo about the same way that letting Wilt Chamberlain and other gentlemen of color play in the NBA changed pro basketball in the USA.

I think you're very correct there. My concern is that it won't get enough fan base outside of Japan to make it truly viable once they start changing it from its traditional setting.

[Joseph Svinth]

Sumo might get the traction in Eastern Europe. There are already Bulgarians and Georgians in pro sumo in Japan. Korea and PRC, too. For that matter, cut way back on all the salt throwing nonsense and put the sumotori on diets so that they don't jiggle as they walk, and well-edited sumo could play pretty well on ESPN. The trick is the editing.

[pgsmith]

Probably. May have to go with elastic fundoshi.
However, sumo is steeped in tradition. I think that if you lost a good part of the tradition to make it more appealing to the west, you may lose a large part of the Japanese audience. Would the gain outweigh the loss?

[Joseph Svinth]

Yeah, but almost all that tradition has been invented in the past 150 years. Just add money, and the Sumo Association will get a yen for it.