Early STUDY of VIETNAMESE MARTIAL ARTS – Section 1

Hits: 642

HUNG NGUYEN MANH

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1.  History left us memories and we stored them in our minds rather than in recording materials like books. Human mind is so distracting that memories easily fade away. History is the past and the past is easy to die or fade away. To restore the past, historians, culturalists, archaeologists, and experts of folk literature only depended on archaeological sites, tombs, and stone steles. They are evidences not yet erased by the dust of time.

       Experts of martial arts did not have the habit of taking notes on stone steles, woods, bamboos, or paper as literature experts did. Experts of martial arts had a habit of speaking or using songs to transfer information, using gestures and movements to express their ideas. These spoken words, songs, gestures, movements, behaviors, …, are just like a breeze, drifting into the past and disappearing.

1.2  When restoring the study of martial arts history, historians kept silent because they could not gather the above-mentioned resources as a basis for research and theory. Images, movements, and lyrics in medieval history could not been recorded like in this time of modern science. Sounds and pictures are indispensable evidences in the process of restoring the study of martial arts history. Fortunately, in 1908-1909, there was a Henri Oger, a pioneer of technique study, graduated from Sorbonne University, Paris. With the reference from Albert Sarraut, he went to Hanoi to implement the research on “Kỹ thuật của người An Nam” (Techniques of An Nam’s people), using special monographic research methods. Since then, he sketched many social lives of Vietnam, normal life, physical life, mental life, spiritual life, …, to create a collection of 4,577 pictures with Han Nom (Chinese characters and classic Vietnamese characters) and French annotations.

        Among them are many drawings of martial arts which we can use as materials to restore the study of martial arts¹ (Figure 1).

        Nowadays, what can we do to find a place for martial arts in modern society?!

2. FINDING A PLACE FOR MARTIAL ARTS

2.1.  It is not convincing enough to put the study of martial arts together with the social sciences and humanities as an adjacent branch of literature. Therefore, a curriculum for bachelors major in martial arts is not worth considering in higher education.

2.2. However, if putting study of martial arts together with physical education and identifying with sports, then we underestimate its role. However, with this place, study of martial arts has a refuge to survive in the present time. Martial arts is not just antagonism, competition, fighting on the rings, in stadiums, sports centre, or on the beach (such as boxing, football, beach volleyball, …). Also, martial arts is not merely physical exercises like running, swimming, athletics,… Although today, the Olympics organizers have put martial arts into the competition list (Pencak Silat, Vovinam, Judo, Taekwondo, traditional martial arts, …).

2.3. Can martial arts study be considered to be in the entertainment industry or not? Boxers can act as a hermit, knight, or an artist on stage for theaters, acting in classical theaters to turn into martial arts experts. Should martial arts be treated like that?

2.4.  Should study of martial arts be treated as military study? Obviously, it has teams, organizations, leaders, and especially military manuals by Ton Vo Tu (China) and Tran Hung Dao (Vietnam).

2.5.  If not, then study of martial arts should be seen as a study of weapons!² (Figure 2)

2.6.  Study of martial arts³ (Figure 3.4) is considered as a branch of political science because political science clearly does not need tricks and theories but martial arts to seize power. During the Spring and Autumn Period of China, Roman Empire, period of the General Army (Japan), Edo period, Vietminh of Vietnam (using sharp bamboos), martial arts intervened in the organization, secret societies, …, from the medieval period to modern age.

… continue in Part 2 …

SEE MORE:
◊  Early STUDY of VIETNAMESE MARTIAL ARTS – Section 2

BAN TU THU
11 /2019