9 February 2012, 7:15 pm
I am looking for reputable, credible, legitimate, and ultimately correct literature on Japanese martial arts. To know what to recommend it's necessary to know what it's for. I will be testing for my shodan in a few months (I practice Shotokan Karate-do). Part of my test is a ten page thesis relating to the art. It can be anything I choose so long as it's relevant. My planned topic is the historical intermingling of karate, in general, between other Japanese and Chinese martial arts (including the relating 'philosophical' systems) has formed karate into what it is today, with, hopefully, special focus on Bushido and the martial arts of the samurai, as a direct connection is more prevelant. I plan look at archaeological, in a broader historical sense and not things dug out of the ground, evidence and examine how other martial arts shaped karate into what it is today, as both a system for combat and more importantly as a "Do", an art, a discipline, and a way. So any literature or resources on relevant martial arts (primarily Japanese) and the related philosophical/ religious systems (i.e. Bushido, Zen, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.) would be highly appreciated. I know how to right a thesis. I'm an International Baccalaureate student who has had these thing pounded into my head. Proper academics is not foreign to me whatsoever, not to be . Part of my thesis is to take archaeological evidence (such as similarities) and attempt to prove certain interminglings. And to say that Japanese martial arts and the related philosophical systems (the more important part) had no influence on karate is idiotic and fallacious, a point of my planned thesis. As a practitioner of Shotokan, Funakoshi literature is something I'm familiar with and was the first thing I turned to. I have many of his works and plan to use them as the base for the karate side of my thesis. I should have cleared that up before hand. I do, however, appreciate any ideas of study. Ah, funny, you recognized a grammatical error, sorry I'm currently juggling a dozen things right now and committed an honest mistake. But congratulations you know about homonyms. I understand it doesn't begin with him. He did however begin to record what was oral tradition. You obviously don't know the meaning of citations.Citing is the acknowledgment of the sources used, which I assure you will be correct. Even if a thesis isn't 'correct' it doesn't matter. A thesis is the presenting of evidence to attempt to prove a point. The quality of a thesis is about how an argument is presented and defended. Once again, formal writing, academic endeavors, and the formation of historical claims based on evidence is nothing new to me. Once again, I'm looking at archaeological evidence of the different arts and building an argument to shows the connections and exchange of ideas. Even if I'm wrong, so what? All historical fact is formed in this fashion. Evidence (Cont'd from above) Evidence is used to draw conclusions. Conclusions are defended, refuted, and improved upon until we get as close to the truth as we can. Historical knowledge is formed in this fashion. Please, if you have nothing beneficial to offer then leave. It's pointless. I understand the difficulty in dealing in absolutes. I in no way plan for this to be "absolute". It's the nature of all historical claims, and this is a historical thesis. We can never truly know historical fact, at least not most of it. We can only get as close to the truth as what evidence we do have allows us to. I understand what you mean. I would, however, prefer not to turn this into an epistemological debate. Please, keep the suggestions coming. I would also like any primary sources that come to mind.... Read More »
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