Languages and Cultures

If you're like me, your path in the martial arts will eventually lead to study of the source language and culture. Whether you stick to one art, or engage in multiple others, your path is incomplete until you understand the cultural/linguistic cauldron which forged what you now practice a world away from where it was born. This applies to virtually every style. Isshinryu can be traced first to Okinawa, and then further to respective villages within Okinawa. In China, forms take the names of families, or of villages...providing eternal clues to their source. The techniques within styles tell stories of their own, establishing a historical lineage, by resemblance, leading from one to the next (witness Ai Ki Do and Hap Ki Do), from one teacher to another, from one region to a second, back to a prehistorical source. Modern students, limited by the faster pace of life, and multiple time constraints, frequently take a "cafeteria" approach to their studies. When they want particular skills, they shop until they find them, when they see something else, they go there. Even traditional schools, find it hard resisting the temptation to be everything to everybody. If you're in a martial art for the long haul, you'll need to invest time, energy and resources into learning "where it came from." Only then will you know "where it is going" and, if you are a teacher, "where you are taking it."

The links below will lead you to remote and interesting places. I have spent hours exploring some of the paths, and continue to make new and exciting discoveries. If you wish to live or visit abroad, these sites will tell you all you need, and give you a decent primer on the culture, points of contact and interest, and language. Some languages can even be studied online.

Enjoy...try not to get lost!
 

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Chinese Language  & Culture
Japanese Language  & Culture
Korean Language  & Culture
All the Rest
Study Links
Universal References