European Journal for Sport and Society 2006, 3 (1), 55-61

The institutionalization of martial arts

Wojciech J. Cynarski
University of Rzeszw, Poland
Abstract: This paper discusses the basic symptoms and aspects of the institutionalization process of the Far Eastern martial arts. These aspects are: the acceptance of sports regulations and the foundation of new sports organizations; the establishment of legal regulations; the internalization of Far Eastern martial arts; the creation of specific social roles and the process of socialization through Far Eastern martial arts; the institution of student and master degrees; the training of instructors and the teaching of Far Eastern martial arts; organizational development. Western teaching methods and forms of promotion overlap with traditional Eastern forms of teaching and verification of degrees and titles of the system passed on by tradition. Keywords: martial arts, institutionalization, organizational development.

The sociology of Far Eastern martial arts must be associated with a general theory of martial arts using a socio-cultural perspective, and being one of its branches, with the sociology of physical culture (Krawczyk, 1995). The sociology of Far Eastern martial arts should also take into account the borderland sociology which was described by Thomas Parsons (1971) as the theory of the highest level. This involves a perspective from the point at which sociology, anthropology and psychology meet and which draws upon a heritage of various (European and American) trends in sociology (Cynarski & Obodyski, 2003). In the functional dimension of Far Eastern martial arts, different processes connected with their institutionalization can be distinguished, including the broader issue of the way in which institutionalization manifests itself in a system of physical education in society in a single country, in Europe and worldwide. Issues of this kind need to consider cultural, recreational and health values of the systems of the individual martial arts. An additional consideration is the extent of the phenomenon worldwide as well as the range of participation and the direction of trends. Furthermore, the continuum joining the world of sport and that of martial arts as well as the processes of commercialization and the transformation of classic martial arts into combat sports are phenomena needing to be taken into account. Japanese researchers in particular have analysed the issue of changes in the martial arts which have been taking place as a result of general socio-cultural changes (Inoue, 1992; Chiba, Ebihara & Morino, 2001). Institutionalization may be generally understood as an accepted and established manner of behaving in a particular case. In the case of the martial arts, one can list at least the following symptoms or aspects of institutionalization:

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the acceptance of sports regulations and the foundation of new sports organizations; the establishment of legal regulations; the internalization of Far Eastern martial arts; the creation of specific social roles and socialization through Far Eastern martial arts; organizational development; the introduction of student and master degrees; the training of instructors and the teaching of Far Eastern martial arts; new forms of martial arts. With regard to the first aspect referred to above, i.e. the acceptance of regulations and the foundation of organizations, it is important to point out that some organizations have benefited significantly from association with the Olympic Games: The recent 50 years of the International Judo Federation have been a period of great development and expansion of judo as a sport known worldwide. Beginning modestly in 1951, the IJF grew to 186 members all the countries concerned being concentrated in five continental Olympic committees (Bach, Cynarski & Litwiniuk, 2004a). In this period, judo has undergone great development and made huge progress that is reflected in the immense growth of its popularity. However, this was achieved at the expense of judos moral dimension as a martial art, a process that is discussed in detail by Villamon, Brown, Espartero and Gutierrez (2004). Of course, organizations which choose not to cultivate a high profile for their sport can fail or risk seeing their sport remaining a minority interest (cf. Cynarski, 2000b; Sieber & Cynarski, 2003). Therefore, several of the classic martial arts have opted for a competitive dimension as a means of improving their chances of survival and the prospect of commercial success. Regulations of combat sports have been evolving in the direction of greater alignment with the requirements of enhanced public appeal: they must be safe for the participants, comprehensible to the audience, and appropriate for broadcasting. Penalties awarded for a lack of aggression are intended to force the participants to show fighting spirit and to make the fight more dynamic and thus more spectacular (Obodyski, 2001; Bach, Cynarski & Litwiniuk 2004b). Popularizers of the martial arts have discussed the regulatory aspects only peripherally: for instance Kondratowicz (in his series of articles published in onierz Polski) and Czerwenka-Wenkstetten (1993, 133-136). The issue has been treated in more detail by lawyers (Stiebler, 1979, 257-274; Niewczas, Czarny & Rusin, 2001). Stiebler was the first to discuss the legal issues associated with practising kobudo (owning traditional weapons, training with side-arms). Other authors, however, have concentrated on the issues of self-defence in general in the context of legal liability (necessary defence, commensurability of defence with the degree of danger etc.). The American Journal of Asian Martial Arts has published a work by Nunberg entitled Civil and criminal liability: the martial artists potential (Nunberg, 2001;

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2002). According to the author, decisive restraint of aggressive behaviours in a dojo and in the streets is, in the case of martial artists, an ethical code of the martial arts that is inculcated into students by their instructors. Therefore, the additional problem here is the internalization of values of Far Eastern martial arts. The topic of research conducted in Central Europe is the maintenance of ethical rules and pure amateurship in of martial arts circles. In this context, a newly evolved model of physical culture ascetic or neo-ascetic has been described (Cynarski, 2001; Obodyski & Cynarski, 2003). The internalization of the rules of axionormative martial arts systems is also an important aspect of cultural exchange and adjustment in the process of globalization (Cynarski, 2003). As results of research conducted by the author show, a great number of instructors of Far Eastern martial arts obey ethical rules that are present in the codes of the various schools of martial arts. Institutionalization is also evident in the creation of a system of social and professional roles in the martial arts. The professions of instructor and businessman, both operating in the market of martial arts, are each connected with the professionalization of the martial arts. People with martial arts function, depending on talent and type of personality, occupy various professional and social roles. Some are outstanding technicians, e.g. the prematurely deceased Bruce Lee (1940-1973). Some instructors become highly respected teachers, while others in the context of martial arts becoming sports become trainers and activists. A social role results from the expectations of a group towards a particular person, and it is also the product of their idea of the role in question and the sum of their objective social conditions (life situation) as well as their personal predispositions. Models of the senpai roles the elders in a dojo (place of way) group and the sensei (teacher) are partly characterized by tradition, partially by memory of ones own experience of a particular person. Thus, socialization through Far Eastern martial arts is teaching of its action in a particular role from a student to a master. Institutionalization also relates to the organizational development of martial arts societies (Cynarski, 2000a; 2004). This process can be seen at three levels: 1) in an organizational structure imposed by authorities (ordering); 2) in a growth of the number of organizations operating in this field (quantity, though, does not always mean quality); 3) in respect for organizations. Traditionalists base their approach on the authority of Asian masters and tradition. Other representatives of the martial arts, however, are guided more by the local rules and the authority of local societies and associations, as is frequently seen, for example, in Poland and Germany. (This has the dubious benefit of making it easier to gain higher master degrees.) Aiming to have representatives in the important international federations and to obtain money from their respective ministry of sport, leaders of particular martial arts have been racing against each other to register their associations. From among a large number of German organizations of martial arts, the German Association of Dan Holders and Budo Teachers (DDBV e.V.), which is well known for the high standard of its technical criteria and rigorous application of its rules, recognizes only about a dozen.

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National, continental and world organizations control the further development of the martial arts to a certain extent especially the varieties which became sports and have applied to gain Olympic recognition. Other martial arts often remain in the hands of private schools run by descendants of ancient Chinese, Japanese or Korean masters. A number of new eclectic styles of fight have appeared, created for the sake of somebodys personal ambitions or greed. Cooperation between clubs, associations and particular instructors depends fundamentally on the whim of those running them. The institution of student and master degrees, as a measure of the level of education, has been borrowed from Japanese martial arts to be used for various Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or twentieth-century American and European martial arts. It means awarding technically-determined degrees by way of examinations and conferring honorary degrees as well as master titles. In the martial arts, the way to the highest technical degree is most frequently divided into two stages: 6-10 kyu and 3-7 dan. They are student and master degrees, but in some schools students take exams to obtain dan degrees directly. At a higher level, honorary degrees and titles are awarded. In these cases, all the achievements and the reputation of the martial arts teacher are considered: teaching achievements, education, promotion of students to master degrees, active popularization (publications), prestige of the school, impeccable morality and respect in the community of martial arts. The awarding of honorary degrees, especially the highest ones, is practiced differently in various countries. In Japan, there are few jujutsu hanshi with 9 dan, and there is probably no 10 dan master at the moment. On the other hand, in Germany alone there are at least about a dozen holders of the highest degrees. What does this result from? Is it not a symptom of the devaluation of honorary master degrees? On the one hand, jujutsu is not very popular in Japan at the moment. On the other hand, it is very hard to obtain the highest master degrees there. Therefore, they are more often awarded and accepted in Europe and the USA. Here, honourable master assemblies are replaced by national and international federations. The same applies to the highest master titles. Sometimes, a European grand master is only an outstanding technician. The really outstanding experts who have been involved in the development of jujutsu in Europe over the past hundred years have been few. The training of instructors is a separate topic. Traditionally, it has taken place in direct contact between the master and his student, and in private schools. Now, the training of instructors and the awarding of appropriate licences, distinctions and honorary titles, degrading in justified cases, recognition of status and conformity with regulations are in most cases in the hands of sports authorities. Of course, national and international licences and entitlements can demonstrate the institutional advancement of particular martial arts. So the training of instructors, trainers and judges and supplementary education are an important goal for these associations. The teaching of martial arts has not yet acquired fully mature and universally standardized benchmarks (Cynarski & Obodyski, 2004). Institutions originating in the traditions of the feudal society of Japan and Confucian China mix with the modern market orientation of companies teaching the martial arts, e.g. in the USA.

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The training of teaching staff in the martial arts has a long tradition in the Far East. In Thang Long (todays Hanoi), Vietnam, as early as the eleventh century, there was an academy of the martial arts awarding the title of doctor of the knowledge of war. Studies took three to five years, and students were required to take eleven exams. In the sixteenth century, a treatise on the Vietnamese martial arts was written, and this demonstrated the already high level of systematically codified knowledge on the subject. It is also known that in feudal Japan the teaching of martial arts was very professional and wide-ranging. In the Nisshinkan Institute, for example, samurais from the Aizu clan were required to study Chinese classics, religion and national literature, calligraphy, etiquette, classical music, mathematics, medicine and astronomy as well as military skills (archery, spear-fighting, fencing, jujutsu, the use of firearms, horseriding, swimming in armour and the art of fortification), and, optionally, tea-making, poetry, poetic improvization and hunting. The actual state of affairs is far different from what one might expect. Various institutions (including private ones) award doctorates of martial arts to practising experts. Many American non-accredited universities award academic degrees in the martial arts, e.g. the Martial Science University in Los Angeles, the Israeli International Budo Academy (IBA), the British International Budo Association and other institutions taking advantage of global Internet possibilities. What is interesting is the fact that the American Society of Martial Arts recognizes the degrees awarded by these schools, and holders of the degrees pride themselves on having obtained them. In general, as is shown by an analysis of offers, doctorates in the martial arts can be obtained for US$ 540-3000. Sometimes, fee-paying membership is required by a particular organization. Requirements of other kind especially the content-related ones are very diverse. It has been possible for a long time to buy a certificate confirming the right to wear a black belt and claim master degrees (business-type frauds are known in the international community of the martial arts), and now it is quite easy to get the right letters after ones name (Cynarski & Obodyski 2004). Other forms of action accepted in the field of martial arts are especially traditional exhibitions, tournaments, training camps, training or master fieldwork trips abroad, integrative events of sayonara party type etc. In general, the development of institutionalization is conducive to regulation in the field of social and cultural functioning of the martial arts, particularly when these have been imported by foreign cultures. It would be undoubtedly helpful and valuable to establish commissions of scientific research in sports associations and federations of martial arts, which would facilitate an approximation of sciences of physical culture, the interdisciplinary theory of martial arts (including sociology of martial arts) and dojo training. The martial arts movement has been developing quite spontaneously. Teaching and forms of promotion originating in the spirit of organization of the Western world overlap with traditional forms of teaching and approval of degrees and titles of the

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system passed on by tradition. Private companies and schools award degrees, including the scientific ones. However, some initiatives seem to be interesting e.g. introductory study majors in the field of martial arts.

References
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Obodyski, K. (2001). Specyfika jjutsu i jd. [Specificity of jujutsu and judo]. Scientific Years Issue Id Ruch dla Kultury/Movement for Culture (IRK-MC), 2, 46-51. Obodyski, K. & Cynarski, W. J. (2003). The Ascetic Pattern of the Body Culture in the Japanese Ways of Non-Aggression. In J. Kosiewicz & K. Obodyski (Eds.), Sport in the Mirror of the Values (131-141). Rzeszw: PTNKF. Parsons, T. (1971). The System of Modern Societies. Englewood Cliffs. Sieber, L. & Cynarski, W. J. (2003). Mistrzowie mistrzw z federacji WJJC. [Masters of masters from the WJJC federation]. In W. J. Cynarski & K. Obodyski (Eds.), Humanistyczna teoria sztuk i sportw walki koncepcje i problemy. [Humanistic theory of Far Eastern martial arts and combat sports conceptions and problems] (59-65). Rzeszw: Edn. UR. Stiebler, G. (1979). Okinawa Kobudo Serie. Geschichte Waffen Trainingslehre. Herford. Villamn, M., Brown, D., Espartero, J. & Gutirrez, C. (2004). Reflexive Modernization and the Disembedding of Jd from 1946 to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2, 139-156. Wojciech Jan Cynarski is a Professor at the University of Rzeszw. He is Head of the Department of Combat Sports and Individual Sports, and Chair of Sport in the Faculty of Physical Education, University of Rzeszw. He is a doctor habilitated of physical culture sciences and sociologist of culture and sport. His areas of research and teaching are: the sociology of tourism and recreation; globalization and dialogues of cultures; the theory of martial arts; the oriental philosophy of sport (contact: ela_cyn@poczta.wp.pl).