A Monk's Perspective

In this class, I have learned more about the history of martial arts, specifically that it started with Shaolin monks.  Even though these monks are different from me, in terms of some traditions/practices, we are similar in terms of how we live in community, and how we follow our own traditions/practices.   How we live is just as important as what we do with how we live, and martial arts is also an example of this.  

Shinobi: Heart Under Blade

SHINOBI

Real historical characters and events intertwined with anime-like entertainment, martial arts action, drama, and classic Shakespearean romance. 

A true SBP History of Martial Arts Project favorite!!!

Shaolin vs. Wu Tang

Today was a pretty amazing day. We watched the movie Shaolin vs Wu Tang. In the movie, Master Liu and Master Law are rival masters of Shaolin style kung fu and Wu-Tang style sword fighting. They had schools in the same town. Both masters had their top students, Chao Fung-wu and Hung Jun-kit, who were  actually close friends, with Jun-kit's sister, Yan-ling, having a crush on Fung-wu. After observing the two students practice fighting at a brothel, two of the local evil Lord's soldiers report the power of the styles to him. The Lord determines that the two styles are dangerous and that he must learn both.

After poisoning the Wu Tang Master Law and having the sister Yan-ling killed, the evil Lord is able to learn both Wu-Tang Sword style and Shaolin Chin Kang fist from his sister, who is a planted spy disguised as a crazy woman imprisoned with Fung-wu.

Fung-wu and Jun-kit both return to their respective Wu Tang and Shaolin temples for training as a priest and a monk. Jun-kit hopes to revenge the death of his sister, and Fung-wu wants to revenge the death of his master.

The evil Lord has since learned both the styles,but, because he did not learn either from a master, his hold on both styles is imperfect. To overcome this deficiency, he decides to have the Wu-Tang and the Shaolin destroy each other, so he may be the only master of both styles. To do this, he stages a martial arts contest between the two temples, hoping to further the traditional rivalry between the Shaolin and the Wu-Tang. Jun-kit , and Fung-wu , are selected by their respective temples as the representatives. The evil Lord, in his impatience to see both Wu-Tang and Shaolin destroyed admits his true motives and his role in Yan-ling and Master Law's deaths. Tat-chi and Ming-kai then combine Shaolin Chin Kang fist and Wu-Tang Sword style to defeat the evil Lord.

Shaolin Wheel of Life and Sidelicks

Today was a great day! We got to watch two movies, The Shaolin Wheel of Life and the movie Sidekicks. The Shaolin monks movie was really a nice film. Based on the travelling play, the monks performed many different and great techniques, based on their history that happened years ago. The Shaolin monks really did great performances.

Sidekicks was about a weak, daydreaming kid, Barry, who had fantasies of meeting martial arts legend Chuck Norris and going on different adventures with him to many countries. The kids at school picked on Barry and made fun of him since he was a weakling and wasn't doing any activities due to the asthma that he had.

His life would change when his school teacher got her uncle, a martial arts master, to start training him. Barry got to be strong both physically and mentally. He stood up to bullies and actually teamed up with Chuck Norris and won a karate tournament!

Shaolin vs. Wu Tang

 Shaolin vs. Wu Tang

Today we watched a movie that was similar to the one yesterday, but it was more about Shaolin Temple against Wu Tang Temple. The evil Manchu lord wanted to learn the two styles then destroy Shaolin and Wu Tang.


In the beginning, we see a Wu Tang master being invited to the palace by the evil lord and while there he was poisoned and then killed by his own sword. The lord did this so that they could get the Wu Tang sword manual. After killing the master they took his prized student as captive. He was going to be imprisoned until he revealed the WuTang secrets to the Manchu.

Despite the already existing animosity and group rivalry, the WuTang student escapes with the help of his best friend from Shaolin. The evil lord spreads rumors to create even more bitter hatred between the Shaolin and the Wu Tang.

After the evil lord felt that he had learnt all that he wanted, he sought to kill them so he held a fighting contest so that the Shaolin and Wu Tang would ultimately weaken and destroy each other.

However, the Shaolin and Wu Tang combatants came together and defeated the evil Lord´s plan of destroying the two temple styles. The Wu Tang would eventually side with the Manchu in order to gain power and bring down Shaolin in actual history.

Shaolin Prince

Shaolin Prince

There were two infant Ming family princes and when the palace was attacked by Manchu invaders, the young princes were protected by royal guards and would be hidden to save their lives.

They grew up to adulthood without ever seeing each other. One was raised by a loyal Ming family prime minister in a palace and the other was raised by Shaolin monks (who were known as The Holy Fools) that had been isolated for past transgressions.

Twenty years pass and at the ages of 23 and 20, the two princes both have learned kung fu very well. They meet each other by chance and become friends still not knowing they were actual brothers. Together they fought ghosts, Shaolin traitors & spies, as well as Manchu soldiers.

When they finally overcame the evil Manchu 9th Prince and are restored to power, the older brother, who was sheltered and secluded in the monastery for years, allowed his younger brother to rule since he had lived with the prime minister and was better equipped and prepared politically to lead.

Zen in the Martial Arts

Zen in the Martial Arts

In today’s world wasting time is always considered as not doing anything but sit down and let time pass you by. In Zen in the Martial Arts there is a statement that changed my whole mindset on time wasting, now i know it is possible to waste time productively. This means someone would have to go to a silent place and just meditate which will make them  understands themselves more

Even the masters have masters

We all look up to wise people or in a way want to have wisdom and where do we get this wisdom, from human beings just like us. Where did they get it from, they were also taught by some people who were wiser than them, so it's just a circle of the more educated people educating the less educated, that is where the term comes from not even one person is born wise but they get the wisdom from someone and they pass it down and so on so life goes on

The Legacy of Wong Fei Hong

Iron Monkey

The movie showed a time when the Shaolin monks were not devoted to their spiritual duty but wanted to live the worldly life. It was also during this time of rampant corruption, a kind and heroic Dr. Yang used the wealth of the rich to help the poor. He charged the rich people fees they could afford so that the poor and indigent people would not have to pay any money for medical care.

Under his secret identity of The Iron Monkey, Dr. Yang and his nurse, Miss Orchid, would give gold and arrange to have food provided to the suffering people to help them. The governor hated the existence of the Iron Monkey, but he was the among greatest of heroes among the common people.

One day the governor arrested everyone they suspected to be The Iron Monkey and put them behind bars. Of those that were captured there was a martial artist and his son, Wong Kei Yee and Wong Fei Hong, who would also become among the greatest of China´s heores. The governor ordered Wong Kei Yee to catch The Iron Monkey to get back his son whom the governor imprisoned. When the citizens found out about this, they didn't want anything to do with Wong Kei Yee. They wouldn't even sell him food at any cost.

Finally Dr. Yang revealed to Wong Kei Yee that he was The Iron Monkey and he helped get his son from the prison. They then team up to get rid of the corrupt Shaolin monks as well as the greedy governor.

The Day Dreamer

SIDEKICKS

This was another film of a teenage boy with problems. Barry was so possessed to day dreaming, even when he was walking on the street. During the middle of class lessons, Barry would often imagine himself on missions saving the world with Chuck Norris.

One day his dad took him to be trained to live in the present more but it was with a bad martial arts instructor and school. Barry´s school teacher had a uncle who was a true master and he agreed to train Barry which was better and life changing for Barry. Through this arrangement, Barry was able to rely on himself more than the heroes in his daydreams.

By the end we saw Barry meet and actually team up with his hero Chuck Norris. He stands up for himself and competes and triumphs in a big karate tournament.

The Karate Kid 3

The third installment of The Karate Kid franchise has Daniel being forced to defend his karate tournament title earned in The Karate Kid 1.

The evil Cobra Kai Sensei Krese lost all his students because the tournament had shown how much of a bad sensei this guy was. Terry Silver, a rich and corrupt businessman is the evil master of Krese. He vows revenge to go after Daniel and Mr. Miyagi and destroy everything they had. Daniel and Miyagi are deceived by Silver that Krese had died even though it was a lie.

Silver went on to take over the All-Valley Tournament, where he invited Daniel to compete, but Daniel following Mr Miyagi´s advice, rejected the offer. Events were manipulated and forced Daniel to sign the contract and he even started training with Silver, who taught Daniel plenty of bad stuff convincing him that it was all he needed to know to win the tournament.

When Mr. Miyagi sensed that Daniel had been going out somewhere for training and coming back injured, he still helped him to recover. The corrupted Daniel finally realized his mistakes and decided to quit training with Silver. Krese returns to the picture and he and an evil karate kid, Mike Barnes beat up Daniel pretty badly until Mr. Miyagi comes to help.

When the time to defend his title came, Daniel was able to do it after going through some very brutal punishment. I think that Daniel was very courageous because he rejected the dark side and did what was right and ultimately showed respect and loyalty to his sensei.

Shaolin Monks

25/05/2017

Today in class we watched the documentary, Shaolin Wheel of Life. It was a stage play on the history of the Shaolin Temple. The monks had some extra-ordinary performances, which I can say were humanly impossible.

They would spin and kick three times in the air. They would lay their backs on knife edges and nails and not get cut or bleed. They would balance on the sharp ends of swords and spears with their stomach and not get injured. They would even stand up-side-down on one finger on each hand which is stunning to see someone who weighs about 85 kilograms stand on two fingers.

Their youngest monks, boys of about 10 years old, would stand on one leg for several minutes without fail.

Another thing that shocked me was when they hit their heads with steel and the steel would break! I believe if we were to do it here, I'm sure all of the school would end up in the hospital due to concussion.

Zen in the Martial Arts

The chapter that I learn a lot from was, Even The Masters Have Masters. This chapter taught me that we learn lessons from people who are more experienced than those who don't and that it is important to know that even the masters have masters. The next chapter that I got a pretty important lesson from was Knowing Your Limits. In Bruce Lee´s quote he' said that, “You will never learn anything new unless you are ready to accept yourself with your limitations” and that “you must accept the fact that you are capable in some directions and limited in others, and that you must develop your capabilities.” And so the lesson is that our capabilities should exceed our limitations.

Semaj Davis
Mr. Riley
Martial Arts Class
                             

Zen

In Mr. Riley´s Martial Arts class we read a book called Zen in the Martial Arts. This book was related to martial arts by giving lessons and stories dealing with experiences in Martial Arts. Throughout this book, a few chapters really amazed me. However, the chapter, Know Your Limits was most impressive and basically says, "You will never learn anything new unless you are ready to accept yourself with your limitations." In other words, in order to become perfect at everything, be perfect at the things you know you can do first.

Also another good chapter, Anger Without Action, is basically about controlling your anger and the desire to fight back, and not reacting with violence.

Lastly, another chapter that I enjoyed was, Unthinking Pain. This chapter deals with ignoring physical pain by using thoughts unrelated to pain. 

I enjoyed these chapters because they inspired me to use the lessons in them in my life.

Semaj Davis
Mr. Riley
Martial Arts Class


In the past 3 weeks of being in Mr. Riley´s Martial Arts Class, I thought I would just be learning​ about ways of defending myself and hurting someone, but instead, I learned more about discipline, respect towards myself and others. It has been more about peace.

By being in this class I changed. I became more responsible for my mistakes, learned how to stay more focused, and not to give into my anger. So far I've really enjoyed this class.

Semaj Davis
Martial Arts Class
Mr. Riley
   
On May 22, 2017 in Mr. Riley´s Martial Arts Class, Mr. Riley demonstrated several examples of blocking and counterattacking. We also watched a documentary, Shaolin Wheel of Life with Shaolin monks showing their history as well as the amazing things they could do which takes years of practice. 

We also watched a movie, Sidekicks, about a kid named Barry having to deal with asthma and his daydreaming of doing things he thinks he couldn't do in real life, such as take out armies of ninjas and soldiers as the partner of Chuck Norris. This kid was constantly being bullied, but he gains confidence and learns to over come his fears and weaknesses do anything through martial arts training​.

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Volume 2

Mariano M. Huezo
Mr. Riley
Martial Arts

Today we went on a field trip to the CityPlex Cinema and watched Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 2 and I had to say I liked it!

They did a great job making the characters be fun at the same time teach a lesson through it all. I would say that the character I connected the most with would be Rocket Raccoon.

I think the way the father and the way he saw things was something relevant to all of us. He even though considered a god, his infinite desire brought him down to the level of a human. He did not care for the bridges he put down only about what his goal was.

When it came to Yondu who said: "I don't control it with my mind I control it with my heart" can be related to martial arts. Instead of fighting and thinking about it what to do next you just follow your heart. Zitma said to act without thought but with careless effort. To not plan your next punch but to live in the moment body and mind or in the movie's case "to follow your heart."

Zen In The Martial Arts Reflection: Mariano M. Huezo

In the book Zen and the Martial Arts, there are many lessons you can learn throughout the book. For me, the chapters that spoke to me the most were "Seize The Moment", "Do Not Disturb", "Anger Without Action", and "Winning By Losing."  "Seize the Moment" and "Do Not Disturb" touched me because there are times I look back and realize the amount of time I would waste on mindless things. Not only things I do but with some people I spend time with. I find myself asking why do I even waste time with these people and how will I even benefit from the time I am wasting.

"Anger Without Action" spoke to the younger side of me. When I was younger I would tend to act with anger and that just led me to more problem. It is ok to be angry but to act with anger not only puts you in a vulnerable situation but your anger can affect others. This chapter made me deepen my viewpoint on anger. Rage is not the only outcome or reason to fight and most of the time you fight with rage you will lose.

"Winning By Losing" also touched me because of my childhood. When I was younger I would never beat my brother at games in general. I lost almost every game we have played till I was 9 or 10. I didn't like to lose so this would also correlate with acting with anger. Every time I did lose I learned more and more about how my brother played and as my knowledge grew on the situation I finally won. I didn't really like my brother when I was younger but now he is one of the most important people in my life and can't imagine my life without him.

Semaj Davis


On May 19, 2017 in Mr. Riley's​ History of Martial Arts Class we watched the movie, Karate Kid, Part 3. This movie was about a kid, Daniel La Russo, who lived with his karate master and tried to start their own martial arts school and tree business in peace, but was threatened to participate in a karate tournament that they didn't want to attend anymore. 

After being tricked by the enemy in training to be more aggressive during fights, Daniel finally trained with Mr. Miyagi again, but without the violence he was learning from the evil master, Terry Silver. 

During the tournament, Daniel was losing and being punished by his opponent which he was scared of, but after being told by his master Mr. Miyagi to not have fear of your opponent, he fought back and won the tournament.

Chocolate (May 17, 2017)

Mariano M. Huezo
Mr. Riley
Martial Arts

We watched the movie Chocolate and it was about a special needs child named Zen. Her mother, Zin, was the daughter of one of the most notorious Thai underworld gang leaders. Zin fell in love with one of the Yakuza's men and a love story like Romeo and Juliet emerges.

Conflict arises between both gangs and Zin's husband was told to leave by Zin so there would be no more problems. The interesting thing I found was that the main character is autistic. She didn't really understand the things around her but she did what was right for the people she loved.

Her adopted family friend, Mike (Moom) was like a caretaker for Zen when the mom was at the hospital for her cancer treatment or when she was too weak to take care of Zen herself.

Throughout the movie, you get to see a lot of colorful personalities and cruel people. It brings out the dangers of joining a gang and how even if you escape, how it can follow you.

The autistic Zin was able to learn martial arts by living next door to a muay thai gym and just from the movies and video games she watched and played. There was never an instant where Zin started a fight. She usually was cornered into the fight and fighting was the only option.

Some examples of black and white were in the movie. The one I noticed the most was when Zen used the sheaths of the katana as weapons. The covers were black and white and it relates to the yin & yang. The good intentions of Zen wanting to protect her mother and the black would represent the anger she felt as she saw her mother killed.

I think we can all learn from this movie when it comes to the expectations of children or adults with special needs that they can succeed and do exceptional things.

The Karate Kid, Part Three

The movie was really good. It mainly focused on the relationship between Mr. Miyagi and Daniel (The Karate Kid). Daniel had moved from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, California with his mother for a better life, mainly her job and his education. Mr. Miyagi was trying to convince Daniel to go to college after they returned from an adventure in Okinawa. However, Daniel wanted to help Mr. Miyagi fulfill his dream of having his own bonsai tree business after losing his job at the apartment building. Daniel said that, “he's been going to school since he was five and that taking courses just to take courses was not going to work for him.”

Daniel was also being manipulated to fight to defend the martial arts tournament title he won a year ago by an evil martial arts master, Terry Silver and an evil karate kid, ´Bad Boy´ Mike Barnes.  Silver starts teaching Daniel unsportsmanlike ways and techniques when Mr. Miyagi refused to train Daniel for the tournament. Mr. Miyagi was not opposed to teaching Daniel martial arts and kata techniques to defend a life or when it really meant something besides a plastic and metal trophy.

Daniel and Mr. Miyagi overcame the adversaries once again and fought a tough fight to defend his title. Daniel ended up learning a very important lesson from Mr. Miyagi that the secret of karate lies within the heart and mind and not just the hands.

Shorinjiryu

Chronicle of Shorinjiryu

Dr. Masayoshi ¨Kori¨ Hisataka, Founder of Shorinjiryu Karatedo

Today in class we watched the documentary, The Chronicle of Shorinjiryu and the first thing we noticed was an interesting quote by Edmund Burke, “People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors”. It made me think about what Sensei Riley have been lecturing about since we began the course. We watched the documentary in a noisy atmosphere from the usual individuals so it was really hard to follow along. I actually wished I was somewhere else. The murmuring continued even after my efforts to bring about silence. Nonetheless, the documentary was about the unique martial arts system Sensei is teaching us about. It was basically talking about the history, the importance, and future of this martial arts style.

In The Chronicle of Shorinjiryu, we see the first man awarded his first and second-degree black belts from the founder of the style in the USA giving a testimony of his journey to getting his black belt in 1960. His journey into Shorinjiryu started when he came across a martial arts performance and he asked to be taught. It is without a doubt that Shorinjiryu is practiced worldwide. We saw several instructors giving testimonies of how Shorinjiryu martial arts have helped them in many aspects of their lives. The future of Shorinjiryu is not certainly guaranteed for no one knows what the future holds. In the documentary, I picked up some points where they said it is up to the sensei of Shorinjiryu to determine the future of the martial art. So far there are a lot of schools that focus on Shorinjiryu and they hope that it continues to grow.

Class reading

Even the Masters have Masters

From today’s reading we learnt that even the great masters learn from their masters. Joe Hyams, the author of Zen and the Martial Arts shares his experiences of karate in his personal life.

He was motivated by his masters to become like them and when he was at that stage as they were, he excelled so much in what he did. He took the same mind set from karate into other activities like tennis and even his business. He then found himself excelling in those as well.

He also talked about the importance of not wasting time by doing ¨nothing in a productive way¨ which meant meditating. Zen had created such a close relationship with his master, Jim, that Jim could read Joe´s mind and could see when he was loosing his temper during training and all. He would tell him, “Patience let´s you wait for your opponent to make a mistakes even when problems arise you will be able acknowledge them, then find a resolution.” He also said to him, ”When your body is willing, then a lot of things are possible, but if it's not cooperative, then it becomes heavy, making it difficult to do any fighting.”

As the chapter stated, ¨When meditating you have to free your mind and adjust. Be you and don't let anything distract you from that silent moment.¨

Chocolate, The Movie

Chocolate was really a good action movie! The movie starts with a female Thai gangster, Zin, falling in love with a rival Japanese Yakuza gangster, Masashi. Zin and Masashi secretly marry like Romeo & Juliet but have to separate. Zin gives birth to their autistic but exceptional daughter, Zen. As Zen gets older, Zin decides to tell Masashi about their daughter by writing him a letter. The Thai boss finds out that Zin is in contact with Masashi and is furious. He visits Zin and cuts off one of her toes to remind her that she is forbidden from having anything to do with Masashi.

Zin falls ill with cancer and does not have the money to pay for chemotherapy treatments. Zen and an adopted friend, Moom attempt to make the money needed to pay for medicine by having people throw balls at Zen as a street performance act. Zen is also now older with finely tuned martial arts skills she learned from living next door to a muay thai gym, playing video games, and watching martial arts movies.


Zen uses her martial arts skills to fight and collect debts owed her mom. She almost meets her match when she faces, a capoeira boy who has Tourette´s Syndrome. Zen quickly adapts and learns his fighting style and defeats him.

Zen's father, Masashi, eventually makes it to the battle with the Thai gangsters, but while he and Zin are fighting them off, Zin was mortally wounded. Angered by what has happened, Zen continues to battle through, until she catches up with the Thai boss and throws him off the third story of a building to his death.

Masashi reunites and comforts his long lost daughter and raises her away from the life of crime.

May 17, 2017

May 16, 2017

Karate Girl 

Karate Girl was a really nice movie. It was about a slain black belt master who had two daughters. Natsuki, the younger of the two, was kidnapped, raised, and trained by the very gangsters that killed the father, to be an assassin. While Ayaka, the elder, was raised by family friends living a quiet life in Yokohama. She possessed the father's treasured black belt that was coveted by the gangsters. Ayaka's karate secret is revealed when she foils purse snatchers at a movie theater she is working in.

Both sisters were underestimated by the gangsters and students in the dojo. But they all learned their lessons after facing the Kurenai Sisters.

Semaj Davis
Mr.Riley
Martial Arts
                         Chocolate
     On May 17 2017 in the History of Martial Arts class with Mr. Riley we talked more about what we discussed the day before,and then we watched a movie called Chocolate,which was about a little girl who had autism and was able to learn how to be perfect when it came to defending herself and others,by using the abilities she had from being imperfect.This movie was also related to the fact that males aren't the only heros,but so are women.

Today in the history of martial arts we watched a movie called the Karate Girl and another where we they dance around in practice of martial arts.The first film the karate girl its cool to see a young woman of little age study martial arts to protect and self defense.i think of martial arts as an activity where you don't nee to kill unless it's absolutely necessary where in the movie the older sister delivers a deadly blow which kills the man who try's to kill her little sister and killed her father years ago while the little sister was being taught that martial arts is to kill    

Semaj Davis
Mr. Riley
                        Martial Arts
     On May 16 2017 in the History of Martial Arts with Mr.Riley we talked about how there were females involved in martial arts,not only men,and how they were as good as men too.We also watched people play instruments in theatre and how what they were doing was related to martial arts. However​ the stances they used while playing drums,and the stamina and strength it took the play as good as they did.We also watched a move called KG(Karate Girl) Which was also related to the fact that female's were very good at martial arts.Bothe movies were great and I think the real meaning behind both of them was that martial arts can be used in more than fighting and can be done by anyone no matter how young and what gender.

KG

Karate girl

We watch a movie in class where a karate master was killed in his dojo and one of his daughters kidnapped and the other one just left there to die, but she survived so she lived most of her life with no one taking care of her until she was eight. One day she help a lady whose hand bag was stalen to get it back using her karate skills

On the other end her sister was being raised by a group of gangs, being taught to be merciless but kill your enemy. She grew up doing karate day in day out, those who kidnapped her sort to make money using a fake black belt  but fear to safe in front of their sempai because of reputation

One day they found out that the girl they left to die hand help a woman get her stolen bag back and they feared that if this girl had the black belt  their business would perish because the girl knew real karate so they planned to go after her

One day the two sister met but did not know each other, one a different day they met a again to fight over the belt  and they had so many similarities, passed to them by their father, which they both noticed. Now the sisters are trying to reunited but the organisation is preventing it from happening. They try to kill them and take the belt but the sisters fought back together as a team and they were able to defeat the the fake organisation. And for the first time after their father's death stayed together at a friends house. They  started training together by the sea sea side

Documentary: The Art of Action

Today the class watched a very informative documentary called The Art of Action. In the documentary, the narrator, Samuel L. Jackson talked about how martial arts movies have been around since the early 1920's. Some of the most successful martial arts inspired movies included in the documentary were The One-Armed Swordsman, Rush Hour, The Matrix, and even the animated Shrek. 

Jackson also explained how training in martial arts were banned by many Asian authorities but people still decided to hide martial arts and put it into theater, dance, and musical comedy forms. 

The documentary showed me how martial arts movies created legends such as Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan. And it also showed me how producers were able to mix romance and comedy into the martial arts movies as well. 

Without these movies, martial arts wouldn't be able to have such a big impact on the world as it has. By watching the documentary, I have developed an even greater knowledge and respect for the history of martial arts.

Semaj Davis, May 15, 2017

The History of Martial Arts with Mr. Riley

From Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Today in The History of Martial Arts class, we talked about the history of martial arts cinema and how it's not only about punching and kicking, but about much more like the discipline and meaning behind it. 


To support this theory, we watched a documentary called The Art of Action, which showed the history of martial arts films and how much they have changed since their humble beginnings in the silent era to today's blockbuster showcases with huge special effects. 

The documentary also featured a multitude of scenes of many martial arts male and female stars in their movies and how much thought they put into them rather than just the action. 

Real emotional stories of loyalty, dedication, family, comedy, as well as romance, made sure that there was something for everybody. This showed me that martial arts isn't just about fighting, but about keeping​ yourself civilized, and helping to guide you to understand more about yourself and others.

Shorinjiryu Kenryukan Karate

Semaj Davis, May 10, 2017

Shorinjiryu Kenryukan Karate

Today in History of the Martial Arts Project with Sensei Riley, our class of 12 students from different grades including myself, and three adults (Sensei Riley, his son, Sempai Jordan, and Brother Thomas) attended a one day training session in Shorinjiryu Kenryukan Karate held at the Imperial Dragon Hombu Dojo in Brooklyn, NY. 

But before taking a few trains and short walks to get there, Sensei Riley showed the class a kata, which is a karate form of fighting. We also discussed how not to be foolish while in public, to behave ourselves, and to pay attention to our surroundings. We were representing our families, St. Benedict's Prep, and ourselves. 

After about a 2-hour journey to the Imperial Dragon Hombu Dojo, we were more than satisfied with what we anticipated when we got to finally experience more extensive karate training. Even though some students made us look bad, as a whole, I felt as if I was well focus and ready to learn, -- trying my best at all times. I am hoping to make another trip to the Imperial Dragon Hombu Dojo with Sensei and my classmates.

The Art of Action Documentary

Bruce Lee snaps Jackie Chan´s neck in Enter the Dragon

In the History of Martial Arts Class, we learned about the many different styles of karate and other martial arts. Today, we found out about the impact of martial arts cinema and motion picture stars like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. They brought martial arts to new levels into the movies and started whole new genres of martial arts action and comedy films. 

We saw a scene from the movie, The Brave One, with Jodie Foster and was shocked to see the actors in the same Shorinjiryu Headquarters we had just visited the other day for our field trip!!! Sensei also showed us his Shorinjiryu senior instructors, Kaicho Shunji Watananbe and Hanshi Michel Laurin in another Hollywood movie, The Ninong. You never know what you might find in the movies.

The Art of Action

Great Documentary! The Art of Action w/Samuel L. Jackson

Martial Arts came from a rebellion. People used to train for martial arts but later on it was banned by the government and anyone who trained was punished. They started to hide their training in their dancing and entertainment performance. The skills that were used back in the day are still used in today’s martial arts. Martial Arts was very secretive. It was only just before World War I, when they started filming the martial arts but they were never seen anywhere else except Asia.

Females were the main actors at first and they portrayed males, later on men came in and woman took on lesser roles. From China emerged Bruce Lee and he made martial arts popular because he was much more than a martial artist. Because he was so creative and influential, that drew so many people into the world of martial arts. Bruce Lee said, “If you put water in a cup it becomes the cup. If you put water into the teapot, it becomes the teapot”. Bruce went on to film in America but due to racism, whites were not impressed in seeing an Asian as a film star so he were back to China and continued doing wonders. He later on died in 1973 and the martial arts were just about to take off. With the huge success of the film, Enter the Dragon, audiences went on to pursue what Bruce Lee had hope to do and martial arts became popular in America. In the late 1970s, China regrouped their strength and revamped the martial arts film industry. Their breakthrough artist, Jack Chan. He was the one who was now acknowledged by the world. He become the number one film star when he came up with his own moves. He inspired many people to the point that a lot started imitating, he has been the number one film star for the last 30 years. Jackie Chan was first introduced to America in Snake and Eagle Shadow as well as The Legend of Drunken Master and quickly became a lot of people’s superstar.

In the 1980s, women found their spot in the martial arts cinema again, but this time around acting as their own gender. Actresses Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, and Kara Hui carve out impressive action roles and careers. Better storylines that included comedy and romance became part of the martial arts film industry. Even Hollywood movies also have been inspired by having martial arts in them even though they may not be based on strictly martial arts stories.