Happy 87th Birthday Robert Smith!!

Source photo: www.journalofasianmartialarts.com

Today would've been one of the great martial arts pioneers from the West, Robert W. Smith, birthdays! He was born 87 yrs ago on this date Dec 27, 1926. He passed away 2 years ago on July 1, 2011.

Happy 87th Birthday Smith sifu!

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Chen Manching & Robert W. Smith (This is older footage of Chen Manching with commentary from Robert W. Smith)

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Obit published in The Washington Post on July 5, 2011:

SMITH ROBERT WILLIAM SMITH (Age 84) Of Asheville, NC, formerly of Bethesda, MD and Hendersonville, NC, passed away on July 1, 2011. Bob was born on December 27, 1926 in Richland, Iowa to the late William and Gertrude Smith. In addition his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Leo Smith, and sisters, Lettie Kinslow, Katherine Moore, and Margaret Folck. Bob was in a state orphanage from age 3 to 13 years old. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 17, served in the Pacific and got his first taste of Judo. He eventually won his third degree Black Belt in Tokyo many years later. Bob was graduated with Highest Honors from the University of Illinois. He enrolled in the Russian and Far Eastern program at the University of Washington in Seattle and received his MA while working the swing shift at Boeing Aircraft. He worked toward his Doctorate but quit before writing his thesis saying he was tired. He never stopped learning. He loved to read, research and write. His motto in life was "Wisdom leavened with love." In 1955, Bob joined the CIA's writing team as an Intelligence Analyst. He added Chinese to his Russian and Japanese skills and in 1959 was sent to Taiwan to be an advisor to the Admiral of the Taiwan Defense Command. While there he had time to study a variety of Asian martial arts. He became the first Western T'ai Chi Ch'uan student of the late reknown grandmaster Cheng Man-Ch'ing. After three years in Taiwan he returned to Bethesda, MD and for 27 years held a free Saturday morning T'ai Chi practice in the Bethesda YMCA parking lot. He also offered formal instruction for many decades in T'ai Chi, Pa-kua, and Hsing-i, the three main elements of Chinese internal martial arts. As an early pioneer of Asian martial arts in the West, Bob provided a positive foundation of historical accuracy while emphasizing the traditional and ethical influences of the often misunderstood and misrepresented martial arts. As a result of so many years of teaching Asian martial arts, Mr. Smith, as he was known, has an extended family of many hundreds of devoted students, grandstudents and great-grandstudents. As an editor, author, co-author and co-translator, Bob produced 14 books, dozens of magazine articles, and wrote over 240 book reviews on a wide variety of topics for top newspapers across America. He also wrote numerous interviews with authors who caught his interest and countless letters to the editor. Surviving are his wife of 60 years, Alice Langellier Smith; daughters, Sue Broadhurst and her husband, Don of Taylors, SC, Anne McKay and her husband, Ben of Flat Rock, NC, Chris Cutting and her husband, Paul, of Waynesville, NC and son, Dave and his wife, Marolyn of Columbia, SC; along with nine grandchildren, Jace, Timothy and Kate Broadhurst, Amy Dill, Joshua and Ian McKay, and Heather Mallory, Megan and Joey Cutting; and three great grandsons, Kadin, Rhyston and Davin Broadhurst. Bob loved everyone especially his family, children, animals, birds, nature, jokes, stories, poetry and English literature. Per his wishes, Bob's body has been donated to the Wake Forest School of Medicine. There will be a Celebration of Life on Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 3 p.m. in the Chapel of Givens Estates, 2360 Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville, NC 28803. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to any of the following: Resident Assistance Fund at Givens Estates, 2360 Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville, NC 28803; Care Partners Foundation, John F. Keever, Jr. Solace Center, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC 28813 or an animal rescue group in your area. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to any of the following: Resident Assistance Fund at Givens Estates, 2360 Sweeten Creek Road, Asheville, NC 28803; Care Partners Foundation, John F. Keever, Jr. Solace Center, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC 28813 or an animal rescue group in your area.

Copied from: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries

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For further info:

• Wiki
• Bibliography
• Taijiquan Journal

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David Black Mastro - The Spear in Chinese Martial Culture

The Spear in Chinese Martial Culture

By David Black Mastro (aka TrueFightScholar)

The spear has played a huge role in both hunting and fighting arts all over the world, and China, with her vast martial heritage, is no exception. In his excellent article, "The Spear: An Effective Weapon Since Antiquity", author Robert H. Dohrenwend, Ph.D., noted, "The most important weapons in the Chinese military were the bow and arrow and the spear (qiang), and there were specialized bodies of soldiers trained to use each weapon." In our modern age, where so much attention has been given to the more fantastic aspects of the Chinese martial arts, we would do well to remember Dohrenwend's observation. Chinese warriors relied on the fundamental missile and melee weapons of the time, just like everyone else: the bow & arrow, the spear/lance, and the sword & shield.

Another crucial aspect to understanding the reality of Chinese martial arts (or any other martial arts, for that matter) in their proper historical context is knowing just what the term "martial art" means. The word "martial" comes from the Latin term martialis, which literally means "of or belonging to Mars (the Roman god of war)". Thus, a "martial art" is a "war art". The Chinese term wushu is synonymous with "martial art", though when used in the historical sense it should not be confused with the "wushu" of today, which is a type of performance art that was developed during the Cultural Revolution. In their useful text, Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals--A Historical Survey, Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo soberly noted, "For most of China's history, martial arts had one purpose--imposing one's will upon another by force or fear." The simple spear played a major part in this grim task.

According to Robert Dohrenwend, bronze metallurgy originated in the Mediterranean some 5000 years ago, and spread eastwards via Central Asia, and eventually to China. These early bronze-headed spears were effective, but the spear became even more durable and lethal, with the advent of iron working. Dohrenwend wrote that iron metallurgy began with the Hittites some 3500 years ago, and spread around the world from there. Such technology reached China about 2500 years ago.

Unlike the Japanese yari, the qiang of the Chinese most often featured a socketed spearhead, like Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and European spears. While the Japanese preferred their white oak for the shaft of their yari and a composite oaked-cored & bamboo laminated shaft for their nagae-yari (long spear/pike), the Chinese apparently used white wax wood, which is a species of ash. Europeans also generally preferred ash for their polearms, as it is lighter, stronger, and more flexible than oak.

Chinese military practice resembled that of Europe to some degree, in that spearmen often operated in cooperation with troops armed with sword-and-shield, and gave each other mutual support. In the West, this integration of spearmen and swordsmen arguably reached its height with the Spanish colunela (lit., "little column"), which featured pikemen, arquebusiers, and rodeleros aka targetiers (sword-and-shield men), in a ratio of 2:2:1. The pikemen were useful against both cavalry and other pikemen, while the swordsmen provided close support. In the Chinese military, the preferred weapons of the sword-and-shield troops were the single-handed saber (dao) and the round rattan shield (tengpai). At around 29" in diameter, the tengpai was similar in size to European targets (or targes). The saber type used most often was the willow leaf saber or liuyedao, which featured a single-handed grip, a disc-like handguard, and a slightly curved single-edged blade of uniform width. It was a light and handy weapon.

The integration of the spear and sword was manifest in the celebrated "Mandarin Duck Squad" unit/formation, created by the great Ming general, Qi Jiguang. During the mid-16th century AD/CE, the southern Chinese coast was ravaged by Sino-Japanese pirates (wokou in Chinese and wako in Japanese). In Late Imperial Chinese Armies 1520-1840, Chris Peers pointed out that, at that time, the manpower of the wokou was 2/3 Chinese--however, even some of their Chinese warriors used very long Japanese swords (no-dachi, which led to the reintroduction of two-handed dao into the Chinese military) and the corresponding method of kenjutsu. In General Qi's "Mandarin Duck Squad", four men were equipped with long spears, which outranged the no-dachi of the enemy, but they were nevertheless supported by two sword-and-shield men.

The overall impact of the spear on Chinese martial culture can be seen in the legend regarding the origins of the internal art of Xingyiquan; according to the legend, Xingyi was created by General Yue Fei, sometime during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279 A.D./C.E.). According to Kennedy and Guo in Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals, Yue Fei based Xingyi "on his mastery of the spear". Even if we question the reality of this story, it reveals much about how highly regarded the spear was, as a weapon.

Chinese spear technique was similiar to that of other cultures, and one of the most noteworthy tactics is the dreaded "slip-thrust", where the weapon is driven by the rear hand, as the shaft slides through the forward hand. As noted in my previous essay on Japanese spears, the "slip-thrust" gives the spearman a tremendous advantage against users of shorter weapons like swords, since it is so difficult to properly gauge distance.

The spear continued to be a primary weapon, into more modern times. In Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, Draeger and Smith pointed out that, during the Opium Wars, the British acknowledged that the Chinese spear was "far superior" to their bayonets. This should not surprise us--the spear is a purpose-built polearm that is comparatively light and maneuverable, whereas the rifle-and-bayonet is, at best, an improvised polearm that is both shorter and clumsier than the vast majority of spears. The Chinese predilection for spears and sabers might be one reason why American and European military forces retained not only bayonet work, but saber & cutlass drill as well, right into the beginning of the 20th century. One can see old photos of cutlass practice on board American vessels like the armored monitor, U.S.S. Monadnock, which was often stationed in China, and cutlass practice was also carried out on the Australian monitor Cerberus, which was involved in the supression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The retention of bayonet and sword technique in these modern Western militaries was quite likely a functional reaction to unpleasant experiences against Asian foes armed with traditional edged weapons, like the Chinese, the Filipinos, the Moros, etc., and it reveals much about the respect that modern soldiers had, for such warriors and their skills.



For Further Reading:


Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts by Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith

Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals--A Historical Survey by Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo

Chinese Swordsmanship--The Yang Family Taiji Jian Tradition by Scott M. Rodell

Ancient Chinese Weapons--A Martial Artist's Guide by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming

"The Spear--An Effective Weapon Since Antiquity" by Robert E. Dohrenwend (from the Volume 16 ~ Number 1 ~ 2007 issue of Journal of Asian Martial Arts)

Late Imperial Chinese Armies 1520-1840 by Chris Peers (Osprey Men-At-Arms series)

Warriors of the Steppe--A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to 1700 A.D. by Erik Hildinger

Pavia 1525 by Angus Konstam (Osprey Campaign series)

A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century by Sir Charles Oman

David Black Mastro - The spear in Japanese martial culture

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David Black Mastro - The spear in Japanese martial culture

The spear in Japanese martial culture

By David Black Mastro (aka TrueFightScholar)

In various martial cultures around the world, the sword is held in the utmost esteem--it is a weapon that has transcended its original role as a tool of war, and it is thus also seen as a symbol of power, justice, and so on. As the great European swordsman Sir Richard Francis Burton once wrote, "The history of the sword is the history of humanity".

That being said, the aura of romance surrounding the sword has done much to cloud the fact that there are, in fact, many weapons which are more formidable than the vaunted sword. Among the numerous hand weapons which fighting men have developed over the centuries, the simple spear is perhaps the greatest, and most misunderstood.

The Japanese have always had a very strong martial culture, and they did not ignore the development of the spear. Early Japanese spears were of the hoko type, made with a metal socket which the wooden shaft fitted in--much like Continental Asian and European spears. According to Donn F. Draeger in his classic text Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts, the hoko remained in use from c. 200 B.C./B.C.E., to the late Heian or early Kamakura period (c. late 12th century A.D./C.E.). Then, the Japanese developed their distinctive yari, which featured a spearhead with a very long tang, that was fitted into a hollow-out portion in the shaft of the weapon.

From a purely combative sense, the great advantage of the spear was obviously its superior reach. For a swordsman, facing a spearman is a daunting prospect. Draeger's protege, Hunter B. Armstrong, commented on this in his excellent article, "Owari Kan Ryu Sojutsu--Classical Japanese Spear Arts", which appeared in the February 1998 issue of Exotic Martial Arts Around the World. Armstrong correctly noted that "it was the spear that dominated the battlefield," and, "In a one-on-one combat between a spearman and swordsman, the sword had little chance."

Other martial cultures have noted this truism. In his Paradoxes of Defence from 1599, the great English swordsman George Silver wrote that, "The short staff (quarterstaff) or half pike (spear) have the vantage against the... two hand sword, the sword and target (round shield), and are too hard for two swords and daggers..." In other words, a spearman could safely engage and defeat two men armed with sword-and-dagger, facing him at once!

The great difficulty for the swordsman in facing a spearman lies in the fact that the spearman can make what are generally referred to today as "slip-thrusts"--i.e., a thrust delivered with the rear hand, where the shaft of the spear slides through the loose grip of the forward hand (similar to using a pool stick). The use of slip-thrusts makes it extremely difficult for the swordsman to judge the ma-ai (combative engagement distance, what Western swordsmen refer to as "fencing measure"). The spearman can thus make feints high and low, to the outside and inside lines, and is himself safe from counters, since the swordsman cannot immediately reach him.

The Japanese took the slip-thrust concept & technique to its most extreme, by sometimes making use of a small metal tube (kuda), which fits around the spear shaft, and is held by the forward hand of the spearman. With the kuda, the slip-thrusts can be made with even greater speed, due to the reduced friction. Kan Ryu sojutsu--which makes use of a yari nearly 12 feet long--features the use of the kuda.

Another advantage of the yari--one not featured on all spears around the world--is the fact that it also has functional cutting edges. Yari heads are typically of a stout triangular cross-section, and have two edges. The spearman can therefore make sweeping cuts to various parts of the opponent's body, in addition to thrusts.

Yari were available with a variety of spearheads. In addition to the conventional head described above, there were some yari that featured a crossbar called a hadome at the base of the head (similar to the crossbar or toggle seen on European boar spears), which could be used for parrying and trapping. In addition, there were yari with more elaborate heads, like the magari-yari (also known as the jumonji yari), which side blades more or less perpendicular to the main blade. These side blades apparently could function like the hadome, but they were also sharpened, giving the spearman more cutting options.

During the 16th century, when the Portuguese arquebus (a type of matchlock musket) entered the Japanese arsenal, the nagae-yari or long spear was developed, which, at some 16 feet or more in length, was akin to the European pike. The nagae-yari was used by the ashigaru (lit., "light feet"), the footsoldiers of peasant stock who served as pikemen and arquebusiers. These organized infantrymen represented a Japanese parallel to the rank-and-file Swiss reislaufer and German landsknechts--low-born footsoldiers who could use the reach of the pike and the even greater reach of the arquebus, to down their social betters (the samurai and knights, respectively).

A weapon as devastating as the yari was naturally bound to produce its share of legendary users. Author Anthony Bryant, in his Osprey book, Samurai 1550-1600, noted the great Watanabe Hanzo, who was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's retainers. He was so skilled in spear-fighting that he ultimately gained the nickname "Yari no Hanzo" (lit., "Hanzo of the Spear"). Another famous spearman was Kato Kiyomasa, one of the commanders in Hideyoshi's army that invaded Korea in 1592. During lulls in the fighting, Kiyomasa was known to hunt tigers, using only a spear. This was yet another example of professional fighting men hunting and/or fighting big, dangerous game using spears, as an adjunct to their military training. Northern Europeans often hunted wild boar with spears, and Spanish knights engaged in bullfighting with swords and lances. While such practices may seem repugnant to the modern mind, they nevertheless require substantial skill, and a great deal of nerve.

Even after the demise of the Feudal bushi in the mid-19th century A.D./C.E., spear technique did not die. Just as European pike and half-pike technique survived in the use of the bayonet, so did Japanese sojutsu contribute to juken-jutsu. And so the spear--one of Man's earliest weapons--tenaciously refuses to be forgotten. Though it lacks the popular mystique of the sword, its sheer effectiveness and practicality cannot be denied.


For further reading:

Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts by Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith

Classical Bujutsu--The Martial Arts and Ways of Japan Vol. One by Donn F. Draeger

Samurai 1550-1600 by Anthony Bryant (Osprey Warrior Series 7)

Samurai Warfare by Dr. Stephen Turnbull

Samurai--The weapons and spirit of the Japanese warrior by Clive Sinclair

"Owari Kan Ryu Sojutsu--Classical Japanese Spear Arts", by Hunter B. Armstrong (from the February 1998 issue of Exotic Martial Arts Around the World)

Paradoxes of Defence by George Silver

The Book of the Sword by Richard F. Burton

David Black Mastro - The Spear in Chinese Martial Culture

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