It has been said that if there is more than one person in a room, politics is at play.
Anyone who has spent any time in the martial arts world knows that martial arts politics is as common an pervasive as the air that we breathe.
Martial Arts Politics Explained: History, Culture and Comedy by Jonathan Bluestein, examines this phenomenon.
What the book is not: it is not a blow by blow description of the continuous shedding of derivative styles of Kyokushin Karate, the divisive split in Aikido when Koichi Tohei left the Aikikai or the homogenization of the 9 Tae Kwon Do kwans into the ITF and WTF; although there are some descriptions, such as the fragmentation of Ed Parker's Kempo. This book, however, makes them all more understandable.
What the book does is look beyond the usual easy explanations for martial arts politics, such as money, status, etc to the deeper issues that are at play.
Even the types of schools and organizations of martial art can influence it's politics. There is a difference between a strict "traditional" Japanese dojo, a MMA gym or Taijiquan in the park.
The styles may lend themselves to what may become politics. A good point is that Okinawan (and later Japanese) Karate styles all have basically the same forms, techniques and training methods. What differentiates them is where the teacher chooses to place his emphasis and which other styles of martial arts and teachers he may have trained with in the past. Wado-Ryu Karate, for example, has a heavy influence from a traditional style of Japanese Jujitsu.
A section of the book I particularly enjoyed was an lengthy overview of the history and practice of Krav Maga, the Israeli martial arts. Krav Maga was always something I wanted to know a little more about, but was something I couldn't quite pin down. It's all much more clear now.
One of the features of the book that I very much enjoyed were guest chapters written by current martial arts masters regarding their own experience with martial arts politics. It's refreshing to read the inside story.
And then there are the cults and clowns that seem to float around the periphery of the martial arts world. The book takes a good look at them as well.
Martial arts practice is a path which demands that we carefully select our steps, or we will stumble. Martial Arts Politics Explained: History, Culture and Comedy represents a flashlight which helps to illuminate the path, at least as far as some obstacles go, to help us to avoid pitfalls.
I enjoyed Martial Arts Politics Explained: History, Culture and Comedy. I think you will too.
