The Politics of Eastern and Western Martial Arts, with Jonathan Bluestein

The Sword Guy Podcast

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Jonathan Bluestein is a martial artist and author who contacted Guy with some interesting questions related to his research. Jonathan is looking into the similarities and differences between the traditional Chinese martial arts and traditional European Martial Arts, both in Medieval and Renaissance times as well as in our everyday lives today.

Jonathan’s background is in traditional oriental martial arts in general and he practices and teaches traditional Chinese martial arts from his school in Israel. He is the author of a number of books on the martial arts as well as other topics. He’s also a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.

Jonathan is currently in the midst of working on a book called Martial Arts Politics Explained. In this episode we discuss how we might classify different types of martial arts school, and how the structures and hierarchies of different types of schools inform the politics within the school. Jonanthan explains how Chinese martial arts schools work and the culture of family and disciples within them. We discuss how the cultures within Western historical martial arts schools compare.

This is a wide ranging conversation which also covers philosophy, the war in Israel, straight swords versus curved swords, and Chinese medicine.

You may find this list of terminology useful, which was helpfully provided by Jonathan:

Names of Jonathan’s teachers:

Master Nitzan Oren

Grand-Master Zhou Jingxuan

Master Sapir Tal

Master Stephen Jackowicz

Master Brian Hall

Martial arts Jonathan has studied and have taught:

Xing Yi Quan

Pigua Zhang

Jook Lum Southern Mantis

Bagua Zhang

Li Jia Shaolin Quan (Li Family Shaolin)

Weapons mentioned:

Dao (Chinese curved sword)

Miao Dao (Chinese equivalent of the Nodachi/Odachi)

Historical figures and periods:

General Qi Jiguang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Jiguang

Japanese Pirates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou

Meiji Restoration

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration

Chinese Cultural terms:

Wuguan - 'Martial Hall' - Chinese equivalent term to 'Dojo'.

Kwan - the Cantonese pronunciation of 'Guan', and short for 'Wuguan'.

Gongfu - A high level of skill, acquired through longstanding effort and practice

Gongfu Family (Gongfu Jia) - the martial arts family within a given lineage, of teachers and disciples

Shifu - a teacher in a traditional relationship of a Master and an apprentice

Tudi - a disciple of a Shifu - the Apprentice

Bai Shi - the ceremony with which a Tudi is accepted into the Gongfu Family.