Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

132 Folklore in the Martial Arts
traditions describing the failure of the captors’ attempts to subdue Yamaguchi’s
spirit via conventional means. As a result, he became an inspiration
for his comrades and an embarrassment to his guards. Ultimately, Yamaguchi
was thrust into a cage with a hungry tiger. According to Urban, not
only did Yamaguchi survive by killing the tiger, he did so in twenty seconds.
This story (like similar stories of matches between martial artists and formidable
beasts) has been hotly debated. Whether truth or fiction, however,
such narratives serve not only to deify individuals (usually founders), but
to argue for the superhuman abilities that can be attained by diligent practice
of the martial arts. Consequently, these fighting systems are often
touted as powerful tools for the salvation of the politically oppressed.
Within the oral traditions of Brazilian capoeira, legends circulate that
Zumbi, king of the quilombo (runaway slave colony) of Palmares, successfully
led resistance against conquest of his quilombo and recapture of his
people by virtue of his skills as a capoeirista. J. Lowell Lewis, in his study
of the history and practice of the martial art, notes, however, that these narratives
did not appear in the oral tradition until the twentieth century.
Thus, while the martial art itself may not have figured in the military resistance
by Brazil’s ex-slaves, the contemporary legends argue for ethnic
pride within the African Brazilian capoeira community.
Folk Belief
The most prominent boxing styles practiced in southern China appear to
emphasize “short hitting”—namely, arm and hand movements as opposed
to high kicks and more expansive leg movements. This characteristic, as
opposed to the more acrobatic movements of standardized “long boxing,”
which was developed from a few of the more spectacular “northern”
styles, has resulted in southern styles (called nanquan) being placed in a
separate category for nationwide martial arts competitions. The apparent
difference is reflected in the popular martial arts aphorism, “Southern fists
and Northern legs.” The fictionalizing, in this case, lies in the reasons
given for the difference: different north-south geographical characteristics
and different body types of northern versus southern Chinese. The main
problem with this argument is that it fails to account for the full spectrum
of northern styles or the fact that a number of the southern styles are
known to have been introduced from the north. It also fails to take into
account other historical factors, such as the possibility that southern styles
evolved from “short-hitting” techniques introduced for military training
by General Qi Jiguang and others during their antipirate campaigns in the
south.
Other beliefs focus not on the mechanics of martial arts, but on the
internal powers acquired through practice. Within the Indonesian martial