Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

644 Training Area
In other instances, historical and political contexts dictated hiding the practice
of martial skills from the politically dominant behind closed doors or
in secluded areas; it was for that reason that, according to oral tradition,
Brazilian capoeira was practiced in slave quarters or in the bush and was
disguised as dance. In India, the ethical concerns of the Northern Kalarippayattu
gurus who do not want the dangerous art misused confine teaching
to an indoor area at night.
Buildings designated as appropriate locations for martial art instruction
are common in both European (e.g., the salles de fence [French; fencing
halls] of the Renaissance sword master) and Asian (e.g., the guan of
some Chinese boxing teachers) arts. In some traditions, such as the Japanese
or Korean, a building (referred to in Japanese as a dôjô and in Korean
as a dojang) whose use is restricted specifically to activities associated with
martial arts teaching, practice, testing, or exhibition serves as the location
for training. On the other hand, although the location for the instruction
in and practice of the Indian martial art of Northern Kalarippayattu is also
a building, the kalari (Tamil; battleground), this building also may be utilized
by the martial arts master as the clinic in which traditional medicine
is practiced.
Outdoor areas such as pits or even the shaded area behind the house
of a guru are employed as training quarters in the Southern Kalarippayattu
system of India, as in some other arts. In yet other arts, the notion of a
training area is even more informal. For example, particular parks may
provide the training grounds for some of the Chinese arts (e.g., taijiquan
[tai chi ch’uan]) in order to allow practitioners to obtain the benefits of
fresh air while going through forms, but this is a matter of customary practice
rather than the consecration of the site, as is the case with the Japanese
or Okinawan dôjô, for instance. In the traditional street capoeira of Brazil,
certain public areas (most notably the plaza of the Roman Catholic Church
of Senhor do Bonfim in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil) became traditional areas
for practice, although these locations were used for a range of other social
interactions, as well.
Although this is not universally the case, it is common cross-culturally
to make of the training location something in the nature of sacred space, if
only temporarily. The space commonly is marked by special behaviors on
entering the area. Students bow or perform similar ritual acts when entering.
Behavior in the Japanese dôjô (place for studying the way [dô]) represents
the height of formality in this regard. Not only is the building itself entered
with such special behaviors, but also an area of even higher intensity
is created within the building itself. In a traditional dôjô, a kamidana (altar
to the spirits) will be found in the front of the room. Photographs of
founders of the system, master instructors, or legendary figures are clustered