The History of Fighting

Picture taken on October 26, 1951, of the fight between the aging former champ, Joe Louis and a much younger up-and-coming fighter, Rocky Marciano. Louis had returned to the ring after retiring to clear his considerable debt to the IRS so when offered $300,000 to fight one of the hardest hitters around, it was too good to refuse.

Marciano, who grew up idolising Louis, demolished the former champion, knocking him to the floor in the eighth round before hitting him clean out of the ring, causing the fight to be stopped on a TKO. Louis retired for a second and final time after the bout, with his debts all but paid in full. After the fight, Marciano apologised to his opponent who humbly replied;

"What’s the use of crying? The better man won. I guess everything happens for the best."

Footage of kung fu training from the 1930s, a time when the martial arts saw a period
of revived official acceptance in China after years of being outlawed.

Techniques from the Tenjin-Shinyo School of jujitsu, founded by Matayemon Iso in the 17th century.

Sergeant William Knapp of the 1st.Battalion, Coldstream Guards. The picture was taken by Robert Howlett
and Joseph Cundall in Aldershot, Hampshire in July 1856. Knapp is wearing the Crimea Medal with four bars
for Alma, Balaklava, Inkermann and Sebastopol.

Photograph of Chief Looking Glass, leader of the Nez Perce tribe, taken in 1877.

Takayuki Mikami perofming Hangetsu.

Hangetsu (Half Moon) is possibly the oldest kata in the whole art of karate. Formally known as Seishan, it came through the Naha-te school though its origins are unknown. One theory is that the kata was formed from a Chinese folk dance, which aimed to explain to the onlooker the importance of the tides.

The original name, Seishan, means Thirteen which may be in reference to the thirteen day intervals as the moon revolves around the earth. However a more likely explanation is that it got its original name as a result of the fact there are thirteen moves in the kata (as long as you only count repeated techniques once).

Another theory is that it comes from Southern Chinese martial arts from an old form known as Four Gate Hands, which is still practiced today in Southern Praying Mantis kung fu. This seems more likely as the moves of the two are very similar, which suggests that they either share a common ancestry within the history of the martial arts or that one was derived from the other.

The name may have been changed to Hangetsu by Sensei Gichin Funakoshi, but if this is so it was later in his career than some of the other name changes he implemented as in his book, Ryukyu Kenpo Karate (1922), it is listed under the name Seishan.

More Kata History

Image: Minamoto Yoshitsune training with tengu demons

Date: 1852

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861)

Infomation: The great twelfth-century warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune
training with tengu demons, the keepers of the secrets of the martial arts.

This picture of Mitsuyo Maeda (1878 – 1941) was taken around 1910. Maeda was a Japanese judoka who is reported to have won around 2000 no holds barred fights and along with Antônio Soishiro Satake, he pioneered judo in Brazil, the United Kingdom, and other countries. So important was he to the development of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he is often referred to as the Father of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.