RESOURCES FILM REVIEWS

martial art developed by Budo Sai Ueshiba Morihei and based in The Spirit of the Samurai part on an earlier system called Aikijutsu, from Aizu (a feudal domain in the Edo period), are FILMS FOR THE HUMANITIES explained, and a master demon- AND SCIENCES, INC. BOX 2053 strates the powerful throwing PRINCETON, NJ 08543-2053 techniques of this particularly PHONE: 1-800-257-5126 non-aggressive style. Okinawan Goju-ryu karate 1998 is represented by Master 70 MINUTES. COLOR Higaonna Morio (who was also featured in the book The Way of the Warrior: The Paradox of the Martial Arts, reviewed in Edu- cation About Asia, vol. 2, no. 1)

Courtesy of Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Inc. and Wado-ryu, a Japanese style of karate, is represented by Mas- his video presentation ter Masafumi Shiomitsu. Seeing of Okinawan and Japan- these masters sparring with their T ese martial arts was advanced students should con- filmed at the Bud¬ Sai exhibi- vince any viewer that karate tion in Durham, United King- is indeed a lethal system of dom. It was produced by Ed unarmed combat. In conversa- Skelding and is narrated by tions with the narrator, however, Terry O’Neill, a veteran martial Image of samurai courtesy of Films for the Humanities and Sciences, Inc. both Higaonna sensei and Masa- artist and editor of Fighting Arts fumi sensei are genial, modest International magazine. individuals who emphasize the First the video introduces Thus, in the first martial (rice-grinder handles), kama importance of basic techniques, the Japanese bushi (warrior), art presented, we see a single (sickles), bo (staff), nunchaku and stress the character-building commonly known as the samu- swordsman performing kihon, (rice-pounding flail), etc. value of martial arts practice. rai, and his code of ethics then kata, and finally two The greater part of the Proper training under a qualified (bushid¬), with scenes from swordsmen with naked blades, video is devoted to Okinawan master should produce a student traditional picture scrolls. The carefully executing kata. Since and Japanese karate. Some who is self-confident, but never video then explains that with kumite with real swords would attempt is made to explain the aggressive. The same conclu- the imposition of civil peace in be dangerous, practitioners of “family tree” of the Asian mar- sion was reached by C. W. the early seventeenth century, kend¬ (the Way of the sword) tial arts, but unless the viewer Nicol, an Englishman who went the samurai sought to preserve don padded armor and fight already has some familiarity to Japan as a young man in 1962 their fighting skills by trans- with shinai (mock swords of with the subject, this is covered and earned a black belt in forming actual fighting tech- split bamboo). too briefly to be of much use. Sh¬tokan karate; his experi- niques (bujutsu) into fighting Ry†ky†an bujutsu devel- The video explains the key role ences are described in Moving techniques practiced as Ways oped in response to Japanese of Gichin Funakoshi, the Zen: Karate As a Way to Gen- to personal transformation and conquest. The Okinawans, founder of Sh¬tokan karate, tleness. character-building (bud¬). denied the right to bear arms, who, after learning the art on This video, which is about The video employs as an resorted to homely farm and his native Okinawa, introduced one hour long, has excellent organizing principle the “three work implements for self- and popularized karate in photography, and an unobtru- Ks” of kihon (basic moves), defense. Eight different imple- Japan. Kihon, kata, and kumite sive but appropriate musical kata (forms involving combi- ments became weapons, and of Sh¬tokan karate are per- score. It does not offer an inclu- nations of basic moves), and their use was termed k¬bujutsu; formed. Then, two variant sive overview of all the Asian kumite (sparring in which the in modern times this evolved styles, Sh¬to-kai and Yuishin- martial arts, but it does cover partners use their basic moves into k¬bud¬. Masters of the art kai, are introduced. Okinawan and Japanese armed and combinations). demonstrate kata using tonfa The origin of Aikid¬, a and unarmed martial arts very

74 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 4, Number 2 Fall 1999 RESOURCES FILM REVIEWS

well. The demonstration of information on the camel popu- Brazilian capoeira, which was Tales of Pabuji lation and defenses of Lanka part of the Durham exhibition, A Rajasthani Tradition and on its demon king, Ravana. seems somewhat out of place With Harmal’s information here. All in all, this video PRODUCED BY BHOPO PRODUCTIONS Pabuji defeats and kills Ravana should be useful for middle DISTRIBUTED BY FILMAKERS LIBRARY and brings the Lankan camels school, high school, and col- 124 EAST 40TH STREET home, a promised wedding NEW YORK, NY 10016 lege-level classes, because in PHONE: 212-808-4980 gift to his half-sister, Kelam. addition to showing exciting In “The Marriage of Pabuji” fighting sequences, it does give 1996 the hero attempts to avoid mar- 33 MINUTES. COLOR the viewer some idea of what riage and then escapes the the martial arts are all about. n marriage ceremony to keep his promise to protect the livestock of the goddess Deval. In the REFERENCES hose searching for final segment, “The Great Nicol, C. W. Moving Zen: Karate cultural connections Battle,” the wounded Pabuji and As a Way to Gentleness (New York: through art and litera- his mare are carried away in a Quill, 1982). T Reid, Howard and Michael Crouch- ture, especially teachers of magic palanquin. er. The Way of the Warrior: The world studies and Asian studies Framing each of the Paradox of the Martial Arts (Wood- classes, will welcome this short Pabuji segments, the video sum- stock, New York: The Overlook Press, 1995). but rich exploration of the marizes the ritual performance Rajasthan oral epic of Pabuji. of the bhopo, an itinerant priest The tales, not widely known who chants the epic in a night- beyond rural Rajasthan, are long session before his par, a based on an actual medieval cloth painting about fifteen feet TIMOTHY A. ROSS has been a Rajput prince, a younger son of long and four to five feet wide member of the Department of a younger son in what was to which functions as visual aid History faculty at Arkansas State University since 1965. He teach- become the ruling line of Jodh- and portable temple. Superim- es East Asian and world history pur. Throughout Rajasthan he posing puppet-like animation courses. His translations of two is seen as a Robin Hood-type Courtesy of Filmakers Library onto the traditional stylized novels by Chiang Kuei (1908– 1980), The Whirlwind and Rival hero born in the remote desert images on the par and onto Suns appeared, respectively, in village of Kohu. Although not son of Dhadal Rathor and a footage of contemporary village 1977 and 1999. accepted as a deity by higher- nymph he convinces to be his life, the video narrates the caste Hindus, Pabuji is widely wife after he steals her clothing epic while at the same time worshipped as a divine incar- while she bathes. She agrees to introducing and explaining the nation and patron protector of the marriage on the condition bhopo performance tradition. livestock and camel drivers that he will never enter her Expository segments provide a among herdsmen and others of chamber without her permis- glimpse of how contemporary rural Rajasthan. Sadly, this sion. When Dhadal eventually par are painted. Background important background informa- breaks his promise, he finds and narrative segments are set tion is barely hinted at on the their son, two-year old Pabuji, to traditional Rajasthani music video case. nursing a tigress. The tigress/ of the ravanhattho or spike- The narrator of Tales of nymph disappears after promis- fiddle, an essential part of the Pabuji mentions that the Pabuji ing her son to return as a mare, bhopo performance. epic has twelve books. Teach- complete with a tiger skin sad- Without considerable class- ers attempting to relate this epic dle, when he is twelve years room preparation, the video’s to the traditional form for epics old. In “How Pabuji Took rich and comprehensive approach of the West like The Odyssey Kesar Kalami” she keeps her may confuse viewers. For exam- Copyright-free illustration from the Treasury then discover that the video promise. ple, unless teachers have prepared of Japanese Designs & Motifs for Artists divides the narrative into five “How Harmal Went to themselves and their students for & Craftsmen Dover Publications, Inc. segments. “The Birth of Pabuji” Lanka” traces the journey of a discussion of ancient medicine, explains Pabuji’s birth as the one of Pabuji’s men to collect the use of opium by Pabuji’s

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