Thought you all might enjoy this article I've been preparing for publication ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Review: Martial Musings : A Portrayal of Martial Arts in the 20th Century Robert W. Smith Via Media Publishing Erie, Pennsylvania 1999 Martial Musings is a hodge-podge by design. Part memoir, part martial history, and part editorial, it winds and rambles across multiple continents and decades examining the history of martial arts in the twentieth century and the life of Robert W. Smith. The difficulty presented in reviewing Martial Musings is that it's virtually impossible to do so without also reviewing its enigmatic author. And that by itself is a daunting task. Perhaps the best place to begin is with this quote: “I've taught a couple generations of you and you're always telling me it was my footprints you in the sand you followed. But today we have with us the man who brought the sand...” - Sensei Doug Perry's introduction of Smith to his students For more than fifty years Smith, an accomplished Judoka and Chinese Boxer, has been interacting with such notable figures as Donn Draeger, Joe “The Brown Bomber” Louis, E J Harrison, Jon Blumming, Hong Yixiang, Morihei Ueshiba, the mysterious John Gilby (we'll get back to him in a bit) and his most beloved teacher Zheng Manquing, sharing those experiences and learnings in numerous articles and books. His writings have influenced countless people within and outside of the martial arts community. Martial Musings is a reflection on Smith's experiences and therefore begins at the beginning: Smith's childhood growing up an orphan in the late twenties and thirties in Iowa. Smith briefly details his time in World War II, when he served as a Marine in the Pacific theatre. It was in the Corps that he was first exposed to Judo, although he is quick to note that Marine Corps Judo bears little resemblance to Kano's art. After the Corps he returned to the Midwest and, among other things, learned, coached and promoted boxing. It was during this time that Smith became involved with classical Judo and his martial journey truly began. Smith's exposure to Judo led to several pivotal events. Firstly, through it he met his wife, Alice; his best friend Art Broadbent; and Draeger, with whom he would co-authored the seminal work, Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts. Draeger also played a crucial role as a sounding board for Smith and facilitated numerous introductions to many noted martial artists. Judo also led Smith to publish his first articles in the English Judo journal Budokwai. Finally, it was judo that set him on a path that would carry him across the country and the globe as he sought out various masters of Eastern and Western fighting arts, being taught and becoming a teacher. Martial Musings, unlike many of Smith's other works, isn't so much about the practice of the arts (though there is a lot of theory in it) as it is the story of the people who propagate them. Perhaps the best way to view Martial Musings is as a director's commentary of the sort found on film DVDs. In it, Smith tells the stories behind the concepts and techniques he previously detailed. As Smith moves from art to art and continent to continent he frequently departs from his story to tell of notable players in each field. Some he encountered first hand, like the larger than life Jon Blumming and the quiet Tai Chi Master Zheng Manquing; others were those whom he watched from a distance like Judoka Masahiko Kimura. There are the “household names” like Ueshiba Sensei, founder of Aikido, and the unknowns like Art Broadbent. And then there is John Gilby. Martial Musings is all of their stories as much as it is Smith's. The enigmatic John Gilby necessitates a brief digression in the the style of Martial Musings. Gilby is a millionaire playboy, world traveler, gifted martial artist and author of three books and numerous articles on the arts. His Secret Fighting Arts of the World, originally published in 1963, has been mined by martial artists and writers alike for strange and arcane techniques. Smith reveals in Martial Musings that many of those techniques were, at best, exaggeration and fantasy. In fact, the world renowned Gilby is simply a practical joke, nothing more than a pseudonym created by Smith, Draeger, Blumming and others while in Japan. As Smith writes, “We were sure that readers would be smart enough to notice this. We were wrong.” Smith goes on to discuss some of the strange letters that Gilby--who is still publishing, though now his material is far more accurate--has received over the years. This outing of Gilby caused a quite some surprise in many circles of the martial arts community. It's far from the only revelation in Martial Musings. Smith writes openly and honestly about all of his encounters, experiences and views. While the prose often demonstrates a strong propensity not to take himself too seriously, Smith has no problem cutting to the chase and expressing strong, and often polarizing opinions. In particular, Smith possesses obvious disdain for those who seek to corrupt the arts or who seek to take advantage of others. Martial Musings contains many discussions of the poor teachers, players, and out and out crack pots Smith has encountered. In all cases, he refrains from ever mentioning them by name. Instead he uses pseudonyms, perhaps suggested to him by Gilby, so that instead of concentrating on the individual, Smith can focus on dissecting his inappropriate actions. While readers should not expect to agree with all of Smith's views, they must respect how well reasoned they are. For example, when Smith lays out the reasons he feels Japanese grappling to be superior to Chinese wrestling, he is writing both as an accomplished Judoka and Chinese martial artist. Perhaps most controversial are Smith's views on the early UFCs, Hollywood martial arts, and Bruce Lee. However, by the time the reader reaches that point of the book, they should be used to Smith's iconoclastic style and none of these editorials should come as much of a surprise. Martial Musings is an intensely personal work. Smith's prose engages the reader in a compelling conversational fashion. His ability to support anecdotes and editorials with quotes from such diverse sources as Raymond Chandler and Fats Waller demonstrates a unique capacity to draw connections between seemingly unrelated disciplines. This, being its greatest strength, also represents Martial Musings greatest weakness. At approximately 380 pages, the book is overly long and suffers at times from a lack of focus and editing. Some of the subjects that Smith includes, while important to him, tend to interrupt the flow of the book. At times, after finishing one of the many anecdotal digressions, I found I had forgotten what Smith had originally been discussing. Smith notes that true beauty in the martial arts comes from effortless efficiency. Although Martial Musings is always effortless, it isn't always efficient. But, perhaps that is to be expected since Martial Musings is, at its heart, the story of Robert W. Smith and individual lives often are not as well organized as one might hope. Though not as immediately revelatory as the better known martial memoir Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hammas, Martial Musings still belongs in any serious martial artist's collection. Smith's stories bring life to figures that most have only heard of. His views and philosophy, formed through a lifetime of hard work, warrant close examination. And Smith himself should be recognized by the greater martial arts community as the pioneer that he is. He had the clarity to see the uniqueness of the Asian martial arts long before most westerners, the passion to diligently practice them, and the eloquence to write compellingly about them. Martial Musings is the worthy culmination of his efforts. - 30 -
Thanks, it's my first one that I'm submitting for publishing consideration. I'm trying to get a gig as a reviewer for the Journal of Asian Martial Arts. I've got a few others that will be coming soon. - Matt
Good job. I have a couple of Smith's works on Hsing-I. I have not read that particular work of Smith's but your review is far more informative than any other I've seen.
Robert Smith Matt wrote that "...in fact, the world renowned Gilby is simply a practical joke, nothing more than a pseudonym created by Smith, Draeger, Blumming and others while in Japan." I had assumed that Gilby was a pseudonym for Smith; it's interesting to hear that it was in fact created by Smith, Draeger, and Blumming et al. Secret Fighting Arts of the World is a very entertaining book, and while many of its humorous chapters are entertaining as pure fantasy, there is one chapter (most probably fiction) that always stood out in my mind as a great short story: the one in which the two characters sit at a small town restaurant talking about American popular music and get waylaid by a trio of town bullies. The final description of how the hero uses Xing Yi's Hung Quan (and why it is used) to dispatch the third bully is spot on in terms of acuracy, and his explanation for how a midwest farmer's son learned enough Xing Yi Quan to survive the day has just enough versimilitude to pass as a true story. Anyway, Martial Arts Musings sounds pretty interesting: I plan to put it on my Amazon.com wish list. Thanks for the review. Best, Steve Lamade
Steve, based on my reading, I think its fair to say that Gilby became exculsively Smith's pseudonym. Draeger was the chief collaborator on the first book, but I think it was more as a sounding board than a true co-author. And with the later material, such as the Journal of the Asian Martial Arts article published a little over a year ago, it's defintely only Smith. On a side note though, while Smith was the voice of Gilby, his face was provided by Blumming, who posed for a number of photos as Gilby. Few of those saw publication, though there's one in particular that makes it into Martial Musings of a particular eye poke techniques that always brings a smile to my face when I think about it. - Matt
Gilby's books ("Secret worlds of martial arts" and"Secret fighting arts of the world" Hi everyone...... I was really surprised to find out that Gilby's books are meant to be a practical joke? Frankly, when I first read them before knowing about this relevation, I thought that the events described in the books really happened as was told by Gilby. Even now, after hearing that the books were just a practical joke, I am still inclined to believe that there is some truth to the stories told and that the stories were not a complete fabrication....... Does anyone feel the same way? Comments anyone?
The level of jokiness changes with each of the Gibly pubs. The first "Secret Arts" is mostly hyperbole with some truth sprinkled in there. The later publications, like the one on boxing, Smith states are more on the up and up. Still becareful interpreting any Gilby as hard fact, as Smith enjoys being a wiseass. - Matt
Nice review, Matt. I'm reading this book (amongst others) at the moment. Having already read "Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods" by him, I was looking forward to the content of Musings. It would be rare to meet someone who could read it without skipping parts but altogether it's great. I was glad to see someone else ont he planet thinks of Bruce Lee like I do . The other book is smaller and I often take it on trips to read while I'm away. Rgds, David
