ONIYURI

Naginatajutsu is a Japanese martial arts style focused on the long pole weapon known as the Naginata. The Naginata is a weapon that looks like a spear with a long curved blade at the top. Given its length, the Naginata was used to fight mounted warriors. It also gave its user a reach advantage over a traditional sword.

The Naginata is an ancient Japanese weapon usually associated with Samurai and Warrior Monks. Given its length and cutting power, Samurai found the Naginata ...

The Student

Our story continues in the late 19th Century in the city of Fut San, Canton Province, Southern China. A famous Wing Chun instructor, Master Chan Wah Shun, was teaching a small, exclusive group of students. In fact, his tuition was so high- few ounces of silver, a tremendous cost at the time-that Wing Chun Kuen had become “the rich man’s kung fu.”

The Master’s school was located in a compound owned by a rich family. A se...

Yip Man, or Ip Man, is a martial arts master best known for teaching the Wing Chun form. Kung Fu master and icon Bruce Lee was one of his students.

IN THESE GROUPS

FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO DIED ON DECEMBER 2

FAMOUS PEOPLE IN SPORTS

FAMOUS CHINESE PEOPLE

FAMOUS PEOPLE WHO DIED IN CHINA

Show All Groups

Synopsis

Yip Man, also known as Ip Man, was born on October 1, 1893, in Foshan, China. He studied Wing Chun and went on the beco...

Ip Man (1 October 1893 – 1 December 1972), also known as Yip Man, and also Yip Kai-man, was a Chinese martial artist. He had several students who later became martial arts masters in their own right, including Bruce Lee.

Early life

Yip was born to Yip Oi-dor and Wu Shui, and was the third of four children. He grew up in a wealthy family in Foshan, Guangdong, and received a traditional Chinese education. His elder brother was Yip Kai-gak, his elder s...

Etymology

The word "ninja" in kanji script

Ninja is an on'yomi (Early Middle Chinese-influenced) reading of the two kanji "忍者". In the native kun'yomi kanji reading, it is pronounced shinobi, a shortened form of the transcription shinobi-no-mono (忍の者). These two systems of pronouncing kanji create words (ninja/ninsha or shinobi-no-mono) with similar meanings.[9]

The word shinobi appears in the written record as fa...

Black-clad figures with muffled faces skitter through a courtyard, swarming over walls like spiders and running lightly across rooftops, quick as cats.

An unsuspecting samurai sleeps peacefully as these shadows permanently silence his body guards. The bedroom door slides open without a sound, an up-raised blade glints in the moonlight, and...

This is the ninja of the movies and comic books, the stealthy assassin in black robes with magical abilities in the arts of concealment and ...

Miyamoto Musashi (宮本 武蔵?, c. 1584 – June 13, 1645), also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku,[1] was a Japanese swordsman and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. He was the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship and the author o...

Bushidō (武士道?), meaning "Way of the Warrior-Knight", is a Japanese word which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born from Neo-Confucianism during times of peace in Tokugawa Japan and following confucian texts, Bushido was also influenced by Shinto and B...

Forging

Katana made from tamahagane, showing alternating layers of varying carbon content.

Forge scenes, print from a Edo period book, Switzerland, Museum of Ethnography of Neuchâtel

The steel bloom, or kera, that is produced in the tatara contains steel that varies greatly in carbon content, ranging from wrought iron to pig iron. Three types of steel are chosen for the blade; a very low carbon steel called hocho-tetsu is used for the core of the blade, c...

Long before the term "samurai" came into usage, Japanese fighters were skilled with the sword and spear. These warriors included some women, such as the legendary Empress Jingu (c. 169-269 A.D.), pictured here leading an invasion of Korea.

According to the stories, Jingu was married to the fourteenth emperor of Japan, Chuai, who reigned between 192 and 200. After his death, she ruled as a regent for her young son. To pass the time, she invaded and conquered Korea (without shedding a dro...