LA LIGNÉE CORPORELLE : CONCEPTUALISATION DE LA

TRANSMISSION DES ARTS MARTIAUX TRADITIONNELS EN

OCCIDENT
David Brown et George Jennings

De Boeck Supérieur | « Staps »

2011/3 n°93 | pages 61 à 71

ISSN 0247-106X
ISBN 9782804165468

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 Body lineage: Conceptualizing the transmission
of traditional Asian martial arts (in the West)
La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation
de la transmission des arts martiaux
David BROWN
d.h.k.brown@exeter.ac.uk traditionnels en Occident
George JENNINGS
Qualitative Research Unit, DAVID BROWN • GEORGE JENNINGS
School of Sport and Health Sciences
University of Exeter, UK

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RÉSUMÉ : Cet article présente les développements récents d’une recherché qualitative en cours explorant
les formes orientales des mouvements comme transformation de la corporalité en Occident. Il décrit en
particulier les premières explorations conceptuelles de la nature, des fonctions et des processus corpo-
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rels dans la lignée des arts et de la culture martiale. La nature de la transmission dans les arts martiaux
suit les propositions de Schilling (2003) qui conclut que l’une des rares certitudes à propos de notre
corps c’est qu’il peut éventuellement mourir, et que cessera ainsi notre mode de connaissance incarnée,
si laborieusement élaboré durant la vie. Le souci de construire des « arbres de famille » ou de cartes de
lignée des « corps » dans les communautés traditionnelles des arts martiaux afin d’illustrer les liens
intergénérationnels entre les maîtres-enseignants de générations successives est indicatif de ces préoc-
cupations. En second lieu, nous examinons comment la lignée du corps semble avoir trois fonctions
globales : 1) exprimer légitimement la succession des maîtres d’un art martial donné ; 2) de charger ces
successeurs de la préservation ou de la conservation des caractères distinctifs de l’art et de l’illusio de sa
valeur ; 3) de fournir une identité collective distinctive de l’art. Troisièmement, nous considérons l’idée
de lignée des corps comme un processus social et thématisons ainsi la pratique du lignage corporel et
son langage.
MOTS CLÉS : arts martiaux, corps, sociologie, transmission culturelle, authenticité.

ABSTRACT: This paper presents some recent developments in an ongoing qualitative research project
exploring Eastern movement forms as body-self transforming practice in the West. In particular, the
article documents our preliminary conceptual explorations of the nature, function and process of body
lineage in traditional martial arts cultures. The nature of transmission in the martial arts follows Shilling
(2003) who concludes, that one of the few certainties about our bodies is that they will eventually die,
and along with the passing of our bodies will be the passing of embodied knowledge, so painstakingly
developed over a lifetime. The preoccupation with constructing “family trees” or “body” lineage maps
in traditional martial art communities in order to illustrate the intergenerational connection between
the Master teachers from successive generations is indicative of these concerns. Secondly, we consider
how body lineage appears to have three overarching functions, 1) to legitimately articulate the succes-
sion of the Masters of a given martial art; 2) These successors will be charged with either preserving or
conserving distinctiveness of the art and the illusio of its value; 3) to provide a distinctive collective iden-
tity for the art. Thirdly we address the idea of body lineages as a social process. Within this we address
the practice of body lineage and the language of body lineage.
KEY WORDS: martial arts, the body, sociology, cultural transmission, authenticity.
 62 David Brown • George Jennings

Körperherkunft: Konzeptualisierung der der Transmission traditioneller

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG :
Kampfsportarten (in den Westen)
Dieses Dokument präsentiert die neuesten Erkenntnisse eines laufenden qualitativen Forschungspro-
jektes, das Bewegungsformen aus dem Osten als Praktiken der Transformation der Körperlichkeit im
Westen untersucht. Dieser Artikel dokumentiert vor allem unsere ersten konzeptuellen Schlüsse hin-
sichtlich der Art, der Funktion und des Prozesses der Körperherkunft in den traditionellen
Kampfsportkulturen. Die Art der Transmission in den Kampfsportarten geht so vonstatten wie Shilling
(2003) dies sieht, nämlich dass eine der raren Gewissheit, die wir über unseren Körper besitzen, die ist,
dass er sterben wird und dass mit diesem Verschwinden auch seine verkörperte Erkenntnis verschwin-
den wird, die so mühevoll ein Leben lang erarbeitet wurde. Die Beschäftigung mit der Konstruktion
von, „Stammbäumen“ oder „Körperkarten“ in traditionellen Kampfsportgemeinschaften, um Verbin-
dungen zwischen Generationen von Lehrern und Meistern darzustellen, ist kennzeichnend für diese
Besorgnis. Zweitens stellen wir fest, dass die Körperherkunft drei übergreifende Funktionen zu haben
scheint: 1) legitimerweise die Nachfolge der Meister einer gegebenen Kampfkunst zu verbinden; 2)

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diese Nachfolger sind damit beauftragt, den distinktiven Charakter der Kunst und die Illusio seines
Wertes zu schützen oder zu bewahren; 3) eine kollektive und distinktive Identität der Kunst zu vermit-
teln. Drittens betrachten wir die Idee der Körperherkünfte als einen sozialen Prozess. Dabei themati-
sieren wir die Praxis und auch die Sprache der Körperherkunft.
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SCHLAGWÖRTER : Kampfkünste, Körper, Soziologie, kulturelle Übertragung, Authentizität.

RIASSUNTO :La stirpe corporea: concettualizzazione della trasmissione delle arti marziali
tradizionali in Occidente
Questo documento presenta gli sviluppi recenti di un progetto di ricerca qualitativa in corso, esplorante
le forme di movimento in oriente in quanto pratica di trasformazione della corporalità in Oriente. I
documenti particolarmente studiati nell’articolo fanno lo stato delle prime conclusioni concettuali della
natura, la funzione e del processo di «lignaggio» corporeo nelle culture tradizionali delle arti marziali.
La natura della trasmissione nelle arti marziali segue l’idea di Shilling (2003) concludente che una delle
rare certezze sul nostro corpo è che finirà per morire, e con questa scomparsa scomparirà ugualmente
la conoscenza incarnata, così laboriosamente elaborata lungo tutta la vita. La preoccupazione di costru-
ire degli «alberi genealogici» o delle carte «corpo» del lignaggio nelle comunità tradizionali delle arti
marziali al fine d’illustrare il legame intergenerazionale tra gli insegnanti, maestri di generazioni succes-
sive, è al centro delle preoccupazioni di quest’articolo. In un secondo tempo esaminiamo come la stirpe
del corpo sembra avere tre funzioni globali: 1) esprimere legittimamente la successione dei maestri di
una data arte marziale; 2) questi successori sono incaricati della preservazione o della conservazione di
un carattere distintivo dell’arte e dell’illlusio del suo valore; 3) di fornire un’identità collettiva distintiva
dell’arte. Infine, l’articolo sviluppa l’idea di «stirpi di corpo» come processo sociale contemporanea-
mente nella pratica del lignaggio corporeo e nella lingua del lignaggio corporeo.
PAROLE CHIAVE : arti marziali, autenticità, corpo, sociologia, trasmissione culturale.

RESUMEN :El linaje corporal: conceptualización de la transmisión de las artes marciales tradicionales
en Occidente
Este documento presenta los recientes desarrollos de un proyecto de investigación cualitativa en
curso,que explora las formas de movimiento en Oriente como práctica de transformación de la corpo-
ralidad en Oriente. En particular, los documentos estudiados en el artículo hacen un análisis de las pri-
meras conclusiones conceptuales sobre la naturaleza, la función y el proceso de « linaje » corporal en las
 La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation de la transmission des arts martiaux traditionnels en Occident 63

culturas tradicionales de las artes marciales. La naturaleza de la transmisión en las artes marciales sigue
la idea de Shilling (2003), concluyendo que una de las raras certitudes sobre nuestro cuerpo, es que ter-
minará por morir y que con esta desaparición desaparecerá también el conocimiento encarnado, tan
laboriosamente elaborado en el transcurso de una vida. Está en el centro de las preocupaciones de este
artículo, la preocupación de construir «árboles genealógicos» o cartas del « «cuerpo» del linaje en las
comunidades tradicionales de las artes marciales con el fin de ilustrar el lazo intergeneracional entre los
profesores, maestros de generaciones succesivas. En segundo lugar, examinaremos como el linaje del
cuerpo parece tener tres funciones globales: 1) legitimamente expresar la succesión de maestros de un
arte marcial dado; 2) estos sucesores están encargados de la preservación o de la conservación de un
carácter distintivo del arte y de la illusio de su valor; 3) entregar una identidad colectiva distintiva del
arte. Finalmente, el artículo desarrolla la idea de « linaje del cuerpo » como proceso social en la práctica
del linaje corporal así como también en la lengua del linaje corporal.
PALABRAS CLAVES : artes marciales, cuerpo, sociología, transmisión cultural, autenticidad.

INTRODUCTION Third, we turn our attention to the the notion

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of body lineage as a social process, and identify
This paper presents some recent develop- some issues related to the practical and linguis-
ments in an ongoing qualitative research tic processes of transmission.
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project exploring Asian movement arts such as

Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Yoga and meditation, as
body-self transforming practices in the West
(see for example, Brown & Leledaki 2005;
Brown, Jennings & Leledaki, 2008; Leledaki, &
Brown (in press); Leledaki & Brown (in press)).
One aspect that has consistently emerged in
this project through our interviews, our in situ
ethnographies and our documentary research
has been the issue of these arts’ “lineage”. In
our experience, the term lineage itself is very
commonly used and discussed by martial artists
themselves. Consequently, we have become in-
terested in the question of “lineage” and how
martial arts are passed on from generation to
generation. It is to this question and our devel-
oping insights in relation to it that this paper
addresses in three sections. We firstly begin by
conceptualizing what we mean by “Body lin-
eage”. Secondly, we then discuss what appears
to be three (amongst possible others) overarch-
ing social functions, 1) to legitimately articulate
the succession of the Masters of a given martial
art; 2) these successors will be charged with ei-
ther preserving or conserving distinctiveness of
the art and the illusio of its value; 3) to provide
a distinctive collective identity for the art.
1. THE NATURE OF “BODY LINEAGE”
IN THE MARTIAL ARTS
Our basis for identifying the social and cul-
tural significance of lineage, and our interpre-
tation of lineage as being more accurately
considered as “body” lineage is based upon
Shilling’s (1993) consideration that, “it is only
in the context of the body’s inevitable death
that we can understand its full social impor-
tance” (Shilling, 1993, p. 175). As Shilling (1993)
concludes, one of the few certainties about our
bodies is that they will eventually grow old and
die, and along with the passing of our bodies
will be the passing of embodied knowledge, so
painstakingly developed over a lifetime. As
such this can be seen as a “body problem”. Shil-
ling explains that the social significance of this
issue is the problem it raises for the transmis-
sion of valued body knowledge. In so doing
Shilling draws upon Bourdieu’s key concepts of
habitus and physical capital commenting:
“Physical capital cannot be directly transmitted
or inherited... because of the unfinishedness of
the body, its development is a complex and
lengthy process which can last for years... phys-
 64 David Brown • George Jennings
ical capital... declines and dies with its bearer.”
(Bourdieu, 1986, p. 245)
“Consequently, the possession of physical capi-
tal can be seen as a more transient resource
than the possession of economic capital.” (Shil-
ling, 1993, p. 142)
Therefore, while these underlying existen-
tial and ontological “immutables” are faced by
all people in their everyday lives they are nev-
ertheless likely to become more acutely and
overtly realised when there is something of per-
ceived value that is embedded in the body and
which the possessor seeks to pass on to the next
generation. There are few instances where these
issues are more clearly brought to the fore-
ground of everyday life than the example of the
prospect of the passing away of a master in the
traditional (and perhaps to a slightly to lesser
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extent, modern) martial arts cultures. Therefore,
this biological moment is also a profoundly
social moment and the realisation of the conse-
quences of this event is the cause for consider-
able concern and the stimulus for considerable
social change in martial arts culture. These con-
cerns are born out by our observations of a pre-
occupation with constructing “family trees”,
“lineage maps”, or “genealogies” in traditional
martial art communities (see for example fig-
ures 1 & 2 below) in order to illustrate the con-
nection between the Master teachers from
successive generations.
LINEAGE ILLUSTRATIONS HERE.
Before, moving on a few caveats are worth
making regarding the need for a critical view of
the practice that lies behid the claims made by
lineage maps. Firstly, although analytically use-
ful, these maps don’t show the complexities of
pedagogy and body lineages. Second, a senior
student may have more influence on a junior
class mate than the official teacher. Third, an
experienced Sifu may has had several teachers,
meaning that they do not have a ‘pure’ habitus
from one particular lineage. Fifth, ageing is a
consideration in body lineage as it may influ-
ence what is passed down, and the moment in
a Master’s martial arts career when they trans-
mit knowledge. Finally, maps usually don’t
show the length of time training with a master.
Nevertheless, as mentioned above if we take
seriously the notion of embodied knowledge
then even if they are more diverse than the
maps indicate, lineages really must still be
viewed as “body lineages”. This is because,
without body lineages, specific bodily knowl-
edge, such as use of energy, sensitivity, touch,
“feel”, specific solutions to the problem of body
combat, idiosyncratic body ritual, and martial
choreographies, and the mythologised notions
of “secret” techniques, contained within the
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myriad martial arts, as movement culture, would
literally ‘die’ with the bodies of the last practitio-
ner. These concerns are particularly well illus-
trated by the writings of the Tai Chi teacher
John Leporati who discusses transmission in
relation to martial arts generally:
“What constitutes an ‘authentic’ transmission
in terms of martial arts and which individuals
received that transmission from their teachers
is one of the most controversial topics in mar-
tial arts today. Countless articles in martial
publications have discussed it. Internet chat
rooms, list servers and newsgroups devoted to
the subject seem obsessed with it and I’ve sel-
dom read a martial arts magazine that didn’t
have at least one letter to the editor in which a
practitioner claimed that ‘my sifu can beat your
sifu’ because my teacher got the ‘real’ or ‘secret’
transmission... As we enter an age where many
of the learned masters of the older generation
are dying off, how does one decide who to
study with? Whose ‘transmission’ can be said
to be ‘authentic’?” (Leporati, John: http://
www.patiencetaichi.com/).
In our view, these brief conceptualizations
and illustrations of the nature of transmission
begin to explain how the underlying stimulus
of the death of the body, the concern for the
transmission of embodied knowledge has pro-
foundly shaped the development of the con-
temporary martial arts culture. We now turn to
examine some of the social functions performed
by body lineage.
 La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation de la transmission des arts martiaux traditionnels en Occident
2. SOME SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
OF BODY LINEAGE?
2.1. To legitimately articulate the succession
of Masters in a given martial art
The most basic observation of the social
function of body lineage is that its principle
purpose is to provide a modality to legitimately
articulate the succession of the Masters of a given
martial art. Embodied martial knowledge is
taken to be incorporated by those martial artists
who have trained with the most culturally
esteemed master practitioners of the previous
generation. This contact with previous masters
provides the next generation with a form of
embodied legitimacy, which, following Bourdieu
(1990) can be understood as a form of symbolic
and physical capital which in turn is readily
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converted into social, cultural and economic
capital, through the ability of the possessor of
this incorporated capital to demonstrate their
authenticity through martial movement and
thus construct a claim to cultural authority in
the field of martial arts which they in turn can
“profit from” in numerous ways.
Such an analysis might benefit from a start-
ing point suggested by Bourdieu’s (1993) anal-
ysis of the field of sport, physical capital and
habitus. In application we can see that struggles
within the martial arts field are in fact struggles
over what constitutes the legitimate martial body
and the legitimate uses of the martial body (in
this case via techniques of the body and the
moral codes of conduct surrounding how and
when combat techniques should used, and
what the goal of violent confrontation should
be, the appropriate style of movement etc.).
The outcome of these struggles have consider-
able significance for the identities of martial arts
and martial artists themselves and the Master is
the principle conduit who must embody and
personify this function. Subsequently, it is
perhaps a little easier to appreciate that the
extremely close attention paid by many tradi-
65
tional martial artists to their embodied heri-
tage, is neither a mystical (although it may have
quasi mystical representations) nor cynical
action (although clearly some use this modality
in cynical ways) but rather, following Bourdieu
(1990), can be seen as following a very practical
logic, in relation to struggles for survival and
precedence in the field of martial arts in which
a given martial art(ist) is currently positioned.
Significantly, this practical logic is made all
the more pertinent, yet elusive and problematic
given the intensification of interculturality that
has evolved from the diffusion of what were
once localized martial arts into global networks
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that now exist as common place phenomenon.
In this situation transmission and succession
often has to take place across very diverse cul-
tures and the diversely socialized bodies and
minds of its global community of practitioners.
The dynamics at play in this situation appear to
lead to a rapidly increased sense of concern for
“authenticity” for some, just as for others (who
perhaps do not have a direct lineage to connect
to) it seems to stimulate the need to construct
new body lineages and traditions (often from a
range of masters, a good example of this is
provided by the Spencer County martial arts
association at: http://www.spencercountymar-
tialarts.com/lineage.htm). In both cases the stim-
ulus tends towards accelerating the pace of
change and innovation, often ironically through
the invention of tradition (Hobsbawm & Ranger,
1983) in the contemporary martial arts.
2.2. These successors will be charged with either
preserving or conserving the distinctiveness
of the art and the illusio of its cultural value
In making sociological sense of why and how
any given martial habitus is “passed on” to a
successor and it is useful to acknowledge that
this succession also brings the responsibility of
preserving the illusio (“The fact of being caught
up in and by the game, of believing the game is
‘worth the candle’”, Bourdieu, 1998, pp. 76-77).
In addition successors must attempt to transmit
 66 David Brown • George Jennings
the same mirrored illusio in their students, it is
useful to consider the insights offered by
Weber’s theory of charismatic leadership. Weber
described this as, “Resting on devotion to the
specific and exceptional sanctity, heroism or
exemplary character of an individual person,
and of the normative patterns or order revealed
or ordained by him [sic]” (Weber & Eisenstadt,
1968, p. 46). However, as we have argued else-
where (See Brown et al, 2008) the idea of cha-
risma needs to be used creatively in order to
accommodate the relatively more recent devel-
opment of understandings of the body in the
social sciences. In short these developments
might lead us to ask how might we come to
understand charismatic acts from an embodied
perspective? In addition, any application of the
term also needs to be cautious about the fact
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that Weber’s general development of the con-
cept surrounded the analysis of religious (and
to a lesser extent military) leaders. While cer-
tain martial arts and their masters seem to
share a number of elective affinities with reli-
gious belief, ritual and practice, thus making the
above definitions useful, we also find Sennett’s
(1977) notion of “secular charisma” equally use-
ful, when he comments:
“In a secular society, when ‘charisma’ is
applied to a forceful leader, the origin of his
[sic] power is more mystifying than in a sacred
society... The sheer revelation of someone’s
inner impulses became exciting; if a person
could reveal himself in public and yet control
the process of self-discplosure, he was exciting.
You felt he was powerful but couldn’t explain
why. This is secular charisma: a psychic strip-
tease. The fact of revelation arouses; nothing
clear or concrete is revealed. Those who fall
under the spell of the forceful personality
become themselves passive, forgetting their
own needs as they are moved.” (Sennett, 1977,
p. 269)
Applying the notion of secular (body) cha-
risma to martial arts masters of successive gen-
erations we can further explore the social
dimensions of body lineage. In a more micro
sociological sense, charismatic leadership and
authority should not be reduced to a sole and
constant focus on the combat ability of a martial
artist, tempting as this might be, as this obscures
the complexity of the master martial artist as liv-
ing embodiment of a movement culture. While
occasionally martial artists have fought in order
to establish a reputation, with this done, in an
everyday practical sense more emphasis is placed
upon the performance of technique. Without
speaking, or at least with very few words, a
charismatic martial artist’s “performance” can
be read and decoded by those with the appro-
priate schemes of perception (see Brown, 2006)
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in ways which signify them as belonging to a
particular “School” or “art” and therefore re-
establishes cultural identity through the physi-
cal act. The charismatic martial artist is thus an
accomplished performer. Indeed, the question of
whether or not it really works is part of the be-
lief framework that the charismatic martial arts
master must construct through their perfor-
mance for the next generation of students.
These performances are often visual as they are
for a group of people. In one-on-one situations,
demonstrations may use touch instead. Thus
some are known for their kicks, others for their
variations of punches, chops or “breaking” abil-
ities or their complex kata. Others are know for
their ritualised and regulated forms of combat
training such as “pushing hands” “Chi sau,”
kumite, randoori, or “gor sau”), invariably all of
these fall short of “free” fighting of the sort seen
in street or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighting.
Therefore, if body lineage is to function as it
should, it needs to produce the next charis-
matic leader who is able to provide the defini-
tive practical interpretation and performance
of the art, as well as knowledge of the art. How-
ever, our understanding of what constitutes
body charisma in the martial arts master
remains very limited and needs expanding to
include, verbal, narrative, gestural and moral
authority through its in situ performance.
 La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation de la transmission des arts martiaux traditionnels en Occident
Finally, a compelling question is if, in these
martial cultures, a kind of secular “martial”
body charisma is itself taught as part of the
object of transmission and sought out as criteria
for succession?
2.3. To provide a distinctive collective identity
for (the version of) the art
One of the key functions of martial arts
body lineage is to secure a sense of distinctive
and valuable identity for the practitioners of a
given art and also importantly a given version
of an art (see for example, Delamont, 2006). It
is important not to underestimate the signifi-
cance of the desire of martial artists to seek such
identities through an art into which they invest
such enormous amounts of time and energy.
Indeed, unlike competitive and participative
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sports where the identities of the participants
are clearly demarcated in terms of success and
pleasure respectively (amongst other secondary
things) most martial arts remain bound up with
life long learning of an art which in most cases
one learns not to display, or use unless threat-
ened in a real situation, which for Reid and
Croucher (1983) amounts to a “paradox” con-
sistent across many self defence martial arts,
both traditional and modernized. Concomit-
tant with Bourdieu’s (1990) acquisition of habi-
tus, if one “becomes” a martial artist then over
a period of time it becomes something that one
is not something one merely does or has. Dela-
mont and Stephen’s (2008) work on Capoeria
has already made some significant inroads into
this issue.
Furthermore, the function of body lineage
for the construction of a collective identity can
also be illuminated by Frank’s (1995) notion of
typical types of body usage including ”disciplin-
ing”, “dominating”, “mirroring” and “commu-
nicative”. In particular, as Frank (1995. p. 43)
articulates “The mirroring body defines itself in
acts of consumption.” [Emphasis original]... This
body-self is called mirroring because consump-
tion attempts to recreate the body in the images
67
of other bodies.’ In this sense (and we acknowl-
edge we have focused on a particular aspect of
Frank’s own definition and application of the
concept) the progressively committed martial
arts students and teachers are all invested into a
culture which is based around the consumption
of a series of bodily experiences that are pur-
posefully constructed to produce quite pro-
found bodily changes of identity over time
towards a particular end. The model for these
changes is taken to be the charismatic master
and the master’s nominated students, and rela-
tively large amounts of respect and adoration,
as well as scrutiny are paid to these “master
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bodies”, thereby setting up a relationship around
the mimetic construction of a collective identity
around a charismatic leader figure.
Thus the process by which the culture and
the individual “models” and “mirrors” the bod-
ies of the master is particularly worthy of focused
study. The obvious examples of the types of
martial movements mentioned above are para-
mount, but additionally the whole range of
bodily consumption from the mirroring of the
gesture, comportment, speech patterns, martial
style, dress style, ritual adherence, and in slightly
less obviously embodied areas, interpretations
of philosophy, martial history and even reli-
gious association, all become important ele-
ments of mirroring to better understand.
3. BODY LINEAGE AS SOCIAL PROCESS
By social process we mean any identifiable
processes that lead to leadership succession in a
given art. As it is not easy to precisely parse
social function from social process a number of
these we have already been mentioned, we shall
limit ourselves to a highlighting a few pertinent
aspects of the practical and linguistic representa-
tions of the body lineage process.
3.1. The practice of body lineage
“A master who has made a decision to reveal
his art will often withhold a central core of
 68 David Brown • George Jennings
advanced teaching that he will pass on only to
an approved successor. Should a suitable can-
didate never appear, the technique dies unless
one of the followers is able to rediscover or
reinvent it.” (Reid & Croucher 1983, p. 19)
Historically, Skoss (1994, http://koryu.com/
library/mskoss4.html), considers that the trans-
mission process was implicitly understood and
refined in many of the Japanese martial arts.
He points to evidence that suggests the practice
of transmission of numerous Japanese martial
arts took two main of processual forms. The
first, isshi sodden, means the complete transmis-
sion of a ryu’s (art’s) techniques and principles
to one’s heir by blood and as such clearly
reflected cultural legitimacies that were con-
structed around heredity in feudal Japan. The
second yuiju ichinin, refers the practices of
teaching all the ryu’s secrets to a single desig-
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nated inheritor who was not a member of one’s
family. A good contemporary example of these
processes combined was Aikido’s founder
Ueshiba who without a son (also indicating the
very gendered order of hierarchy in traditional
Japanese arts), decided to make Kiyoshi
Nakakura heir to the art of Aikido in 1932.
Nakakura was married to Ueshiba’s daughter
and also adopted the family name and the first
name of Morihiro in order to strengthen the
illusio of body lineage by blood (isshi sodden),
when of course in fact he was a designated
inheritor (yuiju ichinin). This example also illus-
trates the fragility of all forms of body lineage,
because around five years later, Nakakura
divorced Ueshiba’s daughter forfeitted his posi-
tion as heir to return to practice his original arts
of Kendo and Iado.
Elsewhere, as Chu, Ritchie and Wu’s (1998)
research indicates, entire Kung Fu systems,
such as in their case, Wing Chun were initially
practised under a “silent code” that meant that
“in order to prevent abuse, it was passed down
to only a few chosen disciples and was never
documented” (p. 83). This silent code was one
of the strongest means through which arts
forms were guarded, conserved and carefully
evolved by a few, it was also of course embodied
and embedded in the bodies of a very few peo-
ple, as with the Japanese example.
Unsurprisingly, the election of a successor
therefore is a key and contentious issue and
often the production of a special artifact (often
a specialist weapon) or license (often in the
form of a scroll) or is used to symbolize and en-
shrine in ritual, the legitimacy of the successor
to the Kung Fu style or ryu. The struggles be-
tween potential successors and the micro poli-
tics and rituals engaged in as well as the moment
of succession itself are all important elements to
better understand this phenomenon as a prac-
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tical social process. Equally, important from a
reflexive sociological perspective are the reac-
tions of the sometimes disgruntled “failed suc-
cessors” who see no option but to split from the
art and start up their own art based on their in-
terpretation. Clearly this viewpoint also ex-
poses one powerful source of proliferation and
change within martial arts culture.
Furthermore, in contemporary societies
throughout the world in the late modern era,
the issue of body lineage, authenticity and
transmission in martial arts has become a rela-
tively diverse process. As illustrated by Villa-
mon, Brown, Espartero & Gutierrez (2004) the
large institutionalized “official” arts such as
Judo, but also arts like Shotokan, Taekwondo
and increasingly Wushu (DeKnop & Theeboom,
1997) have developed a relatively fixed view of
their history and this has given way now to a
dual process in which the institution is led by
one or more socially sanctioned figureheads,
often as elected presidents, but the actual tech-
nical authority (especially in the case of the
sporting arts) is deferred to a “technical com-
mittee” that is charged with researching and
evolving technique and ensuring its relatively
uniform diffusion throughout the institution.
Therefore, in studying such a phenomenon, we
must remain cautious in our ability to theorize
and then generalize across all processes of
transmission in martial arts cultures.
 La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation de la transmission des arts martiaux traditionnels en Occident
Beyond this, the key aspect to transmission
as mentioned earlier is the direct practice and
transference of “feel” from body to body of past
master to future master practitioners. While
this is represented in body lineage maps, as a
practical process it requires direct study. In a
similar vein, the practical process of “grading”
is necessary to understand how martial arts cul-
tures construct highly ritualized and symbolic
events that validate and legitimize certain tech-
nical and stylistic variation and through this
provide the foundations for the recognition of
potential successors. Indeed a close scrutiny of
the structure and content of gradings (or where
these do not exist, the process of recognition of
attainment) will yield important information
about the transmission process. However such
a process is extremely difficult to access as all
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such practices are by human necessity ren-
dered, interpreted and thus “limited” by lan-
guage (see for example, Shepherdson, 2008).
That said, a combination of, photographic and
video analysis coupled with participant observa-
tion and phenomenologically orientated inter-
views (Hockey & Allen Collinson, 2007) that
focus on all of the bodily senses (see Sparkes,
2009) and are cross referenced to this visual
data can certainly provide powerful in depth
accounts of this practical process. Conceptually,
both training and gradings might also be facili-
tated by paying close attention to a cluster of well
known sociological concepts. First, Durkheim’s
([1917], 2001) notion of collective effervescence
(the perceived energy field around a crowd of
people that causes other people to act in a way
that is not normal for them alone or in other
groups) might be used to provide insights into
how these practical encounters between the
bodies of martial artists are productive of some-
thing greater than the sum of their parts.
Moreover, this collective energy may serve to
promote what Merleau-Ponty (1964) refers to
as intersubjectivity in which we might begin to
broaden our focus away from the notion of dis-
crete “martial artists” influenced by practical
69
social encounters and move towards the idea
of martial artists as “relational beings” (Mau-
thener & Doucet, 2003) in which, “the subject is
his [sic] body, his world, and his situation, by a
sort of exchange” (Merleau-Ponty, 1964, p. 72).
Finally, Mellor and Shilling’s (1997) more
recent notion of sensual solidarity (a sensation of
unity through shared experiences) might also
help us to focus on the product of these social
interconnection between martial artists as inter-
subjective “body-subjects”. Therefore, we might
begin to explore how through practical pro-
cesses martial artists begin to feel “physically
united” by their explicit focus on the acquisition
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of a very particular type of psychophysical and
social conditioning. Each of these constructs
can help us to focus upon the embodied aspects
that individual martial artists share and give
value to through their various collective corpo-
real practices.
3.2. The language of Body lineage
Our final subsection considers how the pro-
cess of body lineage is augmented by the use of
language. In terms of preserving a lineage these
are important accoutrements that hitherto have
received little attention in relation to the pro-
cess of transmission of martial arts. The first of
these worthy of mention relates to the discourses
of martial arts training pedagogy. For example,
the work of Basil Bernstein ([1975], 2003) on
discursive linguistic codes (restricted / elaborated)
surrounding the transmission of embodied
knowledge in particular instructional contexts
(such as during training and grading sessions at
the dojo or kwoon) could yield new light on the
verbalization of the process of these arts’ trans-
mission. For example, we have already noticed
that in very traditional arts the linguistic codes
seem to work very much on the basis of highly
restricted codes (where very much is assumed or
simply left out) in order to deliberately focus on
the practical acquisition of skill instead of the
intellectual acquisition of understanding. Only
later are these codes elaborated (once the student
 70 David Brown • George Jennings
has acquired some skill) in order to show the
application, “reasoning” for the movement etc.
Additionally, the plethora of creeds, maxims
and classic texts that are drawn upon for both
everyday training sessions, for grading students
and for representing the ethos of the art in
question (e.g. oral explanations of teachers,
posters in the training hall, training manuals,
web pages, etc.), all serve as important sources
for transmission that help to interpret the
meanings of the art linguistically for the next
generation of practitioner. Notable examples of
these are provided by the Wing Chun code of
conduct (written by grandmaster Yip Man);
Master Gichin Funakoshi’s 20 principles of
Karate; The code of Hwarang (adopted and
elaborated but many Taekwondo associations);
Wu Yuxiang’s (1812-8) Mental Understanding
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for the Practice of the Thirteen Actions, con-
cerning Tai Chi martial principles.
Elsewhere the explosion of interest in narra-
tive theory (see for example Herman, Jahn &
Ryan, 2007) and research has led to quite pro-
found transformations of academic interpre-
tations of the “story” and indeed “history”.
Following theorists such as Somers (1994) we
can begin to see how certain stories that circu-
late in the martial arts can be seen as various
forms of narrative including “metanarratives”
of transmission. A good example of this is pro-
vided by the widely circulated metanarrative of
the origin of many martial arts, which are told
through the story of the Indian prince turned
monk Boddidharma’s passage from India to
the Chinese Shaolin temple or the ancient ori-
gin stories that circulate in relation to Tai Chi
and the masters of Wudang mountain in
China. Attached to these narratives, are invari-
ably more localized narratives which connect to
the metanarrative of the art’s creation through
the body lineage map, which depicts how the
current generations martial arts teacher is con-
nected with this ancient history, through the
bodies of their teachers (a more Western exam-
ple of this is provided by Joseph, 2008, in his
study of Capœira). Finally, the increasing inter-
est in (auto)biographical testimony also serves
as part of the process of linguistic transmission
of the art. Increasing numbers of these kinds of
“testimonial” stories are being produced, often
in discrete sections of commercially available
texts on martial arts techniques, or as fully
fledged (auto)biographies (see for example,
Jacob, 2005).
All of these brief illustrations, contain a range
of narratives that remain to be explored in
detail yet strongly aid the process of transmis-
sion because of they aid in the production of
what Murray (1999) refers to as narrative
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resources which can be used by subsequent gen-
erations of students to make sense of their iden-
tities as martial artists within these lineages.
Indeed a strong familiarity with these is often
taken to be an important aspect that potential
successors must display in order to preserve or
at least conserve the lineage, lest, like the skills
embedded in the bodies of practitioners, the
stories are lost with their passing also.
CLOSING COMMENTS
This article has highlighted the phenome-
non of body lineage and in so doing sketched
the beginnings for why and how we might
begin to conceptualize its study. As with any
kind of embodied, practical knowledge, it is
highly interpreted and elusive due to the inabil-
ity to access precisely the bodily experiences,
the physical capital, and embodied charisma,
through which martial arts culture as content is
conveyed. As such we have advocated the
deployment of a range of methodological strat-
egies and social theory that appear to us to be
useful in order to approaching this task, but we
do not intend this to be an exhaustive concep-
tualization by any means. To this end, as ours
and hopefully others’ research unfolds these
ideas will be elaborated, added to and new con-
cepts may well emerge from additional data
collected. Therefore, our purpose in this article
 La lignée corporelle : conceptualisation de la transmission des arts martiaux traditionnels en Occident
has been to draw attention the significance of
this issue for martial arts culture and to provide
some preliminary possibilities for how it may
approach as a topic of investigation.
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