Museum Teaches Culture Through Martial Arts
December 30, 2007
“We’re a very kid-friendly place,” says Michael Matsuda, president and founder of the Martial Arts History Museum. Indeed, the museum, which celebrated the grand opening of its first permanent location in October, is well-positioned to appeal to the under-12 crowd. One display is dedicated to the influence of Asian martial arts on children’s cartoons, from Hong Kong Phooey to Avatar, while characters like Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are heroically depicted on the museum’s murals, pleasantly reminiscent of a grade-school gymnasium.
But while Matsuda embraces what popular culture has done for the martial arts, it’s the “culture” he hopes to emphasize. “I wanted to show how Asian culture, through the martial arts, has really become part of American culture,” he says.
A scholar of martial arts history, Matsuda has produced several books and films on the subject, and his museum traces the arts from their religious and agrarian origins in Asia to their mass appeal in the West. One wall devoted to Japanese weaponry explains how nunchaku, popularized by Bruce Lee, had originally been used to thresh rice, while sai, Ninja Turtle Raphael’s weapon of choice, evolved out of a tool for planting seeds. Another wall discusses the Shaolin Temple’s influence on the Chinese martial arts, and attributes the inception of kung fu in America to the Chinese laborers who came to build the railroads.
Perhaps a metaphor for this migration of Asian tradition, the Chinese exhibit also introduces museum-goers to the classic novel Journey to the West, citing its literary and religious influence on contemporary martial arts films. “Martial arts and film are very connected,” says Matsuda, referring to the correlation between enrollments in martial arts schools and the release of certain Hollywood blockbusters. “The last time we saw a surge [in enrollments] was when The Last Samurai came out,” recalls Matsuda, who is also a martial arts instructor, one of two in the United States who teaches monkey-style kung fu. “But I remember when Bruce Lee was hot, we had to practice out in the parking lot, there were so many students.”
Both the museum and its founder reflect this excitement for the martial arts in film. The museum screens daily a series of short documentaries that Matsuda produced himself, demonstrating the broad, sometimes esoteric, extent to which the Asian martial arts have infiltrated American film and television. Several of the museum’s exhibits include props from films such as Elektra and Mortal Kombat. Korean Bong Soo Han, the lead stuntman from Billie Jack, the 1971 film considered the first major American martial arts production, gets his own display that includes the famous hat worn in the movie. The museum also boasts ownership of Bruce Lee’s training mat as part of its collection. Many items are either on loan from private collections or have been donated by the estates of their previous owners.
“A lot of this stuff is just sitting in people’s attics, so it’s nice they let us put it on display to share with others,” says Matsuda. The museum’s extensive array of wood and shark-tooth weapons belonging to the little-known Hawaiian martial art of Lua, as well as its unique collection of Filipino swords and uniforms, came from private contributions. “Donations don’t necessarily have to be old. If it’s culturally interesting, we’ll put it on display.”
Matsuda has the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy store who has grown up to become the store’s owner, and it’s difficult to imagine there was ever a time when he didn’t love the martial arts. “My dad made me take judo as a kid and I hated it,” he recalls. “But then, I discovered kung fu, and it was a better fit for me with all the tradition, art and history that surrounded it.”
Through kung fu, the young Matsuda of Japanese, Hispanic, and Italian heritage eventually discovered Asian culture beyond martial arts. It is this cultural discovery that Matsuda hopes to share with others at his museum. With weekly seminars on topics as varied as Asian cooking and language, the Martial Arts History Museum is the perfect place for kids and adults alike to learn something new about Asian culture through the martial arts.
The Martial Arts Museum is located in Santa Clarita, about 30 miles north of Los Angeles on Interstate 5. More information can be found on the museum’s website: www.mamuseum.com.
Comments
Got something to say?