Cheap Journal Of Asian Martial Arts (Magazine) Price

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Customer Reviews of Journal Of Asian Martial Arts

Underrated; I think its great
I disagree with the other raters here; I think this is a great publication. It's certainly a welcome change from oily-chested, testosterone-pumped, 'slick' martial arts magazines like 'Black Belt'. The whole thing has a much more calm, academic air about it. The articles are meticulously researched, the contributing authors have excellent credentials and truth always seems to shine through. By contrast, other martial arts magazines don't always seem to discern between fiction and fact; whenever a martial arts-themed film comes out, it's always a cover story in the 'slick' magazines.

The Journal of Asian Martial Arts takes a much more 'warts-and-all' approach to martial arts; the stories admit that martial arts are often rendered null by firearms, that many specific movements and forms--ESPECIALLY the very bold and 'pretty' ones--are really just more for show than because they have any fighting value.

And, as I said, the cover never features crew-cut, bug-eyed men with oiled-up bare chests!

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Nothing new here
As much as this magazine trys to put forth an image of scholarship and indepth knowledge it falls very short of its intended goal. Those who frequently contribute to this magazine are very bound by form, and put forth what their own perception of traditional Asian martial arts is, instead of covering what the traditional fighting arts of asia and other cultures really encompass. To put it plainly, if what ever your doing isn't in a white karate gi, or silk Tai Chi uniform then the Journal of Asian Martial Arts will not recognize it. There's nothing worse than a bunch of Americans who try being Japanese or Chinese more so than the people of these cultures. And thats what you often encounter within the pages of this magazine. Americans masqerading as Asians who have little understanding of anything martial.

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Poor attempt at Scholarship
For years now this magazine has been attempting to attain some level of scholarship and failing on almost all accounts. In fact many of their articles are one step below those found in popular martial arts magazines such as Black Belt, Kung Fu illustrated and others like them. The Journal Of Asian MArtial Arts is also very one sided in their view point, no matter how unfounded the claim may be, or how unsound the technique is, if an Asian practitioner said or demonstrated it then by all accounts its the gospel. Much of the magazines analysis of techniques is theoretical by nature, you can tell boxing, nor western style wrestling was required by the magazines staffers for article submissions. IN fact this magazine holds the opinion of a 5 or 10 year student with a M.A. degree higher than the experience of a long term practitioner with 30 or more years. If you want fluff and mystic, then by all means subscribe to this one. If your wanting something real, then go bang on the punching bag or spar a few rounds.