Self-Cultivation in East Asian Martial Arts

The contributions to this volume examine how practitioners of East Asian martial arts from around the world and across different historical periods have understood, reflected on, and practised self-cultivation. They illustrate the diverse meanings of the terms 'martial arts' and 'self-cultivation' and show how these 'Asian' traditions change and are reinterpreted as they cross cultural boundaries. The authors draw on a range of methods, including fieldwork, surveys, historical analyses, material culture studies, and film studies. In doing so, they encourage a rethinking of the relationship between martial arts and self-cultivation.

Dr. Covell is the Mary Meader Professor of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University. A Fulbright scholar, he has written extensively on modern Japanese Buddhism.