Tyson, Ali & Jackson

February 17, 2024



Michael Jackson with Mike Tyson (top) and Muhammad Ali (bottom).

Via 
Film Scenes
 

Richard Bong

February 10, 2024







Richard "Dick" Ira Bong (1920 – 1945) was a United States Army Air Forces major who won the Medal of Honour for his aviation exploits in World War Two. He was America’s top fighter pilot during the war, with forty confirmed Japanese aircraft down by his Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter.

Bong considered himself to be a poor shot so to compensate, he would get very close to his target, sometimes even flying through the debris of exploding planes. His exploits include:

He was once caught alone by nine Japanese zeros. He turned to face them, took out three and managed to send the rest into retreat.

When escorting a small boat over the pacific, he noticed a large crocodile following it. He promptly dropped down to sea level and blew the creature out of the water with his 20mm autocannon.

In 1942, he was temporarily grounded along with three other pilots for looping over the Golden Gate Bridge and flying so low down a street in San Francisco that he blew the clothes off a woman’s clothesline. When reprimanding him, his commanding officer General George C. Kenney said:

“If you didn't want to fly down Market Street, I wouldn't have you in my Air Force, but you are not to do it anymore and I mean what I say.” Kenney later wrote, “We needed kids like this lad.”
 

Lady Archers

February 3, 2024



"In 1787, “several young ladies” who shot with the Royal British Bowmen – the first British sporting society to admit women – were said to have “added to their conquests the hearts of young gentlemen of honour and fortune”, with the society responsible for the marriage of “not a few happy couples”, according to a newspaper report ...The more spectacular archery tournaments were usually held on private grounds of the landed gentry and were seen very much as a wider opportunity for socialising and courtship. Large tournaments invariably ended with a full-dress ball.

In other words, the sport had become something not followed for its own sake, but as an excuse for a large party and a respectable arena where men and women could meet. The novel Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope, written in 1857, describes a country house fete with romance against the backdrop of an archery tournament."
 

The Monkey Stick

January 28, 2024



Shaolin apprentice demonstrates the monkey stick as a part of his eleven year training to become a Shaolin warrior monk.

Sacred Wonders - BBC
 

Indian Suffragettes

December 18, 2023






Top - Lolita Roy who worked tirelessly to help education Indian women and to gain them the vote in India.
Middle - Princess Sophia Duleep Singh who used her privileged position to help the suffrage cause.
Bottom - Both women pictured together (centre of the picture).

bristol.ac.uk
 

Sakujiro Yokoyama's Account of a Samurai Duel

October 14, 2023


The following quote was recorded by the early Western judoka E. J. Harrison in his book The Fighting Spirit of Japan (1913). It is an account from a fellow judoka, Sakujiro Yokoyama (pictured above) of a samurai duel that he witnessed as a child in Japan.

"I can carry my memory back to the days when all samurai wore the two swords and used them as well when necessity arose. When quite a boy I accidentally witnessed an exciting duel to the death between a ronin [an unattached samurai] and three samurai. The struggle took place in the Kojimachi ward, in the neighbourhood of Kudan, where the Shokonsha now stands.

Before proceeding with my narrative, I ought to explain for the benefit of my foreign listeners [there were two of us present besides another Japanese gentleman] the usage that was commonly observed by the two-sworded men of the old feudal days, in order that the incident I am about to describe may be better understood.

The sword of the samurai, as you know, was a possession valued higher than life itself, and if you touched a samurai's sword you touched his dignity. It was deemed an act of unpardonable rudeness in those days for one samurai to allow the tip of his scabbard to come into contact with the scabbard of another samurai as the men passed each other in the street; such an act was styled saya-ate {saya = scabbard, ate = to strike against}, and in the absence of a prompt apology from the offender a fight almost always ensued.

The samurai carried two swords, the long and the short, which were thrust into the obi, or sash, on the left-hand side, in such a manner that the sheath of the longer weapon stuck out behind the owner's back. This being the case, it frequently happened, especially in a crowd, that two scabbards would touch each other without deliberate intent on either side, although samurai who were not looking for trouble of this kind always took the precaution to hold the swords with the point downward and as close to their sides as possible.

But should a collision of this description occur, the parties could on no account allow it to pass unnoticed. One or both would at once demand satisfaction, and the challenge was rarely refused. The high sense of honour which prevailed among men of this class forbade them to shrink from the consequences of such an encounter. So much by way of introduction. The episode I am going to describe arose in precisely this fashion.

The parties to the duel were a ronin and three samurai, as I have already said. The ronin was rather shabbily dressed and was evidently very poor. The sheath of his long sword was covered with cracks where the lacquer had been worn away through long use. He was a man of middle age. The three samurai were all stalwart men and appeared to be under the influence of sake.

They were the challengers. At first the ronin apologized, but the samurai insisted on a duel, and the ronin eventually accepted the challenge. By this time a large crowd had gathered, among which were many samurai, none of whom, however, ventured to interfere. In accordance with custom, the combatants exchanged names and swords were unsheathed, the three samurai on one side facing their solitary opponent, with whom the sympathies of the onlookers evidently lay.

The keen blades of the duellists glittered in the sun. The ronin, seemingly as calm as though engaged merely in a friendly fencing bout, advanced steadily with the point of his weapon directed against the samurai in the centre of the trio, and apparently indifferent to an attack on either flank. The samurai in the middle gave ground inch by inch and the ronin as surely stepped forward.

Then the right-hand samurai, who thought he saw an opening, rushed to the attack, but the ronin, who had clearly anticipated this move, parried and with lightning rapidity cut his enemy down with a mortal blow. The left-hand samurai came on in his turn, but was treated in similar fashion, a single stroke felling him' to the ground bathed in blood. All this took almost less time than it takes to tell.

The samurai in the centre, seeing the fate of his comrades, thought better of his first intention and took to his heels. The victorious ronin wiped his blood-stained sword in the coolest manner imaginable and returned it to its sheath. His feat was loudly applauded by the other samurai who had witnessed it. The ronin then repaired to the neighbouring magistrate's office to report the occurrence, as the law required."
 

Corinthian Helmet

June 28, 2023


A Corinthian helmet that was found in Greece in 1834 still containing the scull of its wearer. It's believed to date from the Battle of Marathon which was fought between Greek and Persian forces in 490 BCE. This battle gave rise to the legend of Pheidippides, the Athenian messenger who ran throughout Greece to warn of the impending battle, a feat that the modern marathon is based on.

Ranker
 

Tametomo and the Wolf Pups

June 25, 2023

Tametomo and the Wolf Pups by artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi (797–1861).

collections.mfa.org
 

Fist of Fury

June 24, 2023


Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury.
 

Muhammad Ali & Zbigniew Pietrzykowski

June 20, 2023




Top: Muhammad Ali & Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland after Ali won their bout in the 1960 Olympic finals in Rome in the light heavyweight division.

Bottom: The two are collecting their medals along with Giulio Saraudi (Italy) and Anthony Madigan (Australia) who both came joint third.

 
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