The History of Fighting

An early clip of boxing footage recorded via Kinetograph. Taken in 1894, it shows a
fight between two bpxers named Cushing and Leonard, the latter getting the victory
in the final of six one minute rounds with a knock down.

Bruce Lee - The Big Boss

A Japanese headsman tells his Chinese prisoner the best way to hold his head
for a smooth decapitation. The picture was taken in 1938 during the Nanking massacre.

This picture of warrior monks from the Shaolin Temple in the Henan Province was taken some time in the 1920s. It clearly demonstrates that they had become modernized in their fighting methods, learning from the mistakes of an earlier generation of monks who believed they could use traditional forms of fighting against soldiers with guns. They used talisman and spells to protect them from bullets during the Boxer Rebellion of 1901, a mistake that led to the uprising being easily quashed and one that cost many people their lives.

A demonstration of Wu style Tai Chi Chuan by Chu Minyi, disciple of Wu Jianquan, filmed in 1937 in Shanghai. Chu shows the Wu style set, tuishou and his 'modern and scientific' approach to kung fu including his 'stick' and 'ball' training methods.

This small-scale model is of the Archer XI of the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia (c. 505–500 BCE), which is dedicated to a Greek goddess of the same name and was worshipped almost exclusively on the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf.

A group of samurai warriors dressed in traditional costume photographed towards the end of the Edo Period in the 19th century.

Edith Margaret Garrud was an early 20th century female jujitsu expert who used her considerable skill to train a group known simply as the Bodyguard. They were tasked with giving protection to Emmeline Pankhurst and other suffragettes, who were regularly manhandled and harassed by police.

In 1913, Garrud made a short film (from which the pictures above are taken) to demonstrate her jujitsu and show than even in the male dominated world of the early twentieth century, a well-trained woman could hold her own against anybody.