Lately, I’ve been studying the art and history of rhetoric in my Ph.D. program. I’ve written briefly about what I think are some interesting crossovers between martial arts and rhetoric, and this post continues in that vein, namely by describing two men who made huge changes in their respective realms of expertise: Gorgias and Mitsuyo Maeda.

In a recent class on rhetorical theory, I had to read about various rhetoricians and rhetorical practitioners through the ages. While reading the background and works of Gorgias, particularly his Encomium of Helen, I was stunned by the similarities I saw between him and Mitsuyo Maeda, the Kano-Jitsu/Judo teacher who helped initiate what would become Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (I’m not quibbling over who taught whom).

Gorgias was a Sophist from Sicily during 5^th century BCE. He traveled throughout Greece teaching the art of rhetoric. Maeda was a martial artist from Japan who traveled the world teaching Kano-Jitsu during the early 1900s. Both Maeda and Gorgias, in their respective fields, were experts who shared their knowledge and skills with others. Maeda as a martial artist; Gorgias as a rhetorician.

Several similarities between them include their willingness to leave their home countries and teach abroad. Many of the early Sophists were not Greek, but spent much of their lives teaching in Greece. Similarly, in the early 1900s, several Japanese martial arts began taking their various styles to distant lands, a move that corresponded with the opening up of Japan to the West.

Another interesting similarity, at least to me, is Gorgias and Maeda’s engagement in public displays of their arts. Gorgias captivated audiences with his rhetorical prowess and often took on public debates with bystanders or anyone who thought they could match him. Maeda likewise engaged in public prize fights and “catch-as-catch-can” matches to display his skill and the effectiveness of Kano-Jitsu. He took the ring name, Konde Coma or Count Combat.

A last parallel is the negative connotation they both received about accepting money for instruction in their craft. Gorgias and many of the sophists were lambasted by the philosophers, particularly Plato and Socrates, for accepting payment to teach the young men of Athens the art of public speaking. Likewise, Maeda bore the scorn of the Judo elites during his time for taking prize fights. A view closer to home today is the common assumption that people should teach Judo for free, but that is for another post.  

Both of these men were teachers, travelers, fighters, and public combatants, whether using rhetoric or physical skill to do battle. Their similarities display the beautiful connection I find in rhetoric, philosophy, and martial arts. If philosophy is about ideas, and rhetoric the debating of those ideas, then it is easy to see how martial arts becomes a wonderful metaphor for how we navigate and engage the world physically, mentally, and socially. More on these topics to come in the future.

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