Martial Arts and Crafts: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"We would parade across the rooftops in the still of night, making naught but a whisper. By the time they realized there was a parade it was already over..."''|'''Karashi''' (on [http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/0393.html ninja marching bands]), ''[[Adventurers (Webcomic)|Adventurers!]]''}}

In shows which feature martial arts heavily, there are a lot of different styles found in [[The Verse]]. This is [[Truth in Television]] somewhat as there have been many martial arts developed throughout history often based on local needs. For example [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_kobudo:Okinawan kobudo|Okinawan weapons]] were developed from household and farm implements.

The [[Inverted Trope|inverse]] of [[I Know Madden Kombat]]; this trope covers instances where martial arts are used for mundane tasks, or a martial art is developed from humble beginnings. This trope is sometimes invoked by games that seek to be [[PVP -Balanced|balanced for PVP]] or [[Competitive Balance|competitive dueling]].

Compare [[Mundane Utility]], [[WhatMundane Do You Mean It's NotMade Awesome?]]. Often a case of [[I Know Kung Faux]].

Contrast [[What the Fu Are You Doing?]]

== Anime &and Manga ==

* ''[[Ranma One Half½]]'' is likely the [[Trope Maker]], certainly the [[Trope Codifier]], and the list of just how many different styles that the anime ''alone'' named is ridiculous. Most, but not all, are based specifically on one of the many [[Cooking Duel|strange competitions they have]]. But yes, it does include Martial Arts Calligraphy in a [[Filler]] episode. In general, you have "serious" ones (that is, ones where the contestants actually aim to hurt each other), and "contest" ones (martial arts that tend to be goofy even by this series' standards).

*** Martial Arts Calligraphy: while the combatants do aim simply to be the first one to draw a certain kanji/hiragana symbol, they are also allowed to beat the snot out of each other with letter openers, paper weights, ink, paper and calligraphy brushes the size of quarterstaves. An apparently lost variant allows the practitioner to draw special designs on a person's body that can manipulate their internal ki -- theki—the only example we're shown, the Mark of the Gods, is a goofy smiley face on the belly that amplifies the subject's skill something like tenfold.

*** Martial Arts Tea Ceremony: yes, [[Rumiko Takahashi]] turned the most peaceful of Japanese ceremonies into a martial art. It uses items from tea ceremony, including stirring sticks, spoons and tea whisks as weapons. Combatants must fight from the formal kneeling position -- theposition—the trained practitioner can zip around in this pose as though they were standing, thanks to their strengthened toes, and even climb, hang upside down from the ceiling, and jump.

** There're actually more serious [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] in ''Ranma ½'' than there are joke ones… which is kind of worrying.

*** Martial Arts Dining: this style gives a whole new meaning to "food fight". The objective is to be the first one to clear all of the many plates of food you're given -- andgiven—and, for an extra twist, you must be incredibly neat about it. As in, you can't be seen to actually eat the food -- iffood—if you're spotted, you get an extra plate as a penalty. As a result of centuries of adherence to these insane rules, practitioners have faces that they can warp and stretch like silly putty, as well as super-speed hand-strikes. Swallowing watermelons whole, picking a sweet from the top of one's own head with one's tongue and then swallowing it, all of these are possible. {{spoiler|Ranma, unable to actually develop sufficient speed to compete, instead attempts to master an ancient and dangerous strategy known as the "Parlay du Fois Gras", where one's food is stuffed into ''the opponent's'' mouth (much like geese are force-fed to make fois gras) in an attempt to cause a jam and thus, a forfeit. The "dangerous" part comes from the fact that devoted users tend to starve to death.}}

* And then of course there's ''[[Bobobo-boBo Bo-bobo]]'', which lives on this. The main character uses "Fist of the Nose Hair", which is basically [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]. That is only the beginning of the martial arts madness. There's a full list [http://bobobo.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Shinken here].<br />It must be noted that, although the Finishing Attacks of each school do indeed fit the theme indicated by the name, most of the actual fighting in the series, no matter the formal school used, boils down to confusing the enemy to the point where they can't defend themselves against that finishing attack. Bobobo at one point laments that, aside from a basic hand chop and the "confuse them" strategy, he really only has a single special attack.

* Every school club in ''[[Futaba -Kun Change (Manga)!|Futaba Kun Change]]'' seems to have a martial art based upon whatever the club's focus is. Including martial arts calligraphy.

* Koetsuji the jiu-jitsu master in ''[[Kenichi: theThe Mightiest Disciple]]'' normally keeps to standard techniques, but when up against a speed-sculpting Russian Sambo master, he responded in kind. [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/history_s_strongest_disciple_kenichi/v30/c274/15.html Martial arts] [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/history_s_strongest_disciple_kenichi/v30/c274/16.html sculpture battle, anyone?]

{{quote| "The prostitutes in Ninja Village are also ninjas! That's why we call them '''Ninja Prostitutes'''"}}

* Stephen Chow's earlier film ''[[God of Cookery (Film)|God of Cookery]]'' featured Shaolin-style cooking, complete with an over-the-top martial arts contest.

* In ''[[Hero (Filmfilm)|Hero]]'', one's skill in swordsmanship directly crosses over into skill at calligraphy. Nameless studies Broken Sword's calligraphy to get a better impression of his warrior skills. This is actually a reference to some Samurai beliefs -- thebeliefs—the way you hold a brush and the way you hold a sword have a symbolic relationship.

* In the first ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Filmfilm)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' movie, Leo puts his swords by slicing up a pizza and distributing the slices to the plates. The last one ends up falling on Splinter's head!

** Almost anywhere you find a training scene in an old kung fu movie there's likely to be something like this -- thethis—the 'student learns some kind of Everyday Skill Fu and eventually gets bored of it, protests to the master and is finally shown what the meaning is' routine. Some examples are Jackie Chan learning Martial Arts Walnut Cracking in the original ''Drunken Master'', Chin Kar Lok being taught Noodle Cooking Fu by Lau Kar Leung in ''Operation Scorpio'', and Austin Wei in Shaw Bros' classic ''Five Superfighters'' unknowingly being taught Kung Fu Labouring.

* ''[[The Karate Kid]]'' has the infamous "[[Wax On, Wax Off|wax on, wax off]]", not to mention "paint the fence", "paint the house" and "sand the deck". Nothing for Crane Kick, except getting free pizza from the delivery guy. Another example of kung fu healing.

* ''[[Bloodsport (Film)|Bloodsport]]'' -- From—From Muy Thai and Sumo to Karate and Jungle Style fighting

* ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]''

** In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'', Lu-Tze dismissively describes ''tung-pi'' as "bad-tempered flower arranging".

** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Making Money|Making Money]]'' has a brief demonstration of ''sloshi'', Martial Arts Clowning, in which ballistic pie throwing, "[[Plank Gag|battle-planking]]" and lethal balloon animals all feature.

** ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'' has a group of Morris Dancers who manage to fight off attacking [[The Fair Folk|Elves]] with their dance routine. ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Wintersmith|Wintersmith]]'' reveals that this is in fact what Morris dancing (and its secret midwinter [[Shadow Archetype]], the Dark Morris) was originally designed for.

* Ambient magic in ''[[Circle of Magic]]'' books ''is'' this trope. Ambient magic is when people have magic that reacts to certain activities -- suchactivities—such as gardening, metalworking, dancing, making clothes, you name it. Anything to do with that activity, that ambient mage draws power from it. Most of the time, ambient mages just work away at their own crafts, but when you get in a fight... well, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|just watch out, okay?]]

* A variation appears in an episode of ''[[Sliders]]'' on a world where they have "seers" for every imaginable field -- medicalfield—medical work, law enforcement, even politics. (But presumably ''not'' gambling.)

* ''[[The Goodies (TV)|The Goodies]]'' episode "Kung Fu Kapers" featured the Lancashire martial art of Ecky-Thump, which consisted of hitting people with black puddings.

* [[John Belushi]]'s famous series of Samurai sketches on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' in the 1970s, in which he portrayed a samurai running various mundane businesses (Delicatessen, Tailor, Hotel, Bakery, etc.) and speaking only (fake) Japanese.

* ''[[Exalted (Tabletop Game)|Exalted]]''

* Parodied in ''[[Ninja Burger (Tabletop Game)|Ninja Burger]]'', where characters use their ninja skills for fast food delivery, losing honor if they're seen or late. Their slogan? "Guaranteed delivery in 30 minutes or less, or we commit seppuku!"

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]:

* ''[http://www.sirlin.net/yomi Yomi]'', an upcoming card game currently in beta, is based around a Olympic-style martial arts tournament. While some of the characters the players can use make sense to be in a martial arts tournament, four other characters make less sense -- Jeffersonsense—Jefferson DeGrey, Ghostly Diplomat; Max Geiger, Precise Watchmaker (actually something of a [[Time Master]]); Valerie Rose, Manic Painter; and Lum Bam-Foo, Gambling Panda.<br />For some precision, DeGrey seems to be spicing up his martial arts with some debating, Geiger with time control, Valerie Rose has the most common Martial Arts Painting, and Lum Bam Foo spices things up with Martial Arts GAMBLING. (Complete with coin throwing.)

* ''[[Fruit Ninja]]'', well, the title says it all, really. The game is about using your cool katana to chop up fruit.

* The plots of [[Nasuverse|Type Moon's]] ''[[Melty Blood (Video Game)|Melty Blood]]'' [[Fighting Game|Fighting Games]]s are driven by the reality-warping Night of Wallachia. Among other crazy things, this phenomenon transforms Kohaku and Hisui from simple maids into [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] masters capable of fighting half-demons and ancient vampires by using dustpans and potted plants. Basically, a justification for [[Competitive Balance]].

* Thief, in ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', has a squad of Law Ninja. They kill anyone that violates his forged contracts. They also wear [[Highly-Visible Ninja|bright red]] and [[Conservation of Ninjutsu|are, as Thief describes them,]] [[Red Shirt|"inherently disposable"]].

* ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]''

** Ninja accountants appear on-screen in [https://web.archive.org/web/20120506224544/http://www.goats.com/archive/011119.html Goats].

** Oddly, this plays into a real life example, with [https://web.archive.org/web/20131028153447/http://www.ninjanewyork.com/ Ninja New York], an actual ninja-themed restaurant in which your servers will appear from nowhere, and you might just get assassinated.

* Played with in ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]],'' where a waitress, upon sneaking up on her customers and startling one, admits that she's waiting tables to pay for ninja school.

* Chaka, at [[Super -Hero School]] Whateley Academy in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]'', has the superpower of Ki control, and has invented new [[Martial Arts and Crafts]] at the drop of a shuriken. When given detention, she invented (on the fly) martial arts mopping (instant cleaning by attuning her Ki with the mop), martial arts linen folding, martial arts grime scrubbing... She has used her martial arts skills for healing problems beyond medicine, like Doctor Heavy's inability to turn off his local 8-G gravity field (she turned it into a local 0-G field by accident). And she has developed all kinds of martial arts weapons for herself, including sewing needles, forks, playing cards...

* ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Atop the Fourth Wall]]'' features a ninja-style dancer.

* In ''[[Futurama (Animation)|Futurama]]'', Leela's martial arts are applied in grossly inappropriate situations; she has even been known to shout "HI YA!!" when unplugging a refrigerator.

* In the first episode of the original ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 (Animation)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' series, the turtles walk through the "ninja district" of the city and, after finding their original destination (Ninja Pizza), see signs for Ninja-run dry cleaning, shoe repair, video rentals and ''dentists''. At said Ninja Pizza, the food is thrown like shuriken at the customers (and either you catch it or it ends up all over you).

{{quote| ''(a ninja throws a dagger with a piece of paper at the Turtles' table, landing smack in the middle; Raphael picks it up)''<br />

'''Leonardo:''' What is it, a threatening note?<br />

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': In one episode, it is revealed that SpongeBob is nigh-obsessed with karate, driving his boss Krabs to nearly fire him from his frycook job due to the fact this obsession is interfering with his work... until he realizes that SpongeBob's karate can also be used to mass-produce burgers and to put on a very entertaining show for customers.

* In one episode of ''[[Wakfu (Animation)|Wakfu]]'', kung-fu baking becomes pretty [[Serious Business]].

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', the various bending techniques are shown to have various practical applications. These range everywhere from the sensible (i.e. using firebending to set stoke a boiler, earthbending for stonemasonry, and waterbending to propel river boats) to the somewhat ridiculous (i.e. using earthbending to send mail).

* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Capoeira |Capoeira]] is a martial art meant to look like a dance.

*** In the ''[[Command and& Conquer]]'' game ''[[Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3]],'' if you click on the ninja unit enough times, he says "We work in the Emperor's Garden!"

* The ubiquitous "dragon dance" seen at Chinese New Year -- andYear—and so damn many movies -- ismovies—is a form in Kung-Fu.

** Since the original meaning of the word gōngfu means [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_fu_%28term%29:Kung fu (term)|"one's expertise in any skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial"]], ''everything'' is a form of Kung-Fu.

* Most of the "Animal Style" Kung Fu traditions have a legend about their founder watching some animal in it'sits natural habitat doing what comes naturally. These masters are then struck with inspiration and found a new tradition of martial arts based on the natural flow found in the animal's movements.

** Another view is that some wise old master looked at the beauty of nature &and said to themselves "I could really mess someone up with that"

*** Gunpowder was invented in an alchemy experiment that was ''trying'' for an [[Immortality Inducer]], and a sword is just a longer knife. A great many battles have also been fought with hunting guns—the sharpshooter units of many European armies are called "hunters" (chasseurs in French, Jägers in German) ''[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|because that was what they did for a living in peacetime]]''.