Robert W. Smith (historian)

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Cover of Smith's book Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts (Previously published as: Asian Fighting Arts)

Robert W. Smith (b December 27, 1926) is an American martial artist and historian.

Born on a farm in Iowa, he was sent at the age of three to an orphanage due to economic distress. There he became a voracious reader. In high school, he learned boxing and wrestling. He joined the U.S. Marines at seventeen, and after being discharged in 1946 took even greater interest in boxing. This was soon followed by judo.

Smith later became a CIA analyst and was posted to Taiwan, the seat of the postwar Republic of China. There he met many masters--of xingyi, bagua, and other arts. But in particular, he met Cheng Man-ch'ing, the taijiquan (t'ai chi ch'uan) master, and became his first non-Chinese student.

Smith taught first judo and, then beginning in 1962, taijiquan, baguaquan and xingyiquan for many years in the Washington, D.C. area, until he retired to North Carolina.

Smith befriended many martial artists and sought out many teachers, out of a friendly curiosity that evolved into a role as one of the first Asian martial arts historians/journalists in the West.

[edit] Smith's Writings

Always written with a flair, Robert Smith's numerous books and articles weave together history, anecdotes, opinions, humor and always quotes from his wide-ranging reading. He has written, co-written, edited and co-translated fourteen books on the martial arts and over twenty articles, with a particular focus on China. He also wrote under the pseudonym John F. Gilbey, who was invented as a lark, but people took as being a real person.

He edited the first book in English on Shaolin Temple Boxing. In addition, he wrote the first books in English on Pa-kua Ch'uan (baguaquan) and Hsing-i Ch'uan (xingyiquan) and co-authored with Cheng Man-ch'ing one of the first books on T'ai Chi Ch'uan (taijiquan) and, thus, is a key figure in introducing Western readers to these three "internal" martial arts of China.

Smith's memoir, Martial Musings was published in 1999.

[edit] See also

[edit] Selected References

Cheng Man-ch'ing and Robert W. Smith. T'ai Chi. 1967. ISBN 0-8048-0560-1.
Draeger, Donn and Robert W. Smith. Asian Fighting Arts, Kodansha International, 1969; re-titled Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts upon republication, 1980 (ISBN 978-0870114366)
Lo, Benjamin and Robert W. Smith, translators. T'ai Chi Ch'uan Ta Wen: Questions and Answers on T'ai Chi Ch'uan, by Chen Weiming. ISBN 0-038190-67-9.
Smith, Robert W. Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods. 1974, 1990. ISBN 1-55643-085-X.
---Martial Musings. 1999. ISBN 1-893765-00-8