Martial Arts: Elementary, My Dear Readers

              One of the best things about a classic novel is that it isn't locked in one time frame. While the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series might have been a New York Times Bestselling series, it probably won't become a classic because it is too heavily rooted in the culture of contemporary America. Pride and Prejudice, while also rooted in the culture of Austen's day, is not rooted to the point where readers of today cannot identify with it. The only difficulty with the classics that I've found is that sometimes an author uses a well-known phrase or expression of his time that someone might not know a hundred years from now.

            Something like that happened when I first read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Empty House" (a Sherlock Holmes tale, for those who don't know). Holmes mentions to Watson that he has some general knowledge of baritsu, or Japanese wrestling. When I read this, I assumed that most people in late nineteenth century England would know what baritsu was, but for me, it was just another amazing trick the Great Detective had up his sleeve. I did some research and discovered that in actuality, people in Doyle's time also weren't sure of what it meant.

            This video accurately describes the history and definition of baritsu better than I could (I claim no credit for the creation of this video)