Martial Arts History Museum

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Martial Arts History Museum
Martial Arts History Museum.jpg
Martial Arts History Museum
Martial Arts History Museum
Established1999
Location201 N. Brand Blvd., B100, Glendale, CA 91203
Coordinates 34°08′53″N118°15′18″W / 34.148078°N 118.255046°W / 34.148078; -118.255046
TypeMartial Arts History Museum
DirectorMichael Matsuda
Website https://martialartsmuseum.com/
Opening Hours11:00am-6:00pm
Wednesday-Sunday
Kung Fu Weaponry at the Martial Arts History Museum Kung Fu Weaponry at the Martial Arts History Museum.jpg
Kung Fu Weaponry at the Martial Arts History Museum

The Martial Arts History Museum is a museum in America devoted to the history of martial arts located in Glendale, California. It was created as an educational facility teaching young people and visitors about art, culture [1] and tradition and how Asian history became part of American history through the martial arts. [2] [3] The Martial Arts History Museum is divided into several sections [4] including China, Japan, [5] Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Hawaii, Anime and Media. [6] [7]

Contents

History

The museum was started by Michael Matsuda, a 20-year contributing editor for Inside Kung fu and Black Belt magazine and one-time founder of Martial Art Magazine. [8] He is a master of Monkey Kung Fu, [9] and has been practicing various martial arts forms since 1968. [10]

The Martial Arts History Museum launched its website in 1999 and later began hosting annual Hall of Fame ceremonies. Becoming a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Martial Arts History Museum took to the road as a traveling exhibit [11] and traveled from as far south as San Diego to as far north as New Jersey. After six years of attending expos, anime festivals, martial arts tournaments, Asian shows, etc., [12] the Martial Arts History Museum began operating out of a permanent site in Santa Clarita, California in 2006. In 2010, the Martial Arts History Museum relocated to the city of Burbank, CA and reopened its doors to the public on June 25, 2011. [13] [14]

The Martial Arts History Museum provides a series of annual documented historical publications that serve as a reference books for martial arts history. These include the history of the martial arts, the origin of the museum, the official Martial Arts Hall of Fame [15] [16]

In 2024, the museum moved to Glendale [17] .

Exhibits

The Martial Arts History Museum has exhibits covering a wide variety of martial arts and the countries from which each evolved. There are displays relating to kung fu, samurai, ninja, karate, judo, Hawaiian Lua, Filipino kali and Thailand's Muay Thai including the weaponry used in each discipline.

A Media Room displays objects of martial arts movie and television memorabilia, including the real gopher chucks used by Steve Oedekerk in the film, "Kung Pow! Enter the Fist," the actual headband [18] used by Ralph Macchio in "The Karate Kid," [19] the demon mask from "Revenge of the Ninja," the uniform from "Wendy Wu," and an animatronic character just installed. As part of an easy to follow self-guided tour, each section contains a video highlighting the impact of Asian culture on American history. In 2015, the museum introduced their latest exhibit, The History of Anime, which includes Hong Kong Phooey. [20] The museum regularly holds a number of monthly events including book fairs, sword cutting demonstrations, [21] movie premieres, sushi seminars, [22] first aid workshops, blood drives, history lessons, basic language classes, Asian musical performances, martial arts demonstrations and self-defense for women workshops.

The museum plans to feature Armenian kokh and Mexican lucha libre. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martial arts film</span> Film genre

Martial arts films are a subgenre of action films that feature martial arts combat between characters. These combats are usually the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often are a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently featured in training scenes and other sequences in addition to fights. Martial arts films commonly include hand-to-hand combat along with other types of action, such as stuntwork, chases, and gunfights. Sub-genres of martial arts films include kung fu films, wuxia, karate films, and martial arts action comedy films, while related genres include gun fu, jidaigeki and samurai films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martial arts</span> Codified systems and traditions of combat

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glendale, California</span> City in California, United States

Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Los Angeles County and the 24th-largest city in California. It is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of downtown Los Angeles.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Rothrock</span> American actress and martial artist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shin Koyamada</span> Japanese actor, producer (b. 1982)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulie Zink</span>

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References

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