IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE

Introduction: Specialist periodicals are an important medium for the diffusion of the martial arts (MA) culture and image. Moreover, they offer great possibilities to MA historians and sociologists due to their periodicity, in contrast to other information sources like books, films or even oral sources. This study presents a preliminary catalogue of MA periodicals published in Spain, details the main bibliographic description elements of these periodicals, and briefly describes their main contents. A classification of MA periodicals according to this analysis is also provided.
Methods: The study was based on Javier Brieva’s (a journalist and veteran martial artist) personal archives and several bibliographic databases of Spain like the National Library Catalogue, the Public Libraries Catalogue and the University Libraries Catalogue. The periodicals found in this search were then reviewed, analyzed and classified. Only some issues of each publication were analyzed due to the huge amount of existing periodicals.
Results and discussion: The results show a whole of 63 MA periodicals from 1961 (year of publication of Actualidades Judo [Judo Current Affairs], the first MA periodical published in Spain) to the present-day. Permanence and frequency of MA periodicals is extremely variable, from El Budoka [The Budoka] (1972-2009, 38 years, 393 issues) to the unique issue of Tatami (1978). Attending to their contents and typology the MA periodicals published in Spain can be classified in two main groups: a) federational, pseudo-federational or associational periodicals, edited by different federations, institutions or people linked to those federations/associations. Main contents in these periodicals are current news (competition results, federational news, interviews, etc.) and informative articles about MA promoted by that federation/association (e.g. judo, karate); b) market-oriented periodicals, on sale in kiosks and bookshops, with general-interest (MA in general) or specialized (one or several MA in particular) contents. Usually, informative articles and current news are combined in these journals with very different degrees and levels of depth depending on the editorial policy of the journal. To a lesser extent there are also examples of other types of MA periodicals, like scientific-technique journals or periodicals focused on relevant people of MA.
Conclusions: This research project had the outcome of a list of more than 60 martial arts periodicals published in Spain from 1961 down to the present day. This list is the only one of its type and implies a step forward in the locating and recording of resources useful for research into the history of martial arts in Spain.
Finally, it could be said that many initiatives for the publication of MA periodicals have been implemented from the 1960s, although these initiatives have seldom consolidated along the time. For the understanding of this fact, it should be taken into account both internal (lack of institutional support, specialized staff, etc.) and external (difficulty for getting certain economic profitability due to the great specificity of the several MA and schools) factors.