The main inspiration of the originators of the journal Archives of Budo

The philosophy and practice of budo were the main inspiration of the originators of the journal Archives of Budo (2005): Marek Graczyński, Roman Maciej Kalina, Waldemar Sikorski (1937-2023) and Stanisław Tokarski. A year later, the Editorial Board of Archives Budo supports the substantive dimension of the 1st Word Scientific Congress of Combat Sports and Martial Arts (22-24 September 2006, Rzeszów, Poland) and repeats this task during the 2ndend Word Scientific Congress of Combat Sports and Martial Arts (17-19 September 2010, also in Rzeszów). It soon became apparent (2013) that Arch Budo is the leader of publications on judo among those evaluated by Web of Science from the first: Holker E. The philosophical and biological basis of judo. Dtsch Med Wochenschr; 1956; 81: 237-40.

This was a turning point. Arch Budo was becoming a platform for scientific exploration dominated by a single combat sport. In 2013, the first branch journal Archives of Budo Science of Martial Arts and Extreme Sports (from 2023 Impact Factor 1.2) was published. The excerpt from the name of the Science of Martial Arts journal is an attractive addition to the camo of neo gladiatorialism: mixed martial arts (MMA).

In the competent fulfilment of a social mission, there is no room for succumbing to marketing temptations. Judo as a forgotten science, in contrast to some of the athletes with Olympic titles who were humiliated in neo gladiatorial cages, compensates for this image, far removed from the humanistic ideals outlined by the eminent professor Jigoro Kano. Published in Poland in 1938 (which is also the date of Jigoro Kano's death) agonology (general theory of struggle) and in 1955 praxeology (science about good work) are the fulfilment of Kano's intellectual message that the most important thing is judo in mind.

The subtitle Journal of Innovative Agonology (acronym INNOAGON) is intended to communicate that this new applied science, while still alluding to the ideals and concepts of budo (of which judo is a part), does not propose a separate system of hand-to-hand fighting that might in time share the fate of the sporting dimension of judo. INNOAGON is science dedicated to promotion, prevention, and therapy related to all dimensions of health and the optimization of activities that increase the ability to survive (from micro to macro scales). The appearance of MMA (or the full name) in the titles of possible publications, will signal that the work provides well-documented knowledge about some aspect of this pathology. There is no real indication that massacring each other in a cage to the delight of the audience has any health benefits and that it is a motor pattern of necessary defence, unchallenged under the law.

The Editorial Board's utmost concern is to publish papers, not necessarily referring directly to exercise or hand-to-hand fighting systems, but with explicit reference to some aspect of struggle, or its omission, with implications for health and/or personal safety (survival). Preference is given to well-founded prevention.

• Archives of Budo

• Archives of Budo Science of Martial Arts and Extreme Sports

•  Journal of Innovative Agonology

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