Bwang, A Martial Art of the Caroline Islands

Lessa, William; Velez, Carlos G. (1978). "Bwang, A Martial Art of the Caroline Islands". Micronesica. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam. 14 (2): 139–176. ISSN 2374-801X.

• Has attachment: File:GK4BLJB6.pdf

Abstract: Lessa and Velez reconstruct the traditional Carolinian martial art of bwang through archival sources and fieldwork, situating it within wider systems of warfare, social organization, and cultural transmission; document bwang as a highly systematized practical combat art emphasizing efficient movement, body coordination, and attacks on vulnerable anatomical points, adaptable to canoe, beach, standing, prone, armed, and unarmed contexts; describe striking, grappling, joint manipulation, disarming techniques, and weapon use, with instruction organized into named schools and transmitted through lineage or specialist teachers; trace linguistic and ethnographic evidence of bwang and related terms across Truk, Ulithi, Yap, and neighboring islands, noting its near disappearance but persistence in elder memory; embed the art in broader military training, ritual practice, and male status formation; compare it to other martial traditions while rejecting simplistic equation with Asian systems such as judo or karate; and conclude that colonial disruption and modernization nearly extinguished an important but understudied Micronesian cultural system.