Inventions of Tradition: Karate

Frog in a Well has a great post on the "invention" of karate. CP Snow and Eric Hobsbawm have dealt with the fact that most British "traditions" date from the second half of the 19th century -- and as John Quiggin notes on Crooked Timber , a hundred fifty years is a long time for Australians and Americans. Be that as it may, it is precisely the shallowness of traditions that reminds us of the dynamism and inventive force of history.