"Judo Kodokan Review" as a "Martial Arts Medium"

Background. Martial arts and fighting sports have taken their place among the many elements of contemporary mass culture. This integration has been due to the assimilation of certain Eastern values by mass media consumers from the West [Cynarski 2004]. Problem and aim. The problem investigated in this study relates to the existence of specific discourses concerning the arts and martial arts in the magazine "Judo Kodokan Review". The aim of the study was to verify three hypotheses: 1) Articles focusing on judo as a sport dominate the periodical as opposed to those focusing on judo as a martial art form, 2) Among the journalistic genres into which the periodical entries may be categorized, documentaries (journalism) and articles (publicism) dominated, 3) The thematic content from 1950-1969 was subject to change based on the number of publications and types used. Methods. The research methods used in this study consist of semantic and formal qualitative analysis of the mass media content using Atlas.ti (The Qualitative Data Analysis & Research Software). Results. Based on the data obtained and analyzed, all three hypotheses tested positively. Conclusions. The results obtained in this study can be compared with findings made by, among others, Tywyn G. Martin, Antonio S. Williams, Warren Whisenant, and Windy Dees, who analyzed various mass media in terms of their presentation of martial arts and (to a lesser extent) fighting sports.