ABSTRACT
Deification of past masters is an inevitable feature of the folklore of martial arts groups. When narratives do not exist in factual biography, they are appropriated or invented. At one end of the truth spectrum, these traditions are drawn from oral traditions passed down (not unaltered) through the family line. At the other end of the spectrum, they are appropriated or invented and then sensationalized. In all cases, however, these narratives serve the ends of defining the group and its relationships to a given social, cultural, or historical environment.
