Ranma adopting the position for Martial Arts Tea Ceremony.
Martial Arts Tea Ceremony (格闘茶道 Kakutō Sadō?) is an ancient fighting style. The basis of this style stems from the seiza position one adopts when performing the Japanese tea ceremony, and it is considered highly improper to leave it. The combatants must move and fight entirely from the seiza position. As a consequence, practitioners develop very strong toes, allowing them to push along the ground at considerable speed and even jump from place to place through toe-power alone. The style is one of those to appear that does not involve direct hand to hand combat and uses its own specific weaponry. This takes the form of tea ceremony tools and implements adapted to combat use, from poisonous herbal teas to using spoons as throwing darts or ladles as bludgeoning weapons.
Martial Arts Tea Ceremony is more fleshed out in the anime version of Ranma ½, with four full-length episodes dedicated to it[1][2][3][4], whereas it appeared in only one story in the early manga. Because of this, the anime also presents the nature of the style in a different fashion to the manga.
Manga[]
The manga presents relatively little background information on the style. What is revealed is that there are at least two schools: the Daimonji School and the Miyakoji School. The plotline of the manga story revolves solely around Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo unwillingly becoming involved in the efforts of Sentaro Daimonji, heir to the Daimonji School, to thwart his wedding to Satsuki Miyakoji (because he mistakenly believes that she is a monkey).
Anime[]
In the anime, the style of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony owes its origins to the days of the samurai, when a nameless eccentric samurai with a great passion for tea ceremony combined it with fighting skills to create a ritualized but deadly style. It flourished for a brief period of time, but over the years it dwindled and died out (the implicit supposition is that it has something to do with the increasing modernization/Westernization of Japanese culture). Eventually, the style was practiced by only two schools: the Daimonji School and their bitterest rivals, the Miyakoji School. The Miyakoji earned the enmity of the Daimonji because, while the Daimonji School was staunchly Orthodox, the Miyakoji had survived by championing the Unorthodox variant of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, allowing them to stand up and fight during matches. The rivalry ended with the Miyakoji apparently going extinct due to running out of money, but they continued to survive to the modern era as a "Shadow School".
According to the anime, as well as the current heirs, Sentaro and Satsuki, the major figures of each house are a family matriarch (the grandmothers of Sentaro and Satsuki) and a triad of female elders, each named for a triple card combination of Hanafuda. For the Daimoji School, these elders are Matsu (Pine Tree), Take (Bamboo) and Ume (Plum Blossom), while the elders of the Miyakoji School are Ino (Boar), Shika (Deer) and Cho (Butterfly).
Techniques[]
Utensil Weaponry: Both the Orthodox and Unorthodox Schools of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony utilize the sundry utensils of the tea ceremony, such as kettles, cups, ladles, spoons, stirring sticks, umbrellas and napkins, as weaponry. The difference is that the Unorthodox School employs oversized versions specifically designed for use as weapons, as well as incorporating unarmed combat techniques into their fighting abilities, whereas the Orthodox School exclusively uses regular utensils. In the manga, each weapon is referred to by name when used, such as "Pot Strike" or "Ladle Strike", despite all boiling down to "hit the opponent with a utensil".
Sleeping Potion & Paralysis Powder: In both the anime and the manga, slipping nonlethal toxins into powdered or prepared tea is established to be a viable part of the school's techniques. Sentaro Daimonji in particular uses sleeping potion-laced tea to abduct Ranma on their first meeting, and later uses paralysis poisoned tea to sabotage Ranma's fight in hopes of running off with Akane.
Superhuman Toe Dexterity: The foundational ability of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, the practitioner strengthens their toes so that they are capable of propelling the practitioner across the ground. A skilled user of this technique can spin 360 degrees, run in any direction, jump multiple storeys and even cling upside down to roofs, all without having to break the seiza position and moving as fast as a person moving normally. The Unorthodox School, despite championing the willingness to abandon the seiza position if combat demands it, also practices this technique.
Daimonji School of Martial Arts: Secret Technique of the Napkin Strike: Only appearing in the manga iteration, this is a two-part combination strike technique used by Sentaro's grandmother when she first meets Ranma. A tea ceremony napkin is used to sweep the opponent's legs from under them, causing them to fall onto their back, which sets them up for being struck in the forehead with a blow from a tea ceremony ladle.
Tea Spoon Darts: A basic weapon technique named by Ranma in the manga. Multiple tea ceremony spoons are flung at a target as projectile weapons.
Tea Powder Mist: A technique used by Sanae in the manga. Tea powder is flung into the opponent's face to blind and disorientate them, like a smokescreen.