Martial Arts – A Crude History

MARTIAL Arts have been around as long as one man has had the ability to pick up a rock, a club of wood, a knife, a sword, spear or a firearm.

Most martial arts were originally armed. Those in power had the arms. Some martial arts were unarmed, mainly because weapons were forbidden. But over the years, many martial arts have also been turned into sports.

The British had their Boxing and the French had Savate kick-boxing. Most European nations had various styles of Fencing (using swords) which survive to this day only as a sport.

European Wrestling morphed into choreographed entertainment for TV (although the wrestlers / actors are superb athletes). Real, ‘amateur’ wrestling like that seen in the Olympics is highly-skilled stuff. Russian Sambo and Turkish wrestling used to be pretty well unknown outside their own countries.

Most non-Asian peoples had never heard of Martial Arts or even thought about them until after the end of World War II, when Aikido, Ju Jitsu and Karate started spreading from Japan to the USA and Europe.

It is only the last decade or so that the world in general has become aware of other martial arts styles, which had previously been unpublicized. These include fighting arts from India, Thailand, and Vietnam… Capoeira from Brazil, and the numerous types of Kung Fu (and Wushu) martial arts from all across China.

Korean martial arts such as Hap Ki Do and Tae Kwon Do were only recently ‘discovered’ by the western world (although TDK is relatively new), and fighting systems such as the Israeli Krav Maga and Russian Systema were ‘unknown’ on the international Martial Arts scene even a few years ago.

Most martial arts include the use of weapons, but unarmed defensive (and offensive) techniques are also included to round off the fighter’s skill set.

In previous centuries, contestants were often maimed or killed in tournaments. So gradually rules were introduced by many martial arts to prevent competitors from killing or crippling each other.

So sparring (with rules) and competitions (with safety equipment) are done today by many martial arts styles, but not all. Traditional Aikido (e.g. Aikikai) prohibits competitions, although  Shodokan Aikido allows it under strictly-controlled conditions like the ones used in Judo.

Whatever you’re looking for in martial arts, there’s sure to be a martial arts style or school which will be ‘just right’ for you.

Here are just a few examples:

Jodo – The Art of Japanese Stick Fighting
Jo do is the Way of the 5-foot short staff. A modest but deadly-effictive weapon.

Kendo – the Japanese Way of the Sword
Ken do is the modern art and sport of the Samurai Sword.

Bruce Lee, master of Kung Fu and founder of Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee was a master of Chinese Kung Fu and a master showman as well.

Kung Fu or Gung-Fu, It’s All Chinese Boxing to me!
Kungfu – China has hundreds, maybe thousands, of different martial arts styles.

Taekwondo – Korea’s Olympic Sport Martial Art
Tae Kwon Do – In 1955, a Korean General founded this modern martial art and made it his country’s national sport. It has now spread worldwide and, like Judo, even to the Olympic Games.