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| A '''martial art''' is a system for practicing for, training in, and preparing for combat against, fighting against, or defending against attacks by one or more persons. The word "martial" is derived from the name of [[Mars]], the Roman god of war. A practitioner of a martial art is referred to as a martial artist.
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| A common public perception, especially in the West, is that the term "martial art" pertains to systems of combat developed centuries ago in the [[East]]. This is not true, as acquiring the skills for fighting has historically been very useful in fighting during personal combat, [[warfare]], and [[sports]] in many cultures, and so martial arts have historically arisen in nearly all cultures, not only through transmission but also independent development, and thus can be found around the world today. Another common misconception is that the term "martial art" pertains to systems for studying "outdated" forms of fighting, such as unarmed fighting and possibly fighting with historical [[melee weapons]] like the [[katana]]. However, there are many martial arts that focus in other aspects of combat, such as [[shooting]] [[rifles]], that are definitely commonly applied in the modern world. In fact, combat gun shooting is arguably the most practiced and used martial art today, as nearly all national armies and law enforcement agencies train in the use of guns and use this training on a regular basis.
| | '''Martial arts''' are codified systems of both armed and weaponless, or empty-handed, skills intended to develop and increase proficiency in combat. |
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| The term "martial art" is not always clear, as there is much debate over what constitutes a martial art as well as what the definition of the word "martial art" is.
| | Martial arts have arisen in nearly all cultures, both through cross-cultural transmission and independently. There is some form of codified martial art, either historic or current, identifiable in virtually every culture around the world today. |
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| ==Goals of studying a martial art==
| | Since every culture has its own unique value system, code of personal honor, cultural duties and responsibilities, religion(s), politics, geography, raw materials, climate, etc., almost no two systems are exactly alike. |
| Although generally martial arts originated to serve the goal of teaching practitioners to fight well, a number of martial arts have moved away from this as a primary goal, due perhaps in part to the relative safety of the modern world, the lower chance for the use of fighting skills, and as a result the need to continue raising interest and reasons to study the art. In particular, such a re-orientation of goals is common in martial arts with a focus on unarmed fighting skills and some hand-held weapons, which are arguably less applicable in a combat sense in the modern world. Arguably the most common martial art is that of [[combat shooting]], which is practiced by every major national army in the world.
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| Alternative goals, benefits, and reasons for studying martial arts are increasing fitness, preparing for and competing in a sport, self-improvement or cultivation, mental discipline, character development, spiritual development, cultural interaction, and social interaction.
| | This has rendered the scope of martial arts so enormous that it defies a complete, concise, logical, universally accepted [[Martial arts (General)/Catalogs|categorization]]. |
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| There is much debate in the martial arts community over what the "true goal" of martial arts is or should be or if there is even such a thing.
| | Perhaps the broadest breakdown would be between [[Martial arts (Eastern)|oriental]] styles, such as [[karate]], [[aikido]] and [[kung fu]]; and [[Martial arts (Western)|occidental]] styles, including [[boxing]] and [[Greco-Roman wrestling]]. |
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| ==Categorization of martial arts==
| | Another broad category (for our present age) could be "Lethal" vs. "Sport Martial Arts." Even these categories are clouded by the fact that several Martial Arts which were lethal earlier in their history and no longer taught as such due to the removal of certain techniques and ways of thinking. Indeed, in some cases, these lethal aspects have been lost forever and not merely hidden. |
| Given the large number of martial arts, numerous attempts of categorization of such arts have been made. Different methods of categorization are accepted and rejected by different subcommunities within the martial arts community, as some categorizations are tied to particular views of how the many aspects of a fight - and thus the training required for it - can be theoretically isolated.
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| ===Scope=== | | ==Notes== |
| Martial arts can be categorized based on their scope, or types of combat they train in. Many martial arts cover more than one scope, although they generally focus training in one or at most a few.
| | {{Reflist}} |
| *unarmed - [[boxing]], [[tae kwon do]], [[karate]], [[Muay Thai]]
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| *melee weapons (swung or thrusted but not fired)
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| **bladed weapons
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| ***small-bladed weapon (knife) - [[kali]]
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| ***large-bladed weapon (sword) - [[kendo]], [[iaido]], [[fencing]]
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| **stick weapons - anything swung, typically made of wood
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| ***small sticks ([[kubaton]])
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| ***medium sticks ([[escrima]] stick) - [[escrima]]
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| ***large sticks ([[bo]]) - [[karate]]
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| *projectile weapons
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| **fired by human force (bow, crossbow) - [[kyudo]]
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| **fired without human force (handgun) - handgun shooting, submachine gun shooting, rifle shooting, [[sniping]]
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| ===Striking and Grappling===
| | [[Category:Martial arts]] |
| Arts focusing on unarmed and melee weapon combat are typically focused on either striking or grappling. While often there is some form of striking in grappling-focused arts and vice versa, there are also some arts that attempt to divide training somewhat evenly.
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| *striking - boxing, karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai, tae kwon do
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| *grappling - judo, aikido, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling
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| ===Range===
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| Range, sometimes called the phases of combat, in this context generally refers to the distance between two fighters during a fight, although sometimes the term is interchanged with scope as defined above. Different martial arts and different contexts offer different ranges that a fight can occur at, and different martial arts concentrate in fighting in certain ranges. There is disagreement as to the number and existence of certain ranges: while certainly the physical distance can be measured, the practical distinctions between ranges are important and distinct to varying views of the theoretical division of a fight.
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| [[Jeet Kune Do]], the martial arts system/philosophy developed by [[Bruce Lee]], describes four ranges: | |
| *[[kicking]]
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| *[[punching]]
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| *[[trapping]]
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| *[[grappling]]
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| The three ranges accepted in the mixed martial arts community for mixed martial arts fights (and often all unarmed fights) are:
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| *[[stand-up]]
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| *[[clinch]]
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| *[[ground]]
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| ===Hard vs. Soft===
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| Some martial arts have made a distinction between "hard" and "soft" arts, or "external" and "internal" arts, with the distinction often being offered as a spectrum on which all arts fall. Many so-called "traditional martial arts", particularly those originating in China, accept such categorization at least in passing.
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| The mixed martial arts community generally forgoes this method of categorization is often ignored as being inapplicable or even inaccurate of fighting.
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| ===Region===
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| The region of origin of a martial art often relates to the development of the art. Some arts that are popularly practiced today are:
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| *Asia
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| **China - all forms of kung fu/wushu
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| **Mongolia - Mongolian wrestling
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| **Japan - judo, jujutsu, aikido, karate, kendo
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| **Korea - tae kwon do
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| **The Philippines - escrima/kali/arnis
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| **Thailand - Muay Thai
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| **Indonesia/Malaysia - silat
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| *Africa
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| *Europe - [[wrestling]], [[catch wrestling]], fencing
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| **England - boxing
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| **France - [[savate]], [[la canne]]
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| **Israel - [[krav maga]]
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| *The Americas
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| *North America
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| **USA -
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| *South America
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| **Brazil - capoeira, Brazilian jiu-jitsu
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| ===Sport vs. Non-sport===
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| Some martial arts are also practiced as sports, generally [[combat sports]] but not always. Some martial arts are not practiced as sports, and some even look down on those that are practiced as sports.
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| Some martial arts look down on "sports arts" as being theoretically less useful in an unregulated fight and against the purpose of martial arts as well as potentially harmful to the spiritual or mental development of a martial artist, although this view is not nearly unanimous and is strongly debated by many such "sport art" practitioners, with some "sport art" practitioners going so far as to argue that the methods of training and competing for sport arts make such arts more effective in unregulated combat than many non-sport arts, and that the experience of competing in a sport makes for positive mental development.
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| ==Use of martial arts in combat==
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| ===On the battlefield===
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| ===Personal self-defense===
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| ===Combat sports===
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| ==Methods of training==
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| Training methodologies are often under hot debate, as there is a wide variety of views, many of which are explicitly incompatible with each other, on the most effective methods of training. This is further complicated by the fact that many martial arts have different goals, meaning that the training methods of two arts are often not easily compared because the end results of this training aren't towards the same purpose.
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| ===Sparring===
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| Sparring generally refers to "free fighting", typically between two sparring partners, where both partners are allowed to use a variety of techniques at their own discretion and not restricted to using a certain order of techniques, as in a drill, usually with rules in place to protect the partners and often with extra protective equipment beyond that used in a competition or fight. In the basic and common type of sparring, partners are restricted by the same rules of the competition or fight being prepared for, with the only difference between competition and sparring being a decreased intensity in sparring.
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| There is a variety of sparring rules, especially for striking, as demonstrated in the concepts of contact levels in sparring, as well as "one-step" and "step sparring".
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| The dangers of sparring inherent to striking do not largely carry over in grappling-focused arts, so grappling arts that have sparring tend to feature this type of high-intensity sparring heavily. Grappling sparring can often be carried out with a great deal of intensity at a relatively low risk of injury.
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| Sparring tends to be featured heavily in martial arts that are also [[combat sports]].
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| In arts that use sparring, sparring is used as a way to allow practitioners to apply techniques and skills in a safe but relatively uncontrolled setting, in order to prepare them for the chaotic nature of a real fight and to help them learn to apply the skills they have learned in this setting.
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| ===Forms and kata===
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| There are many definitions and kinds of forms and kata, but a commonly used definition is "a prearranged set of movements designed to be used to practice techniques used in a fight." Most forms are practiced by one person alone, although some forms require the use of two people, as in judo kata.
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| Forms tend to be featured heavily in traditional Asian martial arts, like some forms of [[karate]] and [[kung fu]]. Forms are generally de-emphasized or non-existent in martial arts that are also [[combat sports]], like [[Muay Thai]] and [[wrestling]].
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| ===Drills===
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| There are many different kinds of drills. A drill may be generally defined as any repeated motions used as practice, although the manner in which these motions are repeated and the situations in which these drills are performed vary. Drills can be categorized broadly as focused on skill-building and fitness-building, although there is almost always some aspect of both in any given drill. The actual drills themselves tend to vary greatly from art to art, often changing with the goal of the art as well as the ranges and scopes being trained for.
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| Skill-building drills generally stress repetition of motions or techniques used in an art in order to better these techniques and to ingrain them in [[muscle memory]]. One example of skill-building drills are the use of uchi-komis and nage-komis in judo in order to practice throws.
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| Fitness-building drills generally use repeated actions to build up strength, endurance, or other physical attributes rather than specific skills. One example of this is hitting a [[speed bag]] in boxing in order to develop hand-eye coordination.
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| ===Competition===
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| While competitions are often viewed as the application of training, some martial arts see competitions as another level of training.
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| For example, martial arts that are also [[combat sports]] typically have a large percentage of training spent on sparring that duplicates the rules of a competition. However, sparring is different than a competition because of a difference in intensity, as sparring partners are focused on learning safely rather than "winning". In a competition, the competitors are focused on winning, often with little regard for the safety of the opponent beyond that required by the rules, so the efforts are intense and performed with full effort. This is sometimes seen as good preparation for an unregulated fight, as competitors learn the "feel" of fighting an opponent resisting at full force, as well as what adjustments are required to apply techniques to the opponent.
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| Other competitions, such as those for performance of kata or tile-breaking, are sometimes seen as an opportunity to test one's mental and physical abilities under pressure and to develop oneself.
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| ===Rank testing===
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| ==History of martial arts==
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| People have always fought, and thus people have always trained to fight.
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| ==Martial arts references in culture==
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| Martial arts have often been mentioned in literature, paintings, and other cultural creations, and have historically played parts in national and international struggles. Some cultural creations have heavily featured martial arts and martial artists. Many societies, after gaining control over other societies, banned the practice of martial arts in attempts to prevent rebellions and uprising by trained combatants.
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| Some ancient Greek pottery has depictions of men wrestling and fighting each other during war and for sport, as well as engaging in martial arts sports like javelin throwing and shot putting.
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| Japan, during WWII, encouraged a somewhat-adapted version of samurai culture in order to bring its society to a desired fighting and sacrificial mentality.
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| Books like [[The Art of War]] and [[The Book of Five Rings]] became popular as people in the 50s-80s believed concepts put forth in these books to be analogous to business practices and thus valuable tactical and strategical guides.
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| Martial arts films are a popular subgenre of action and adventure films. Some of the earliest examples of this are the samurai films of post-WWII Japan. | |
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| Combat sports and other martial-arts-based sports are popular entertainment for live audiences and TV viewers, although combat sports, especially striking-based ones, are sometimes seen as brutal and savage. Professional boxing is very popular but perhaps currently in a decline. Mixed martial arts has one of the fastest-growing audiences of all sports.
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| ==Debates in the martial arts community==
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| ===Purpose of martial arts===
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| ===Effectiveness of specific martial arts and methods in fighting and self-defense===
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| ===Comparison of specific martial arts===
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| ==="Sport vs. Street"===
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| ===Definition and existence of chi===
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| ===Alive vs. Dead training===
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| ===Effectiveness of specific training methodologies===
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| ===Ranking===
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| ==See also==
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| *[[list of martial arts]]
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| *[[mixed martial arts]]
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| *[[boxing]]
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| *[[fencing]]
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| *[[wrestling]]
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| [[Category:CZ Live]]
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| [[Category:Sports Workgroup]]
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