Martial arts

Martial arts are codified systems of both armed and weaponless, or empty-handed,¹ skills intended to develop and increase proficiency in combat. Martial arts have arisen in nearly all cultures, both through cultural transmission and independently, with some form of codified martial art, either historic or current, identifiable in virtually every culture around the world today. The scope of the martial arts is vast, and, in some sense, defies a complete categorization. Despite the universality of offensive and defensive combat techiniques when discussing martial arts it is typically in reference to the Eastern forms of combat training, which is the focus of this article.

History

Origins

It is not possible to categorical define the point of origin for the development of martial arts. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is most likely that early Homo sapiens, and possibly his predecessors, struck upon useful techiniques for hunting that eventually evolved into defensive and offensive methods of fighting amongst themselves. The introduction of objects as tools probably led to the development of early weaponry.

Historically, the first codified system of martial arts is usually attributed to H'uang Ti (sp), of China. The Yellow Emporer, as he was known, is said to have chronicled and organized the various practices that were characteristic of Mongolian wrestling, and that today we know as San Sou.

As noted, the catalogue of martial systems is vast. Here, we will look at some of the more well-known styles, categorized by region. For more extensive information on any particaulr style, see the page devoted specifically to that style.

China

Mongolia

• Mongolian Wrestling

Northern China

• Shaolin Kung Fu (Henan)
• T'ai Chi Ch'uan
• Tsing-Y
• Baqua Zhang
• Tan Tui

Southern China

• Shaolin Kung Fu (Fukien)

Notable Family styles

• Hung Gar
• Ling Gar

Modern styles

• Jeet Kun Do
• Wushu Kung Fu

Japan

Mainland Japan

• Aikido

Okinawa

• Kobayashi Shorin-ryu
• Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu
• Miagi Shorin-Ryu

India

East India

• Kalarippyattu

Korea

• Tang Soo Do
• Tae Kwon Do

Thailand

• Muay Thai

Indonesia/Malaysia

• Penchat Silat

Goal of studying a martial art

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.

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.

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.

Methods of training

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.

Forms and kata

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.

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.

Sparring

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.

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".

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.

Sparring tends to be featured heavily in martial arts that are also combat sports.

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.

Drills

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.

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.

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.

Competition

While competitions are often viewed as the application of training, some martial arts see competitions as another level of training.

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.

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.

Martial arts references in culture

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.

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.

Japan, during WWII, encouraged a somewhat-adapted version of samurai culture in order to bring its society to a desired fighting and sacrificial mentality.

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.

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.

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.

See also

• Catalogue of Eastern martial arts styles

Footnotes

¹ Karate, a Japanese combat form that is one of the most ubiquitous in the world gets its name from the combination of two words, kara. meaning empty, and te, meaning hand.