Martial arts
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.
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 Another common misconception is that the term "martial art" pertains to systems for studying "outdated" forms of fighting, such as unarmed fighting and possibly fighting with historical melee weapons like the katana.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.
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.
Goals 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.
Categorization of martial arts
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.
Scope
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.
- unarmed - boxing, tae kwon do, karate, Muay Thai
- melee weapons (swung or thrusted but not fired)
- projectile weapons
Striking and Grappling
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.
- striking - boxing, karate, kickboxing, Muay Thai, tae kwon do
- grappling - judo, aikido, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling
Range
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.
Jeet Kune Do, the martial arts system/philosophy developed by Bruce Lee, describes four ranges:
The three ranges accepted in the mixed martial arts community for mixed martial arts fights (and often all unarmed fights) are:
Hard vs. Soft
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.
The mixed martial arts community generally forgoes this method of categorization is often ignored as being inapplicable or even inaccurate of fighting.
Region
The region of origin of a martial art often relates to the development of the art. Some arts that are still popularly practiced today are:
- Asia
- China - all forms of kung fu/wushu
- Mongolia - Mongolian wrestling
- Japan - judo, jujutsu, aikido, karate, kendo
- Korea - tae kwon do
- The Philippines - escrima/kali/arnis
- Thailand - Muay Thai
- Indonesia/Malaysia - silat
- Africa
- Europe - wrestling, catch wrestling, fencing
- The Americas
- North America
- USA -
- South America
- Brazil - capoeira, Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Sport vs. Non-sport
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.
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.
Use of martial arts in combat
On the battlefield
Personal self-defense
Combat sports
Methods of training: practicing, preparing, and testing readiness for a fight
Training methodologies are often under hot debate, as there is a wide variety of views, many of which are explicity 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.
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 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.
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.
Drills
Rank testing
Competition
History of martial arts
People have always fought, and thus people have always trained to fight.
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.