Most martial arts have specialized clothing and equipment. The clothing will often display style-specific insignia in the form of badges. Japanese StylesJapanese styles such as Karate, Judo and Jujitsu make use of a durable, light, medium or heavy weight white uniform, usually made of cotton. The uniform is known as a gi. The pants tend to have a drawstring waist and is loose fitting for ease of movement. The jacket is folded across the chest, and tied with the belt, indicating the rank of the...
Most martial arts, especially the traditional ones, make use of a ranking system to determine the skill level of a practitioner.Belts
Often belts are used to indicate a practitioner’s rank, especially in the Japanese and Korean martial arts. In the Chinese martial arts a sash, instead of a belt, is often used. Usually a white belt indicates beginner-level, and a black belt advanced level. In between white and black belts there are a number of color belts. Once achieving black belt, most...
Foundational to almost all martial arts are the use of well balanced stances. Stances differ from style to style, but can typically be divided into ritual and practical stances. Ritual Stances
Ritual stances are used for formalities, and usually involve bowing postures. Some common ritual stances include kneeling meditation postures, kneeling and bowing (also known as the formal bow), standing and bowing, as well as attention stances, which...
Apart from its use in the military and for self-defense,they have a long history of being used for sport and recreation. SparringIt is well known that Ancient Greece enjoyed wrestling and other martial variants as both sport and recreation. During the Roman Empire, battling Gladiators were a major source of entertainment. To this day, people dueling is considered great entertainment, with millions of people watching boxing matches, UFC fights and other combat sports. Judo, Taekwondo, Archery...
Martial Arts is sometimes confused with Self-Defense, as if these two terms are synonyms. This is not the case. While it is true that the arts focus on self-defense, or that many martial arts can assist in self-defense, the latter is not martial arts per se.
Self-defense is the act of protecting oneself against an aggressor. Such self-preserving actions are not by default self-defense. A woman that hits an attacker with a frying pan over the head may have defended herself; however, it is...
Various ways of labeling the martial arts are used. Some are defined as striking martial arts, others as grappling and other still as martial arts focusing on weaponry. They are also often described dichotomously, with terms such as hard style and soft style martial arts, external and internal martial arts, traditional and modern martial arts, and sport and combative systems. However, such pigeonholing is usually erroneous; many martial arts employ both striking and grappling techniques or hard...
The martial arts are imbedded within specific cultures and are therefore build on certain worldviews; i.e. philosophical systems. Philosophical systems within martial arts generally include Fundamental Beliefs, Moral Values, Aesthetic Ideals and Technical Principles.
Asian styles often include Oriental philosophical concepts derived from culture specific philosophies like Taoism, Shinto, Confuncianism and Buddhism. Modern arts tend to derive their philosophical underpinnings from the...
Although not all martial arts developed from actual warfare, it is true that the origin of many martial arts is rooted in the military traditions of various cultures. They were employed since the earliest civilizations required specialized fighting methods during tribal and later national conflicts.
An example of styles used specifically for warfare is the Japanese samurai that used ju-jitsu on the battlefield. The samurai’s arsenal included “open hand” techniques, as well as swords...
Most historians believe that the martial arts originated from an Indian Zen Buddhist monk Bodhidharma (448-529 AD), who wanted to teach his student better focus through physical exercise. These movements, similar to Yoga-postures, evolved into means of self-defense. Since Buddhism originated in India, it is thought that it may have originated in India.
Searching for the origin of the martial arts one ought not forget about the boxing in Egypt in c. 4000 BC., the martial arts of Babylonia in...
Written by Sanko Lewis