Martial Arts Throughout the World

Martial arts are a system of different codes. They are practiced for training in combat. Today all different people train for for various reasons including Fitness, self defense, mental discipline, combat skills, character development, sport, self cultivation and building self confidence. A practitioner is called a Martial artist.

Traditional Indian martial arts also teach aspects of traditional Indian medicine as a side discipline. Some Martial Arts, particularly the traditional Chinese martial arts, also teach disciplines such as bone setting, qigong, acupuncture, acupressure and other aspects of the traditional Chinese.

Many Martial Arts also strive to teach moral values and provide guidance for children who join the ranks of those learning the art. They are also trained in mental and emotional discipline. Many arts require those who achieve black belt or the equivalent to take an oath restricting their use of their knowledge.

Martial arts may focus on so many areas including but not limited to boxing, wrestling, jogo do pau, taekwondo, karate, gatka, krav maga, bando, grappling, naban, kapap, naban and sambo.

Each martial art has its own History and goals. The history is broken up all around the world. Development of many martial arts was related to military development. Many of those techniques have been rendered technically obsolete over centuries. Such as long ago swords were the weapon to use vs. Modern weaponry is now automatic rifles or other types of guns. The preservation of a martial art requires many years of teaching at the hands of a great teacher to pass on the art for a single generation.

In north America the native people had their own Martial arts training. Many native American men considered themselves warriors and trained to use the bows, Knives, spears and warclubs. Warriors honed their archery and war club skills through lifelong training. According to early historical accounts, they demonstrated impressive skill in using war clubs and were favorably compared to European fencing masters.

Martial arts in Europe do not exist very much today. Boxing as well as forms of wrestling have endured. Some forms of historical fencing have survived, and many groups are working to reconstruct older European martial arts. The process of reconstruction combines detailed combat, intensive study and practical training or pressure testing of various techniques and tactics. The reconstruction effort and modern outgrowth of the historical methods in generally referred to as western martial arts.

Mixed Martial Arts is a modern combat sport in which a wide variety of martial art techniques are aloud. Practitioners in some arts such as Judo, boxing, Brazilian and taekwondo often train for sport matches in those arts, whereas those in other arts such as Aikido, Kapap and Wing chung generally spurn such competitions. Some schools believe that competition breeds better and more efficient practitioners, and gives a sense of good sportsmanship. Others believe that the rules under which competition takes place have removed the combat effectiveness, or in Asian cultures, of developing the cinfucian person, which eschews showing off.

New forms of martial arts sports are being held today. Such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the U.S. or Pancrase and the PRIDE in Japan which are also known as mixed martial arts events. The original UFC was fought under very few rules allowing martial arts styles to enter and not be limited to certain rules. Today there is still a lot of things they can get away with but there are certain rules to be followed.