~Martial Arts~

                          Martial Arts

Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices, which are practiced for a variety of reasons: self-defense, competition, physical health and fitness, entertainment, as well as mental, physical, and spiritual development.
Although the term martial art has become heavily associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it was originally used in regard to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is ultimately derived from Latin, and means "arts of Mars," where Mars is the Roman god of war. Some authors have argued that fighting arts or fighting systems would be more appropriate on the basis that many martial arts were never "martial" in the sense of being used or created by professional warriors
Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality. Numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns.
Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training. In those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment.
Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are often strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like "empty mind" and "beginner's mind" are recurrent. Aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba.
Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the practitioner's spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of "inner peace" in a practitioner, which is stressed to be only achieved through individual meditation and training. The Koreans believe that the use of physical force is only justified through defense.
Systems draws upon breathing and relaxation techniques, as well as elements of Russian Orthodox thought, to foster self-conscience and calmness, and to benefit the practitioner in different levels: the physical, the psychological and the spiritual.
Some martial arts in various cultures can be performed in dance-like settings for various reasons, such as for evoking ferocity in preparation for battle or showing off skill in a more stylized manner. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms.

Many people consider Asia to be the center of the martial arts world—though it is not necessarily the birthplace of all the arts. However, it can’t be denied that many of the most prominent martial arts originate from the region—kung fu, karate, hwa rang do.
From ancient myths and legends to historical revolutions, martial arts have been shaped by many factors. Sometimes it’s often difficult to trace the evolution of an art because of the lack of historical records. This is true for older arts like the Hawaiian martial art lua or the Indonesian art pentjak silat. At the same time, cultural factors and revolutions have threatened to exterminate martial arts, such as bokator in Cambodia and Shaolin kung fu in China.
However, history has shown that martial arts have thrived, especially when combined with martial arts from other cultures. For example, Mitsuyo Maeda brought jujutsu to Brazil and taught the art to a young man named Helio Gracie who in turn created Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

China became the center of the martial arts universe in 2600 B.C. In 2000 B.C., Emperor Huang Di was noted to be a shuai jiao (wrestling) and pole-fighting expert and had his troops learn martial arts. Mongolian tribesmen introduced a violent style of skull-bashing wrestling to China around 770 B.C.; this art is believed to be the progenitor of sumo. During the Han and Qin dynasties (256 B.C.-A.D. 220), this wrestling style was combined withkemari (a kicking game designed to strengthen one’s feet for war) to createshubaku. Sun Tsu (544-496 B.C.) wrote The Art of War, emphasizing the importance of martial arts for living and fighting. Early records also indicate that Chinese martial arts spread into Europe, India and Asia Minor (Middle East) via the Silk Road in 500 B.C.

Yet the origin of today’s martial arts began in 527 A.D. when Indian monk Ta Mo arrived at the Shaolin Temple in the Henan province and taught the monks the 18 Buddhist Fists, which evolved into the Five Animal Styles of Shaolin. While Tao Mo’s influence has inspired many Chinese and non-Chinese martial arts, others have evolved independently.

Since time began, every culture has developed fighting styles out of necessity. Modern martial arts history categorizes Western heroes and martial societies as practicing martial arts, which opens up an interesting can of martial arts worms.

Besides the ancient martial arts heroes of China (Shaolin), Japan (samurai) and Korea (Hwarang), the world has witnessed great fighters like the Spartans, Vikings, Mongols, Huns, Romans, Ottomans, Macedonians, Goths, Knights, Persians and Celts. Warriors like Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Hannibal, Hercules, Eric the Red, Hector, Attila, Achilles and even Siddhartha (Buddha) trained in systematic ways of fighting and lived by a code of ethics.

This leads us to ask several intriguing questions. Did martial arts originate from China, India or Greece? Or have they risen independently? How did they spread? Many arts have come and gone. Recent efforts hinged on nationalism are bringing back lost martial arts, especially in Europe. So why has Chinese martial arts consistently endured and flourished more than in any other country? New evidence suggests Brazilian capoiera came from China rather than Africa. There’s a great history book waiting to be written.

Mongolian tribesmen introduced the Chinese to violent skull-bashing wrestling in 770 B.C., and consequently, they indirectly introduced the Koreans and Japanese to it, too.
In China, the wrestling was called shang pu, and in Korea, it was called tae sang bak. Tae sang bak is also a synonym for the Korean wrestling form known as ssireum, which is pronounced as sumo in Japanese.

From there, Japanese martial arts history changed again in 23 B.C., when wrestler Tomakesu-Hayato was ordered to fight Nomi-no-Sukene. Nomi-no-Sukene kicked Tomakesu-Hayato to death by combining his violent wrestling with chikara kurabe. Thus, jujutsu was born.

Chinese martial artists also introduced chuan fa (kempo) to Japan in A.D. 607. When a style of chuan fa that was mixed with jujutsu was taught to Jigoro Kano (1860-1938), he removed the kicks and punches to create judo, which led to Morihei Uyeshiba’s creation of aikido in 1943.

The interaction and influence between the three countries is evident in many other Japanese martial arts, such as kendo. Likewise, when Okinawan martial artist Sakugawa created karate-no-sakugawa in 1722, the character“kara” originally referred to China. However, after Gichin Funakoshi introduced karate into Japan in 1921, kara’s meaning changed to “empty.”

Like many other countries’, Korean martial arts history begins outside Korea. The first martial art to be practiced in Korea was a form of Mongolian wrestling called ssirum, which was created in 770 B.C. and introduced to Korea by the Chinese in the late 400s B.C.

Hundreds of years later, during the Tang dynasty in China and the Three Kingdoms period in Korea (57 B.C.-A.D. 668), fighters called Forest Devils helped the Chinese-backed Silla defeat the Japanese-backed Paechta and became known as sulsa assassins. The Silla honored the Tang emperor by creating tangsu martial arts, the forerunner to tang soo do. Tangsu was then taught to the fabled Korean Hwarang warriors, prompting the birth ofhwa rang do.

During Korea’s Yi period (900-1050), the Chinese introduced two more martial arts to Korea: subak, eventually renamed taekyon; and kwonbeop,which became the standard art for Korean warriors. Taekwondo arose in the 1950s when several Korean martial artists combined Japanese karate with taekyon. And when Korean martial artist Choi Yong-sul returned from Japan after World War II and taught a style of karate, it was later renamedhapkido.

Southeast Asia generally encompasses Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. Important martial arts that take their histories from the region are pentjak silat, arnis/escrima, kali, muay boran, krabi krabong, muay Thai and vovinam.

In the 1400s, two major silat martial arts arose out of Southeast Asia: Indonesia’s pentjak silat (created by Malay female Rama Sukana) and Malaysia’s bersilat. The snake-shaped bladed knife kris was an important weapon in pentjak silat. In A.D. 200, Malaysians introduced the kris to the Philippines, which was adopted by the Moro people. In the 1500s, the Moro people combined their kris skills with Spanish fencing and applied them to rattan sticks to create arnis/escrima. The bladed art of kali was eventually developed from these arts.

The most well-known martial art of the region is probably muay Thai, which began in 1930. It takes its origins from the more lethal muay boran, which in turn came from the stick-and-sword-fighting art of krabi krabong. In 1560, King Nareusan was captured by the Burmese. To obtain his release, he defeated the top Burmese boxers. This was the birth of muay boran. Most major Burmese martial arts—bando, banshei, lethwei, naban— arose between 1200 and 1300.After the French conquered Vietnam, they outlawed martial arts. In 1912, Nguyen Loc started a martial arts movement that created today’s Vietnamese martial art known as vovinam Viet do dao.

The oldest record of boxing are pyramid hieroglyphs and mural paintings in Egypt that date back 4000 B.C. From these early origins, fighting sports were born like pankration in ancient Crete to today’s prizefighting. (The first recorded bare-knuckle champion was Englishman James Figg in 1719.)

Western martial arts continued to evolve around the world. For example, 17 years after Chinese dignitaries visited, Persians created varesh-e-pahlavanin 98 B.C., which is a fighting art that uses kicks. Another example is how Russian’s Mongolian occupiers influenced the Russian martial art ofsystema. During the Viking Age, the Finnish created the fighting art kas-pin.When African slaves were shipped from Angola to Brazil during the late 1400s, they eventually created the Brazilian martial art known as capoiera.French savate (foot fighting) arose during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After studying jujutsu in Japan, Edward William Barton-Wright returned to England and, in 1898, created bartitsu, which combined jujutsu, boxing and savate.Today, new Western martial arts are generally created by someone who has a background in several other arts. Evolution is nonstop.