There are many styles and schools of martial arts; broadly speaking,
they share a common goal: to physically defeat a person or defend
oneself. Some Eastern martial arts have a tradition of being about
more than simple fighting, which is perhaps why their practice has
been seen as worth preserving in the face of their military obsolescence
in modern technological culture. Some believe that it is worthwhile
practicing martial arts, because the principles of warriorship and
understanding of tactics and strategy remain applicable in modern
warfare. Certain martial arts, such as T'ai Chi Ch'uan, may also
be practiced to maintain or improve mental or physical health.
What differentiates the martial arts from mere unarmed brawling is the organization of their techniques into a coherent system and the codification of effective teaching methods. One common training technique is to have a series of routines called forms (also called kata, poomse, ch'uan t'ao, kuen, tao lu, hyung, sequencias, or tuls) which can serve as a dictionary of essential techniques to be memorized and drawn from at need. Martial arts are also characterized by the controlled, mindful application of force in ways selected for empirical effectiveness. In this sense, boxing, fencing, archery, and wrestling can also be considered martial arts.
Martial arts may focus on
striking (e.g. Boxing, some styles of Karate, Southern Praying
Mantis, Wing Chun, Krav Maga, Bando)
kicking, (e.g. Taekwondo, Savate, Capoeira, Lethwei, Tantui)
grappling and throwing (e.g. Wrestling, Shuai Jiao, Jujutsu, Judo,
Pehlwani, Sambo, Naban, Aikido, Qin na, Kampfringen, Hapkido), or
weaponry (e.g. Iaido, Naginata-do, Bojutsu, Kendo, Fencing, Kali,
Gatka, Banshay, Fechtkunst).
Most martial arts include some study of all of these different areas of combat and some explicitly attempt to be complete systems (Kalaripayattu, Eskrima, many types of Jujutsu, many traditional Wushu Chinese martial arts ).
Some martial arts, particularly the traditional Chinese arts, used
to go beyond this to teach side disciplines such as bone-setting,
qigong, acupuncture, acupressure (tui na), and other aspects of
traditional Chinese medicine. This was a natural extension, as at
an advanced level techniques can take advantage of a detailed knowledge
of how the opponent's body works to drastically increase their effectiveness.
The martial arts, perhaps due to a half-century of dramatic portrayals in popular media, (particuarly in films starring famous martial artist and martial arts stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li; see Orientalism), have been inextricably bound in the Western romantic imagination to East Asian cultures and people. Martial arts are by no means unique to Asia, however. Humans around the world have always had to develop ways to defend themselves from attack, often without weapons. Not all martial arts were developed in Asia. Savate, for example, was developed as a form of kickboxing in France. Capoeira's athletic movements were developed in Brazil by slaves based on skills brought with them from Africa.
Warning: main() [function.main]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /home/blackbr/public_html/index.php on line 128
Warning: main(http://ns2.bigbold.com/digest/f3ee1fa506c9/297fcfe33855.html) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/blackbr/public_html/index.php on line 128
Warning: main() [function.main]: php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known in /home/blackbr/public_html/index.php on line 128
Warning: main(http://ns2.bigbold.com/digest/f3ee1fa506c9/297fcfe33855.html) [function.main]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/blackbr/public_html/index.php on line 128
Warning: main() [function.include]: Failed opening 'http://ns2.bigbold.com/digest/f3ee1fa506c9/297fcfe33855.html' for inclusion (include_path='/usr/lib/php:.:/usr/php4/lib/php:/usr/local/php4/lib/php') in /home/blackbr/public_html/index.php on line 128