Martial Art Overview

Martial Arts refers to a systematic style of personal combat. There are many different variations of the arts. Here is an introduction to the subject.

Any discussion of martial art facts should begin with the meaning of the word itself. The term martial arts comes from the Roman god of war Mars. The phrase arc Martialis actually translates as the "arts of Mars." Although there is no doubt that martial arts was developed in the beginning as a part of warfare, even from the earliest times it had other purposes. Today, marital arts are used for a wide variety of purposes. Some of them are very spiritual in nature and some are non-spiritual. They include self discipline, mediation, self confidence, and sport.

Although martial arts are thought by many to be almost exclusively of Asian origin, the development of formal systems of self defense actually took place world wide. The Europeans developed several unique styles of fighting including savate, the French kick boxing discipline developed by sailors and street fighters. American Indians and Hawaiian islanders both had their own forms of martial arts.

Although certain people brought knowledge of the Asian forms of martial arts to the West from the very beginning of the contact between Asia and the West, martial arts were basically unknown in the United States until after the 1950's. An example of this lack of knowledge was given in the popular James Bond movie "GoldFinger", where Bond who was supposed to be an expert in unarmed combat himself displays at distressing lack of knowledge about the nature of karate and judo.

Some non-Asian forms of unique martial arts include khridoli which is a very ancient Georgian form that used mostly bare hands and Glima, which is an ancient Scandinavian martial art that is thought to date back to the Vikings and is still the National sport of Iceland. Today, many forms of martial arts have become sports. Judo and Tae Kwon Do are both events in the Summer Olympics. Archery, boxing, javelin throw, wrestling and fencing are other Olympic sports that have martial arts roots.

Today, the increased media attention has brought the ancient martial arts to a new level of popularity. Martial arts movies and televised competitions have also helped increased the interest and exposure of martial arts. Although many of the ancient forms of personal combat that were developed over the centuries have been lost, martial arts has experienced a revival through sport and competition.

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