Origin of Martial Arts

The origins of the martial arts predate recorded history. Every culture has its own history and various periods of development of the arts. For the most part in the West, martial arts should more appropriately be called martial sport. Fighting techniques were introduced. As new techniques developed, the older techniques would disappear.

In the East, martial arts became identified with the culture and tradition. Because of the gradual cultural identification of the systems of fighting, ritual and philosophies evolved, and they often found their way into monastic sects. This explains the consistent and unchanging element that is found in asian martial arts. The arts, while ritualized, continued to experiment with new techniques and approaches. The contributions of neighboring systems and cultures were consistently incorporated into an existing tradition. The result is thousands of years of a dynamic and ever-evolving body of knowledge, rooted in the centuries but ever changing.

The conscious and stated goal of any traditional martial art is to develop discipline and confidence in the practitioner and to enable the student to overcome self, minimize personal fear, and minimize the desire to dominate or control the lives of others. The means used to achieve this goal is martial techniques.