The Essence of Martial Arts

roulette video Kung Fu, Karate, Taekwondo and Jujitsu are terms very familiar to us. We can always strongly associate these words with the action movies we are seeing, the Olympic competitions we are excited watching or even with the thrilling video games we play like Streetfighter! By the way, what do Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Jet Li have in common? They are all martial artists!

Martial arts are old, traditional, systematized systems of combat practices. Though early practices of martial arts were very evident during the Xia Dynasty in China, it was in Europe where martial arts probably originated. Mars, as we all know, is the god of war according to Roman mythology. The early combat systems Arts of Mars in Europe were named before him as the famous god of war and combat. Hence, the word ‘martial arts’ became popular and widely accepted as the modern terminology for Arts of Mars.

Martial arts were conceptualized, taught, learned and practiced for many centuries for variety of reasons. For many martial artists, martial arts were intended for self-defense. Others practiced martial arts for competition, overall physical fitness and wellness, as well as mental and spiritual development.

There are many variations of martial arts. There are unarmed and weapon based martial arts, combat oriented and self-defense martial arts, and sports martial arts. These, however, can vary if they involved partial or full contact.

As a new subset in the field of cinema, sports and television, martial arts practice has been regarded as one of the promising industries in the United States. With 30 million practitioners, martial arts generated total revenue of 30 million US dollars in 2003 and this big influx of money is expected to increase for the coming years.

There are different types of martial arts and each of these has its own distinctive style, purpose and origin. Some martial arts are developed by schools, martial art masters, teachers and professors. These are then classified and grouped according to their type, focus and regional origin.

Here are some famous martial arts with their respective distinct style and origin. American Karate is also known as Freestyle Karate. Since this is a combination of traditional Japanese, Korean and Okinawan Karate with touches of Aikido, Judo, Kung Fu and many other oriental martial arts, no one can determine its exact origin. A distinct feature of this type of karate is the use of belt systems. One of the most popular forms of martial arts is Kung Fu.

Technically, this is Chinese martial arts. Obviously, this type developed from China centuries ago employing different styles and methods that can sometimes pertain to animal mimicry. Kung Fu is mostly inspired by religious practices, legends and philosophies. Aikido on the other hand is a form of martial arts from Japan. A unique characteristic of this type is that it encourages self defense and at the same time prevents the attacker attain injury.

Martial art, as a whole, is one of the well-practiced combat tactics in the whole world. With its deeply rooted discipline in different culture, religion, philosophy and respect to life, it is regarded as one of the sacred arts of the modern world that will always be treasured, honored and preserved.