Culture and religion have been understood to be the foundation of martial arts and the practice of the arts. The arts not only promote self discipline and self-defense or protection, but also a form of national pride during the early development periods. The techniques come from different origins for each culture or counties art. Each region or country has their own version of a martial art. Many of these arts beginnings were in the farm fields as the commoners were in need of a weaponless art for protection of family and livestock. However, in each art there is still the individual significance of the origin of each art to traditionalists and historian.
In historical significance, there are three cultural based martial arts that are popular all over the world. Each of this has contributed much to those mixed and those that have evolved and existed. Popularly Asian countries have the biggest part. These arts and or cultures are India, Korea and Japan. Sometimes Okinawa is grouped in with Japan as they have played a large role in Asian martial arts history
India Martial Arts
Traditional Martial Arts in India, in the pre-Gupta, there are multiple accounts of combat using various weapons as well as bare hands.
This was believed to be the start of the Indian Martial Arts. In this country there are varieties of style in combat mainly using sword and crossbow. In some regions, they use other weapons which are not known in other countries. In the Dravidian discipline they use flexible blades in combat. Since there are a lot of foreign visitors in this country, their styles were copied for what they found useful, and then improved to meet specific needs for the person developing the combat art. Of Course Yoga training
Korean Martial Arts
The more well known Korean martial arts are Hapkido, Kuk Sool, Tae Kwon Do, and Tang Soo Do. The korean martial arts practice has existed for more than two thousand years, even though Tae Kwon Do was formed in 1955 by General Choi Hi.. Some say that in the 1500s’ when Korea asked for military training from China, they were able to get influences from their fighting skills to incorporate into their own. It is questionable what aid they were given as the Chinese influences in these arts are not readily seen.
Japanese Martial Arts
The Japanese, call martial arts budo, bujutsu, or bugie. The english translation for these are still martial arts since the practice literally instill discipline and respect in this field. Culturally, this is a way of life too for Japanese. It encompasses the physical and spiritual mind, moral dimension, and personal growth. The Japanese way has multiple styles and systems , which are widely known throughout the country, many of which are passed down in hierarchal form to family members. The most famous or infamous of the historical martial arts of Japan, is found in the Samurai history. The art of the Samurai is Aiki Jitsu or Aiki Ju Jitsu.
By studying these three cultures, you can better understand how these arts have found their way into many other countries outside of Asia, and other cultures martial art forms.
