All types of martial arts originate from ancient times, when fighting styles were developed and used on enemies to protect families, villages and tribes. Of course, at first the old martial arts were quite primitive and did not reveal the capabilities of the human body, but over time they improved and transformed into completely different directions, making them more cruel and aggressive (Thai boxing) or, conversely, soft, but no less effective (Wing Chun )
Ancient martial arts
Most historians consider the founder of all martial arts wushu, but to refute this, there are other opinions, supported by facts:
- The very first martial arts arose in 648 BC and was called the "Greek pankration."
- The Turkic people, who lived in the territory of modern Uzbekistan, developed martial arts “keras”, which became the ancestor of modern martial arts.
- Hindus, like other nations, also practiced the creation of an effective method of struggle and, according to many historians, it was they who laid the foundation for the development of military schools in China and the rest of the East.
Note : the third hypothesis is considered the most real, and its study continues even now.
Martial arts: types and differences
In the East, martial arts have a completely different purpose than in Europe or America, here everything consists not so much in self-defense as in the spiritual development of a person through the fulfillment of physical tasks, the correct overcoming of which allows one to reach the next level of harmony of the soul.
The best types of martial arts in European countries are based solely on self-defense and the protection of man and society, and in the oriental arts of warfare everything is completely different, there crippling a person is considered not the best solution to the problem.
When considering martial arts, they most often start from China, which, according to many people, has introduced martial arts of eastern origin to other states, but many other countries that practice their martial arts and are very successful in gaining followers all over the world belong to the east.
Karate and judo are the most popular martial arts. Types, of course, are not limited to only two styles, no, there are quite a lot of them, but there are even more subspecies of both famous methods, and today many schools insist that their style is real and priority.
Chinese martial arts
In ancient China, people practiced Wushu, but until 520 BC, this type of martial arts stood at the “dead point” of development, and only helped protect the country's inhabitants from raids by surrounding tribes and feudal lords.
In 520 BC, a monk named Bodhidharma arrives in China from the territory of modern India and, under an agreement with the Emperor of the country, creates his own residence on the territory of the Shaolin Monastery, where he begins to practice the fusion of his knowledge of martial arts with Chinese Wushu.
Bodhidharma did not work on a simple fusion of Wushu and his martial art, he did a great job during which China switched to Buddhism, although he had previously practiced Confucianism and, in some parts of the country, Taoism. But the most important achievement of a monk from India is the transformation of Wushu into a spiritual art with elements of gymnastics and at the same time strengthening the combat side of martial arts.
After the work of the Indian monk, the Shaolin monasteries began to develop Wushu trends and create sports, martial and wellness styles of martial arts. After spending many years in training the Chinese, Wushu masters reached the island of Okinawa (previously not belonging to Japan, but practicing jiu-jitsu), where they studied Japanese martial arts and developed the famous karate.
Japanese martial arts
The first type of martial art in Japan is jujitsu, which was based not on contact with the enemy, but on surrendering to him and defeating him.
During the development of the Japanese style of self-defense, the basis was a state of mind and focus on the enemy in such a way that the fighter ceased to see the environment and completely concentrated on the opponent.
Ju-jitsu is the founder of today's judo, with the exception of traumatic throws and fatal blows to the opponent’s pain points , but the basis of both skills of fighting the opponent is the same - to succumb to win.
Martial Arts
Popular martial arts exist not only in the form of serious warring techniques, and many of them have styles that were originally developed as martial arts. The types of contact techniques that today relate to sports are dozens, but the most popular are boxing, karate, judo, but mixed martial arts MMA and others are gaining popularity.
One of the first to come to sport was boxing, the purpose of which was to do maximum harm to the opponent so that he could not see or the judge stopped the fight due to the abundance of blood. Judo and karate, unlike boxing, are soft, prohibit contacts in person, which is why they are valued not as a means of self-defense, but as martial arts. Sports such as boxing or mixed fights are gaining popularity due to contact and aggression, which gives them great ratings.
Other martial arts
Each country has its own martial arts, which were developed in the style of behavior of residents or their living conditions.
A serious example of the development of martial art in terms of lifestyle and weather conditions is the Old Russian style of fighting Lyubka.
In the old days, Russian martial art prepared simple peasants for self-defense even against professional soldiers, for which it was invented on the principle of local weather conditions. During Maslenitsa, the peasants played a popular game on ice, where several rows of residents (men) walked at each other and had to break through the “wall” of the enemy, and physical contact was allowed (except for the face and groin area).
The ice prepared the peasants for complexity and forced them to learn to maintain balance even in difficult conditions, and the martial art itself was not aimed at harming, however, the fighters should send the enemy to a knockout (unconscious state).