Martial Arts Origin and its philosophy
Martial arts, it has been part of us for many centuries. It has been the vital differentiator in ancient wars. It showed an individuals power, determination and discipline. They were respected and treated as nobles. But martial arts also brought about different style of warfare tactics. In the present age, it is not used for violence nearly as in the past. After the dawn of firearms, martials arts had began to diminish in warfare. Now its a form of self-discipline, self defense and to keep our body healthy. For the comfort of reading I will break it down into parts.
1.How it originated?
Martial arts derived its name from the “martial” which literally mean Mars, which is the roman god of war. So martial arts mean “The Art of War”. It did came a form of warfare, in which throughout history different styles of could be found with its own unique touch. But answering the true origin is tough. There depicted in the murals of one of the tombs of Beni Hasan in Egypt that are dated to about the 20th century BC. We see similar notations in Gilgamesh epics dating back to about 18th century, moving eastward. The next we really know about from the East is Sun Tzu describing the Art of War in the 6th century BC.
Many might have heard about Bodhidharma(Truth of Awakening) - the father of Marital arts. The legend goes that Bodhidharma travelled to China and taught the monks in Shaolin kung fu. But many historians believe this is a misconception. This is because the story in itself is quite fascinating
and its been popular for quite a long time. By many historian it is told that Bodhidharma taught the monks physical exercises to strengthen them mentally and further other monks developed it into the Shaolin kung fu. And we Indian can be proud that the ancient marital arts of ‘Kalaripayattu’[art of battlefield] is considered as the oldest surviving marital arts. Some say it is the ‘First martial arts’. It originated from the south of India.
Now let’s understand the diversity and dig a bit deeper into it.
2.The Diversity and philosophy
It can be told that non-practitioner do underestimate or put a stereotype over it. They think there are only karate, Kung Fu. Well they are basically misinformed about it. There are many different styles with various techniques, belt colours and much else. There are many arts which are specific to a particular movement. For example taekwondo and capoeira. are kicking arts whereas Wing Chun and Boxing are punching arts. There are other arts which use their entire body like Muay thai, Karate. There are pinning arts like Judo, Aikido, Ju-Jitsu etc. weapon arts and many more.
By the late 19th century, martial arts got very popular in Europe. But it was not well know to the west till the 1950’s. But during the colonial period the west and other colonial countries wanted to show their might. So bouts were conducted in public. West saw the potential for it in close quarter combat(CQC) and sent their army to China, Japan and Korea. During the Korean war Taekwondo flourished. In the early 1970’s many marital arts movies, in particular those by Bruce Lee, further popularized martial arts and inspired many practitioners to take up some form of martial arts out of passion and curiosity. He was also my reason to take it up marital arts.
The main philosophy behind marital arts is that it puts a great emphasize on essence of self-control, respect for others, and positive perspective to strive for the best in life. From my experience I have seen taking up marital arts purely either for violence or revenge. This stems from the their notion that martial arts is all about fighting. But it is not. In reality it teaches you how to avoid fights, and indulge in fights as the last measure of self-defense. You might be thinking why that is?.
Well after conditioning your mind, body and spirit you are now a living weapon. So its your duty to control your emotion and avoid fights and injuring others. That’s why you are first taught to deescalate a fight. Martials arts is a way beyond just fights, it is a way of life. You constantly want to improve yourself, to understand you limit and enjoy sparring(friendly fight between disciples) with stronger opponents of different styles. So as you feel confident, full of energy and content. You being to help others than hurting them.
3.Martial Arts in present
Today many marital arts like Judo and Tae Kwon Do as well as western archery, boxing, javelin, wrestling are current sports in the Summer Olympics. Some schools believe that competition makes better and more efficient practitioners, and gives a sense of good sportsmanship. The military still teaches some form of deadly martial arts like Krav maga or taekwondo for CQC.
With the dawn of marital arts movies and general action sequences being constituting of some marital arts to pull in the viewers, its popularity is still great. In the past decade, Mixed Martial Arts AKA MMA has taken the world by storm, it is one of the highest paid competitive sport were the practitioners use technique from multiple disciplines. It was actually Bruce Lee who brought this concept to life. He believed that true martial arts is formless, it should adapt and flow. So he learned different disciplines and taken what was necessary and throw away what was not. Thus creating the base for MMA.
Today, martial arts is more often used as a form of exercise. It is also taught as a method of self-defense and is used to improve confidence and self-esteem. It is encouraged that all women take up some form of martial arts, not only would they be able to defend themselves, but also increase their self-confidence.
Martial arts has a wide variety of benefits, it can improve balance, strength, stamina, flexibility, and posture and it can also enhance weight loss and improve muscle tone. Furthermore, martial arts can help with stress-management, improve concentration and increase willpower.
4.Conclusion
The true origin of marital arts is still vague as there are different context of it being practiced. There are different styles of martial arts focusing on different techniques. In the present there are many entertainment association based of martials arts. It has become a past-time, adopted by schools and other communities to helps the practitioner to defend, increase their mental fortitude and has many health benefits. I hope everyone would take up some form of basic marital arts as it will definitely benefit you both mentally and physically.