Here's something I wrote for Combat several years ago:


IS YOUR ART MARTIAL?

By Kru Shaun Boland.

Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred
Charge of the light Brigade
Lord Tennyson 1870

If you were to write comprehensively about every martial art in the world you would seriously be competing with the Encyclopaedia Britannica!
There are literally hundreds of different styles, methods or systems in the world today. With new systems branching out even as I write this, I am curious to know how we classify what a ‘Martial’ art is.

What I am about to write is definitely open for debate as I know some of you may not agree with me. That is okay, because we all have the freedom to express our opinion and I simply want to generate some thought on this issue, not dictate any classification (in fact that is what this is all about if you ‘get it’ at the end of the article!). All I ask is that you keep an open mind and don’t fuss too much!

Let us start with the dictionaries classification for the word ‘Martial’:
mar•tial (mär sh l)
adj.
1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of war.
2. Relating to or connected with the armed forces or the profession of arms.
3. Characteristic of or befitting a warrior.
So you could say ‘Martial arts’ are; the study of preparatory methods for use in armed and unarmed combat during war.
However, I do not think it is that simple, as the martial arts were not originally developed for the defence of soldiers fighting on battlefields, or as sports. The combat that martial artists practice is free from the constraints of rules unless they are practiced as a sport. Martial arts have simply one objective: to neutralize an attack by any means as rapidly as possible. (I will repeat this a few times during the article!)
The sporting element may well have come from the need to maintain battle awareness and sharpness during times of peace, such as the Greek Olympic games, which was a religious festival during which war was suspended throughout the land.
On the battlefield, weapons were a lot heavier and the skills of war a lot cruder than martial arts. However, a requirement for skill and strategy was certainly needed to best your adversary.
So it is my opinion that the martial arts were adapted to warfare not developed for warfare as we may think.
The argument here of course is that weaponry was developed for warfare and as we know, many of our arts have training as such. However, for now, I am looking at the unarmed fighting arts - hand to hand combat. Something that has gone on since man first roamed the Earth. Tribal warfare probably occurred in prehistoric times and fighting would have included biting, gouging, hair pulling, pushing and striking etc. The more sophisticated techniques such as throwing, locking, defence and attack strategies that martial artists employ, are a totally different order of complexity altogether.
What I am about to say now may cause a reaction from one or two of you, but here goes nonetheless. The majority of our techniques in martial arts are of no use in a real combat situation. They simply would not work in either urban or military warfare. Now it’s up to you to decide what will work and what will not in your chosen arts. I am not prepared to analyze and write down every martial technique! But be brutally honest, put yourself hand to hand with someone who actually wants to kill you, are you really prepared? do you really have the training to deal with this? Isn’t this what ‘Martial’ arts are about – to neutralize an attack by any means as rapidly as possible.
This of course leads me into our sports ‘Martial arts’. As I stated earlier, probably developed to keep the soldiers ‘battle sharp’ in times of peace. Our sports, naturally, have rules, as with any sport. As a ‘Martial’ art however, rules become constraints, limits. Let us take a closer look - We can divide our ‘Martial sports’ into two basic categories: restricted-contact and full contact (This includes weapons too!). Within the restricted contact we have the semi-contact rules and the non-contact rules, some of the arts that employ these are:
• JUDO
• KARATE (Not including kyokushinkai & shidokan which both employ full contact techniques)
• AIKIDO
• TAEKWONDO
• TAI CHI
• SEMI-CONTACT FREESTYLE
Within full contact there are the following:
• MUAY THAI
• WESTERN BOXING
• SAN SHAO (Chinese boxing)
• VALE TUDO
• NHB (MMA)
There are many more which fit into either categories or even somewhere between. What I am asking here is, are they all ‘Martial’ arts? When we restrict our techniques to just throwing or only punching etc, we no longer have an effective fighting arsenal that can qualify in the pure sense, as ‘Martial’. Let’s look away from the sporting aspect for the moment and look at few other martial arts. I will categorize them so that we can discuss these further:
1. MODERN
2. TRADITIONAL
3. FITNESS
1. MODERN
• JEET KUNE DO
• KRAV MAGA
• KEYSI
2. TRADITIONAL
• MUAY BORAN (KRABI-KRABONG)
• BUSHIDO
• IAIDO
• KALARIPAYIT
• SILAT
• ESCRIMA
3. FITNESS
• TAE BO
• BOXERCISE
• AEROBOX
• BODY COMBAT
• KARATEROBICS
Are these ‘Martial’ arts? I know you are looking at the last section and saying no way! So let’s look at each one individually. In the modern martial arts we have systems that are designed for urban warfare and in the case of Krav Maga, specifically developed for the Israeli defence forces. In the traditional section I have included arts that employ the use of weapons in addition to empty hand (at last! I hear you sigh). These traditional methods were all employed in battle during their countries respective histories. So by all accounts modern and traditional arts are ‘Martial’. Now let’s look at the fitness section, but before I do, consider this: The Shaolin Temple is where many martial arts believe their roots to lie. It is here, legend has it, that the Indian Zen Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma, upon seeing his pupils falling asleep during meditation, formulated an exercise routine based upon the movements of 5 different animals. This was later adapted to fighting styles, which are still in existence today.
Modern day martial fitness routines are purely for aerobic exercise throwing in some strength exercises and a few techniques you may say. However, most of these, if not all, were designed by ‘martial’ artist and they involve choreography not to dissimilar to Kata or Hyungs. Perhaps these exercise routines are the forerunners of our own modern Shaolin community halls and sports centers!

So let’s go back to our original meaning of martial arts - to neutralize an attack by any means as rapidly as possible. Does the fitness section fit into this category? Do sport Martial arts fit into this category? Be careful how you answer, bear in mind my comments earlier about rules and constraints!
Getting back to the original question, does your martial art stack up if you were faced with an opponent who wants to kill you, no rules, no constraints, no dance beat? –
MARTIAL ARTS – PREPARATION FOR COMBAT?
OR JUST A GENERIC TERM?