determin "Martial arts" ?

Question

I see alot of people saying Martial arts is just not about fighting is about learning your "inner self" and stuff like that.
Well if you really want to be spacific Martial means "war" so you want to learn war arts so you want to really learn something that can help you win a fight, so really you are entering into something where really its all about fighting am i wrong ?

Answer 1

if this is the way you look at it you'll never be a martial artist however you'll fit in well on yahoo answers martial arts with all the other wanna be keyboard warriors.

Answer 2

You are correct. The movies often focus on the eastern martial arts, IE Judo, Tae Kwon Do, etc. The lesson of learning the inner self is refered to in the movies as "plot". However, martial arts does not just refer to the eastern styles of fighting. There are also the western styles of fighting. Take boxing, for example. Even fencing is a martial art.

Answer 3

Well, martial arts do literally mean "arts of war" but they are arts of unarmed combat, or, at least, reduced weapons.

If we truly meant fighting to maximum capacity by martial arts, we would have to include assault riffles, grenades, air strikes, etc... in our training. If, by martial arts, we truly mean arts of war, then the Taliban fighter in Afghanistan is probably the best example of a martial artist. But clearly, that's not what we mean...

The martial arts as we know them today arose (mainly) in Japan, Korea and China at a time when these were true arts of war. Today, these techniques would not go a long way in combat. So clearly, something more is happening.

China, Japan and Korea, from which most martial arts we know originate were all lands which were experienced in war. The wars with which they were concerned are of little consequence to us today. However, a number of spiritual and philosophical doctrines came to be married with those arts. Buddhism and martial arts seem to have flourished in the same lands. This is not mere coincidence.

By studying the martial arts, we are paying respect to a particular tradition that happens to have been born out of these conditions in the orient. This training does allow us to defend ourselves better, but overall, they also allow us to partake in something bigger, a unique cultural event that aimed at shaping human beings into something better. That is why I study the martial arts. I have no need to fight in my daily life and if anyone comes up to me demanding a fight, I'll simply have to do my best. But that is not my primary purpose.

Answer 4

Martial is the english word that is plastered on everything called martial arts.

In the original languages, the name of the art wouldn't have anything that transated into war (except maybe for army stuff). For example, we call aikido a martial art, but its name means "path/art of love" (peace, harmony, etc.). Aikido, itself, does not involve you trying to kill your opponent or start war.

Capoeira is a "martial art" whose name means burnt field. It was called such because that was where the slaves would fight any pursuers whenever they triewd to escape to freedom. Even then, it was quite rare for escaping slaves to actually kill their pursuers, since that would cause them more trouble and take more time. This was a path to freedom and the community of escaped slaves did not try and wage all out war on the slave masters.

There are a lot mroe examples than just these two

It doesn't matter that martial means war, that is just a name that was chosen by enlgish/european speakers to group everything together, lazily. Calling them martial arts is like calling iroquois, comanches, appaches, etc. INdians or native americans. An entire spectrum of different cultures, histories, etc. shouldn't be clumped in such an incorrect term. Same for martial arts.

Answer 5

Westerners that study asian arts seem to get confused about their origins or the intentions of the arts. This may largly be attributed to how the east sold it to the west. Like in Tai Chi we are told that techniques are called such lovely things like, old man fishing for small fish or some such nonsense, when in Chinese they just say, block punch or wrist lock or whatever it is that the technique is actually for.

This whole spirituality thing is supposed to be the health aspect of systems which is supposed to enhance your fighting ability both mentally and physically, but westerners tend to not really understand that and instead mistake it for some almost religous experience.

Just my opinion anyway. Fighting is fighting no matter how you dress it up.

Answer 6

I've studied Tae Kwon Do for 4 years and Wado-Ryu Karate for 1 year. To me, Karate is more than a martial art, it's a metaphor for life. To be correct, I don't consider Karate to be only a martial art.

I understand "martial art" to be mostly what you suggest: a combat style, creatively applied (as opposed to a martial science), but nothing more or less. A given style of combat might be a martial art, but it might also be more.

Answer 7

Martial is the western name. The Korean word is mu. the ideogram indicates stopping bloodshed. Martial Arts are about a lot more than just fighting.

You have much to learn grasshopper.

Answer 8

No, you're not wrong at all, but there's more to the pie than the four slices you're talking about. With Kung Fu, there is also Tai Chi to consider. It is about the philosophy to a good inner foundation that develops the skill and art. Karate has similar foundation.

Answer 9

You're wrong. To master fighting, you must understand yourself and how to control yourself the correct way also meaning your "inner self". It's not all about fighting because as you learn you begin to understand more about life and how fighting is. You may not see it that way but its all good.

Answer 10

You are kind of right but MaRtIaL aRtS are also about learning:
sKiLLs
FiTnEsS
SeLfDeFeNsE
SeLf CuLtIvAtIoN (meditation)
mEnTaL dIsCiPliNe
ChArAcTeR DeVeLoPmEnT
AnD bUiLdInG SeLf-cOnFiDeNcE.........