What Is A Martial Art?

Martial Art Defined

The term 'martial' was derived from the name Mars, the ancient Roman 'god of war'. It means 'of war', 'appropriate to war' or 'warlike'.

The term 'art' means the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as dancing, painting or sculpture, producing works that impress primarily for their beauty.

Based on these terms, we can say that a martial art is any skill, a set of skills or a system of skills that is 'of war', 'appropriate to war' or 'warlike'. Beauty, of course, is relative and, as applied to the martial arts arts, may simply mean impressive efficiency.

By skill, I mean a single functional ability like the finger jab to the eye, the development and possession of the so-called 'iron palm', a particular Judo throw, or a knife throwing technique. 

By set of skills, I mean a coherent group of related functional abilities for broader applications like hitting with the limbs in general, grappling in general, or the various ways to manipulate a particular weapon. 

By system of skills, I mean any of the distinctly identifiable disciplines like Graeco-Roman Wrestling, Chinese Wu Kung, Japanese Jujutsu, Filipino Arnis, etc.

Martial arts systems or disciplines may also be referred to in the singular form (e.g. martial art of Judo, martial art of Karate or martial art of Aikido).

Moreover, many such systems may be further subdivided into various styles and sub-styles according to which school or direct lineage they are identified with. Karate, for instance, has so many (Shorin-ryu, Goju-ryu, Shotokan, Kyukoshinkai, and so on).

Martial Arts Categorized

Martial arts systems may be broadly categorized according to their dominant sets of skills, to wit;

1. Hitting Arts - Western boxing, Karate, Taekwondo and Muay Thai belong to this classification.

2. Grappling Arts - Graeco-Roman wrestling, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and even Aikido belong to this classification.

3. Weapon Arts - Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), the use of projectiles as in archery, Kendo, and Arnis belong to this classification. (Firearms requiring manual handling skills may be included, if you wish.)

Mixed Martial Arts

While it is said that no one can be a master of so many arts, many martial artists consider it desirable to learn as much of other systems as possible. Challenges pitting practitioners of hitting arts against practitioners of grappling arts seem to have led to what is called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

MMA is a misnomer though as it only incorporates unarmed arts (no weapons). This may change over time as combat sports events become more daring. 

The Complete Martial Artist

The concept of a 'complete martial artist' essentially refers to one reasonably proficient in all three broad categories - hitting, grappling and weapons. In what could be trending, there are now arranged contests for self-defense supremacy in situational combat sports.

I suppose the legendary Bruce Lee was the most famous exponent of this concept in our time with his Jeet Kune Do or "Way of the Intercepting Fist". His lineage produced other famous exponents, namely; Dan Inosanto, Paul Vunak and James Hundon to name a few.

What I'd Like To See

For self-defense enthusiasts, contests that feature graded situational bouts would be an exciting spectacle. How would that be? Well, what about grading how an unarmed participant defends himself against an armed assailant? Given all the necessary safety precautions, this isn't so far-fetched.

Martial Arts Training Orientations

The martial arts may be further categorized/classified according to the orientation of training and usage, to wit;

1. Sport Competiton

     In Eskrima, this is referred to as "Hurado" (Judge). There are set rules, judges and referees.

    a. sparring

    b. formal exercise (kata, weapon forms, etc.)

    c. others (knife or shuriken throwing, etc.)

2. Exhibition or Demonstration

     In Eskrima, a.k.a. "Entablado" (Stage).

    a. promotion of the art

         i. sports events 

        ii. prospective students 

    b. entertainment 

         i. showbusiness

3. Real Combat

     In Eskrima, a.k.a. "Matador" (Killer). This is for survival. There are no rules.      

In my opinion, even as a sport, a martial art is still a martial art. However, a sport martial art or combat sport may be warlike but restrictive rules render many skill sets inappropriate for real combat. A finger jab to the eye or eye-gouging, for example, is illegal in sports but can be a quick fight-ender in real combat.

Respect The Artist Not The Art

Never ever claim that one martial art is better than another. Which works best depends on many factors. Take fighting ranges, for example. There is weapon range, kicking range, punching range, trapping range and grappling range. It's difficult to rely on just one set of skills for all that.

Like any tool, a martial art is just as good as the user. An Arnis stick is just a stick, for instance, unless there's an expert arnisador weilding it. In this day and age, you never know what the other person can do. And, never judge anything that you haven't fully explored.

Guro Dan Lastrilla

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