History of Martial Arts

Martial arts had its origin in Asia in the ancient times. The style that evolved in Asia was possibly a combination of the Indian and Chinese arts. This could happen because of trade links between these two countries from around 600 BC. Traders and monks traveled between the two countries and became familiar with each others arts. As early as 350 BC, Sun Tzu recorded in his book ‘The Art of War’ development in China of martial arts after 480 BC. There is a legend that the Indian monk Daruma who lived during the time around 550 AD founded Zen Buddhism the philosophy of which inspired development of the arts of unarmed combat characterized by the Chinese Shaolin Temple. The meditative philosophy of Zen Buddhism was the basis on which the attributes of Martial arts like discipline and self-control developed. Martial arts gradually spread in Asia in the traditional way of the teacher imparting the acquired skills to his students. A student had to pass through different stages before he himself would become a master. This master was given different names in different cultures- ‘Guru’ in India, ‘Shifu’ or ‘Sifu’ in China (Mandarin and Cantonese), ‘Sensei’ in Japan, ‘Achan’ in Thailand, ‘Sa Bum Nim’ in Korea, etc. to cite a few examples. The martial arts that thrived in Asia for over 4,000 years influenced the Western World only in the 19th century with the establishment and expansion of trade links of America with China and Japan. Initially however, the martial arts were practiced in the Western World like performance of any other art. The first person to teach Asian martial arts in Europe was Edward William Barton-Wright who worked as a railway engineer in Japan during the closing years of 19th century. He had learnt ‘Jujutsu’ during his stay in Japan. In Europe he developed his own modified form of the martial art Jujutsu and named it ‘Bartitsu’. This form of martial arts was a combination of various styles including jujutsu, judo and boxing. The European people started learning martial arts from China, Japan and Korea mainly for application in military service. The Korean War facilitated such exposures. Production of martial arts movies during the seventies and eighties both in Asia and by Hollywood helped popularize the art with the media paying much attention to it. The Chinese martial arts have further been promoted in recent times by the movies made by such high-profile actors as Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

As far as the origin of martial arts is concerned, the legend goes that it first emerged in China some 2,700 years ago during the rule of the Yellow Emperor. This ancient Chinese General was also the first man to write on martial arts. Confucius encouraged common Chinese people to practice martial arts along with the art of literature. Martial arts gradually flourished in China during the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties. In fact, during the latter two dynasties, the oldest form of ‘sumo’ (xiangpu) was developed. During the reign of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the martial art style ‘wushu’ in its present form was developed. Over thousands of years, Chinese martial arts continued to change with the social changes in China and gradually assumed a philosophical flavor. A great influence on ancient Chinese martial arts in this context was the Taoist philosophy that stressed on physical exercises for health and well-being. Shaolin, the combative style of martial arts was used to defend the Shaolin Monastery from intruders. This form of martial arts was practiced by the monks of Shaolin and it was an integral part of a monk’s life. Shaolin assumed so much importance that it was embedded in Buddhist teachings. Literary records from the Ming Dynasty refer to practice of the art by the Shaolin warrior monks. It is however only from the early 20th century and after the fall of the Qing Dynasty that the martial arts started spreading among general people. The Chinese martial arts as we se today presumably got impetus from the social disturbances in China during the Japanese invasion and the Civil War. Martial arts were propagated through widespread teachings to inculcate nationalistic pride among the Chinese people during a period of social turmoil. As a result, systematic training in martial arts developed along with publications of training manuals and setting up of academies for teaching the arts. Associations of martial arts proliferated in China from the early 20th century. With the formation of People’s Republic of China in 1949 and during the tumultuous period of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1969-76), many practitioners of martial arts migrated to neighboring countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan and spread the arts among the people there. From this point onward, martial arts did not just remain confined to Chinese culture but spread to other cultures to become international.