The origin of martial arts

Martial arts have been growing in followers in the West over the past 30 years. In the days of World War I and World War II, they were largely hidden, but more anciently in the origin of martial arts they were used in a very different way from today.  

To understand the new, we must know the old.

  Well, let’s dive into a succinct article on the history of martial art.  

THE OLD

The history of martial arts is as ancient as humanityitself. Human beings since the beginning of time have felt the need to protect themselves and their tribe. In ancient times there were many dangers that stalked a being as helpless as the human being. It is believed that the philosophical origins as we currently conceive it part of Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha, approximately 500 BC Buddha was an ascetic and wise who founded what we now know as Buddhartism. It is part of almost all the Philosophical teachings related to martial arts, but it was a monk named Bodhidharma or Daruma Taishi (Founder of Zen Buddhism) who seems to have systematized teachings and techniques. This monk took a trip to the Chinese province of Honan 520 A.D. where he taught physical, mental and fighting discipline.  

  On his pilgrimage through China upon arriving in Songshan (Central Mountains of China) he settled in Shaolin. He used to climb the mountain during the day and sit in the cave in front of the wall in chana state (meditation chan) and during the afternoons he would go down to the monastery to converse with other monks. After a while he no longer went down to the monastery, he sat in front of the wall, focused on the fundamentals. Thus the years passed, and when he got tired he would stand and start doing exercises, some imitating the movements and strategies of defending the animals that he observed around him, developing what would later become known as Gong Fu Shaolin (badly translated into Western as Shaolin Kung Fu). Once the numbness was gone, he would return to the cave, sit down, get away with all thought, and keep quiet. He spent nine years meditating. From Bodhidharma’s teachings in some regions of China, over time they expanded due to migrations and trade routes, reaching Japan, Korea, etc…  

WHAT’S NEW

Already in China and Korea, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, martial arts and its practitioners were viewed with contempt, owing to the rise of Confucionism as part of state politics. This vision weakened the nation’s military component. When traditional military arts lost their crucial place in the dominance of society and the defense of the country, they became an option for the development of the nation with the purpose of physically and spiritually improving the population. Today, traditional Oriental martial arts still include the practice of a precise ethical code that has its roots in Chinese Confucionism, Japanese Shintoism and the spirituality of Zen Buddhism. In addition, some martial arts, such as tai chi chuan, are preserved as a practice to improve physical and mental health. From this situation emerged in Japan the two ways such as judo, karate-do, aikido, kendo, kobudo. Through these arts, taekwondo, hapkido and tangodo were later created in Korea. In China, chuan fa or kung fu was invented, which later resulted in wushu. The origin of Judo, in the late nineteenth century in Japan, in the city of Kobe had a great popular acceptance even being introduced into the Japanese national physical education system. That is why a special costume was quickly developed that would withstand the training and the Judogi was developed. Subsequently, the karatekas and in particular Mr. Shizuo Sugiura, founder of the first costume company for Karate or Karategis TOKAIDO developed a special costume for karate, designed only and only for karate.  

  In the 1950s he developed the Karategi Ultimate. This suit has been made in the same way in the traditional factory in the Japanese city of Nagoya. Today the Ultimate continues to exhate history and good work through all its seams.  

          Kimonosport 2018