Encompassing a wide variety of international fighting techniques, martial arts offer training in the codified practices and traditions of combat. While often drastically different from country to country, the objective of martial arts training remains consistent: to instruct students in the art of defending themselves and others from physical harm. Listed here are three of the most authentic, culturally rich and effective martial art styles available to martial arts practitioners today.
Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu
Often referred to as ninpo, or the techniques and philosophy of ninja combat, Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu is a system of nine traditional Japanese fighting "ryuha," or schools. Organized by the current grandmaster Soke Masaaki Hatsumi, Bujinkan instructs students in a smooth unarmed combat method that emphasizes maneuverability, joint locks, bone breaking and bodily manipulation over brute strength and speed. Though much of the art is devoted to unarmed combat, advanced students in Bujinkan learn a variety of traditional ninja weapons, such as the katana, bokken, hanbo, bo staff and the famous kusarigama, or sickle-and-chain. Instructors teaching the Bujinkan tradition, or "shidoshi," must travel to Japan regularly to undergo instruction from Hatsumi in order to maintain a link to the "mother school." Due to the intensity and deadliness of many of the techniques taught in Bujinkan, there are no competitions or tournaments available to students.
Shaolin Kung Fu
Made famous by popular culture and troupes of performing monks, the Shaolin kung fu tradition embodies a wide number of traditional Chinese martial arts. Emerging in the late fifth century, the Shaolin Monastery gradually became a refuge for individuals seeking to live a monastic life in the study and pursuit of martial arts. As a result, the Shaolin tradition grew to include a number of kung fu and wushu styles, such as the Five Animal forms of leopard, tiger, crane, mantis and serpent, along with a variety of unarmed, grappling and weapons techniques. In the 1960s, in an attempt to bring traditional Chinese martial arts to the West, Grandmaster Sin Kwang The established a school in Tennessee and began instructing students in Shaolin-Do, a modernized compression of the more than 900 forms taught in traditional Shaolin Kung Fu.
Iaido
Though perhaps the youngest martial art style of the three, Iaido is a traditional sword art that demands tremendous discipline and dedication. Developed during the 16th century, Iaido is a Japanese martial art that instructs students in the smooth and precise motions of drawing the katana from its scabbard and cutting down an opponent in one fluid movement. A noncompetitive sport, Iaido involves a rigorous dedication to the Japanese sword and its movements, and beginners are often required to learn the basic draws, cuts and blocks using a wooden sword or bokken. As students progress through different kata, or sword forms, they gradually variety of ways to draw the sword and attack or defend against multiple opponents in precise, controlled and fluid attacks with an iaito, an unsharpened sword, or a shinken, a sharpened katana. American and European martial artists seeking to learn the art of Iaido must often seek out schools of aikido that instruct the sword art as part of their curriculum.
Member Comments