The Complete History of Martial Arts: From Ancient Combat to Modern MMA

 

 when we look at the history of martial arts, at best we know a few stories about our own practice, yet what to speak about the whole history of martial arts in the entire world? today we will fill this gap with a brief history of the roots and evolution of all martial arts in the entire world.

Definition 

Before we begin, let us define what a martial art is. The word martial derives from the name of Mars, the Roman god of war, making the term martial arts literally mean the art of Mars, or to put more simply, the art of war. This term comes from 15th century Europeans, who are referring this way to their own fighting arts, that are today known as historical European martial arts.

Yet in its entirety, martial arts can be defined as systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. While each style has unique facets that make it different from other martial arts, with some of them being more linked to spiritual, religious beliefs or philosophies, a common characteristic is that they are all systemizations of fighting techniques. And these systemizations started very early on throughout the entire world.

Antiquity 

The earliest evidence of martial arts comes from depictions of fights both in figurative art and in literature. Although martial arts are commonly associated with East Asian cultures, the oldest work of art depicted since battle dates back to 3400 BCE Egypt in paintings. A section found in the Indian Vedas from 1700 to 1100 BCE already contained references to martial arts with both armed and barehanded combat.

Looking even further to the west, boxing became a part of the Olympic Games in Greece as early as 688 BCE, with detailed depictions of wrestling techniques being preserved in vase paintings of the classical period, while the Romans produced gladiatorial combat as a public spectacle starting from 3rd century BCE. Greek Pankration, a martial art that included empty hand submission, would scarce the any rules, used techniques from boxing and wrestling, but also other types, such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground, were the only thing not acceptable were biting and gouging out the opponent's eyes. Pankration is actually even considered to be one of the very first mixed martial arts in history.

Looking back at Asia, where most of our well-known martial arts originated, according to a legend in China, during a semi-mythical dynasty more than 4000 years ago, the so-called Yellow Emperor introduced the earliest fighting systems to his country. Yet the earliest historical references to Chinese martial arts are found in the 5th century BCE, where a hand-to-hand combat theory, one that integrates notions of hard and soft techniques, is mentioned in a book. Interestingly enough, the foundation of traditional Asian martial arts is actually most likely not only a blend of early Chinese, but also of Indian martial arts, since extensive trade occurred between these nations in 6th century BCE, as they shared not only their merchandises, but also culture and knowledge.

Only later in China, during the Warring States period in 480-221 BCE, extensive development in martial art philosophy and strategy of its own emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. All this could be considered the dawn of martial arts, as these early forms continue to be further developed and evolved in the Middle Ages. 

Middle Ages

Middle Ages Most Japanese martial arts origins can be found in the Middle Ages, during the development of the warrior traditions of the samurai and the caste system that restricted the use of weapons by other members of society.

Originally, samurai were expected to be proficient in many weapons, as well as unarmed combat, reaching for the highest possible mastery of combat skills, which brought a lot of attention to the development of martial arts. Although it is likely that the first iron swords were manufactured in Japan in the 4th century, based on technology imported from China, the oldest schools of Japanese swordsmanship in existence today arose in the 14th century, and such arts as Bato Jutsu, literally meaning the art of science of a drawing sword, developed in the mid-15th century. In order to know how to counter an opponent with a sword, the well-known Jujutsu began developing around the 15th century too, combining various Japanese martial arts, which were used on the battlefield for close combat in situations where weapons were ineffective.

In contrast to the neighboring nations of China and Okinawa, whose martial arts were centered around striking techniques, Japanese hand-to-hand combat forms focused heavily upon throwing, immobilizing, joint locks and choking, as striking techniques were simply inefficient towards someone wearing armor on the battlefield. Exploring martial arts during medieval ages in China, we come across an early legend in martial arts that tells the tale of an Indian monk known as Bodhidharma, also called Daruma, believed to have lived around 550 AD, who is credited with influencing the unarmed combat arts of the Shaolin temple in China, while also finding the meditative philosophy of Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes considered that actually here, the martial virtues of discipline, humility, restraint and respect were developed.

With regards to the Shaolin fighting system itself, the oldest historical evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is from a recorded battle which happened in 728 CE and defending of the Shaolin monastery from bandits around 610 CE. In Korea, a martial art also developed in the Middle Ages known as Suryum, where it gained widespread popularity starting from the 14th century. The West was well acquainted with its ways of war too, not standing down to its ancient contemporaries.

Pictorial sources of medieval combat was already present in the 11th and 13th century, where also an earliest martial arts manual of the West was compiled in a monastery detailing sword and buckler combat and consisting a manuscript of 64 images, while manuals of wrestling techniques were compiled even earlier. Wrestling throughout the Middle Ages was actually very popular and was practiced by all social levels. Jousting and the tournament were also a popular martial art practiced by nobility throughout the High and Late Middle Ages.

During the Late Middle Ages, there was an appearance of elaborate fencing systems, such as the German or Italian schools, with its teaching still being preserved in a number of 15th century books. Unfortunately, with the changing of times, the martial arts of the West suffered a lot of loss. 

Modern Ages

Modern Ages With the rise of firearms, martial arts in Europe experienced a strong decline, and as a consequence, they do not exist with the historical roots in Europe today to the same extent as in Asia.

Despite that, a number of historical fencing forms and manuals still have survived from 1400 to 1900 AD, and many groups today are actively working to reconstruct older European martial arts to become a part of our culture again. The process of reconstruction combines intensive study of the digital combat treatises produced, including such styles as sword and shield, two-handed sword fighting, halberd fighting, and other types of melee weapons combat. All this reconstruction effort and modern ungrowth of the historical methods is generally referred to as Western martial arts.

Some well-known modern martial arts emerged in the West during the Modern Ages too. A well-known martial art called Savate, also known as French boxing or French kickboxing, is a martial art that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of Western boxing with graceful kicking techniques. It was born in the beginning of the 19th century, mainly from a mixture of French street fighting and fighting methods of French sailors.

This style is still actively practiced today. Even further to the West, another Western martial art emerged known as Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, and music, which was mainly developed by West Africans in the beginning of the 16th century. In Asia, most fighting styles that are being practiced as traditional Chinese martial arts today reach their popularity in the modern ages too.

The increase in popularity of these styles is a result of the dramatic changes that occurred within Chinese society in the 20th century. The present view of Chinese martial arts are strongly influenced by the events of the Republican period in 1912-1949, when Chinese martial arts became more accessible to the general public as many martial artists were encouraged to openly teach their art. At that time, some considered martial arts even as a means to promote national pride and to build a strong nation.

Thus, many training manuals were published, a training academy opened, as well as demonstration teams traveling overseas, and numerous martial arts associations formed not only throughout China, but in various overseas Chinese communities too. Some of the best known martial arts today developed in Japan during this period too. After the Meiji Restoration in the 19th to 20th century, which ended the ruling of the samurai class, martial arts such as Judo, Kendo, Aikido, Karate, and many others were formed mostly by people wanting to preserve traditional ways of combat, while the samurai culture was fading away into history, and also with a desire to adapt the new times.

The 16th century also saw the emergence of Muay Thai, a traditional Thai martial art. It still took some time for the West to become interested in the martial ways of Asia. Although the Western interest in Asian martial arts increased in the late 19th century due to the increase in trade between America with China and Japan, relatively few Westerners actually practiced the arts back then, as they considered them to be a mere performance.

That still didn't stop Edward William Barton Wright, a railway engineer who had studied Jiu Jitsu while working in Japan between 1894 and 1897, who was the first man known to have taught Asian martial arts in Europe, helping to spread them and to change people's beliefs and opinions. He also founded an eclectic martial arts style named Bartitsu, which combined Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Boxing, Savate, and Stick Fighting. Yet Asian martial arts weren't still as influential until the later 1970s and 1980s, which witnessed an increased media interest in the martial arts, thanks in part to Asian and Hollywood martial arts movies, which helped bring huge attention to these practices, their popularity and growth.

With the help of such prominent movie figures as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Jet Li and others, Asian martial arts today became a huge interest of many people. As Eastern martial arts were introduced more and more to the West, other mixtures of martial arts started to emerge as well, one of the most notable ones being what we now call Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which was actually a more changed and evolved version of early Judo, than Jiu Jitsu itself. Year after year, martial arts still kept evolving and being mixed together with the appearance of mixed martial arts, known as MMA, Taekwondo, various military combat based martial arts such as Israeli Krav Maga, and more.