Martial Arts

This page is dedicated to Martial Arts. Martial Arts have been and interest of mine since I was young. The first Martial Art that I tried was Karate. Since then I've looked at other forms of Martial Arts and have recently been most interested in Ninjutsu.

<-- studio where I trained

History

The martial arts originated in ancient times in East Asia, but because their beginnings are shrouded in myth and legend, it is impossible to establish their exact history. Kung fu, which may have been based on a fighting style from India, is perhaps the oldest martial art. A form of it was practiced in China more than 2,000 years ago. For many centuries, Chinese martial arts were practiced solely in China, but in the 14th century, when the island of Okinawa started paying tribute to China, knowledge of the martial arts began to spread. At several times in the 15th century, weapons were banned on Okinawa, and these restrictions stimulated the development of weaponless fighting skills.

In the 1600s, Okinawa was threatened by Japanese military attacks, and resistance fighters developed the fighting style called te, which eventually became karate. Separate martial arts also developed in Japan over the years. The modern form of sumo emerged in the late 1500s, although an ancient form of it had been practiced as early as 23 bc. In the late 1500s jujutsu was first practiced. Kano Jigoro founded judo in 1882. Okinawa fell under Japanese control in 1879, and Funakoshi Gichin took karate to Japan in 1922. He later dispatched instructors throughout the world. The martial arts first appeared in the United States in the 1840s, when Chinese immigrant laborers arrived with their knowledge of kung fu. One hundred years later, judo, kendo, and karate had reached the United States, and interest in these martial arts and in others accelerated rapidly. In 20th-century Europe, the martial arts spread quickly as well, as Asian masters traveled and shared their knowledge.

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Training

Many people train in the Martial Arts for many different reasons. Some want self-confidence, while others simply want to be physically fit and limber. For whatever your reason the most important thing to do is find a good school. There are many different good schools depending on the type of Martial Arts you wish to do, but here is a few links to get you started:

links

New England Ninjutsu

Warrior Information Network

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