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A Brief History of the Martial Arts
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The martial arts are comprised of a wide variety of related disciplines which share a similar history and purpose. The more closely related the arts are to one another (e.g Ju-Jitsu and Judo) the more techniques they share in common. Most of the martial arts we know today can be traced back 2000 years to boxing and wrestling in the sand pits of northern India. From there the trail of development leads to China, Japan, the greater Orient and then, after World War II, to the rest of the world.
The martial arts can generally be catagorized as those that emphacize soft style grappling and joint-locking tecniques and those that emphacize hard style kicks and strikes. In the pages that follow Karate, Kung Fu, and TaeKwonDo are hard styles and Ju-Jitsu, Judo, Tai Chi Chuan and Sambo are soft styles.
copyright © craig boyer 2002 |
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