A History of Ancient Eastern and Far Eastern Martial Arts

Many of the martial arts that exist today have ancient roots tracing back over 5,000 years through China, across the Himalayan Mountains, into India, and originating in the African continent. People and cultures have carried them as they migrated and eventually settled in various parts of the world. These arts were further subjugated to local and indigenous cultures, as well as environmental impacts to become unique in their own rights.

They had historically been held as vital secrets that were passed directly from teacher to students as deemed fit by the teacher. Clans developed and perpetuated their own martial arts styles and secrets within their clans. This was often essential for survival in feudalistic environments. These clandestine arts were perfected through many years and periodically adopted some “Best Practices” from their rivals.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, information about many of these arts began to become known outside of their clans. The latter part of the 20th century and the early part of the 21st century have been marked by morphing original traditional martial arts into hybrids and the commercialization of martial arts components for profit. The development of various forms of protective equipment became highly commercialized. This was followed by the deregulation and exploitation of select skill sets from various martial arts systems to create numerous and ingenious new martial arts systems and new combative sports.