Japanese Traditional Martial Arts

If we are talking about Japan, it is necessary to talk about martial arts. There is an enourmous variety of Japanese martial arts. It is a way of life which indicates physical, self-improvement and a lot of practise. The historical origin of martial arts originates from warrior traditions of samurai. The history of Japanese martial arts has an considerable importance to the culture as it forms the tradional substructure. The word ''martial'' means fighting, it was a skill rather than a sport during that period and it helped people to protect themselves from combating attack.  

Most of the martial arts were imported from China and they were gradually modified by the Japanese. Archery and sword fighting were the main two arts and some of them became rituals in Zen Buddhism. I will talk about most important Japanese arts, they are generally categorized into five fightings: Karate, Aikido, Juijutsu, Judo and Kendo.

 

Karate is the most popular martial art and invented by Funakoshi. Karate means empty hand. Funakoshi impressed the emperor of Japan by showing his skills and started teaching it. He opened a dojo (training hall) in Tokyo. After this Karate gained popularity inside and outside of Japan. 

Aikido is another popular martial art in Japan. It is a self defensive art. Ai means ''harmony'', Ki means ''source of energy'' and do means ''the way''. Three of them means it is a way of keeping harmony in the body. Aikido has a religious influence as the Japanese believe it is the way of saving people from danger or devil.

Juijutsu means gentle art which is an ancient art. Ironically, it is based on throwing techniques of the body to attack enemy.  

Additional to these, Kendo and Judo has an importance to them. Kendo is an martial art which utilizes words. It is a fencing martial art and requires a lot of skill and discipline.It differs from Judo which is unarmed  combative art. The rules of it are very complicated, but it is very popular martial art globally.

Kendo

Judo

It can not be denied that Japanese martial arts is a powerful weapon for common people to self-defense and for Japanese culture it has a huge importance.