New Martial Arts

The family of martial arts is big and long lived. There are local disciplines that originated on every continent and some of them have gained prominence and spread throughout the world. Depending on the time and place they originated the different sports can be completely different in their styles, ways and general philosophy.

Despite the fact that mostly eastern Asian fighting arts are associated with the term "martial arts", originally it was used in regard to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The name derives from Latin, ultimately martial arts being the "Arts of Mars," the Roman god of war.It is difficult to reconstruct early history of martial arts. The earliest examples are found in the "Standard of Ur" from ancient Mesopotamia, dated to be from around 2600BC. Another example is the depiction of wrestling techniques in a tomb at Beni Hasan in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt around 2000 BCor the fresco of youth boxing found in Knossos from around 1500 BC.

Recently during the last century the need for unarmed defense and better understanding of hand to hand combat has urged the military of several countries and practitioners of several different combat sports to develop their own fighting system best suited for their needs. Such systems are the Russian: SAMBO (literally from Russian self defense without weapons), Systema, the American, the Brazilian: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the American: Bojuka, Marine Corps Martial Arts, Special Combat Aggressive Reactionary Systems(SCARS), the Israeli: KAPAP, Krav Maga and many others in various countries.

In the last 20 years such fighting styles are gaining prominence. Especially interesting is the case of Krav Maga. Created by Imi Lichtenfeld for the use of the Israeli military this fighting style is set apart with its practicality and aggression. Krav Maga literally means "contact combat" in Hebrew. Its appeal is that its philosophy emphasizes on simultaneous offensive and defensive maneuvers and neutralization of the threat endangering the practitioner. Krav Maga schools can be found in many different countries and Krav Maga training is conducted among the special forces of many countries and in the area of law enforcement. Because of its versatility and special courses for protection of VIPs Krav Maga is very popular among professional bodyguards.

With the rise of social media and information society the popularity of martial arts and especially of the new fusion of martial art styles it is certain that people will continue to create new styles of martial arts.