Views on Traditional Martial Arts and the Evolution of Martial Combat?

I think the traditions still hold value and ring true.

People developed this stuff to defend themselves and stay in shape. Those needs still exist.

This is not to say that all training has to be traditional. Modern arts are valid as well. I like that we have the option of traditional or modern styles in today's world.

In ancient times, combat was at very close range. Both empty hand & weapons skills were a necessity for any warrior. As weaponry has improved, there has been less emphasis on empty hand fighting. Today, S Korea is the only army I know of that requires a black belt as a prerequisite to become an officer. The transition to systems that included philosophy probably date back to the Shaolin Temple & Bodidarma about 1500 years ago. Today, a lot of "Martial Arts" are nothing more than fighting sports. Limited real self defense & no philosophy is included.

Latest and scientific? Seriously, what about the human body and anatomy has changed in the last thousand years to make fighting against it any different? Military H2H use the traditional styles. There are only so many ways to how to strike and to where, and the body is only capable of being moved and manipulated in so many ways. If you looked at it all in a wide enough range, all martial arts would look virtually identical. Where the traditional arts change route is in training and conditioning, not how the application is applied. It's not about tradition or science. It's about what's effective and has proved effective for so many years. There's only fact, which yes, is essentially science, or used to be anyway, not theories. Neither is better. Trying to pit styles or concept against each other is a round about way to guessing which is better. It takes a person to train in them, and the purpose for each person varies. Trying to compare styles is pointless and a waste of time.

Martial Arts changes from each Sensei to Sensei and student and picks up new things along the way.

Traditional is good, but formity is as well. When you have say 6 schools doing the same kata and some moves differ, thats when fomity of moderninty is helping. It makes it easier to judge forms when you watch them.

It is good to know your lineage and remain respectful, but like all things you must also stay witht the times and can still be traditional.

people change, needs change, martial science MUST adapt, or fall short of its audience expectation. if the other team drop their sticks and start using arrows, you do too, and improve the design, or you will lose every time. adaptation is the only way things survive the test of time. why use a carburetter when injectors do it more efficiently? you see my point? same as in MA.

it is only the purists that hold on to the dream of traditional completeness. if it lacks a dimension that another art has, it is losing the race for the absolute. if you feel safe inside the square, watch as others thinking outside that square leave you behind in knowledge.

train traditional for traditions sake, but dont expect miracles.

i don't think martial arts should b taught the same as hundreds of years ago because like most martial artist know the whole sport needs 2 evolve and i think if u train with the traditions in mind then u lose the chance 2 evolve... i do think that people should still b thought the traditional stuff but have it as the basics...

i think evolution and adopting is great. but it should only be done to a certain degree.

kyokushin for example is starting to look very similar to muay-thai. i mean i'm sure there are differences, but the basic strategy is the same. or you could look at mma and notice that all these ppl from different disciplines seems to be using the same style nowadays. it's nice to be effective and use what works, but if you lose your art's flavor then you are not evolving but conforming.

i would rather see traditional ma learn to counter the modern mma styles in their own distinct flavor and have them dominate. that way they can show different strategies of fighting fighing against each other, rather than everyone using one strategy that's already been seen over and over.

nice man boobs granimal maybe you should do some training.(just havin'a go at ya mate i'm not serious.)

of course it has to evolve but a traditional base is also important.if you take away structure and tradition all you have left is rabble?a warrior with structure and tradition will always beat an equalevant(spelling?)warrior that hasnt.and i'm not saying,by any means that tradition and structure are the most important part of ma.even armed forces have tradition and structure.

the traditional ones are beautiful and the new ones are still cool just not so artsy

take tae kwon do

it was a martial arts called tekgeuk(spl?)

this is the grandfather of tae kwon do

a very beautiful martial art and a grandmaster from taegeuk beat a grandmaster of tae kwon do with minimal effort and beauitifully done

plus tae kwon do training is nothing compared to taegeuk's'

so traditional ones are harder and prepare you better not to mention their beauty while modern ones are still awesome but not so artsy

There is a difference in sport karate and real Jutsu Karate!