Elements
Elements
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ArnisArnis is a Philippine martial art characterized by the use of “swinging and twirling movements, accompanied by striking, thrusting and parrying techniques for defense and offense”. Having been handed down from generation to generation for centuries, the discipline hones the skill, speed, accuracy, and agility of its practitioners. Arnis was developed by the indigenous populations of the Philippines, who used an assorted range of weaponry for combat and self-defense. Encompassing both simple impact and edged weapons, arnis traditionally involved rattan, swords, daggers, and spears. In 1521, Lapu Lapu and his Arnis warriors defeated Ferdinand Magellan’s Portuguese conquistador forces when they tried to invade. During the Spanish era(1565-1898), Spaniards outlawed the practise of martial arts, but the traditions of arnis were preserved in the forms of ritual dance, performance, and mock battles. In 2009, the Philippine government declared arnis as a national sport of the Philippines.Country : Philippines
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BokatorFormally referred to as lobokkatao, bokator is an ancient Cambodian martial art that was developed by Angkor as a close-quarter combat system. It is also engraved on the walls of Angkor Wat temple. Bokator was designed with one main purpose: to win on the battlefield. It uses a diverse array of elbow and knee strikes, shin kick, submission, and grapple. Fighters are basically can use every part of the body to attack their opponents, and a bamboo stick or short bat may be used. Fighters wear krama(scarf) around the waist, and sangvar(blue and red silk cords) toed around the biceps. The color of the krama signifies the combatant’s level: white – green – blue – red – brown – black – gold. There are about 10,000 movements from 341 sets which are based on the study of life in nature, by observing animals(horse, eagle, monkey, snake, lion, elephant, duck, etc.) and mimicking their styles and natural weapons like a fang, tusk, and claw. Once upon a time, before the century, there was a small village in the jungle that was being preyed upon and attacked by a man-eating lion. To protect the village, a local warrior who was armed only with a knife, tracked down the lion and killed it with the techniques that would become known as Bokator. The term itself translates into “pounding a lion”, with bok meaning to pound and tor meaning lion. However, the second half of the 20th century was a hard time for Bokator because it had been deliberately neglected by the Pol Pot regime(1975-1979). Those who practiced traditional arts were systematically exterminated by the Khmer Rouge, fled as refugees, or stopped teaching and hid. After the Khmer Rouge regime, the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia began and native martial arts were completely outlawed. Grandmaster San Kim Sean is largely credited with reviving the bokator. During the Pol Pot era, San had to flee Cambodia under accusations by the Vietnamese of teaching hapkido and bokator and starting to form an army, an accusation of which he was innocent. In 1995, he returned home to revive the dying bokator but he found that it was still too dangerous to teach bokator, so he went into seclusion in the mountains where he spent his time meditating. In 2001, he moved to Phnom Penh, got permission from the new king, and began teaching bokator to local youth. Then he went on a journey searching for the remaining masters to document all the techniques. He brought the masters and formed the Cambodia Youth Kun Federation in 2004. The first national championship was held in Phnom Penh in 2006 at the Olympic Stadium.Country : Cambodia
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Bökh, Bokh
2010
Mongolian wrestling Bökh is a traditional Mongolian sport that has existed in Mongolia for centuries, and features no weight categories, unlike other wrestling. Bökh is Mongol for “wrestling”, and is one of Mongolia’s age-old “Three Manly Skills - horseback riding, archery, and wrestling”. The object of a match is to get opponent to touch his back, knee, or elbow to the ground without a time limit. Each wrestler must wrestle once per round, and the winners move to the next round. A variety of throws, trips, and lifts are employed to topple opponent in both versions. In addition, striking, strangling, or locking is illegal in both varieties. The technical rules between the Mongolian version and Inner Mongolia have some divergence. In the Inner Mongolian version, touching any body part other than the feet on the ground means defeat, and the Inner Mongolians may not touch their opponent's legs with their hands, whereas, in Mongolia, grabbing opponent's legs is completely legal.Country : Mongolia -
BulkempoBulkempo is a modern Budo style that harmonically combines the strength, sharpness, solidity, and flexibility in an active environment of an actual fight. It is characterized by a rational and effective structure that is set apart by a perfect rhythm and thorough combination of striking and throwing techniques in the conditions of different types of capture. Bulkempo was built and systematized by the master Velin Hadjolov, a long-time employee of the security services of the Republic of Bulgaria.Country : Bulgaria
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BuzaBuza is a Russian northwestern martial tradition established in clan retinues of Slovens and Krivichs of Novgorod Land. Until the second half of the 20th century, it existed in the villages of Tver, Novgorod, Vologda, and Pskov Oblasts, Russia. It includes martial dancing, methods of armed and unarmed combat. It is hard to say who was the founder of the original ancient Buza system, but in its modern form Buza is promoted by Grigory Bazlov Ph.D., who made researches and participated in many expeditions to the distant Russian villages, where he discovered a living fighting tradition. Buza is a martial tradition of the Russian North-West, established in Novgorod Land. For several centuries until the 1980s it existed in village artels – a Russian term meaning “associations of people engaged in the same activity” - of fist cuff fighters. Most of the Buza practitioners are Orthodox Christians. The philosophy of Buza is based on Russian traditions and customs. Nowadays Buza school is taught in special police units, such as drug police or jail guard. Unlike most Russian styles Buza participates in sparring and competition fights with other schools. Buza groups are functioning in more than 20 cities in Russia.Country : Russian Federation
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Capoeira
2014
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice – simultaneously a fight and a dance – that can be interpreted as a tradition, a sport, and even an art form. Capoeira players form a circle at the center of which two players engage with one another. The movements require great bodily dexterity. The other players around the circle sing, chant, clap and play percussive instruments. Capoeira circles are formed by a group of people of any gender and comprise a master, counter-master, and disciples. The master is the bearer and guardian of the knowledge of the circle and is expected to teach the repertoire and to maintain the group’s cohesion and its observance to a ritual code. The master usually plays a single-string percussion instrument, starts the chants, and leads the game’s timing and rhythm. All participants are expected to know how to make and play the instrument, sing a shared repertoire of chants, improvise songs, know and respect the codes of ethics and conduct, and perform the movements, steps, and strikes. The capoeira circle is a place where knowledge and skills are learned by observation and imitation. It also functions as an affirmation of mutual respect between communities, groups, and individuals and promotes social integration and the memory of resistance to historical oppression.Country : Brazil -
CoreedaCoreeda is a combination of Aboriginal dance with a unique wrestling game. It is a team sport that calculating the team members' scores by summing them up. The scores of six competitors representing each weight class from each team are added to the team scores. The word “Coreeda” means ‘kangaroo spirit’ in the Ngiyampaa language of Cobar region, NSW, Australia, and is based on a story told by the elders of that region: As a solution to the endemic warfare and reprisal killings that were taking so many lives, an old man named Beereun observed the Red Kangaroos fighting and realized that peace could be found if warriors simply put down their weapons and fought within the strict rules of play; thus the sport of wrestling was created. Centered on the great kangaroo hunts that brought many different tribal groups together for festive gatherings, the young men of the region were made to compete to dissipate their aggressive tendencies and display themselves for potential marriage arrangements. The Coreeda Festivals were occurring until the 1870s when the discovery of copper mines in the region brought European settlers and the destruction of the tribal way of life. The Coreeda Association was founded in 1998 as an attempt to revive the lost forms of traditional wrestling that were practiced in pre-colonial Australia by aboriginal people.Country : Australia
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Cossack Fight, Combat HopakIt is a martial art form by the Cossack people from the 16th century with light and quick footwork and impressive jump. The attacks are mainly pressing and releasing the opponent’s vital points, such as the neck, after throwing down the opponent to the ground. It was systematized and codified by Volodymyr Pylat in 1985 and is being taken as a national martial art with the independence of Ukraine in 1991.Country : Ukraine
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Dutch Combat, Hwaran MudosulHwaran Mudosul was developed by Grandmaster Ki Beak Kim in combination with the traditional folk dance of northern Amsterdam by integrating traditional swordsmanship with the Hwarang martial arts of Korea. It uses various weapons in a competition such as swords, axes, and iron mace. Hwaran Mudosul is created by Ki Baek Kim. He combined Hwarang Musul of Korea and Dutch swordsmanship to create a modernized martial art form.Country : Netherlands
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Garrote Larense, Garrote TocuyanoIt is a Venezuelan martial art that involves machete, stick-fighting, and knife fencing. The name is relative to the city of El Tocuyo, southwest of the Lara state, the starting point of the colonization. It can be taken into consideration that the origin of this game came from the mixtures given at the time of the conquest. Since several cultures were brought from far away, only the strongest of those was survived and some fighting techniques originated or became known during the conquest struggles, when they fought with everything they could, in order to obtain precious independence. Then since being an independent nation, some martial arts and games were brought by the European migrant practitioners mainly from Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands. They had similar forms to Garrote Larense, such as the Cuchillo Siciliano, Makila Vasca, Jogo do Pao, Juego del Palo. And it is very likely that these people have met masters of Garrote Larense, sharing techniques and experiences, and influencing this art.Country : Venezuela
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HapkikwanHapkikwan is a fighting method designed for all situations. The basic idea has always been that martial art must be maximally effective and versatile, it must provide answers to all situations and at the same time cover all types of techniques, but without favoring any of them. Hapkikwan is a modern, comprehensive martial art, founded in 1994 by Prof. Boris Krivokapic in Serbia. Although Hapkikwan was created mainly upon Korean Hapkido, it is now different in comparison to Hapkido. This is because from the very beginning many elements from various other martial arts were built into it and in particular a lot of techniques and approaches from the fighting tradition of Serbian and other Slavic peoples.Country : Republic of Serbia
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Horseback Archery, 마상무예Horseback archery was reborn a long time ago as a culture involving the horse and the human together and has been developed over a long period of time. Through the paintings in the ancient tombs such as Ssangyongchong, the ancient tomb with wall painting in Yaksoo-ri, Gangseo-gu, Pyeongannam-do, it can be found the aspects that our predecessors were hunting deer and tigers on running horsebacks. Also, the chapter of the main record of Baekje in the chronicles of the Three States reads 'good at horseback archery' in indicating the bravery of the king, telling that horseback archery was an important criterion to evaluate feats of arms of individuals. In Goguryeo, hunting competitions were held in every spring and fall and the ones with an excellent skill to shoot arrows on horseback who hunted many animals were advanced to the position of Musa(brave warrior) and in Shilla, government officials participated in a horseback archery competition for the prize from the king. Till now, horseback archery competition has been developed into a modern competition.Country : Republic of Korea
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I-ai-do, 居合道Iaido is the Japanese art of drawing, cutting, and resheathing the katana. It places a great emphasis on correctness of form, precision and efficiency of movement, and mental focus. Practitioners of the art – iaidoka – use real swords (or else replica blades which are still quite dangerous) so it is primarily a solo art. The practice is conducted performing kata or sets forms that teach how to respond to attacks made by opponents in various positions and situations. Many techniques take place from a formal kneeling position (seiza), while others begin from a half-kneeling position, or from standing. The ideal is to be able to deal with an attack at any time, no matter what you are doing. The character 居 "i" means "to be" (especially "to sit") in a particular place, while 合 "ai" means "to match" or "to respond". Taken together, the name can be interpreted to mean “the way of responding appropriately to any situation you are in.” On the battlefields of medieval Japan, samurai were armed with various weapons such as bows, spears, halberds, and eventually firearms. But when these weapons failed, or when fighting came down to close-quarter combat, the ability to swiftly draw one’s sword and the attack were essential. The exquisite sharpness of the Japanese sword meant that fights could end an instant after they began, so quick actions with no wasted motions meant the difference between life and death. Batto (“sword drawing”) was taught as one of the many martial arts required for samurai. Schools of swordsmanship developed that placed a great emphasis on the initial draw-and-cut. The name iaido came later. In the 16th century, Hayashizaki Jinsuke Shigenobu founded Shin Muso Hayashizaki-ryu, a school of iaido that spread across Japan and branched off into numerous other traditions or ryuha. Today, the most popular are Muso Shinden-ryu, Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu, Tamiya-ryu, and Mugai-ryu, but dozens, if not hundreds, of other styles exist. Each has its own stylistic differences and approach to training. Iaido was outlawed by the occupation forces after World War II, but after the art was reinstated, iaidoka created groups to standardize practice. The largest group is the Iaido section of the All-Japan Kendo Federation. Iai and kendo have a special relationship, and are sometimes said to be “Two wheels of the same cart,” with many people practicing both arts. Kendo teaches distance and timing with a live opponent, while iaido teaches the correct use of a real sword.Country : Japan
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KalaripayattKalarippayattu is a traditional holistic Martial Art with strong links to Yoga and Ayurveda. 'Kalari' translates as “place of training”, 'Payattu' as “combat exercises”. Kalaris are also important centers of religious worship. The initial physical training (Meippayattu) consists of animal postures arranged in flowing forms which, like Yoga, develop far more than flexibility and strength. It operates on a psychophysical level which can aid personal awareness and confidence amongst other attributes. The next level of practice involves wooden and metal weapons which again develop the senses as much as key fighting skills. What is also interesting, and again confirms Kalari's holistic ways, is the stages of training combine fighting with healing at almost all levels. The primary aim is the ultimate coordination between mind and body. Another focus of Kalaripayattu is specialization in indigenous medicinal practices. Kalaripayattu masters practiced not only the martial craft, but also medicine (kalari chikitsa) and herbalism, which they used to heal the wounds of soldiers who had been hurt in battle. Kalaripayattu originates in the southwest of India, in today’s state of Kerala and also partly Tamil Nadu. It is often believed to be the oldest martial art in the world, with deep roots in Indian mythology that look back on thousands of years of tradition. There are 3 acknowledged styles of Kalaripayattu – Northern, Southern, and Central – with the names referring to different parts of the Kerala region. The Northern and the Southern styles each have their own mythical gurus – Parashurama and Agastya Muni, respectively – and their own founding myths. For millennia these arts, their military techniques and associated rituals were shrouded in mystique, with only ancient Indian literature to go by. They started becoming less arcane around the 10th-12th century AD when Keralite society became militarized due to fights between kingdoms and dynasties. Military academies, known as Kalari, were created to instruct young people on how to use weapons and then join local troops. After a heydey in the 16th and 17th centuries, the importance of Kalaripayattu and the warriors who practiced it gradually declined due to developments in societal structure and military technique. When the British colonized India in the mid-19th century, they considered the warriors a threat to British authority, and the practice of Kalaripayattu was banned on penalty of death or exile. It wasn’t until the 1920s when a wave of rediscovery of historic traditions swept over India, there was the rise of Kalaripayattu schools, as well as a revival of the spirit of the martial art itself. Kalaripayattu presentations became very popular, as people enthusiastically recalled the heroic past of their country. Nowadays, there are many kalaris in Kerala, with dozens of schools in every town, and quite a few in other parts of India, in big cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, or Bangalore. There are also teachers operating in countries all over the world.Country : India
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KoloKolo Yar's technique included self-defense techniques without weapons, the use of improvised means, bamboo sticks, swords and shields, spears, as well as the impact on pain points. Great importance was attached to spiritual self-improvement, the development of endurance, flexibility, and mobility. The martial art "Kolo Yar" appeared in the 3rd century BC and is still preserved in Emilchino (Ukraine) and Kerala (South India) region. In India, this art is known as Kalari(Kolo Ri)-payattu. According to legend, the martial art of Kolo Yar spread in India thanks to the warriors of the ancient Slavic commander Alexander the Great. The training took place under the constant supervision of teachers where they taught various arts of Kolo (yoga, martial arts, music, painting, etc.). Kolo Yar's technique was born from observing the movements of 8 of the most ferocious animals: tiger, horse, wild boar, falcon, bull, wolf, bear and cobra. In the language of the ancient Wends, "Kolo" means 'sacred place', while "Yar" is 'fighting techniques'. So, this "fighting in a sacred place" had never held where there are a lot of spectators.Country : Latvia