US Martial Arts

Discussion in 'Western Martial Arts' started by Shantari, Jun 22, 2004.

  1. Shantari

    Shantari Valued Member

    Guys, does the U.S. even have its own martial arts. It seems to me that mostly only the eastern countries have martial arts, why is this so? Forgive me for my ignorance.
     
  2. Andy Murray

    Andy Murray Sadly passed away. Rest In Peace.

    Perhaps the US should receive credit for Kick Boxing, Jeet Kune Do and MMA, as their primary development was there?
     
  3. Adam

    Adam New Member

    Can't Japan and Brazil be said to have been more crucial in the development of MMA than the US has?
    Oh, and America is also the place of origin for a lot of karate, kung fu and ninjitsu styles, but as far as I can see, many of them are designed mainly to sucker wannabe MAers out of their money.
     
  4. Andy Murray

    Andy Murray Sadly passed away. Rest In Peace.

  5. Stick

    Stick New Member

    Free Style and folk wrestling not to mention catch as catch can. :love:
     
  6. Ran Pleasant

    Ran Pleasant Valued Member

    Yes, the United States has a Martial Art

    The martial heritage of the United States is without doubt modern Western Martial Arts. Now I'm not talking about the Medieval and Renaissance combat systems that some of us study. Rather I'm talking about the martial combat systems that evolved out of the Medieval and Renaissance combat systems. You can currently see the modern Western Martial Arts being used in Irag. However, instead of swords the men are carrying M16s and instead of armoured knights on horses there are M1 tanks. Something to think about is that every army in the world uses a combat system with its roots in Western Martial Arts! The army of Japan has more roots in Medieval Europe than in Medieval Japan! :eek:
     
  7. YODA

    YODA The Woofing Admin Supporter

    MMA was definately developed in Brasil and Japan.

    There were MMA fights going on in Brasil and Japan a decade before the first UFC.
     
  8. Andy Murray

    Andy Murray Sadly passed away. Rest In Peace.

    ........and everyone got to hear about it because of UFC, people started heading for the nearest BJJ schools they could find. You don't think this was significant in the development of MMA?
     
  9. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    It was the major promoter to the 'Western world' but actual MMA was really developed, the technical side, in Japan and Brazil.

    I suppose the US could claim what was 'Full Contact' in the 60's (but was really kickboxing) and kickboxing.
     
  10. Louie

    Louie STUNT DAD Supporter

    USA & Indigenous Arts

    Hi Shantari

    The US Navy practiced & developed the art of single-stick probably up to WWII, I believe General Patton developed his own style of sword-play and had his own sword designed. A number of US Presidents were formidable wrestlers who practiced old styles like collar & elbow & Cumberland.

    There are a number of US groups practicing Bowie Knife, singlestick, Irish Bata, Scottish Claymore, etc,. which you will find through these links;

    http://ahfaa.org/

    http://mywebpage.netscape.com/neohemas/neohemas.html

    http://www.csthompson.net/cateran.html

    Louie
     
  11. Andy Murray

    Andy Murray Sadly passed away. Rest In Peace.

    By the same logic, JKD is chinese then?
     
  12. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    Possibly CKD, although I think that would be described as Korean rather than American.

    Western martial arts though, just look at the old English martial arts. Can't think of any purely American arts however.
     
  13. johndoch

    johndoch upurs

    I would have to say that Japan probably developed the MMA thing then it was developed further by the brazillians.

    I dont go with the UFC being a major developer of the MMA scene as the japanese had shows like Bushido in the eighties.

    By that argument you could say boxing is American because it the sports biggest promoter.
     
  14. Andy Murray

    Andy Murray Sadly passed away. Rest In Peace.

    Which is why I mentioned Kick Boxing when you had MT and Savate long before.
     
  15. johndoch

    johndoch upurs

    I would agree that kickboxing as a competative MA was primarily developed in the US.

    Wasnt KB taken from karate when US soldiers returned from Japan after WWII and they stripped it down to form a new style of Kickboxing distinctly different from thai boxing.
     
  16. Dave_Britten

    Dave_Britten New Member

    I would really worry about it since there are no "pure" martial arts. The very nature of martial systems is that they are in response to a threat. WMA developed in response to the perperual state of war in europe at the time. So styles developed to halt invading armies or to conquer resistant natives and the tranfer of ideas naturally took place.
    But if you insist, Native American warriors had an execellent martial system which managed to cause real difficulty for WMA styles until the introduction of repeating rifles. If you want an effective American martial art, head down to the local reservation.
     
  17. acrawford

    acrawford Ki-Ken-Tai no Ichi

    To answer the question directly I would have to say yes and no.

    Yes because the Native Americans did have a fighting system that was used and taught to its younger members.

    No because what exists now are decendants of immigrants of other nations, so what is is here was imported.
     
  18. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    catch as catch can wrestling was developed mainly in the u.s.

    "modern" kickboxing is also a product of the u.s.

    american kenpo is american (really? who would've thunk it?) :rolleyes:

    the native americans have a style of wrestling and boxing though i wouldn't know much about it. the hawaiians have thier own (many) martial arts systems as well.

    in the new orleans area, there used to exist a strain of savate (boxe fance) and a la cane that had an "american" flavor.
     
  19. Topher

    Topher allo!

    Surely kickboxing started with Le Savate

    Does anyone know when MT & Savate started.
     
  20. Ran Pleasant

    Ran Pleasant Valued Member

    Dave

    I must disagree with your statements. Without doubt, the Aztecs has the strongest, meanest army in the Americas before 1492. However, they were clearly no match for the Spanish under Cortes. When you read the accounts it was not guns, but Spanish steel that allowed the Spanish to kill the Aztecs by the thousands. This is not to say that the Aztecs were not good fighters, they clearly were and they found endlessly. But the bottom line is that the Aztecs were a "Stone Age" people fighting men in steel plated armour. Take a look at the article A Brief Introduction to Armoured Longsword Combatand you'll see that it is very hard to kill a man in plate armour using steel weapons, and many times more so using stone weaspons. I would also suggest that you read Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson. I do agree that Native Americans were very good fighters and had martial arts. However, it was not formalize as we see in the East and the West. Also, their martial arts sufferred greatly due to the technology it utilized. Stone weapons are fine in hit & run attacks, but they are clearly no match for steel weapons in pitch battles. Also remember that Native Americans remained a problem the US, Mexico, etc., because they often had better guns! :eek:

    Ran Pleasant
    ARMA DFW
     

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