| Many people send us emails inquiring about the | | | | The moment a martial art acquires rules of |
| best martial art so we decided to write an article | | | | competition, divisions, and rules of engagement or |
| about the best martial art in our opinion. | | | | protection the martial part of martial arts is lost |
| It is a very difficult task to determine which is the | | | | and the martial art in question becomes a |
| best martial art so first of all let's take a look | | | | completely different thing. |
| what a martial art exactly is and what not. | | | | Now I am not going to write about the sports |
| The word "martial art" consists of 2 parts; | | | | derived from martial arts because the question in |
| "martial" and "art" both of them are very | | | | this article is "What is the best martial art" |
| important as you will see in the following lines in | | | | In my opinion the best martial art is the one that |
| the determination of what a martial art exactly is. | | | | gives you most options of survival in a true case |
| According to the dictionary the word martial | | | | of life and dead struggle with a professional |
| means: | | | | opponent. |
| 1. Of, relating to, or suggestive of war. | | | | This means that the martial art must be prepared |
| 2. Relating to or connected with the armed forces | | | | and give the practitioner the possibility and means |
| or the profession of arms. | | | | to deal with both armed as well as unarmed |
| 3. Characteristic of or befitting a warrior. | | | | opponents, single or multiple attacks and so on. |
| As you can see , martial has everything to do | | | | This is not only done by techniques because |
| with war and the ways of the warrior. | | | | techniques and the human capacity to perform |
| Art on the other hand gives the following | | | | them in the short period of time (seconds) of a |
| definition: | | | | true case and in constantly changing |
| 1. Human effort to imitate, supplements, alters, or | | | | environments, situations and against different |
| counteract the work of nature. | | | | opponents makes it virtually impossible to use |
| 2.a. The conscious production or arrangement of | | | | only techniques overcome all kinds of attacks. |
| sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other | | | | This is where the martial methods in Japan |
| elements in a manner that affects the sense of | | | | became an art. Being aware of the limitations of |
| beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful | | | | training (limited time and physical capacity) the |
| in a graphic or plastic medium.b. The study of | | | | Japanese bushi started to study the underlying |
| these activities.c. The product of these activities; | | | | principles of war. They found out that all human |
| human works of beauty considered as a group. | | | | beings have similar reactions when they are to be |
| 3. High quality of conception or execution, as | | | | found in similar situations. |
| found in works of beauty; aesthetic value. | | | | Let me give you an example to make this clear: |
| 4. A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, | | | | When someone touches a hot stove his hand |
| or literature. | | | | automatically recoils without even having to think |
| 5. A non-scientific branch of learning; one of the | | | | about pulling your hand back. Or when your head |
| liberal arts. | | | | is pulled down, your body automatically will follow |
| 6.a. A system of principles and methods | | | | and to prevent falling to the floor you will resist |
| employed in the performance of a set of | | | | pulling to the opposite side of the force pulling you |
| activities: the art of building.b. A trade or craft | | | | down. |
| that applies such a system of principles and | | | | Knowing and understanding these concepts gave |
| methods: the art of the lexicographer. | | | | the boshi in ancient Japan an enormous advantage |
| 7.a. Skill that is attained by study, practice, or | | | | over his adversaries. It increased by no small |
| observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith's | | | | amount his capacity to deal with life threatening |
| art.b. Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive | | | | situations. |
| faculties: "Self-criticism is an art not many are | | | | Today this is still useful and I think it will always |
| qualified to practice" (Joyce Carol Oates). | | | | because humans today are the same as the ones |
| 8.a. arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.b. | | | | of 600 years ago. We still share the same fears |
| Artful contrivance; cunning. | | | | and instinctive reflexes and the principles of war |
| So combining the two gives us A system of war | | | | have not changed, only the means by which we |
| principles and war methods employed in the | | | | engage in war. |
| performance of a set of warlike activities as a | | | | So if you want to practice the best martial art |
| useful definition for martial art. | | | | first of all you must be prepared to do a lot of |
| In short; "the training of the methods and | | | | hard physical training (did you ever see a warrior |
| principles of war" | | | | with an overweight of 50 pounds ?) to prepare |
| This is very important that we understand this | | | | your body, next explore your fears and instinctive |
| completely because most martial arts nowadays | | | | reactions and adapt or change them to fit your |
| are not martial arts as defined by the term | | | | needs as a warrior so you will be able to use |
| above. War is not defined by rules, competition or | | | | them in true combat and finally learn to |
| divisions. War has only one goal; the destruction | | | | understand your opponent and use his fears and |
| of the opponent by all necessary means in the | | | | instinctive reactions against him. |
| shortest time possible. | | | | This will give you the best martial art. |