Last week in
part I, I started discussing my own way to break down martial arts based on four main categories of goals of the martial art. I presented this diagram last week, but I didn't discuss it. It is a version of a four circle Venn diagram, which presents many different ways of overlapping the four main goals of martial arts. Today, I'm going to talk about the overlap areas, what they would describe, and as much as my limited experience allows, give examples of martial arts that fit these in between categories. By the way, I'm sorry my examples are Japanese, but that is where most of my experience lies. If you have any other examples, from other cultures, please write them in the comments. Also, I understand that all classification system are by definition, artificial systems, but they are none-the-less useful in breaking things up smaller bits of being able to think of things. I have a fellow instructor who keeps telling me that aikido and jujutsu are the same thing. I tell him, yes the movements may have almost no difference, but what the movements want to accomplish are different.
Each of these letter designations are based on the overlap areas of the Venn diagram
A: Civilian/Sport
This category of martial art is one that blends a civilian self-defense art with some sporting aspects. Kyokushin karate is the first one that jumps to mind on this one. Though taught as a self-defense, they do have a competition aspect, with its own specific rules. Brazilian Jujutsu, I think, has become this type of art. Much of the training revolves around the "game" aspect of their art.
B: Military/Civilian
Police and other LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) have to bridge the gap between civilian and military. They are required to remain in dangerous situations, whereas civilians self-defense says you should extract yourself from that same dangerous situation. However, they cannot eliminate the threat, and in fact, must protect their assailant as much as feasibly possible. So you can see the predicament for their martial arts. They have to be brutally effective, reliable, and do the least amount of damage as possible.
C: Sport/Self-Development
These types of arts may have lost much of their martial aspects, but they origin lies in some martial history. Kendo would be an example of this. Although its main goal is self-development, it does so through the sporting aspect. Many other arts fall into this combination of goals. Sport Tae Kwon Do is like this. There is nothing inherently wrong with this combination of goals. What is wrong is to propose that these skills will transfer to self-defense or military situations. Many good personal traits can be developed through these martial arts.
D: Military/Civilian/Sport
Some types of Filipino martial arts could belong to this category. I mention them because I have seen schools that teach the knife aspect (military), and then change it over to empty hand (civilian) and then wear some protective gear and spar with it (sport). I cannot say with certainty of any specific styles or schools that do all three in equal parts, simply because this is not my strength of knowledge, so if you do, please add a comment to tell me and the readers about it.
E: Civilian/Sport/Self-Development
Judo was developed by Kano Sensei as a way to build human character and spirit. It was done so by taking some of the battlefield techniques of the samurai past and adapting them for civilian situations. However, Judo competitions were and still are a major part of this art. Judo has enjoyed worldwide success because of that and has even become an Olympic event.
F: Military/Civilian/Sport/Self-Development
This should be the "ultimate" martial art right? It does everything that is part of martial arts. I can't think of an example of this, as any school that does everything would have the Jack-of-all-Trades problem. They can do a little bit of everything, but not one aspect well enough.
G: Military/Sport
I not sure about this category. This category, even more so than D: military/civilian/sport, seems counter intuitive. I think this would be weapons arts that practice with military uses in mind, but also have a side competition side to them. I know there must be examples of this, I just wouldn't know what they are. If anyone thinks they can give an example of a specific art that fits this section, please tell us about it in the comments.
H: Military/Sport/Self-Development
Battodo is a Japanese sword art of of drawing and cutting. The cuts are
often practiced against rolled tatami mats. There is still the
military application of this art, even if it is historical, yet they
have cutting competitions, so there is a sporting aspect. However,
because of the lack of opportunity of use, one of the main purposes of
these arts are in self-development.
I: Military/Civilian/Self-Development
Some jujutsu schools that bridge the gap between "
jutsu" and "do" would fit in this category. They may still have some of the lethal or dangerous techniques in their system, but they also teach for a modern approach to self-defense, and as a result, they either directly or indirectly teach self-development. As weird as it may seem, a real ninjutsu system should have all three of these goals in mind. They should train to remove a threat when needed, they should train in true self-defense (awareness, avoidance, and then removal of yourself from the situation), and they should teach self control, and willpower as part of the system.
J: Civilian/Self-Development
Aikido is a great example of this category. Some of the more traditional forms of Taiji also seem to fall here. This is a martial art that can be used as a self-defense aspect, again if taught in the correct self-defense format, but its main form of focus seems to be to try and make better people. That seems to be the main goal of Ueshiba. He wanted to use the training in this form of self-defense to make people better. And I think it worked a little too well. Much of the civilian self-defense aspects are taken out some school's teachings, and they only really focus on the self-development parts. This is a shame, and I believe contrary to the methods of Ueshiba.
K: Military/Self-Development
Most of the arts in this category, as I see it, are going to be historical weapons applications. Most of the schools of kenjutsu will fall into this category. They still have killing or disabling techniques, but again, because of the lack of everyday usefulness, the focus tends to be more of the self-development side of things.
Conclusion
Many arts don't fit into any single category, they
tend to straddle the lines between two or three of the categories. The
danger in these is trying to pretend that an art belongs to one
category, say the self- defense category, when it doesn't train that
way. This can be dangerous in that it breeds ill-founded
self-confidence in a situation where their art isn't as proficient.
This goes across all boards. Aikido wasn't designed to work in a combat
sport situation, and many of the military aspects have been taken out
as well, leaving it as either a civilian or self-development part of the
Overall I'll have to give it 4 out of 5 Ninja Stars. I liked the movie, and laughed throughout the whole thing. The story was good, though it does seem a bit repetitive from Stephen Chow's other movies. The story was a bit heavy in Buddist teachings, but the method of showing it was at least interesting. As I said the special effects were surprisingly good, and done in interesting ways. Wait for the restaurant scene to see what I mean. The acting was great. The main characters were all expertly played with both seriousness and comedy. The secondary character, even though they were mostly absurd, were all played as if they were real people. The martial arts in the movie is more supernatural, flying people and superhuman type stuff, but when you're dealing with demons and demon hunters with 20 foot long legs, I guess that kind of comes into the territory.
