May 14, 2014

Impact of Martial Arts on Western Culture

Martial arts has been a pervasive part of human history for millennia. Ever since the first caveman picked up a rock and used it to strike his enemy, and then wondered if there was a better or more efficient way to do it next time, humans have studied martial arts. The oldest known records in the West go back to 4000 BCE, depicted in painting on walls of Egyptian tombs. The precursors to what we now call the “Western World” - the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans - all practiced martial arts in the ancient world. But they were by no means the only ones. Africa was rife with their own indigenous martial arts, and of course so was Asia. These Eastern arts, specifically ones from China, Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, made vast inroads into the Western world during the mid-to-late 20th century, and changed the landscape of martial arts in the West forever.