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Seme

Seme

Seme is a Japanese term from exercises, especially martial arts, meaning "to attack". ---- In anime and manga, especially shounen-ai, yaoi and hentai, seme is a general term for a partner in a relationship who is or is intimated to be predominantly butch, a top, and/or a dominant. The equivalent for bottom is uke. Some fans dislike the term as portraying a sexist notion of relationships - its conflation of gender role with sex preferences and the notion that a relationship always contains one uke and one seme - and its prevalence in some rape fantasy doujinshi. Some series, such as Yami no Matsuei and FAKE invert the visual concept or abandon it. The classic guidelines establish seme by appearance (tall, broody, more mature, dark-haired, ugly rather than cute faces, non-effeminate) in relation to the 'sub' uke often regardless of the characters' personality. Recently, most characters (especially in American fandom) are established as seme based strictly on personality, which can conflict with the original visual concept. Some artists are known to physically alter the appearance of characters to fit the sterotyped look. Similarties appear in yuri fandom, and the term is generally used to refer to female characters.

Examples

Dragon Ball Z's Vegeta is relegated to uke in older yaoi fanworks simply due to his short height, in contradiction to his aggressive, dominant personality. Gravitation's Eiri Yuki is a canonical seme explicitly designed to be taller, older looking, and more humorless than his exuberant boyfriend Shuichi. In Gundam Wing fan-works Heero could be portrayed as a seme because of his serious, grouchy demeanor, or as uke because he's considered depressive. Subaru Sumeragi and Seishirou Sakurazuka of CLAMP's Tokyo Babylon and X practically embody the characteristics of uke and seme, respectively. Subaru is typically portrayed as effeminate and is of smaller and more frail stature than Seishirou (although this latter point lessens somewhat by the time Subaru and Seishirou appear in X). Seishirou is taller with a more serious, mature look to him. Category:Japanese terms Category:Japanese martial arts terms

Japanese language

Japanese (Japanese: 日本語（にほんご Nihongo, ) is a language spoken by over 127 million people, mainly in Japan, but also by Japanese emigrant communities around the world. It is considered an agglutinative language and is distinguished by a system of honorifics reflecting the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, with verb forms and particular vocabulary which indicate the relative status of speaker and listener. The sound inventory of Japanese is relatively small, and it has a lexically-distinctive pitch accent system. Though the two languages are completely unrelated, Japanese has been heavily influenced by Chinese over a period of at least 1,500 years. Japanese is written with a mix of Chinese characters (kanji) and a modified syllabary, kana, also originally based on Chinese characters. Much vocabulary has been imported from Chinese, or created on Chinese models.

Classification

Historical linguists who specialize in Japanese agree that it is one of the two members of the Japonic language family, but remain divided as to the origins of the Japonic languages. An older view, still widely held by some linguists and many non-linguists, is that Japanese is a language isolate. As for its relation to other languages, there are several theories (presented roughly in descending order of certainty):
- Japanese is a relative of extinct languages spoken by historic cultures in what are now the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. The best attested of these is the language of Goguryeo (a.k.a. Koguryo), with the more poorly-attested languages of Baekje (a.k.a. Paekche) and Buyeo (a.k.a Puyo) hypothesized to also be related. The limited data on these languages, as well as these cultures' historic ties, are the primary evidence.
- Japanese is a relative of Korean. This theory is based on the high degree of similarity between Japanese and Korean grammar. Proponents of this theory have also put proposed Japanese-Korean cognates. The idea of a Japanese-Korean relationship has been largely subsumed into the Altaic theory.
- Japanese is a member of the Altaic language family. Other languages in this group include Mongolian, Tungusic, Turkish, and (according to most proponents) Korean. Evidence for this theory lies in the fact that like Turkish and Korean, Japanese is an agglutinative language. Additionally, there are a suggestive number of apparently regular correspondences in basic vocabulary, such as ishi "stone" to Turkic daş, yon "four" to Turkic dört, kura "saddle" to Turkic kürtün, kiru "to cut" to Turkic kir-, inu "dog" to Turkic it, kumo "cloud" to Turkic köl "shadow", etc. These examples originate from [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/query.cgi?root=config&basename=\data\alt\altet this database], which contains a comprehensive list of comparisons and theoretical Altaic etymologies.
- Japanese is a creole language. Phonological similarities and geographical proximity to Austronesian languages have led to the theory that Japanese may be a kind of creole, with an Altaic substratum and an Austronesian superstratum, or vice versa.
- Japanese is a purely Austronesian language. This theory enjoys little currency, since the grammar and lexis of Japanese are vastly different from those of any known Austronesian language.
- Ono Susumu has suggested a possible relationship between Japanese and Tamil, a member of the Dravidian language family spoken in southern India. Specialists in Japanese historical linguistics all agree that Japanese is related to the Ryukyuan languages (including Okinawan); together, Japanese and Ryukyuan are grouped in the Japonic languages. Among these specialists, the possibility of a genetic relation to Goguryeo has the most evidence; relationship to Korean is considered plausible but is still up to debate; the Altaic hypothesis has somewhat less currency, though it has grown significantly more respectable in recent years, primarily due to the work of Sergei Starostin, et al. Almost all specialists reject the idea that Japanese could be genetically related to Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages or Sino-Tibetan languages, and the idea that Japanese could be related to Tamil is almost entirely excluded. It should be noted that linguistic studies, like all fields, can be strongly affected by national politics and other non-academic factors. For example, most linguists would say that Romanian and Moldovan are essentially the same language, and that they are known as two different languages for political reasons. Japan's long-standing rivalries and enmities with virtually all of its neighbours make the study of linguistic connection particularly fraught with such political tensions. However, these tensions are less prevalent among non-Japanese researchers.

Geographic distribution

Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been and is still sometimes spoken in countries besides Japan. When Japan occupied Korea, Taiwan, parts of China, and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries were forced to learn Japanese in empire-building programmes. As a result, there are still many people in these countries who speak Japanese instead of or as well as the local languages. In addition, emigrants from Japan, the majority of whom are found in Brazil, where the biggest Japanese community outside Japan is found, Australia (especially Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne), and the United States (notably California and Hawaii), also frequently speak Japanese. There is also a small community in Davao, Philippines. Their descendants (known as nikkei 日系, literally Japanese descendants), however, rarely speak Japanese fluently. There are estimated to be several million non-Japanese studying the language as well.

Official status

Japanese is the de facto official language of Japan, and Japan is the only country to have Japanese as an official working language. There are two forms of the language considered standard: or standard Japanese, and or the common language. As government policy has modernized Japanese, many of the distinctions between the two have blurred. Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications, and is the version of Japanese discussed in this article.

Dialects

Dozens of dialects are spoken in Japan. The profusion is due to the mountainous island terrain and Japan's long history of both external and internal isolation. Dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent, inflectional morphology, vocabulary, particle usage, and pronunciation. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is uncommon. Dialects from less central regions, such as the Tōhoku or Tsushima dialect may be unintelligible to speakers from other parts of the country. The dialect used in Kagoshima in southern Kyūshū is famous for being unintelligible not only to speakers of standard Japanese but to speakers of nearby dialects elsewhere in Kyūshū as well. Kagoshima dialect is 84% cognate with standard Tokyo dialect. The Ryukyuan languages are spoken in the islands of Okinawa Prefecture. Not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryukyuan languages. Due to the close relationship of Ryukyuan and Japanese, they are still sometimes said to be only dialects of one language, but modern scholars consider them to be separate languages. Recently, Standard Japanese has become prevalent nationwide, due not only to television and radio, but also to increased mobility within Japan due to its system of roads, railways, and airports. Young people usually speak their local dialect and the standard language, though in most cases, the local dialect is influenced by the standard, and regional versions of "standard" Japanese have local-dialect influence.

Sounds

Japanese vowels are "pure" sounds, similar to their Italian or Spanish counterparts. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel , which is like , but unrounded. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, so each one has both a short and a long version. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese of the first half of the twentieth century, was palatalized to , approximately chi; however, now and are distinct, as evidenced by words like paatii "party" and tii "tea." The syllabic structure and the phonotactics are very simple: the only consonant clusters allowed within a syllable consist of one of a subset of the consonants plus /y/. However, consonant clusters across syllables within the word are common, though limited in type.

Grammar

The basic Japanese word order is Subject Object Verb. Subject and object are usually marked by particles which come after the word. The basic sentence structure is topic-comment. For example, Kochira wa Tanaka san desu. Kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by the particle wa. The verb is desu ("be"). As a phrase, Tanaka san desu is the comment. This sentence loosely translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mr./Mrs./Ms. Tanaka". Thus Japanese, like Chinese and Korean, is often called a topic-prominent language, which means it indicates the topic separately from the subject, and the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai. literally means, "As for elephants, the nose is long." The topic is zō "elephant," and the subject is hana "nose." Japanese nouns have neither number nor gender. Thus hon may mean "book" or "books". It is possible to explicitly indicate more than one, either by using numbers, often with a counter. Words for people are usually singular. Thus Tanaka san usually means Mr/Ms Tanaka. Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate groups with noun suffixes that indicate groups, such as -tachi. Though some words, like hitobito "people," always refer to more than one, Japanese has no true plurals. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present, or non-past, which is used for the present and the future. For some verbs, that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) tense. For others, that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect tense. For example, kite iru means "He has come (and is still here)", but tabete iru means "He is eating". Questions are formed by adding a question element to the end of the verb, usually ka. For example, :Kore de ii desu. "This is OK." becomes :Kore de ii desu ka. "Is this OK?" Negatives are formed with verb endings. For example, :Pan o taberu. "I will eat bread." becomes :Pan o tabenai. "I will not eat bread." with taberu "to eat" changing to the negative form tabenai "to not eat". The word desu/da is the copula verb. It corresponds approximately to the English be, but often takes on other roles. A separate function of "to be" is to indicate existence, as in "there is", for which the verbs aru and iru are used for inanimate and animate things, respectively. For example, :Neko ga iru. "There's a cat.", and :Ii kangae ga nai. "I haven't got a good idea." The verb "to do" (suru, polite form shimasu) is often used to make verbs from nouns (ai suru "to love", benkyō suru "to study", etc.). Japanese also has a huge number of compound verbs (e.g. tobidasu "to fly out, to flee," from tobu "to fly, to jump" + dasu "to go out"). There are three types of adjective: #keiyōshi, or i adjectives, which have a conjugating ending i which can become, for example, past, or negative. For example atsui ("to be hot") #:atsui hi "a hot day". #keiyōdōshi, or na adjectives, which are followed by a form of the copula, usually na. For example hen (strange) #:hen na hito "a strange person". #rentaishi, also called true adjectives, such as onaji "the same" #:onaji hi "the same day". Both keiyōshi and keiyōdōshi may predicate sentences. For example, :Gohan ga atsui. "The rice is hot." :Kare wa hen da. "He's strange." Both inflect, though they do not show the full range of conjugation found in true verbs. The rentaishi are few in number, and unlike the other words, are limited to modifying nouns. They never predicate sentences. Examples include ookina "big" and onaji "the same" (although there is a noun onaji that can be followed by da, as in onaji da). Both keiyōdōshi and keiyōshi form adverbs, by following with ni in the case of keiyōdōshi: :hen ni naru "become strange", and by changing i to ku in the case of keiyōshi: :atsuku naru "become hot". The grammatical function of nouns is indicated by postpositions, also called particles. These include
- no for possession, :watashi no kamera "my camera"
- ga for subject, :Kare ga yatta. "He did it."
- o for direct object :Nani o tabemasu ka? "What will (you) eat?"
- ni for indirect object, :Tanaka san ni kiite kudasai "Please ask Mr./Ms. Tanaka",
- wa for the topic and many others. Japanese has many words that are translated as pronouns in English, such as watashi or boku, both meaning "I". Which is used depends upon many factors, including the sex and status of the speaker, who is being spoken to, and the social setting. Their use is often optional, since Japanese is described as a so-called pro-drop language, i.e., one in which the subject of a sentence does not always need to be stated. For example, instead of saying :Watashi wa byōki desu. "I am sick.", if the speaker is understood to be the subject, one could simply say Byōki desu. A single verb can be a complete sentence: :yatta! "(I / we / they / etc) did (it)!".

Politeness

Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain form (kudaketa 砕けた), the simple polite form (teineigo 丁寧語) and the advanced polite form (keigo 敬語). Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position. This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favour tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until they are teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. See uchi-soto The plain form in Japanese is recognized by the shorter, dictionary form of verbs, and the da form of the copula. At the teinei level, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu is used. The advanced polite form, keigo, actually consists of two kinds of politeness: honorific language (sonkeigo) and humble (kenjōgo) language. Whereas teineigo is an inflectional system, keigo often employs many special (often irregular) honorific and humble verb forms. The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and his group. For example, the -san suffix ("Mr", "Mrs" or "Ms") is an example of honorific language. It is not used to talk about oneself or when talking about someone from one's company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's "group". Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made polite by the addition of o- or go-; as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word, and is included even in regular speech, such as gohan 'cooked rice; meal.' Such a construction often indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi 'friend,' would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status (though mothers often use this form to refer to their children's friends). On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu 'water' as o-mizu merely to show politeness; this contrasts with the more abrupt speech of men (though men may also use very polite forms when speaking to superiors). See Gender differences in spoken Japanese. Many researchers report that since the 1990s, the use of polite forms has become rarer. Needless to say, many older people disapprove of this trend. Most Japanese people employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but if a relationship becomes more intimate, they no longer use them. This occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender. Young people usually receive extensive training in the "proper" use of polite language when they start to work for a company.

Vocabulary

The original language of Japan was the so-called yamato kotoba. In addition to this original language, Japanese also has a great number of words that were either borrowed from Chinese or constructed on Chinese patterns. These words entered the language from the fifth century onwards via contact with Chinese culture. Chinese based words comprise as much as seventy percent of the total vocabulary of the Japanese language and form as much as thirty to forty percent of words used in speech. A much smaller number of words has been borrowed from Korean and Ainu. Japan has also borrowed a number of words from other languages, gairaigo. This began with borrowings from Portuguese in the 16th century, followed by borrowing from Dutch during Japan's long isolation of the Edo period. With the Meiji restoration and the reopening of Japan in the 19th century, borrowing occurred from German, French and English. Currently, words of English origin are the most commonly borrowed. In the Meiji era, the Japanese also coined many neologisms using Chinese patterns to translate Western concepts. The Chinese and Koreans imported many of these pseudo-Chinese words into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese via their kanji characters in the late 19th and early 20th century. For example, 政治 seiji ("politics"), and 化学 kagaku ("chemistry"). As a result, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese share a large common corpus of vocabulary in the same way a large number of Greco-Roman words is shared among European languages. In the past few decades, wasei-eigo (made-in-Japan English) has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such as wanpataan (< one + pattern, "to be in a rut", "to have a one-track mind") and sukinshippu (< skin + -ship, "physical contact"), although coined from English, are nonsensical in a non-Japanese context. A small number of such words, such as anime and cosplay, have been borrowed back into English. Additionally, many native Japanese words have become commonplace in English, due to the popularity of many Japanese cultural exports. Words such as sushi, judo, karate, sumo, karaoke, origami, samurai, haiku, ninja, sayonara, rickshaw (from 人力車 jinrikisha), futon, and many others have become part of the English language. See list of English words of Japanese origin for more.

Writing system

Modern Japanese is written in a mixture of three main scripts: kanji, characters of Chinese origin used to represent both Chinese loanwords into Japanese and a number of native Japanese morphemes; and two syllabaries: hiragana and katakana. The Roman alphabet (romaji) is also sometimes used.

Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese involves understanding grammar, pronunciation, the writing system, and acquiring adequate vocabulary. While the sound system is simple to master compared with those of other languages, the writing system poses a challenge for those not used to Chinese characters. On the other hand one learns a lot about Japanese culture by studying kanji characters. Japanese students begin to learn kanji characters from their first grade of an elementary school. A guideline created by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the kyōiku kanji, specifies the 1,006 simple characters a child is to learn by the end of sixth grade. Children continue to study another 939 characters in a junior high school, which totally covers 1,945 jōyō kanji (common kanji) characters, which are usually considered sufficient for everyday life. Japanese can be learned without studying Chinese characters. However, Japanese borrowed thousands upon thousands of words from Chinese, and for various reasons, many of these Chinese-based words are now homophones (words pronounced identically) in Japanese. This may make it necessary to learn the characters if one wants to learn an extended vocabulary, although blind Japanese people who cannot read any characters are able to function in the spoken language without problems, since most words, even if not written down, can be understood by the context. "Nihon" (にほん) can mean "two long, thin objects" (二本) as well as "Japan" (日本). However, these two words have different accents, and are distinct even in isolation. Major universities throughout the world provide Japanese language courses. Moreover, South Korea, Australia, France, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Denmark and some states of the United States provide the language course at high schools or lower level schools. About 2.3 million people studied the language worldwide in 2003. 900,000 South Koreans, 389,000 Chinese people, 381,000 Australians, and 140,000 Americans study Japanese in lower and higher educational institutions. The Japanese government provides standard tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The Japanese External Trade Organization JETRO organizes the Business Japanese Proficiency Test, to test ability to understand Japanese in a business setting. In Japan, more than 90,000 foreign students study at Japanese universities and Japanese language schools, including 77,000 Chinese and 15,000 South Koreans in 2003. Furthermore, local governments and some NPO groups provide free Japanese language classes for foreign residents, including Japanese Brazilians and foreign wives married to Japanese nationals. See also List of resources for learning Japanese.

External links

- [http://users.tmok.com/~tumble/jpp/japor.html Origin of the Japanese People and Language]
- [http://web.archive.org/web/20030618070124/http%3A//www-lib.icu.ac.jp/LibShuppan/lecture/6-2-1.html North Kyushu Creole] – A hypothesis concerning the multilingual formation of Japanese
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=1263 Ethnologue report for Japanese]
- [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=jpn Ethnologue report for language code JPN]

Bibliography

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- Bloch, Bernard. (1946). Studies in colloquial Japanese II: Syntax. Language, 22, 200-248.
- Chafe, William L. (1976). Giveness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics, and point of view. In C. Li (Ed.), Subject and topic (pp. 25-56). New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-1244-7350-4.
- Kuno, Susumu. (1973). The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-2621-1049-0.
- Kuno, Susumu. (1976). Subject, theme, and the speaker's empathy: A re-examination of relativization phenomena. In Charles N. Li (Ed.), Subject and topic (pp. 417-444). New York: Academic Press. ISBN 0-1244-7350-4.
- Martin, Samuel E. (1975). A reference grammar of Japanese. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-3000-1813-4.
- McClain, Yoko Matsuoka. (1981). Handbook of modern Japanese grammar: 口語日本文法便覧 [Kōgo Nihon bumpō]. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press. ISBN 4-5900-0570-0; ISBN 0-8934-6149-0.
- Miller, Roy. (1967). The Japanese language. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
- Miller, Roy. (1980). Origins of the Japanese language: Lectures in Japan during the academic year, 1977-78. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-2959-5766-2.
- Mizutani, Osmau; & Mizutani, Nobuko. (1987). How to be polite in Japanese: 日本語の敬語 [Nihongo no keigo]. Tokyo: Japan Times. ISBN 4-7890-0338-8; ISBN 4-7890-0338-9.
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Martial arts

A martial art, often referred to as a fighting system, is a system of codified practices and traditions of training for combat, usually without the use of guns and other modern weapons. Today, people study martial arts for various reasons including sport, fitness, self-defense, self-cultivation (meditation), mental discipline & character development, and self-confidence. "Martial arts" was translated in 1920 in Takenobu's Japanese-English Dictionary from Japanese bu-gei (武芸) or bu-jutsu (武術): "the craft/accomplishment of military affairs". This definition is translated directly from the Chinese term, wushu (武術, 武术; pinyin: wǔ shù; Cantonese: mou seut; Vietnamese: Võ-Thuật), literally, "martial art", meaning all manner of Chinese martial arts. This term is slightly anomalous in its English usage. Its strict meaning should be "arts for military use" (flying fighter aircraft, sniper training, and so forth) but in normal usage it is used to refer to formalized systems of training to fight without modern technology. It is nevertheless valuable to distinguish between fighting systems intended for soldiers in battle (even without modern technology) and fighting systems intended for sport or for civilian self-defense.

Overview

There are many styles and schools of martial arts; broadly speaking, they share a common goal: to physically defeat a person or defend oneself. Some Eastern martial arts have a tradition of being about more than simple fighting, which is perhaps why their practice has been seen as worth preserving in the face of their military obsolescence in modern technological culture. Certain martial arts, such as T'ai Chi Ch'uan, may also be practiced to maintain or improve mental or physical health. What differentiates the martial arts from mere unarmed brawling is the organization of their techniques into a coherent system and the codification of effective teaching methods. One common training technique is to have a series of routines called forms (also called kata, poomse, ch'ůan t'ao, kuen, tao lu, hyung, sequencias, or tuls) which can serve as a dictionary of essential techniques to be memorized and drawn from at need. Martial arts are also characterized by the controlled, mindful application of force in ways selected for empirical effectiveness. In this sense, boxing, fencing, archery, and wrestling can also be considered martial arts. Martial arts may focus on
- striking (e.g. Boxing, Karate, Southern Praying Mantis, Wing Chun, Krav Maga, Bando)
- kicking, (e.g. Kickboxing, Taekwondo, Savate, Capoeira, Lethwei)
- grappling and throwing (e.g. Wrestling, Jujutsu, Judo, Sambo, Naban, Aikido, Kampfringen), or
- weaponry (e.g. Iaido, Naginata-do, Bojutsu, Kendo, Fencing, Kali, Gatka, Banshay, Kalarippayattu, Kunst des Fechten). Most martial arts include some study of all of these different styles and some explicitly attempt to be complete systems (Eskrima, many types of Jujutsu, many traditional Chinese martial arts). Some martial arts, particularly the traditional Chinese arts, used to go beyond this to teach side disciplines such as bone-setting, qigong, acupuncture, acupressure (tui na), and other aspects of traditional Chinese medicine. This was a natural extension, as at an advanced level techniques can take advantage of a detailed knowledge of how the opponent's body works to drastically increase their effectiveness. The martial arts, perhaps due to a half-century of dramatic portrayals in popular media, (particuarly in films starring the famous Martial arts stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li; see Orientalism), have been inextricably bound in the Western imagination to East Asian cultures and people. Martial arts are by no means unique to Asia, however. Humans around the world have always had to develop ways to defend themselves from attack, often without weapons. Not all martial arts were developed in Asia. Savate, for example, was developed as a form of kickboxing in France. Capoeira's athletic movements were developed in Brazil by slaves based on skills brought with them from Africa.

History

The history of martial arts is both long and universal. Martial arts likely existed in every culture, and at all classes and levels of society, from the family unit up to small communities, for instance, villages and even ethnic groups. One example is t'an t'ui, a northern Chinese kicking art, often said to be practiced among Chinese Muslims. Systems of fighting have likely been in development since learning became transferable among humans, along with the strategies of conflict and war. In some places, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, one can still see this plethora of village fighting systems. Every martial arts system and every martial arts school has its own history. This generally falls into two categories: recent history and ancient history. Recent history, in this context, is relatively verifiable: who did the teacher learn from? Where did the teacher study? What other arts has the teacher studied, and how has the teacher incorporated them into their teaching? Was the teacher given permission to teach by their teacher? What are the teacher's goals in teaching the class? This last question deserves some explanation. Some classes are taught primarily to teach students to become effective competitors in tournaments. Some classes are taught to attempt to teach the students to defend themselves effectively against some class of anticipated situations. Some classes are taught to preserve an ancient tradition. The practical details of these distinct kinds of classes will be very different. Ancient history, at least in the sense used here, is much more difficult. In fact, for most systems it is essentially a legend — in the sense that it is propagated by word-of-mouth among students in the absence of verifiable evidence. This is not to say that it is not also true! But the importance of such a history does not depend on its truth: the effect of such a legend on shaping the development of a martial art is probably much greater than the effect of events two hundred years ago (at least five generations of passing the art on from teacher to student). So an art that is believed to be an art of warriors will focus on battlefield effectiveness and weapon use against highly skilled opponents, while an art that is believed to be for self-defense will focus on reactions to surprise attack and multiple opponents. The history of martial arts around the world is therefore quite complex; on the one hand, most groups of people have had to defend themselves and have developed effective fighting techniques, but on the other hand, most of those techniques have been rendered militarily obsolete over the centuries. Even at an individual, rural level, the threat to the safety of a village is now more likely to come from warriors armed with automatic rifles than from men with swords. Furthermore, it is extremely difficult to preserve a martial art; doing so requires many years of teaching at the hands of a good teacher to pass on the art for a single generation. So it is relatively rare that a martial art would survive and become popular in today's culture, and each art that has done so has a unique history. Some generalities can be said, though, and the next few sections will attempt to discuss the overall rise to popularity of some martial arts.

Martial arts in Asia

The teaching of martial arts in Asia has historically followed the Confucian cultural tradition of teacher-disciple apprenticeship. Students are trained in a strictly hierarchical system by a master instructor: Sensei in Japanese ; in Chinese 老師, (Wade-Giles) Lao Shih, (Pinyin) lǎo shī (lit., old master); Cantonese Sifu; 師父 Mandarin (Wade-Giles) Shih fu, (Pinyin) Shī fù (lit., the master-father), 사범님 Sabeomnim (Korean). The instructor is expected to directly supervise their students' training, and the students are expected to memorize and recite as closely as possible the rules and basic training routines of the school. Open speculation about training methods or the instructor's motives and personality is generally not tolerated in juniors, as they are not considered familiar enough with the basic requirements of their respective arts to make realistic distinctions. They are instead encouraged to repeatedly train applications of the forms and techniques that they've been shown in gradually more complex scenarios. In this Confucian family-based hierarchy, those who enter instruction with the instructor before the student are considered older brothers and sisters; those after, younger brothers and sisters. The instructor's peers are considered aunts and uncles, etc. into other generations above and below. Such clearly delineated relationships, based on seniority, are designed to develop intangibles such as good character, patience and discipline in martial students. As a matter of safety for the instructors, the student body and the individual student, before they are shown anything beyond the most basic conditioning exercises, students learn their place in the school hierarchy. Students should learn how and why to clearly demonstrate respect for others and how to follow the directions of their instructors properly. The traditional schools are said by this reasoning to provide thereby a level playing field for all students, providing a relatively fixed framework for interaction with one's seniors, peers and juniors, so that everyone, not just the physically gifted, can have an opportunity to benefit from the training provided in a martial art school. Some method of certification can be involved, where one's skills would be tested for mastery before being allowed to study further; in some systems, especially in China, there are no such certifications, only years of close personal practice and evaluation under a master, much like an apprenticeship, until the master deems one's skills satisfactory. This pedagogy, while still preserved and respected in many traditional styles, has weakened to varying degrees in others and is even actively rejected by some schools, especially in the West.

Martial arts in Europe

Martial arts with historical roots in Europe do not exist to the same extent as in Asia. Boxing as well as forms of wrestling have endured. European martial arts have mostly adapted to changing technology and are truer to the English meaning of that phrase, so that while their descendants still exist, martial arts are focused on things like flying helicopters and infantry tactics for riflemen. These are generally not referred to as martial arts. Martial Arts existed in classical European civilization, most notably in Greece where sport was integral to the way of life. Boxing and Pankration (pan, meaning all, kratos, meaning power or strength) were represented in the Ancient Olympic Games. The Romans produced Gladiatorial combat as public spectacle based on a more martial sport. Some traditional martial arts have been preserved in one form or another. For example, boxing, archery, and fencing were preserved by being made into sports; of course this has changed the practice significantly. Some historical fencing has survived, and some groups have attempted to reconstruct old European martial arts from a few surviving combat manuals. This includes such styles as sword and shield, two-handed swordfighting, jousting and other types of melee weapons combat. Another aspect of the reconstruction effort involves more historically recent martial arts and combat sports, such as those practiced during the 1800s and 1900s. A partial list would include bare-knuckle boxing, Bartitsu, quarterstaff fencing according to late 1800s rules, etc. Unarmed European martial arts that have survived in active form include English boxing, Olympic wrestling, and French savate. Some weapon systems have also survived as folk sports and as self defence methods, including stick-fighting systems such as the Juego del Palo style(s) of the Canary Islands. Other martial arts were made into sports that we no longer recognize as combative, such as some kinds of gymnastics, where the pommel horse is called a horse because it simulates a horse; the art comes from the necessity of a cavalryman to be able to change positions and fight effectively from the back of a horse. More ancient origins exist for the shot put and the javelin throw, both weapons utilised extensively by the Romans.

Martial arts in North America

While the native peoples of North America had their own martial training, these, like much of their culture, have been almost completely lost. However, the European colonists (and later, Asian immigrants) brought over their own martial arts such as boxing, fencing and wrestling. The interest in Eastern Martial Arts dates back to the late 19th Century, as Americans became involved in China and Japan. This involvement was initially through trade, where the martial arts seen were recorded as eccentricities of strange lands. Relatively few Westerners actually practiced the arts, most seeing them as performances. This view held with many of the first Asians to demonstrate martial arts in America and Europe doing so as part of vaudeville shows. As Western influence grew in the East a greater number of military personnel spent time in China, Japan and elsewhere protecting Western interests, and advising certain factions on military matters. Initially much of this advice was aimed at changing the Eastern way of fighting to a Western way of fighting, but gradually individual members of the western contingents began to see the value of Eastern martial arts and actually began training in them seriously. This training resulted in various techniques being incorporated into Western military training. This escalated to the extent that by the Second World War nearly all commandos received training in Japanese jujutsu. After the War, with large numbers of servicemen stationed in Japan the adoption of techniques and the gradual transmission of entire systems of martial arts to the West started. It was in the 1950's however when this exportation of systems really began to gain momentum. Large groups of US Military personnel were taught Korean arts (Taekwondo) during the War with North Korea and many of these brought their training home and continued to practice and teach after their demobilisation. By the 1960s the Japanese arts like Karate and Judo had become very popular, the early 1970s saw martial arts in the movies and, due in part to Bruce Lee, the rise in popularity of Chinese styles. The exportation saw an increase in the dilution of the arts with many of them being molded into competitive disciplines. Sport Karate for example became a major force internationally with professional fighters and big prizes, television coverage and sponsorship deals. The later 1970s and 1980s saw a rise in interest in non-sport arts, especially those that provided weapons as well as empty hand techniques. This interest was fed by the media with magazines, books and movies embracing the supposed mysticism and alleged supernatural lethality of various arts (especially those claiming to be associated with ninjas and neo-ninjas). This in turn led to opportunistic teachers at one end of the spectrum exploiting the fashion by making many claims of the overwhelming superiority and rarity of their techniques to sell books, videos and certificates, yet providing little evidence of such superiority; to the other end of simpler black belt factory schools selling expensive long-term training contracts as well as a diverse array of uniforms and multicoloured belts to children of affluent suburban families. Martial arts were unearthed and brought to America from Vietnam, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia, South America, and almost every other corner of the Earth. Others were simply invented by the unscrupulous out of previously existing styles or out of whole cloth. Some gained a measure of popularity due to the novelty of their claims of effectiveness, in some cases justified. This in turn led to further exploration of disciplines from Korea, Japan and China for their historical and cultural value.

Martial arts internationally

Every village and tribe around the world had a few trained fighters who passed on their knowledge; however, it is difficult to pass on a fighting system, so almost all of these have been lost as their practical relevance has declined. However, a few have survived for one reason or another, and a very few of those have seen a recent boom in popularity, perhaps related to the world music phenomenon. Examples of this are Pehlwani(India)Capoeira and some related arts in Cuba, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago, which were preserved partly through their relationship with Candomblé, Santería, Vodun, and other syncretic religions. Of these, only Capoeira has risen to worldwide prominence. The 2003 movie Whale Rider featured several scenes involving Mau rakau, a traditional martial art of the Maori people. It involves the use of the taiaha, a 2-handed fighting staff. Martial arts also developed among military and police forces to be used as
- arrest and self-defense methods. One example is Krav Maga, a self-defense system developed by the armed forces of Israel. Another example is Kombato developed for the Brazilian armed forces.
- lethal tactical arts for use in close quarter combat warfare, i.e. Military Martial Arts e.g. UAC (British), LINE (USA), ACCS Advanced Commando Combat System

Comparisons between martial arts

It is common to compare the goals, teaching methods and the techniques of different fighting systems in order to understand their similarities and differences. Such comparisons tend to be controversial when there is a lack of format in which a direct and objective comparison is possible. In addition to physical combat, many martial arts have spiritual or philosophical aspirations, such as the various Chinese, Japanese and Korean martial arts that emphasise traditional Confucian teaching methods. Some systems are sports oriented, such as Judo, Tae Kwon Do and Wushu, and have their own distinct set of rules which are incompatible with other systems. Some are described as "reality based", with a focus on self-defense, including Jeet Kune Do, Defendo, Krav Maga, Kombato, and Angeles Eskrima. Because different martial arts often have differing goals, it is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of various martial arts based on one general standard or method; it is arguably impossible to directly compare the arts with fundamentally different domains of practice, such as Kendo against Tae Kwon Do. However, many martial arts claim to be effective fighting disciplines within a particular context, such as unarmed combat between two fighters, self-defense against multiple attackers, use of specific weapons, escaping from those seeking to harm or capture the practitioner, and so on. While some of these claims are sometimes difficult to assess, an objective evaluation of practioners may be achieved within context. For instance, regardless of background, those sharing a common interest in hand-to-hand fighting may engage in sparring using a mutually accepted set of rules in order to determine who is the better fighter at that time. An example of a martial arts tournament that attempted to answer the question of "which fighting system is the best" using as few rules as possible was the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States in the early 1990's. Organizations such as the UFC have since evolved due to the rise of mixed martial arts. Mixed martial arts or MMA is an eclectic, modern form of martial arts cross-training. Followers of this practice believe that no traditional fighting system is strictly better than all others, and that by being competent and well-trained in multiple areas, one can become a better fighter overall. Due to this movement, tournaments such as the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships have emphasized more on competition between individuals and less on competition between specific systems, as virtually all participants in these events have become knowledgable in multiple systems. While MMA is currently seen largely as a form of sport competition with organization-specific rules, it can also be considered a school of thought in which the practioner may incorporate any useful martial art technique into their personal training. Many competitive MMA fighters manage to incorporate traditional techniques from boxing, Muay Thai, jujutsu, wrestling and so on, while using a central strategy of fighting such as "sprawl-and-brawl" or "ground-and-pound", among others, which may be seen as complex, modern fighting styles.

Classification

Numerous criteria have been devised to classify different fighting systems, though many of these criteria are either controversial or overly generalized. For example, while some Chinese systems have traditionally been classified as either "internal" or "external", these notions require concepts such Qi which are not necessarily applicable to all systems internationally. Another category is the notion of "hard" versus "soft", which asks whether a system relies on using force and power to defeat the opponent or, instead, on avoiding attacks and applying leverage: the Shotokan school of karate may be perceived as using a "harder" approach than judo does. However, many systems have both hard and soft aspects and do not always fit into either category; a judo practioner still uses full physical strength when throwing opponents in competition. Another set of similar concepts is "striking" versus "grappling": does the art focus on punching and kicking, as in boxing and Taekwondo, or on clinching and holding, as in wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? While some systems may consist of mostly striking or mostly grappling, various arts such as Sambo or San Shou, among many others, often utilize both areas in conjunction. Muay Thai, for example, is studied primarily as a striking art, yet it makes frequent use of the grappling technique known as the Muay Thai clinch.

Technical aspects

Fighting is a highly complex discipline. In the past, soldiers such as Mongolian cavalrymen, Manchu bannermen, European knights and Japanese samurai usually spent lifetimes studying all relevant aspects of unarmed fighting and fighting with basic weapons, honed by real, close-quarters combat resulting in fatalities. While soldiers today are still trained in these areas, due to the characteristics of modern warfare, unarmed fighting is often practiced now by civilians in sport-like and less lethal fashions. Practioners today generally study a limited number of fighting aspects within specific martial art systems. Nonetheless, many practitioners would like to have some skill in more than one context, and most arts include some study of many aspects. In certain systems, in-depth study of certain aspects is not begun until a practitioner has been training for many years. Some aspects of fighting include:
- Long-range unarmed fighting. In this situation, things happen relatively slowly (hundreds of milliseconds), giving participants time to react to visual stimuli. This allows powerful strikes as well as subtle feints to be performed.
- Short-range unarmed fighting. In this situation reaction time is such an important factor that visual stimuli are not very useful, and practitioners must learn to react to tactile stimuli. Strikes are still possible but reactions must become reflexes, making feints more difficult.
- Grappling. In this situation participants are wrestling each other attempting to get the other in a submission or weak spot for striking. Leverage and physical strength become very important. If not forbidden by rules, biting, pinching and spitting can be very effective at this range.
- Armed fighting. Fighting with weapons can be rather different from unarmed fighting, both because strikes can become much more destructive and because weapons can drastically increase the reach of a practitioner. Of course, each weapon and each range requires its own techniques, but a cleverly designed teaching system can take advantage of similarities to simplify the study.
- The study of pressure points can be used to improve the effectiveness of traditional techniques, and they also add a whole range of new options to the martial artist. For example, instead of just striking the body, knowledge of pressure points means that the target point can be chosen for much greater effect.
- Moral, emotional, and physical development. The dedication and practice required to acquire skill in a martial art can be very beneficial to the character of a practitioner. Some martial arts systems focus on these effects, and emphasize techniques and training that encourage this development.
- Fighting against a single opponent. Both traditional duels and most modern sparring matches pit one expert fighter against another, with some set of rules, and after a battle, declare a victor. This has a number of different effects; for example, footwork can be simplified as a practitioner rarely needs to turn quickly. On the other hand, one can expect one's opponent to be about as highly skilled as oneself.
- Fighting against multiple opponents. Some martial arts systems focus on being able to deal with multiple opponents simultaneously. In order for this to be possible, normally the opponents must be assumed to have less skill than the practitioner. This has technical effects as well, including tight, careful footwork to allow rapid turning, as well as rapid disabling of opponents in order to move on.
- Fighting without injuring the opponent. Many systems are suggested for police or security work; as such, there is a certain amount of effort devoted to minimizing the damage a practitioner inflicts on an opponent. Disarming, locking and controlling techniques are emphasized in this situation over the simpler striking techniques which disable or kill.
- Avoidance of fighting. Some martial arts systems are strongly oriented towards practical self-defense, and so some emphasis is placed on defusing or avoiding violent situations rather than fighting.

Testing and Competition

In general, testing or evaluation in some form is important to martial art practioners of many disciplines who wish to determine their own level of skill in specific contexts. Students within individual martial art systems often undergo periodic testing and grading by their own teacher in order to advance to a higher level of recognized achievement, such as a different belt color or title. The type of testing used varies from system to system but may include forms or sparring. Sparring can generally be divided into light- or medium-contact, and full-contact variants. Both forms and sparring are commonly used in martial art exhibitions and tournaments. Some competitions pit practitioners of different disciplines against each other using a common set of rules.

Forms

Forms, known as kata in various Japanese arts and hyung or poomse in various Korean arts, involve the performance and interpretation of routines, either traditional or recently invented, both unarmed and armed. These may be performed solo or with more than one practioner. By definition, forms are distinguished from sparring in that they involve mostly pre-determined routines and patterns which may artistically resemble combat but are inherently non-combative or co-operative. Jet Li is a well-known practioner who has been successful in form-based wushu tournaments. In open competitions, the routines may be evaluated by a panel of master-level judges from more than one martial art background.

Light and medium-contact sparring

Sparring in some martial arts may involve a point-based system of light to medium-contact sparring in a marked-off area where both competitors are protected by foam padding; certain targets are prohibited, such as face and groin, and certain techniques may be also prohibited. Points are awarded to competitors on the solid landing of one technique. Again, master-level judges start and stop the match, award points, and resolve disputes. After a set number of points are scored or when the time set for the match expires (for example, three minutes or five points), and elimination matches occur until there is only one winner. These matches may also be sorted by gender, weight class, level of expertise and even age. Some critics of these point sparring competition note that this type of training teaches students to pull their punches or not throw combination attacks as the fighting is frequently stopped by judges to award points or declare fouls. This disruption alters the flow of actual combat and enforces what some see are the bad habits of not following through on attacks, lowering your guard, and relying on tactics that may score points but lack the power to disable or hurt an actual attacker.

Full-contact fighting

"Full-contact" sparring or fighting is often pursued by martial art practioners who are interested in realistic unarmed combat. The phrase may refer to several aspects which differentiate it from light and medium-contact sessions. It may imply a general lack of protective gear. For example, Kyokushin is a variant of karate that requires advanced practioners to engage in sparring while wearing no more than a groin guard for protection. It may refer to a full variety of permitted attacks and contact zones on the body, excluding a small and limited number of forbidden techniques such as biting, groin striking or attacking the eyes, bestowing significant fighting freedom upon the competitors. The phrase could also refer to the use of full force in order to disable the opponent, either by knock out or direct submission of defeat. There is often a lower emphasis on scoring points, assuming a point system exists; points, judges and time limits were not used in the early UFC events, whose outcomes were determined only by the inability to continue. Due to these factors, full-contact matches tend to be more aggressive in character. Vale tudo, meaning anything goes in Portuguese, is a definite form of full-contact fighting. Nearly all MMA events, including UFC, PRIDE, Pancrase and Shooto, use full-contact rules, although recently the use of small protective gloves and other safety rules have been added. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo do not allow striking but are full-contact in the sense that full force is applied during grappling and submissions. Some versions of Sambo are full-contact. Some practioners believe that physically defeating the enemy, as opposed to winning a sport match by rules, is the only important matter in hand-to-hand combat. Some of them treat martial arts only as matters of self-defense or life-and-death situations. For instance, one practioner said "Forget about winning and losing [...] let him fracture your bones and you take his life." As such, these people may prefer not to participate in most types of rule-based martial art competition (even one such as vale tudo), electing instead to study fighting techniques with little or no regard to competitive rules or, perhaps, ethical concerns and the law (the techniques practiced may include attacking vulnerable spots such as the groin or the eyes). Nonetheless, others maintain that, given proper precautions such as a referee and a ring doctor, full-contact matches with basic rules could serve as a useful gauge of one's overall fighting ability, encompassing broad categories including striking, grappling and finishing holds.

Martial arts and self defense

:Main article Self-defense Self-defense strategies formed the basis of numerous martial arts, especially East Asian martial arts, which usually provide self-defense classes as part of their curricula. Many schools of self-defense also teach strategies aimed at avoiding or defusing physical confrontations. The curriculum for such courses commonly teach positioning strategies and strengthening the defender's self-confidence, which is assumed to discourage some physical attacks. Martial arts practice, with or without actual emphasis in self-defense specific techniques, is a recognized way to both teach positioning strategy and to boost self-confidence thus, subjectively, martial arts in general could be regarded, to some extent, as a kind of self-defense system.

Martial arts as sport

On the subject of competition, martial artists vary wildly. Practioners in some arts such as Boxing, Taekwondo, Judo, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu often train for sport matches in those arts, whereas those in other arts such as Aikido and Krav Maga generally spurn such competitions. Some schools believe that competition breeds better and more efficient practitioners, and gives a sense of good sportsmanship. Others believe that the rules under which competition takes place have removed the combat effectiveness of martial arts or encourage a kind of practice which focuses on winning trophies rather than the more traditional focus of combat effectiveness, or in East Asian cultures, of developing the Confucian person, which eschews showing off (see Confucius, also renaissance man.) Some martials artists, including Forrest Morgan, have criticized sports derivatives for being unrealistic and distracting warriors from looking at the whole art - instead concentrating only on techniques allowed in their competitions. As part of the response to sport martial arts, new forms of competition are being held such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the U.S. or Pancrase in Japan which are also known as mixed martial arts or MMA events. While the financial success or failure of these events is not well-known, it is interesting to note that certain systems do indeed tend to dominate these full contact or freestyle competitions. Supporters of those styles which win time and again make the statement that this proves the real-world self defense effectiveness of their art.

Martial arts and dance

As mentioned above, some martial arts in various cultures can be performed in dance-like settings, either for evoking fiercefulness/pumping adrenaline in preparation of battle, or rather showing off skill in a more stylised manner, or both. Examples of such war dances include the gymnopaidiai from ancient Sparta, New-Zealand's Haka, the Sabre Dance depicted in Khachaturian's ballet Gayane, the Maasai "jumping" dance, Brunei's Aduk-Aduk, Qatar's Ayyalah, the Indian Kalarippayattu, Pakistani/Afghan Khattak Dance, Brazil's Capoeira, Scotland's Dannsa Biodag ... (not to forget the spoofing weasel war dance). Often there appears some tension between martial arts (considered macho) and dancing (considered more effeminate): e.g. Plato's The Laws devotes some attention to this topic. The solution given to this by the Maasai can be considered amongst the most original: they perform their "jumping" martial dance in women's attire, because, as they say, women are prettier than men. Ballet, as it originated at the court of Louis XIV also goes back to a sort of ambiguity between being the strongest and being the most refined: worldly power was granted by the king to his noblemen, according to their ability to perform refined "ballet" dancing. In addition, in theatre and film, the fight scene is essentially a dance meant to depict hand to hand combat.

Notable styles of martial arts

- Aikijujutsu is a Japanese martial art which dates back to the samurai. It has been suggested that Aikido evolved from this style.
- Aikido is a Japanese martial art which evolved from Jujutsu and Kenjutsu.
- Baguazhang is an internal Chinese martial art that trains in distinctive circular footwork patterns and is also known for training with unusually large weapons at advanced levels in some schools.
- Bando is the official Burmese Fighting System that includes techniques of throws, holds, locks, chokes, foot-sweeps, etc. Several Bando sub-systems include Lethwei, Naban and Banshay which includes stick fighting, sword fighting, knife fighting, spear fighting, etc.
- Capoeira is a survival-oriented dance-fight-game originally developed in the 16th century by Angolan slaves in Brazil. It emphasizes kicks, dodging, and mental training including trickery, sense of humor, and understanding of rhythm.
- Eskrima or Pekiti Tirsia Kali highly combative Filipino Martial Art.
- Fencing (the European Olympic style), exists now almost entirely as a sport.
- Hapkido is a Korean martial art with kicks, punches, joint manipulation, locks, and throws that is said to have developed from Aikijutsu. Many of its techniques are similar to those of Aikido.
- Jeet Kune Do, meaning 'Way of the intercepting fist', was developed by Bruce Lee, one of the most famous martial artists of the 20th century.
- Judo means gentle way, ('Do' means 'Way of'), a Japanese martial art and sport that consists in the aggregation of techniques from many jujutsu schools. Striking (atemi-waza) and some dangerous throws are forbidden in competitions but still present in trainning and sparring.
- Jujutsu is a general Japanese term encompassing mostly unarmed martial arts with strikes, throws, grappling and locks and those using small weapons. It´s a commom misconception to think of jujutsu as a singular fighting style (this same misconception occurs with the chinese term Kung Fu and Wushu).
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a much modified version of some original Japanese jujutsu schools, based on and closely related to Judo but with even greater emphasis on ground fighting. Sometimes referred to as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu after its founders.
- Kalarippayattu a martial art from Kerala in South India. It has a strong association with Ayurveda and healing systems.
- Karate simply means 'Empty hand' (originally 'Chinese hand'), and is perhaps the most popular martial art in Japan and the West. It is Okinawan in origin and has several sub styles including Shotokan, Shotokai and Wado Ryu.
- Isshin-ryu, meaning "One Heart Way", is a descendent of Karate created by Master Tatsuo Shimabuku in 1954, on the island of Okinawa, Japan. It's forms were taken from Shirin-ryu and Gojo-ryu, however, most of the forms were "simplified" by showing the punches, kicks, strikes, and blocks in plain view. The style stands out because of it's vertical fist punch (much like a boxer's jab) and it's forearm blocking, which utilizes the large area of the forearm instead of the muscled sides.
- Kendo is the Japanese art of sword fighting, using bamboo swords (shinai) and protective clothing.
- Kuk Sool Won is a systematic study of all of the traditional fighting systems which together comprise the martial arts history of the Korean Peninusla.
- Kung Fu, or more precisely "wushu", refers to the many diverse Chinese martial arts, some of which include: Shaolin, Shuai Chiao, Wing Chun, Drunken boxing, Taijiquan, Xingyiquan, Yiquan, Lau Gar, Hung Gar and many more. The Chinese words kung fu can be used to describe one's skill in any discipline, not just martial arts.
- Krav Maga is a modern martial art, derived from the distinctive fighting style of the Israeli Haganah and the modern day IDF. The style is purely focused on practical combat skills and eschews competitions beyond occasional 'fight club' nights, wherein practitioners can free-form spar with protective padding.
- Mixed martial arts or MMA, a modern martial art which attempts to combine practical aspects of many (or all) useful martial arts, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and wrestling, among others. The emphasis is on actual combat and freestyle competition with few rules, as opposed to theoretical philosophy. Well-known MMA organizations include PRIDE and UFC. By definition, any combinational or open-ended style of fighting may be considered a form of MMA.
- Muay Thai, a Thai martial art, from which most styles now known as kickboxing descend.
- Ninjutsu is a Japanese style said to have originally been practiced by Ninja, this martial art combines traditional attacks with scout style survival and elusive moves.
- Silat is an art from the Malay World and has regional variations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, among others.
- Systema is an art of Russian origin. This style employs no pre-defined moves, katas, rankings, or sport application. Rather, Systema works from the basis of the breathing, movement, form (not to be confused with "forms"), and lastly technique. Practicing technique in Systema is more a means for objective exploration by the practitioners rather than a procedural advancement of combat heuristics and mental/physical conditioning. This exploration can be geared towards any situation on any level of human ability as the core philosophies of Systema do not exclusively apply to combat.
- Tai Chi Chuan, the different styles of which are a Chinese martial art practiced nowadays by many people for health maintenance. Its slow moving training forms are often described as "moving meditation," but are also a catalogue of self-defence techniques. Despite the emphasis on relaxed training the name actually means "Supreme Ultimate Fist" and often uses its soft style interceptions to simultaneously counter attacks and strike the attacker in its advanced level martial training. Traditional T'ai Chi classes at intermediate level and above should include weapons training, two person pushing hands as well as ch'i kung, for greater health benefits and generating coordinated martial power.
- Taekwondo is modern Korean art, descended from Karate but with a much greater emphasis on kicking. Along with Judo, one of only two Asian martial arts to make it into the Olympic Games.
- Tang Soo Do (which means 'way of the Chinese hand') is a traditional Korean martial art descended from Karate, which remained outside the merging of Korean styles into a national sport in 1961. Its most famous proponent is Chuck Norris.
- Xingyiquan is also an internal Chinese martial art, known for its direct offensive style.
- Yiquan is a relatively modern Chinese martial art, which attempts to move away from traditional concepts.

Further resources

- For a detailed list of martial arts, see List of martial arts
- For a detailed list of martial arts weapons, see List of martial arts weapons
- For a detailed list of fictional martial arts, see List of fictional martial arts
- For everything else, see List of martial arts-related topics

External links

- [http://www.faqs.org/faqs/martial-arts/faq/ rec.martial-arts FAQ]
- [http://www.fighttimes.com Fight Times]
- [http://www.martialartsforum.org Das Martial Arts Forum]
- [http://www.chinashaolintemple.com China Shaolin Martial arts]
- Category:Individual sports Category:Combat sports ja:格闘技 th:ศิลปะการต่อสู้ป้องกันตัว

Anime

:This article is about Japanese animation. For the oleo-resin, see Animé (oleo-resin). Animé (oleo-resin) Anime (アニメ, see Terminology section about pronunciation) is a style of animation originating in Japan. It is sometimes referred to by the portmanteau Japanimation. Anime is characterized by stark, colorful graphics and stylized, colorful images depicting vibrant characters in a variety of different settings and story-lines, aimed at a wide range of audiences. Anime is usually influenced by Japanese comics known as manga.

Terminology

manga on top of the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo]] The Japanese term for animation is アニメーション (animēshon, pronounced: ), written in katakana. It is a direct transliteration of the English term "animation." The Japanese term is abbreviated as アニメ (anime, pronounced: ). Both the original and abbreviated forms are valid and interchangeable in Japanese. The term is a broad one, and does not specify an animation's nation of origin or style. In turn, the English word anime is a transliteration of the abbreviated version of this Japanese term, and it is typically pronounced as , or "ANN ih may" ("AH nee may" is a less common variant). Some non-Japanese speakers theorize the word comes from the French animé ("animated") or "les dessins animés" (animated drawings) and pronounce it as "ah nee MAY", though the Japanese themselves deny this theory, and the fact that it is written in Japanese syllables as アニメ (anime) rather than アニメー (animei) further lowers its credibility. As with a few other Japanese words such as Pokémon and Kobo Abé, anime is sometimes spelled as animé in English with an acute accent over the final e to cue the reader that the letter is pronounced as . Hence, the pronunciations "ah NEEM" and "uh NEEM" are incorrect. Anime once bore the popular name Japanimation, but this term has fallen into disuse. It saw the most usage during the 1970s and 1980s, which broadly comprise the first and second waves of anime fandom. The term survived at least into the early 1990s but seemed to fade away shortly before the mid-1990s anime resurgence. In general, the term now only appears in nostalgic contexts. The term Japanimation is much more commonly used in Japan to refer to domestic animation. Since anime or animeshon is used to describe all forms of animation, Japanimation is meant to distinguish Japanese work from that of the rest of the world. In more recent years, anime has also frequently been referred to as manga in Europe, a practice that may stem from the Japanese usage. In Japan, manga can refer to both animation and comics (although the use of "manga" to refer to animation is mostly restricted to non-fans). Among English speakers, manga usually has the stricter meaning of "Japanese comics". An alternate explanation is that it is due to the prominence of Manga Entertainment, a distributor of anime to the US and UK markets. This term is much more common in Europe since Manga Entertainment started out in the UK. The voice actors for anime usually bear the Japanese equivalent designation, seiyū.

History

seiyū. (1963-1966)]] Though filmmakers in Japan had been experimenting with animation beforehand, the first widely popular anime series was cartoonist Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy in 1963. During the 1970s, anime developed further, separating itself from its Western roots, and developing unique genres such as giant robots (popularly known among English-speaking fans as mecha). Notable shows in this period include Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Lupin III and Mazinger Z. In the 1980s, anime experienced a boom in production. The start of the Gundam franchise and the beginnings of cartoonist Rumiko Takahashi's career have their roots here. Akira set records in 1988 for the production costs of an anime. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the increased acceptance of anime in overseas markets. Cowboy Bebop was widely popular in Japan and attracted attention in the West. Spirited Away shared the first prize at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, and Innocence: Ghost in the Shell was featured at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

Characteristics

2004 Cannes Film Festival]] Anime features a wide variety of genres and unique artistic styles which varies from artist to artist and each attracts a different target audience.

Target Audience

Anime is often an explicitly commercial art form; producers and marketers aim for very specific audiences, with focused categories for shōnen (boys) and shōjo (girls) genres, as well as for teenagers and adults.

Genres

Anime can have as many genres as live action cinema, including adventure, science fiction, children's stories, romance, medieval fantasy, erotica (hentai), occult/horror, action. Most anime includes a variety of thematic elements. Many anime shows feature a large mix of genres, making distinguishing and categorizing difficult. A show might have a seemingly simple surface plot, but at the same time feature far more complex storyline and character development. For example, it is not uncommon for strongly action-themed anime to involve humor, romance, and even poignant social commentary, and romance-themed anime may involve a strong action element. The following are genres and designations that are specific to anime and manga. (For other possible genres, see list of movie genres.)
- Bishōjo: Japanese for 'beautiful girl', blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features pretty girls.
- Bishōnen: Japanese for 'beautiful boy' blanket term that can be used to describe any anime that features "pretty" and elegant boys and men, example: Fushigi Yugi
- Ecchi: Japanese for 'indecent sexuality'. Contains mild sexual humor, example: Love Hina
- Hentai: Japanese for 'abnormal' or 'perverted'. Pornographic anime, erotica. Sometimes referred to as "seinen" (成年; adult).
- Yaoi: Homo-erotic hentai featuring men, intended for females. Increasingly used in North America to refer to shounen-ai (boys-love) titles.
- Yuri: Homo-erotic hentai featuring women.
- Shotacon: As in 'shotaro complex' - erotic anime featuring young boys.
- Lolicon: As in 'lolita complex' - erotic anime featuring young girls.
- Josei: Japanese for 'young woman', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young women, and is one of the rarest forms.
- Kodomo: Japanese for 'child', this is anime or manga that is aimed at young children, example Doraemon.
- Mecha: Anime or manga featuring giant robots, an example is Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Moé: Anime or manga featuring characters that are extremely perky or cute, example Little Snow Fairy Sugar.
- Progressive: "Art films" or extremely stylized anime, example Voices of a Distant Star.
- Seinen: Anime or manga targeted at young male adults, example Oh My Goddess!.
- Sentai/Super Sentai: Literally "fighting team" in Japanese, refers to any show that involves a superhero team (e.g. Cyborg 009).
- Shōjo: Japanese for 'young lady' or 'little girl', refers to anime or manga targeted at girls, example Cardcaptor Sakura.
- Mahō Shōjo: Subgenre of Shoujo known for 'Magical Girl' stories, example Sailor Moon.
- Shōjo-ai: Japanese for 'girl-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between female characters, example Revolutionary Girl Utena.
- Shōnen: Japanese for 'boys', refers to anime or manga targeted at boys, example Dragon Ball Z.
- Shōnen-ai: Japanese for 'boy-love', refers to anime or manga that focus on love and romance between male characters. This term is being phased out in Japan due to references to pedophilia, and is being replaced by the term "Boys Love" (BL). An example of this style is Gravitation.

Music

Songs and music used in Anime can bring a view of the story to the audience, or allow the audience to ask questions relating to the story, some of which are not commonly asked, or are plotholes which have been discovered. Mai-HiME 's insert song "It's Only The Fairy Tale" is an example of the former, while various opening songs (Abbrevation: OP) and ending themes (Abbrevation: ED) can also provide a (occasionally hidden) summary of the story. Other characteristics of songs and music in Anime include those played to add emotions or tones to a certain scene, for example Neon Genesis Evangelion 's "Decisive Battle", played when the EVA characters have to make battle preparations against enemies, has heavy drum beats and a militaristic-style of music, indicating that something serious is going to happen. In this way, music and songs become a very important "ingredient" in Anime.

Animation Style

Decisive Battle It should be noted that typically the drawing style used in anime is counter productive to the animation process, having far too many details and subsequently making it difficult to keep the number of drawings comparable to other cartoons with design ethics that stress simplicity. This may be due to a philosophy of pouring more effort into a each of a few drawings than less effort into one of many. Osamu Tezuka adapted and simplified many Disney animation precepts to reduce the budget and number of frames, though it should be noted that Disney films are not anime. This was intended to be a temporary measure to allow him to produce one episode every week with inexperienced animation staff. Anime studios have since perfected techniques to draw as little new animation as possible, using scrolling or repeating backgrounds, still shots of characters sliding across the screen, and dialogue which involves only animating the mouths while the rest of the screen remains absolutely still, a technique not wholly unfamiliar to Western animation. The overall effect of these techniques—reduced frame rate, many still shots, scrolling backgrounds—has led some critics to accuse anime of choppiness or poor quality in general. (See also limited animation.) However, there are often scenes where the frame rate of the animation far exceeds the norm of the rest of the work. These are commonly called "money shots" outside Japan, where more effort is put into the animation of one scene to give it emphasis over the rest of the work. Animator Yasuo Otsuka was the pioneer of this technique. Exceptions to these rules are early classic films, such as those produced by Toei Animation up to the mid 1960s, and recent big budget films, such as those produced by the enormously successful Studio Ghibli. These movies have much higher production values, due to their anticipated success at the box office. Some animators in Japan can overcome production values by utilizing different techniques than Disney or the old Tezuka/Otsuka norms of anime. Directors such as Hiroyuki Imaishi (RE: Cutey Honey, Dead Leaves) simplify backgrounds so that more attention can be paid to character animation. Other animators like Tatsuyuki Tanaka (in Koji Morimoto's Eternal Family in particular) use squash and stretch, an animation technique not often used by Japanese animators; Tanaka makes other shortcuts to compensate for this. Some higher-budgeted television and OVA (Original Video Animation) series also forego shortcuts found in most other anime. In short, anime tends to be dominated by a school of animation thought that emphasizes direction over character motion as means to save money. Other schools of thought in animation do exist in Japan but these works are less common. Mainstream anime is often very stylized. Because of this stylization certain features or concepts have become so common that they have been given names of their own. Often in comedic anime, characters that are shocked or surprised will perform a "face fault", in which they take an extremely exaggerated expression. Angry characters may exhibit a "vein" or "stressmark" effect, where four lines representing stylized bulging veins will appear on their forehead. Angry women will sometimes summon a mallet from nowhere and strike someone with it, leading to the concept of Hammerspace. Male characters will develop an inexplicable bloody nose around their female love interests (typically to indicate arousal). Embarrassed characters will invariably produce a massive sweat-drop, which has become something of a stereotype of anime. More auteuristic schools of anime don't use such shorthands or find different but similar ways to express the same thing. FLCL (pronounced "Furi Kuri" and sometimes called "Fooly Cooly") is known for more wild exaggerated stylized emotions than in most mainstream works. In contrast an Isao Takahata film like Only Yesterday takes a much more realistic approach emphasizing realism over stylization. Another unique aspect of anime not found in other commercial animation markets is the lack of a directoral system. In most animation produced around the world animators are all forced to conform to a set style by the director or animation director. In Japan starting with the animation director Yoshinori Kanada (as a means to save time and money) each animator brings his/her own style to the work. The most extreme examples of this can be found in Mindgame or The Hakkenden. The Hakkenden is particularly extreme showing constantly shifting styles of animation based upon the key animator that worked on that particular episode. This approach combined with Otsuka's "money shots" make key animators important individuals in the style and production of an anime film. Many non-Japanese cartoons are starting to incorporate mainstream anime shortcuts and symbols to appeal to anime's tremendously growing fanbase and cut costs.

The "large eyes" style

Large, saucer-like eyes are a striking and common feature of anime characters. This is mainly due to the influence of Osamu Tezuka, who was inspired by the exaggerated features of Western cartoon characters such as Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse and from Disney's Bambi. Tezuka found that large eyes allowed his characters to better express their emotions. Some Western audiences have interpreted such stylized eyes as more Caucasian. Cultural anthropologist Matt Thorn argues that Japanese animators and audiences do not perceive them as inherently more or less foreign. When he began drawing Ribbon no Kishi, the first manga specifically targeted at young girls, Tezuka further exaggerated the size of the characters' eyes. Indeed, through Ribbon no Kishi, Tezuka set a stylistic template that later shōjo artists tended to follow. Another variation of this style is "chibi" or "super-deformed"; which usually feature huge eyes, an enlarged head, and small body.

Production Types of anime

Most anime can be categorized as one of three types:
- Films, which are generally released in theaters, represent the highest budgets and generally the highest video quality. Popular anime movies include Akira, and Spirited Away. Some anime films are only released at film or animation festivals and are shorter and sometimes lower in production values. Some examples of these are Winter Days, and Osamu Tezuka's Legend of the F