A brief view of Western Martial Art

**fanatical** · Posted On: 10/30/2005 9:39pm

Originally Posted by lm2

actualy hammer fist like those dam Gorillas . the first projectile weapon was flinging ****, then rock ,and holding a stick.

You're all wrong. The first martial art was BJJ

**redazncommieDXP** · Posted On: 9/17/2007 8:21am

-post deleted-

**Sh0t** · Posted On: 9/17/2007 10:25am

Some European countries had a heavy emphasis on the martial art of bowmanship(England especially), very important.

Archery as a sport is still around today.

Most of the original olympic games revolved around a martial skill. Javelin throwing, shotput, hammer throwing, etc. Not sure about discus but probably.

One early form of "Dojo" in Europe were the ad ludum gladiatorium, the gladiator schools. YOu weren't always there by choice, but you learned a personal form of combat typically.

THe problem is that people narrowly define "martial art" as what we TODAY call TMA. But in my view, any martial skill is part of "martial art", so learning how to fight as a hoplite was a martial art, as was being part of a triplex acies.

One major European martial art was the use of the calvary sword, which evolved very interestingly during its fairly short run.

I think the swiftness of communication we have today really did a lot to improve sportfight martial art, the same way it has helped everything. Martial arts skills to ancient men, while more pragmatic day-to-day suffered from the same lack of communication every other realm of investigation did. To find a good teacher above what your local community had to offer was a big investment usually.

Also, outside of places like England, most people were discouraged from using weapons or learning martial skills as well, to preserved the order of society, Nobles-Knights and everybody else.

This is a tough book to find, but it is all about the above point:
http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-System...042566&sr=1-15

Chain was a bigger burden to wear than plate armor. The weight distribution of plate made it much more comfortable usually. A few lucky samurai in japan managed to get a set and used them during their own wars.