History of Martial Arts

China became the center of the martial arts universe in 2600 B.C. The origin of today’s martial arts began in 527 A.D. An Indian monk taught the 18 Buddhist Fists to the monks at

Shaolin Temple, which evolve into the 5 animal Styles of Shaolin.

Different Styles of Martial Arts

AIKIDO is a form of Japanese self defense of the martial arts. It was developed by Morihei Ueshiba. Performed by flowing with the motion of the attacker rather than

opposing it straight-on. This requires much less physical strength followed by various throws or joint locks.

HAPKIDO is a Korean martial arts that was developed by Choi Yung Sul (1899-1986). Hapkido uses joint locks, kicks, punches, and other

striking attacks.

JUDO was formed by Dr. Jigoro Kano in 1882. It is known as Kodokan Judo. ‘Ko’ means lecture, study, method, ‘do’ means way or path, ‘kan’ means hall or place or ‘a place to study the way’, and ‘ju’ means gentle, ‘do’ means way or

path, or ‘gentle way’.

JU JITSU, a Japanese martial arts for defeating an armed and armored opponent, in which one uses no weapon, or only a small weapon. It was

developed among the samurai of feudal Japan as a method for defending an armed or armored opponent.

KARATE was developed in the Ryukyu Islands, what is now known as Okinawa, Japan, in the early 20th century during the time of cultural

exchanges between the Chinese and the Japanese

KRAV MAGA is a hand to hand combat system developed in Israel that involves wrestling, grappling and striking techniques, mostly known for its

extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks used to keep the practitioner safe and incapacitate the opponent in all means necessary.

KUNG FU ‘kung’ meaning ‘energy’ and ‘fu’ meaning ‘time’ - is a Chinese martial art whose recorded history dates back to around 525 AD, during the Liang dynasty.

The man credited with introducing martial arts to China is said to be an Indian monk known as Bodhidarma (who is also known as Do Ma or Buddha, 506–556 AD).

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS emerged in Greece around 648 B.C. It is a full contact sports that allows a variety of fighting styles to be used

including martial arts and non-martial arts techniques.

MUAY THAI or Thai boxing is the cultural martial art of Thailand. The origin of Muay Thai dates back several hundred years, and was, essentially,

developed as a form of close-combat that used the entire body as a weapon

TAE KWON DO the Korean art of self-defense, one of the oldest forms of martial arts (reaching back over 2,000 years), and the most widely practiced

martial art in the world.

TAI CHI CHUAN was originally taught as a martial art and longevity exercise. In the early 20th century the health benefits were discovered and it took on a new persona as a preventive medicine or wellness exercise.  It was later promoted

by the Chinese Government to keep the citizens healthy. The martial art aspects then took a back stage to it being a health exercise in China.