Origins Of The Martial Arts

Martial Arts has existed for as long as man has lived. Hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved in the pyramids prove that the Egyptians had a form of open-hand combat as early as 3000 BC. In ancient Greek civilisation boxing and wrestling formed part of the first Olympiads and during days of the Roman Empire open handed combat was practiced by the gladiators.
The term Karate is a Japanese word meaning "Empty Hand" or "China Hand".
The term Kenpo is also Japanese meaning "Fist Law" or "Law of the Fist".

There are many legends and stories of the origins of Martial Arts as we know it today. The person most widely accredited with the development of Martial Arts is Bodiharma. Bodiharma (448-529 AD) was an Indian Buddhist monk who travelled from India to China to teach Buddhism. There are many stories about Bodiharma claiming him to be many different things, a warrior, a king, a prince, a descendant of Buddha etc. Also Bodiharma is given many different names, Darma, Daruma, Tamo, Bodhi Dharma, Buddha Dharma the list is endless. The main version of the story starts with Bodiharma arriving at the Shaolin Temple on the Shao Shik mountain located in the Hunan province in China.

Upon his arrival he noticed that the monks in the temple were in a weak physical condition and were not able to stay awake during the simplest forms of meditation. He decided to meditate upon the problem and removed himself from the temple so he could be alone with no distractions. He lived in a cave on the mountain for many years and meditated over the problem in the temple.When Bodiharma returned to the Shaolin Temple he had developed a exercise programme which would enrich the monks both physically and spiritually. He had developed a Martial Arts system called the 18 Hands of Lo-Han, it is from this system that all other Martial Arts has developed.

Every Martial Arts style will claim decadency from the Shaolin Temple and, to a degree, there can be some truth within that claim. The Shaolin Temple is, believed by many, to be the birthplace of Martial Arts. Over the 1,500 years since the days of Bodiharma the Martial Arts have developed into many different styles and systems. Each of these styles strive for perfection in what they believe will benefit their students the most.

Today there are hundreds of different styles and systems, there are thousands of schools purporting to be better than the others. It is irrelevant what particular style a student practices, the lessons are all the same. Every style is worthy, every style is to be respected, there is no style better or worse than any other, a Master at one Art is to be as respected as a Master of another.