i get why martial arts are so popular now, but why and when did

>>1978758

At some point in China's history, peasants were prohibited from carrying weapons. This lead to the development of unarmed fighting techniques, particularly among monks who lived far from civilization (and its guards).

>>1978786
Uh, Martial Arts started amongst peasants who did carry weapons prior the short Yongzheng Emperor's Arms ban.

>>1978758
>why
Because the world is dangerous and you're not gonna be always armed.
>when
Prehistory.

>>1978758
>>1978786
basically EVERY culture at some point developed some form of wrestling, for when you were caught without weapons and had to defend yourself. Chinese, Hawaiians, turks, persians, vikings, celts, greeks. EVERYBODY.

These wrestling forms usually had some punches and low kicks. Basically similar to the UFC but more brutal.

>>1978758
All societies systematized the teaching of fighting to some degree. What is rare is for those systems to survive past their immediate utility.

With the exceptions of wresting and pugilism which often survived as blood sports, systems tended to be created and discarded quite regularly, at one point people stopped practicing sword and buckler because it stopped being useful on the battlefield.

In regards to Asian martial arts, Most of the premodern forms taught weapons either as a whole or in part. It was mostly modern forms that got rid of weapons or related them to secondary roles.

The oldest surviving arts from this region besides styles of wrestling are around 600-400 years old. They are often elaborations of earlier styles practiced by noble houses or militia

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>>1978758
For example these are the two of the oldest arts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRfQjj8ltEg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMMFRTZUC4M

As you can see there focus is almost totally on weapons, including the needs of armored combat.

>>1978758

Japan:

-Within a paceful shogunate and the firearm age the schools (ryu) become useless but they are fosilized cause the samurai and noblity see in them a sign of his class.
-In Meiji age, the old samurai wars were part of his own Romanticism movement.
-Gouvernment see in MA a way to nationalize and educate its own people. Militarism is rising in every Japanese corner.
-Yankees arrived in Japan and discover them. They believe every fairy tale.
-???
-Profit!


Chinese MA.

Idk

>>1980365
The schools never fossilized. Most of them kept evolving with the times. those that survive today are among the most conservative and even they added and got rid of older material that either was not relevant or didn't work as intended

>>1980365
your timeline is completely out of wack

>>1978758
Back then people had to kill for a living. It was completely evident that people tried to be as good at it as possible. Once you are in MAs and not a LARPing idiot you'll realize that they aren't really different, there's pretty much one most effective way to move your body and every MA revolves around the same principles. So basically, "MAs" evolved in Europe and every other place just as much as they did in Japan/China - back then they didn't have fancy names, it was part of life to know how to kill.
In Japan >>1980365 it was along the lines of this, when meelee combat mastery became obsolete and the Japanese identity itself started to be more and more exposed to heavy Western influence, MAs started to gain their current form, they got the fancy names and all the formalities you know them by and they were part of identity preservation/education. In China mastering the art of fighting was a meditative tool for Buddhist monks IIRC and this probably is how what we know as Kung Fu evolved to be a formalized system.

In Europe, however, "MA" has always been much more pragmatical. It was the job of certain people. When times changed, so did the jobs and fighting proficiency faded into oblivion as any other old, obsolete profession. It was in a way preserved through sports and some weird traditions like mensur in Germany.

So basically, don't believe the mumbo jumbo about Nippon magic martial arts. Europeans knew how to fight just as much as Asians, they simply didn't preserve their arts as cultural assets and later on products and services to be sold on the markets.

Cha'an/Zen asceticism and Okinawan autism.

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>>1980365
Chinese MA (not the wishy washy modern ones).
-Imperial Chinese law since the Han dynasty empowered the Chinese civilian to own weapons and aid authorities in law enforcement and also recognized self-defense as a right.
-Rural China (you know, where most everyone lived) is far from the main concentrations of troop garrisons that often aid law enforcement.
-So villagers took to arming themselves really well and even fortified their villages.
-To oversee legality of Posse Actions, only a single official is sent to oversee 3 villages- the Prefect. He is the chief of police, judge, jury, and executioner, and also at times commands the peasant posse in anti-bandit actions and the like.
Two things happened that gave rise to martial arts.
-Ex soldiers, bravos, and other men at arms went around the country offering their services to various villages either by offering their professional armed service as mercenaries or trainers of the armed peasant posses, usually under the express employ of a prefect to do so.
And
>Monasteries in China followed their peasant counterparts in self-defense. Except unlike peasants, Monasteries were rich, and therefore able to outfit themselves paramilitarily. In addition, all that free fucking time between meditation and choirs was spent on paramilitary training, both as a form of exercise and a necessary survival skill in the wilds they inhabited. What emerged from Monasteries is a near professional paramilitary forces that could - and have- participate in battles.

Pic related, a duan jian (short jian), a popular weapon amongst Imperial Chinese civilians.

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>>1980562

>they got the fancy names and all the formalities you know them by and they were part of identity preservation/education.

you have that largely backwards, the fancy names and formalities are part of the older aspect of the arts. the newer aspects from modernization are things like belts, mass instruction, and sport fighting.

>So basically, don't believe the mumbo jumbo about Nippon magic martial arts. Europeans knew how to fight just as much as Asians, they simply didn't preserve their arts as cultural assets and later on products and services to be sold on the markets.

No one here is insulting Europe

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>>1980650
>Zere mustto be more to rife zan desu.

>>1980650
>No one here is insulting Europe
Sure, it's just a common misconception in my experience that Japanese fighting styles are superior.

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An Aryan man trekked through India to introduce it to the slants.

>>1981057
This is apocryphal, as hard as I get from shilling Aryans. Also Shaolin Wushu schools weren't the origin of martial arts in China anyway.

How old are African martial arts?

>>1981053
Among many martial artist today the misconception is they are static and dont work

>people attributing karate to "Japan" and not specifically the Okinawans who developed it because of filthy mainlanders taking away our rights

REEEEEEEEE


Now give me welfare pls, filthy mainlander dogs.