What is the future of Martial Arts?

[Bleeding Lion]

Where are we going?

Looking back at the history of martial art and analyzing its current state, I cant help but asking myself 'What is the future of MAs?'.

Im sure this topic has been addressed before, but I didnt find a topic on it. Basically Im wondering about a few things concerning martial arts at this moment:

1- Many arts get fragmented a lot. What I mean by that is, for instance, in goju ryu, we have at least 5 different organizations (meibukan, shorei shobukan...) with their differences . I would expect more of this in the future. What impact does it have? Is this a threat or is it just inoffensive?

2- XMA (extreme martial arts): though I think there is always room for any new form of MA including XMAs (great demo of physical ability btw), how do we balance combative arts and 'demo' arts? My concern is more for the general public...How do we fight the misrepresentation of MAs as just a bunch of fancy moves?

3- This is an extension of point #2: what about MMAs?. How do we then balance tradition and innovation? I believe everything is improvable and more importantly, everything has to be improved. How do we then improve MAs as the same time as we keep its traddition? For example, in arts using katas, is it acceptable for senseis or perhaps shihans to create new katas just like some previous masters in the lineage did?

4- How do we perform quality assurance? I read many complaints of styles being watered down, how do we prevent this? For example, is it ok for a 1st degree black belt to open a school? If it continues, How will, say karate or TKD look like 2 centuries from now? Of course Im looking far ahead but it is just a thought.

Anyways these are just random thoughts running through my head. Since I started in MAs not long ago, I dont have many elements of answers really. I just want to know what other more experienced people here have to say about any of these points.

[ysc87]

as time goes on, tradition becomes less and less important number-wise.

mcdojos will still be around, and mmas will make up for a much larger portion of the schools available. arts such as jeet kune do, brazillian jujitsu, and muay thai will be much more widespread, thanks to media coverage. however, traditional martial arts like karate, TKD, kung fu... all will maintain it's number of participants.

that's just my prediction for the next 10 years or so.

[GhostlySykanRyu]

"Many arts get fragmented a lot. What I mean by that is, for instance, in goju ryu, we have at least 5 different organizations (meibukan, shorei shobukan...) with their differences . I would expect more of this in the future. What impact does it have? Is this a threat or is it just inoffensive? "

If the concepts and majority of techniques are still there, change seems fine to me. In many instances the different organizations are formed out of politics.

"XMA (extreme martial arts): though I think there is always room for any new form of MA including XMAs (great demo of physical ability btw), how do we balance combative arts and 'demo' arts? My concern is more for the general public...How do we fight the misrepresentation of MAs as just a bunch of fancy moves?"

We don't need to. Let the general public think what it likes. We train so we can defend and improve ourselves, not to please the populous.

"This is an extension of point #2: what about MMAs?. How do we then balance tradition and innovation? I believe everything is improvable and more importantly, everything has to be improved. How do we then improve MAs as the same time as we keep its traddition? For example, in arts using katas, is it acceptable for senseis or perhaps shihans to create new katas just like some previous masters in the lineage did?"

I'd say there are too many variables in considering new techniques to an art for me to go either way on it. The modern MMAs however seem to be Americanized for the most part, I don't see much tradition there.

"How do we perform quality assurance? I read many complaints of styles being watered down, how do we prevent this? For example, is it ok for a 1st degree black belt to open a school? If it continues, How will, say karate or TKD look like 2 centuries from now? Of course Im looking far ahead but it is just a thought. "

How to we assure quality? I say that we should do our part to pass on what we have learned, and to not rush things. If others choose to err, let them.

And I'm not very experienced at all, just wanted to put in my $.02

[italian_guy]

1- Many arts get fragmented a lot. What I mean by that is, for instance, in goju ryu, we have at least 5 different organizations (meibukan, shorei shobukan...) with their differences . I would expect more of this in the future. What impact does it have? Is this a threat or is it just inoffensive?

I agree with GhostlySykanRyu on this one, fragmentation is mostly due to political issues (everybody wants to be the boss). As long as the keep the syllabus of the style intact I would not bother.

2- XMA (extreme martial arts): though I think there is always room for any new form of MA including XMAs (great demo of physical ability btw), how do we balance combative arts and 'demo' arts? My concern is more for the general public...How do we fight the misrepresentation of MAs as just a bunch of fancy moves?

I think XMA is mostly a USA product. In my part of Italy I don't know any XMA school. Even traditionally oriented flashy MA (like wushu) are not very widespread here. I don't think they have a lot room for market share expansion since they are reserved for very few athletically gifted people while TMA is almost for anybody. I think this is the real streght of TMA.

3- This is an extension of point #2: what about MMAs?. How do we then balance tradition and innovation? I believe everything is improvable and more importantly, everything has to be improved. How do we then improve MAs as the same time as we keep its traddition? For example, in arts using katas, is it acceptable for senseis or perhaps shihans to create new katas just like some previous masters in the lineage did?

This point alone would lead us to a huge discussion. About MMA they are not necessarily modern martial arts (unless by MMA you explicitly mean Modern Martial Art while I mean Mixed Martial Arts) there are also traditional MMA like JJJ very well established and very traditional.

The balance of tradition and innovation is delicate. If you do a modern MA like JKD you just keep the principles and add whatever elements of the various MA you like. For example under the label JKD I'm learning the basics of kickboxing with some Muay Thai kicks elbows and knees plus wing chun elements (sensitivity training) plus kali escrima stick fighting techniques etc (Inosanto method). If you do a traditional martial arts the points of innovation can be in general training like a more modern speed, power or flexibility training, added to a traditional curriculum, but in this case I see that in order to keep the tradition it is better not to touch the main elements like the katas or the body mechanics of the basics.

[Grenadier]

This is an interesting question. In general, when one is a kyu rank, or even a lower level dan rank, he is simply told to do what tradition dictates, but as one progresses, coming closer to a certain level of mastery, that's when making changes could certainly come into effect.

As for traditional styles branching out and calling themselves descendants of a particular style, I see no problems with this, as long as they remain true to the roots of that from which they came, and this can come from multiple roots. If such branching out didn't occur, the array of styles available would have been very slim, indeed. For example, there would never have been a Wado-ryu had Ohtsuka not branched out from Funakoshi's teachings. Regardless of the small differences between Wado-Ryu and Shotokan, they still uphold a very similar base of fundamentals.

I strongly doubt that traditional martial arts is going to die. While some styles will undergo changes to reflect what is a better way of doing things, the fundamental cores of such styles will still stay the same, and it is upon these cores that "modern martial arts" are still built. These styles have had an established track record, and a rich history. One simply can't say that traditional "X" style is horrible (even though there might be the occasional bad teacher), since it has years of history to otherwise dispute such assertions.

Furthermore, if a school that teaches a traditional style of martial arts has excellent instruction, then they'll continue to attract potential students. The bottom line here, is that good instruction + good dojo management and business practices = enduring dojo (and a bit of luck), regardless of what else is out there.

[jarrettmeyer]

Wow, nice thread topic.

Regarding public image ---

I think that Hollywood and UFC promoters will always have more say in how the general public will view MA. After 6 months now, my mother still thinks that all MA is Satanic and that I'll go to hell. I've tried explaining to her that it's not religious, but she just doesn't get it. My point is that the mass group-think about MA will prevail. The best we can do is find the people who are interested in MA, then help mold their opinions.

Regarding kata (Creating new kata) ---

I've said this before. I compare kata to music. Many people are good enough to write music (i.e. create new kata). They know the music theory (i.e technique) and instruments (i.e. body) well enough to build a song. However, very few people really know music well enough to make it really meaningful (i.e. the kata, although technically sound, lacks depth). Just listen to the radio. There's a couple hundred pop artists out there, all doing the same thing. They're very good at what they do, but who is really doing something different? I don't hear any life on the radio today.

I think that you have got to do your Martial Arts. There are too many people for which MA holds too much meaning. It won't always be flashy or spectacular or revenue-generating, but it will always be.

[JusticeZero]

Another thing is that there will always be people who will be taught something that's fallen into disrepair, then go out and learn what they need to polish it up into something effective and vital. There will always be people working quietly off out of the spotlight "keeping it real". The main thing we lack is the risk of people coming in and testing the skills of the people in the class.

[GTF]

2- XMA (extreme martial arts): though I think there is always room for any new form of MA including XMAs (great demo of physical ability btw), how do we balance combative arts and 'demo' arts? My concern is more for the general public...How do we fight the misrepresentation of MAs as just a bunch of fancy moves

I live in the UK and i have nver heard of xtreme martial arts before so i dont thing that they are becoming very wide spread at the moment. but this does sound interesting, if anyone could give me some information on this it would be apriciated

[unknown]

The future is bleak! The moment money became the issue in Martial Arts is the moment when it all went south!

I'm just glad to be trained by some of the best and I am going to do my part to pass on the knowledge.