Who do you think has the most influence on martial arts ?

[y2_sub]

Just wanted to know your opinion !!

[Menjo]

Japan and China, because of media.

[ovine king]

before 1940, china.

after 1940, america.

[Menjo]

before 1940, china.

after 1940, america.

How so?

[ovine king]

pre 1940 was when the last true generation of martial arts developers were training and learning and refining. during this time, the greatest influence on martial arts came from the old chinese styles that spread around it's neighbour areas.

since then, and post 1940, the arts have pretty much remained the same with the exception of a move towards it being a mass market product and more and more, towards xma and things that look good; both are which are a result of (mainly) the american media and it's perception and portrayal of martial arts.

i mean no offence to the american folks here but a lot of the devolution of martial arts is down to the american martial arts market.

of course a lot of this is also down to modern mentality of the instant gratification but again, a lot of that can be attributed to american culture.

[Menjo]

i agree, thanks for clearing that up

[Zauriel]

China!!!

Chinese Kung Fu has influenced many martial arts including Karate and Tae kwon Do.

Tae Kwon Do is a mixture of Korean Tang Soo Do, meaning "China Hand Way" and Japanese Karate. Tang Soo Do is a mixture of Sobak (grandfather of Tae Kwon Do) and Chinese martial arts.

Karate is a blend of Okinawan Te and Chinese martial arts. Karate used to mean "China Hand".

[ncole_91]

China!!!

Karate is a blend of Okinawan Te and Chinese martial arts. Karate used to mean "China Hand".

Although there are no written records or documents, Funakoshi belives that Karate did not come from Chinese boxing because it has alot of differences. It was only called Chinese because at the time anything Chinese was good, so this way it would attract more positive attention. In reality it didn't used to mean "Chinese Hands", it still does because it has the same pronouciation as "Empty Hand", but empty hand is used more frequantly now.

[y2_sub]

I have to disagree with you ncole_91, although there are lots of differences between karate and kung fu , there are lots of similarities as well , Chinese Kempo was introduced to Okinawa around 1400s and then was independently developed to Okinawan te .

Ovine king , you forgot to mention that chinese boxing was merely lost after the failure of boxers rebellion , while okinawan martial arts where on their prime (that was b4 1940s )

[ovine king]

the boxer rebellion is a very mixed up period.

during this period, the more mystical styles started to come up, most notably shun gung styles (spirit calling) which was and still is, mostly fraudulant arts.

however, it was also during the boxer rebellion that people such as wong fei hung (and especially his dad's generation of fighters) were most active in their development and training/teaching.

also, around the turn of the century was when fok yuen kap was opening the chin woo school in response to being labelled "the sick of the east" and the fighting arts were studied/taught more scientifically.

of course, the thing here is that during this period, the things being taught were still pretty much the same that which was being taught a generation before and thus, not much development was taking place within the arts themselves, unlike the case of okinawan karate for which this was a period of development.