Looking to start martial arts

[Capt Jakk]

If you are in Hawaii I would suggest looking into Kajukenbo as I believe it has roots in the hawaiian martial arts community. From what I know of it it has the mental attitude you are looking for. There was a Human Weapon episode about it so you could look that up to get an idea of what I'm talking about. I haven't seen it in person so I can't vouch for any of their techniques though.

[Daryl]

I attended a couple schools for a very short time. Then I started watching Craigslist under community ads and found classes at the local YMCA. The instructor sucked big time. I kept looking at the ads and found an awesome school just starting in my area. The instructor is as good as I would ever hope to find.

If your in SE Michigan try... http://tangsoodomartialartssociety.com/default.aspx

[isshinryu5toforever]

The "sport" martial arts are the ones that are more likely to prepare you for self defense: Kyokushin and its many offshoots, boxing, wrestling, Judo, BJJ, and Muay Thai. I'm sure I missed some, but those are the popular ones.

Here's why: you have to prove yourself in a heavy contact context to get anywhere. You spar full force, with the ultimate goal of knocking out your opponent, scoring an ippon (Judo), or getting them to tap out.

If you can find a traditional martial arts school that spars with hard contact, that's great. They can prepare you just as well, but a lot don't. If you only ever punch air and do kata, how do you know if what you've learned works?

You said one or more attackers, if it's more than one, I think you should consult a track coach, not us haha.