East vs West

[Ghost]

I have noticed that there are two ditinct groups of people in the forums.

 

Thos who belive in the eastern styles being best and those who prefer the western.

 

I catagorise western as Boxing, Mauy Thai , Kick Boxing, Krav Maga ,JKD,BJJ etc as western as they closely follow western ideas about what is effective.

 

Very direct no fancyness and real sparring.

 

Eastern being Karate, TKD, Kung fu etc.

 

Eastern systems follow a less scientic route and teach older percptions of the way the body works and what is effective.

 

Interstingly the eastern systems are also more rigid in their teaching, more regimented and a bit more organised.

 

You could also split these into modern and old or science based to non-science based etc.

 

The main argument seems to be what really works in a fight with opinion divided as above. The who forum seems to revolve around which systems are effective and those that just dont work.

 

Ultimately each post is the same, repeating the same questions bruce lee vs tyson, TKD vs boxing MT vs karate. some conflict betwwen western systems but not much.

 

Any comments?

[karate_woman]

I disagree with your categorization of eastern vs western styles. I direct you to: http://www.historicalfencing.org/Ken's_library/pages/WMAW.htm for a definition of western martial arts.

 

I think what you're seeing is a rivalry of traditional vs non-traditional, combat vs non-combat, full contact vs light contact, grappling vs striking arts. It most likely boils down to a basic desire to be "right" and a sense of pride in their own style. Some people also feel a need to justify their particular style, and that sometimes leads to statements slamming other styles.

 

I've only been here a couple of days, but it seems that the threads that get out of line are shut down.

[BKJ1216]

I think bothe biggie and pac were doing it for money. But the fans didn't know, and well they went to far and Pac got killed, then in retaliation Biggie was shot also.

 

now about the martial arts

 

I really dont know much about western martial arts, so I can't really make an opinion on this, but I know I'm doing eastern.

[TJS]

yea i dont think using the words east and west would be the best catagory.

 

Krav maga is from the east..and MT is from Thailand etc...

[ninjanurse]

Karate_Woman I agree with you. Comparisons of the arts here to tend to be ego driven at times. I am reminded of story once told by Gichin Funakoski which talks about the humility that one attains through the journey of martial arts.

 

(Condensed and paraphrased version): When a man obtains his 1st degree black belt he shouts it out so that everyone will see how proud he is; When he attains his second degree bb he drives through the streets telling everyone he sees of his accomplishments; When he attains his 3rd degree, he walks quietly along the back wall of the training hall so that no one will take notice.

 

[Martial_Artist]

You forgot the category Martial Artist is in: neither East or West.

[Ghost]

Look forget the east of west as geographical its a mind set which is internationally recognised. Some countries that are geographically the east share western ideas of fighting. Its not what Karate_Woman says grappling vs striking its quite different and its a mind set.

[karate_woman]

Internationally recoginzed by whom? I did a search for western martial arts, came up with the reference I provided, along with others that showed similar examples.

 

Where is this viewpoint coming from?

[Ghost]

I hardly see the point in replying but i will anyway.

 

Mauy Thai, Kickboxing ,Krav Maga etc all embrace boxing and the ideas that go with that. Those ideas being training in a weatern manner weight lifting running etc and the way in which it is practiced. No Kata not much in the way of gradings all with full contact sparring etc get my point? You can group these systems as they have all learned their training techniques from the western way of traing if you like that or not.

 

Also there are many western martial arts (geographically)although you may not know about them. To think that only the east has them is ridiculous. There are German spanish english and irish systems etc. They have only white and black belts and are very good.

[King of Fighters]

I wouldnt say that muay thai is western because it comes from thailand and is more popular there then soccer, baseball, and football put together over there. Also krav maga is also from the east.

 

And bkj1216, 2pac aint dead man, hes hiding on his privite island laughing at us all.