Martial arts

Martial arts have been around for millenia, and were historically (before gunpowder-based weapons) an important tool of combat, together with weapons like swords, sticks or spears; and such weapons are still an integral part of some martial arts. Today, martial arts techniques are used for self-defense, unarmed combat for the military, police and security guards. On the other hand martial arts are practiced as spectator sports, as a form of moving meditation, and as performance art.

Learn
The most popular and famous martial arts are taught around the world, and in world cities you can also learn some more unusual ones. Still, there are many reasons for learning and practicing a particular art in its native region.

As martial arts are an integral part of the history and culture of the place they come from, it's most certainly going to be a different experience than, say, at the local gym in your home town. If you've already attained some skill in the art, you may get to train and learn with famous masters or in a famous ring or dojo. On the other hand, if you are a beginner, there may be some basic classes available.

Learning martial arts requires a lot of patience, discipline, training and hard work. Be prepared to spend many years in training if you want to be able to use martial arts competently in an actual fight.

See
The places where martial arts come from are also the best places to see them in the form of performances or as a match or game. In addition the places where the arts were born and developed can also be worth seeing, especially if you're practicing the particular art yourself.

Many martial arts including wrestling, boxing, judo, taekwondo and fencing are also Olympic sports.

Destinations
Destination in alphabetical order.


 * China
 * Chinese martial arts are collectively known as wushu (武术 wǔshù). There are numerous wushu tournaments both in China and internationally that you can watch, with the Asian Games and World Wushu Championships being the premier tournaments in the sport. Wushu at tournaments is generally divided into two genres; taolu (套路) is the performance of choreographed martial arts routines, and sanda (散打) or sanshou (散手) is actual combat. Chinese martial arts can be broadly divided into northern and southern styles, with northern styles generally emphasizing powerful strikes with fully extended limbs, and southern styles generally emphasizing fast strikes close to the body.






 * Southeast Asia


 * South Korea
 * United States of America
 * United States of America

Talk
While martial arts courses are conducted in all languages, technical terms and referee commands are often in the language of the country of origin. For instance, judo and karate use many Japanese terms, taekwondo uses many Korean terms, and fencing uses many French terms. You do not need to be fluent in the respective language to practise the martial art, though you will have to familiarise yourself with the relevant terminology and commands, which will be taught to you in class.

Stay safe
Travel insurance policies often don't cover injuries caused by partaking in risky activities such as martial arts.