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The early history of martial arts is difficult to reconstruct. Inherent patterns of human aggression which inspire practice of mock combat (in particular wrestling) and optimization of serious close combat as cultural universals are doubtlessly inherited from the pre-human stage, and were made into an "art" from the earliest emergence of that concept. Indeed, many universals of martial art are fixed by the specifics of human physiology and not dependent on a specific tradition or era.

Specific martial arts traditions become identifiable in Classical Antiquity, with disciplines such as Gladiatorial combat, Greek wrestling or Pankration in the west and descriptions found in the Spring and Autumn Annals in China.

Early history

The earliest evidence for specifics of martial arts as practiced in the past comes from depictions of fights, both in figurative art and in early literature, besides analysis of archaeological evidence, especially of weaponry.

Wrestling is a human universal, and is also observed in other primates. The spear has been in use since the Lower Paleolithic and retained its central importance well into the 2nd millennium AD. The bow appears in the Upper Paleolithic and is likewise only gradually replaced by the crossbow, and eventually firearms, in the Common Era. True bladed weapons appear in the Neolithic with the stone axe, and diversify in shape in the course of the Bronze Age (khopesh/kopis, sword, dagger)

One very early example is the depiction of wrestling techniques in a tomb of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt at Beni Hasan (ca. 2000 BC). An even earlier depiction of Bronze Age military equipment is depicted on the "war panel" of the Standard of Ur (ca. 2600 BC), which does however not show actual combat.

Literary descriptions of combat begin in the 2nd millennium BC, with cursory mention of weaponry and combat in texts like the Gilgamesh epic or the Rigveda. Detailed description of Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age hand-to-hand combat with spear, sword and shield are found in the Iliad (ca. 8th century BC).

Europe

Antiquity

European martial arts becomes tangible in Greek antiquity with Pankration and other martially oriented disciplines of the Ancient Olympics.

Gladiatorial combat appears to have Etruscan roots, and is documented in Rome from the 260s BC.

The papyrus fragment known as P.Oxy. III 466 (2nd century) is the earliest extant literary description of wrestling techniques.

Middle Ages

Pictorial sources of medieval combat include the Bayeux tapestry (11th century), the Morgan Bible (13th century).

The earliest extant dedicated martial arts manual is the MS I.33 (ca. 1300), detailing sword and buckler combat.

The Late Middle Ages see the appearance of elaborate fencing systems, such as the German or Italian schools.

Renaissance to Early Modern period

• Dardi school
• Destreza
• European dueling sword

East Asia

China

A combat wrestling system called juélì or jiǎolì (角力) is mentioned in the Classic of Rites (1st c. BC). This combat system included techniques such as strikes, throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks. Jiao li became a sport during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BCE). The Han History Bibliographies record that, by the Former Han (206 BCE – 8 CE), there was a distinction between no-holds-barred weaponless fighting, which it calls shǒubó (手搏), for which "how-to" manuals had already been written, and jiao li.. Jiao li is now known as shuai jiao in its modern form.

Sophisticated theories of martial arts based on the opposing ideas of yin and yang, and the integration of "hard" and "soft" techniques are recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals (5th c. BC).

In the Tang Dynasty, descriptions of sword dances were immortalized in poems by Li Bai. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, xiangpu (the earliest form of sumo) contests were sponsored by the imperial courts. The modern concepts of wushu were fully developed by the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In 39-92 CE, "Six Chapters of Hand Fighting", were included in the Han Shu (history of the Former Han Dynasty) written by Pan Ku. Also, the noted physician, Hua Tuo, composed the "Five Animals Play" - tiger, deer, monkey, bear, and bird, around 220 BCE

With regards to the Shaolin style of martial arts, the oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is a stele from 728 CE that attests to two occasions: a defense of the Shaolin Monastery from bandits around 610 CE, and their subsequent role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621 CE From the 8th to the 15th centuries, there are no extant documents that provide evidence of Shaolin participation in combat. However, between the 16th and 17th centuries there are at least forty extant sources which provided evidence that, not only did monks of Shaolin practice martial arts, but martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life that the monks felt the need to justify it by creating new Buddhist lore. References of martial arts practice in Shaolin appear in various literary genres of the late Ming: the epitaphs of Shaolin warrior monks, martial-arts manuals, military encyclopedias, historical writings, travelogues, fiction, and even poetry. However these sources do not point out to any specific style originated in Shaolin. These sources, in contrast to those from the Tang period, refer to Shaolin methods of armed combat. This include the forte of Shaolin monks and for which they had become famous — the staff (Gun, pronounced as juen); General Qi Jiquan included these techniques in his book, Treatise of Effective Discipline. Despite the fact that others critized the techniques, Ming General Yu Dayou visited the Temple and was not impressed with what he saw, he recruited three monks who he would train for few years after which they returned to the temple to train his fellow monks..

The Chinese Ji Xiao Xin Shu dates to the 1560s.

Japan

Koryū (古流) is a Japanese word that is used in association with the ancient Japanese martial arts. This word literally translates as "old school" or "traditional school". Koryū is a general term for Japanese schools of martial arts that predate the Meiji Restoration (the period from 1866 to 1869 which sparked major socio-political changes and led to the modernization of Japan). While there is no "official" cutoff date, the dates most commonly used are either 1868, the first year of the Meiji period, or 1876, when the Haitōrei edict banning the wearing of swords was pronounced.

The Japanese Book of Five Rings dates to 1645.

Korea

• Subak

The Korean Muyejebo dates to 1598, the Muyedobotongji dates to 1790.

India

A martial art called Vajra Mushti is mentioned in Indian sources of the early centuries CE. Indian military accounts of the Gupta Empire (c. 240-480) identified over 130 different classes of weapons. The Kama Sutra written by Vātsyāyana at the time suggested that women should regularly "practice with sword, single-stick, quarter-staff, and bow and arrow."

Around 630, King Narasimhavarman of the Pallava dynasty commissioned dozens of granite sculptures showing unarmed fighters disarming armed opponents. These may have shown an early form of Varma Adi, a Dravidian martial art that allowed kicking, kneeing, elbowing, and punching to the head and chest, but prohibited blows below the waist.

Martial arts were not exclusive to the Kshatriya warrior caste, though they used the arts more extensively. The 8th century text Kuvalaymala by Udyotanasuri recorded martial arts being taught at salad and ghatika educational institutions, where Brahmin students from throughout the subcontinent (particularly from South India, Rajasthan and Bengal) "were learning and practicing archery, fighting with sword and shield, with daggers, sticks, lances, and with fists, and in duels (niuddham)."

The earliest extant manual of Indian marital arts is in the Agni Purana (c. 8th century), which contains several chapters giving descriptions and instructions on the fighting arts of Dhanur Veda. It described how to improve a warrior's individual prowess and kill enemies using various different methods in warfare, whether a warrior went to war in chariots, elephants, horses, or on foot. Foot methods were subdivided into armed combat and unarmed combat. The former included the bow and arrow, the sword, spear, noose, armour, iron dart, club, battle axe, discus, and the trident. The latter included wrestling, knee strikes, and punching and kicking methods.

The earliest description of wrestling techniques in Sanskrit literature is found in the Malla Purana (13th century).

Near East

• Persia: Zourkhaneh

Modern history (1800 to present)

References

1. Classic of Rites. Chapter 6, Yuèlìng. Line 108.
2. ^ Henning, Stanley E. (Fall 1999). "Academia Encounters the Chinese Martial arts". China Review International 6 (2): 319–332. ISSN 1069-5834
3. China Sportlight Series (1986) "Sports and Games in Ancient China". New World Press, ISBN 0-8351-1534-8.
4. Dingbo. Wu, Patrick D. Murphy (1994), "Handbook of Chinese Popular Culture", Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-27808-3
5. Shahar, Meir (2000). "Epigraphy, Buddhist Historiography, and Fighting Monks: The Case of The Shaolin Monastery". Asia Major Third Series 13 (2): 15–36.
6. Shahar, Meir (December 2001). "Ming-Period Evidence of Shaolin Martial Practice". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 61 (2): 359–413. ISSN 0073-0548.
7. Henning, Stanley (1999). "Martial arts Myths of Shaolin Monastery, Part I: The Giant with the Flaming Staff". Journal of the Chenstyle Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii 5 (1), Shahar, Meir (2007), The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial arts", Honolulu: The University of Hawai'i Press
8. Skoss, Diane (2006-05-09). "A Koryu Primer". Koryu Books. Retrieved 2007-01-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Zarrilli, Phillip B. (1992). "To Heal and/or To Harm: The Vital Spots (Marmmam/Varmam) in Two South Indian Martial Traditions Part I: Focus on Kerala's Kalarippayattu". Journal of Asian Martial Arts. 1 (1). {{cite journal}}: External link in |title= (help)
10. P. C. Chakravarti (1972). The art of warfare in ancient India. Delhi.
11. J. R. Svinth (2002). A Chronological History of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports. Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences.

See also

• Martial arts timeline
• History of sport
• History of archery
• History of warfare

• Historical martial arts