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The purpose of Martial Arts in the Modern World

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Martial Arts have always been a niche skill. In the middle ages only Nobles and the wealthy could afford to dedicate any time to martial pursuits. The common foot-soldier or mercenary just made do with some on-the-job training, and were often completely outclassed by Knights or Nobles on the field.  It's difficult to generalise, because there were many different environments and situations in history. It is easy to point out situations in which common folk or groups (like monks) took up arms and dedicated themselves to martial skills for some goal or another, but this is a different situation from today.  In the modern world, close combat skills are idealised in media, but are taboo in society. Even raising a fist, or threatening to do so, could ruin someones life with legal proceedings and fees. We have come to a point in society where people with good jobs and reputations are better off being physically beaten without fighting back and going to to hospital, than risk bein
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The Best Defence is a good Offence

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The adage 'the best defence is a good offence' has echoed through history in various forms and has appeared in writings from Machiavelli to Sun Tzu. Also known as the strategic offensive principle of war, it states that active offensive action instead of a passive attitude will pressure the opposition and hinder counter offensives, which lead to strategic advantage.  Although this is a well known concept, many martial arts around the world prefer to focus on reactive defence for one reason or another. In Judo for instance, I was told that Judo (for self-defence) is the 'Gentle Way' and should not be used to attack - ever. In Aikido there is a similar mentality, wait for the opponent to attack and use their power against them. The only martial arts you won't find this trend is in combat sports like Boxing or Muay Thai, where being passive will cost the participant points or possibly end up in a knock-out.  Many combat sports practitioners know how to attack effec
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Martial 'style' is a handicap

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I've mentioned this before, but it came to my attention again when I heard an interesting allegory; martial 'style' is a handicap. In Chess, when playing against a weaker player, one side can choose to take a handicap by reducing the number of pieces they have access too. This is analogous to tying one hand behind the back in martial arts terms. Having less pieces makes it much more difficult to win, but an accomplished Chess player can still pull out a victory.  In martial arts, 'style' has become a brand. In some cases for good reason. Judo and Tae Kwon Do for instance are Olympic sports and have a set list of rules and guidelines for competition that everyone follows to keep things fair. In other cases like Karate or Wing Chun, 'style' is only maintained to ensure the integrity of the brand. If Karate suddenly started adding weapons it wouldn't be Karate (空手 - empty hand) anymore. The issue with maintaining a style for the sake of branding is th
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