Martial Arts Today

Today in the martial arts, there seems to be two extremes. On one end you have the commercialized martial arts that caters mostly to children and has absolutely nothing to do with real self defense. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the "no holds barred" type martial arts where people are fighting each other in cages wearing Speedos. Where is the middle path?

What happened to the traditional teacher-student relationship, keeping and following the strict etiquette's of the dojo, and at the same time keeping the training realistic and applicable to modern self defense situations?

Young people don't see the value of studying under someone who can guide them in life as well as teach them self defense. It has gotten very ugly and very, very commercial. It might be too late to save the traditional style martial art. Anyone who has searched for a traditional type school or teacher knows they are quite far and few between.

MMA sports are fine. Commercial martial arts are fine. But there should still be a place for traditional martial arts also. Everything I see today is just about money. The problem lies in the fact that young people don't know the difference between any of the above mentioned martial arts. They think that's all it is because of the media.

Perhaps this is the way it is supposed to be. Perhaps real dojos only exist in very small numbers because so few real Sensei actually exist. If you have found one, hold on to him or her...because they are a dying breed.

Mark G. Sinclair loves to write articles about martial arts and Japanese culture. He is currently working on a book entitled "Japanese War Systems" which will be available soon.