Martial arts

Martial arts are systems of codified practices and traditions of training for combat. While they maybe studied for various reasons, martial arts share a single objective: to defeat a person physically or to defend oneself from physical threat. In addition, some martial arts are linked to spiritual or religious beliefs/philosophies such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism or Shinto, and even Islam (by Chinese Muslims) while others have their own spiritual or non-spiritual code of honour. Many arts are also practised competitively most commonly as combat sport, but may also be in the form of dance. In popular culture, the term "Martial Arts" often specifically refers to the combat systems that originated in Asian cultures. However, the term actually refers to any sort of codified combat systems, regardless of origin. Europe is home to many extensive systems of martial arts, both living traditions (e.g. stick and sword fencing and Savate, a French kick style developed by sailors and street... full article at wikipedia