Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Judo And Taekwondo Are The Most Popular Martial Arts
Have you wondered what the most popular martial arts are? They are Judo and Taekwondo. Both are Olympic sports and are practiced worldwide. For male sports, the sport must have 75 countries and 4 continents and for female sports, 40 countries and 3 continents. Both have a governing body and recognized world championships. Every time I've visited a another country and turned on a sports channel, I've seen some Judo on TV. Now of course sports like boxing and wrestling are popular too, but I'm referring to traditional arts. Karate is very popular, but there a thousands of styles that don't associated with each other for political reasons and what not. Tai Chi is probably the most practiced non sport martial art. In the U.S. many think Kickboxing and MMA are more popular. In the U.S. Judo has never been really popular. I would say Taekwondo has been and still is. In my home state, I see more Taekwondo schools than any other type of martial art.
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How is boxing not a "traditional art?"
ReplyDeleteBoxing is indeed a traditional western martial arts (as well as wrestling, fencing, etc.). When the general public thinks of martial art arts, they think of eastern martial arts that incorporates certain elements of their countries origins. These eastern arts are considered art and sport because elements (i.e. vocabulary, philosophy, customs, etc.). Like western martial arts they have been modified from war practice to sport practice. But, unlike the eastern martial arts, western martial arts emphasize the physical aspect application emphasizing athleticism. You have to be an athlete to participate in western arts. The eastern arts as sports are for athletes too, but can be practiced and studied and applied by non-athletes when looking at their martial applications outside of sport. More people can participate on a larger scale for a longer period of time.
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