Is Martial Art Is The Same As Combat Sports?

Now a days the line between martial arts and combat sports is fading rapidly.

First let me define the both terms.

Martial arts as defined in wikipedia is: "(literally meaning arts of war^[1] but usually referred as fighting arts) are extensive systems of codified practices and traditions of combat. Martial arts all have similar objectives: to physically defeat other persons or defend oneself or others from physical threat. Some martial arts take a great deal of their underlying theory from beliefs systems. Most specifically, Buddhism, and in Asia have been practiced in harmony with others, such as Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism or Shinto while others follow a particular code of honor. Martial arts are considered as both an art and a science."

Keywords here, arts of war, codified practices, tradition, belief systems, code of honor.

In other wards, martial arts weren't created to just simply hit your opponent and  get a point for that. They were created for warriors to fight wars, kill or be killed, defend yourself or be dead, be honorable, be hard on yourself and gentle on others. Respect the elder and younger both age and experience, stay out of trouble, think before you act and the list goes on and on.

Is that taught around here? Hardly!

Now almost every master only teaches his disciples how to score a point in a competition. That's why the term "street fighting" emerged in the last 20 years. Do you know why? Because the majority of dojos and school have been concentrating on scoring points and adhering to a set of rules in an arena to the point where they forgot what is a martial art truly about.

There are no rules in true combat, there are no rules when someone is trying to hurt you in a street!!! why restrict the poor student's mentality to a set of rules hence a set of limited strikes that go with the rules???

Take Kyokushin Karate for an example, face punching is prohibited in competition, so what happened? almost 98% persent of dojos around the world don't teach you how to punch a face and defend yourself against it which is the basic of basics of martial arts.

Do you actually think that shotokan karate which you see in asian olympics is the same when master funakoshi created it. It got mutated when it became an olympic sport and the same goes for Taekwondo.

The majority of dojos around the world got so busy in stregethening players physically and overlooked the emotional and psychological part. No bushido anymore.

What is Bushido?

It is "Way of the Warrior", is a name in common usage since the late 19th century which is used to describe a uniquely Japanese code of conduct adhered to by samurai since the feudal medieval period. This code is said to have emphasized virtues such as loyalty, honor, obedience, duty, filial piety, and self-sacrifice.

This is the heart of martial arts and it is forgotten all thanks to competition.

What is a combat sport? It is simply hitting the oponent take gain a point in a competition like boxing, kickboxing, MMA.

Those are not martial arts, those are the art of winning in a sparring competition.

What's the point of this article? It is emphasising on how competition have destroyed the true meaning of martial arts and the way it is taight and practiced.