What is Western Martial Arts
The Traditional Fighting Arts of European Culture
Martial arts from Germany, England, Italy, France and other European countries is alive and practiced today. It focuses on swordsmanship, self defense, and other weapons.
The Source and Tradition of Western Martial Arts
When most people hear the words “martial arts”, they think of Bruce Lee or karate, kung-fu, tai kwon do and other Asian forms of fighting. The words themselves mean “the arts of Mars”. And who is Mars? He’s the Roman god of battle. The martial arts in Europe have a history that can be seen in written works as far back as Ancient Greece itself, and is found throughout literature up to the modern era. However, there is no single tradition that can trace itself to any one school more than one or two generations. The schools that practice today come primarily from the tradition of Mediaeval and Renaissance Europe, studying from treatises written by masters who used the techniques in real combat to defend their lives in battles on the street and in war itself. Some schools concentrate on Italian style, some Spanish, some German, some English (particularly in Britain). And most of these schools focus primarily of weapons combat, with emphasis on the sword. Collectively, these styles are known as “Western Martial Arts” (WMA).
Approaches to Western Martial Arts
There are several schools, and approaches to WMA. The Academy of European Swordsmanship, in Edmonton and Calgary, is one that works on traditional swordsmanship, as defined by the German and English schools. This means that they must learn all aspects of becoming a rounded fighter. In this tradition, there are five areas, or masters, of the fight. These are strikes, locks and breaks, throws, wrestling, and disarms. Each of these is to be studied, both with and without the use of a weapon in your own hand. What this means is that the student learns to perform strikes with the weapon, but also to integrate the entire gamut of hand-to-hand combat. Many other schools will work strictly on weapons combat, mostly from the eastern European styles, especially Italian. And there are some schools that focus more one hand-to-hand combat or one specific master from the Middle Ages or Renaissance, such as Goerge Silver (England), Fiore di Liberi (Italy), or Hans Talhoffer (Germany).
Evolution of Martial Sports from WMA
Two modern sports have evolved from the martial arts of Europe, boxing and fencing. However, these have several hundred years of sport emphasis and tradition behind them. But looking at them through a practiced eye, one can see where the original martial art is deep underneath. Those who practice WMA today emphasis real combat techniques and how to defend oneself in any situation; learning to defend against knives, empty hand, ground fighting, pole weapons, and, of course, swords. At one time there were WMA tournaments, sometimes called prize fights or tourneys, but with a history of people being crippled or killed on a regular basis, this real combat competition is unacceptable in our modern society. For this reason there are no WMA tournaments. Only recently have WMA practitioners began to compete against and work with practitioners of the Eastern Martial Arts, following their rules of competition. Perhaps with more exchanges and competition there will be a broader understanding of WMA and that Europe has a martial tradition equally as strong in its history and sound in its methods as anything that comes from Asia.
