9781422286715

,Healthy Mind Healthy Body

Because martial arts are action-based, it is quite difficult to get a proper “feeling” for them from a book. Therefore, if you do find a martial art in this book that interests you, I suggest you get more information about it, and even find a club, to see it or try it out for yourself. The martial arts addressed in this book are essentially Eastern in style. Western fighting arts, such as boxing, wrestling, and fencing, are not covered here. There are somany different martial arts that an accurate classification of them would be impossible. Even within a given style, techniques and procedures vary from club to club. There are, for instance, hundreds of Chinese kung fu styles and non-Asian versions of karate , and other arts continue to appear alongside Asian ones. Basically, Asian martial arts can be divided into two categories: martial arts from China, and martial arts from Japan. Martial arts fromChina can be referred to as wu shu , and martial arts from Japan as budo . Asian martial arts are commonly seen, at best, as Focus and concentration are essential for success in anything, and particularly in martial arts. Proper training develops these attributes, as seen here in a technique from the karate kata called rokushu (tensho).

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