Originally, fights were akin to brawling. People back then got more proficient in combat and have identified and narrowed it down to an efficient system i.e. patterns and forms. With the experience and the efficient system, these practitioners were combat masters. From there, they took in disciples and taught them their combat systems which became martial arts.
These first generation disciples were taught the efficient systems. However, the experience of their masters could not be transferred fully. Hence, these first generation disciples depend mostly on the efficient system to be good while slowly gaining their own experience. Some of the masters do not even fully teach their legacy to their disciples.
So the art is said to only be 80-90% complete.
Following suit, these first generation disciples eventually become masters in their own right with their 80-90% completed efficient system. They then do the natural thing of taking in disciples of their own. The process repeats with these second generation disciples. They will be taught the system without the experience and sometimes without the main essence or the concept of the system.
Eventually, the second generation disciples will only learn <70% of the original combat system and stray from the essence and original intent of the system. Which leads them to focus only on the form which has barely any meaning. A few fortunate ones may be able to reverse engineer the system to discover its origins but most will just be practitioners of a form that has lost its meaning.
It’s like the game of passing information down the line of people only to have the original message twisted
The art will then only be passed down while maintaining a particular form or pattern in the system, if lucky. There are those unfortunate ones whereby the art evolves (or in this sense de-evolve) into something entirely different. This is because the current practitioners will add to or takeaway from the system, ultimately changing it.
There are also external factors such as modern society’s approach towards a lesser violent culture. To stay relevant, change (whether good or bad) is inevitable. The art will eventually become mostly aesthetically pleasing or over emphasizing on some areas but lacking in what we nowadays call “real world application”
And THAT is one of the dilemma some traditional martial arts are facing in today’s modern world.
When the lucky few that do manage to reverse engineer and discover their true origin apply what they have found, onlookers will sneer and say that they are not true to their “form” or that they are no different from MMA or street brawls. Some even say that today’s modern technological understanding in physical combat has is better and that traditional martial arts is outdated.
How many will know that all fights originally started and looked like this in the beginning?
*These are just the opinions and generalization of Martial Arts Hall and not highlighting any one particular art.
