It is fascinating how people never really stop comparing things. Naturally, they also compare martial arts. But sometimes the comparison doesn’t really make any sense. Reaching wrong conclusions can actually be somehow dangerous. Let me explain why.

The Purpose of Martial Arts

Throughout the history of mankind martial arts have been used to protect one’s life, family, community or nation. Or at least that is what the warriors were doing — protecting what was dear to them.

This sounds very knightly, but honestly, it was about killing the other guy as efficiently as possible. You were training to survive.

However, during the times of peace, people started discovering that there are other dimensions hidden under the surface. It is not just about fighting and killing. Deep wisdom can emerge when following the path of a warrior. It can become your path to enlightenment.

The Soldier, the Warrior and the Sportsman

As apparent, martial arts can be used for a wide variety of things. It all depends on the purpose. Simplifying the matter somehow, we could say that there are three main categories of martial arts according to the main purpose:

1. Martial system. The point of a martial system is to teach people to defend themselves in various threatening situations and to teach them quickly. We don’t have years for that. There are various systems out there, both for professional soldiers and for public audience. Musado and Krav Maga fit into this category.
2. Martial sport. The motivation when doing a martial sport is not really to be able to defend yourself properly, but rather to win the competition or just to have fun and get fit. This is very different from fighting on the street since there are usually some rules that dictate what is allowed and what is not. Judo, Karate and Taekwon-Do can be mentioned here.
3. Martial art. Practicing a martial art is about personal development, spirituality and deep studies of the art including broader context. People often end up living the martial art, accepting it as their way of life. Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu and Jiu-Jitsu belong into this category.

It must be noted, though, that when evaluating a system you will sparsely reach the conclusion that the system fits into just one category clearly. Taking Karate as an example, there are competitions being organised for the masses, but historically speaking it must be counted as a martial art as well.

Understand the Purpose

Why am I even making effort to make the distinction? It is actually for people not to have unreasonable expectations. It is for the martial arts teachers to themselves understand what they are teaching.

Getting ready for a competition is way different from learning how to protect yourself when attacked on the street. You can be a gold medal sportsman, but when paralysed by fear, even a technically far inferior fighter can take you down without any major issues. And be sure that you will freeze unless you are prepared.

So, please understand what you are doing. If you want to be able to protect yourself, practice for that purpose. You see, there is no shame really in getting punched in the face on the street. Your teacher just probably didn’t know that they need to prepare you for that. But then again, in case you are doing a traditional martial art, this may not even be the purpose of your training.

Coming back to the original topic, it should be clear by now that it is completely meaningless to compare systems fitting into different categories. And no category is really better than any other category. Let me say it again: it all depends on the purpose.