Answering if it’s possible to create a martial art

Over the years, numerous martial arts have spawned from every corner of the globe. Whilst most have come from the far-east, it’s also fair to say there are martial arts everywhere. With this said, the world of martial arts doesn’t discriminate when it comes to innovation and everyone is capable of thinking of new ideas. However, what’s also noticeable is that for the past century, very little has been made in the way of new martial arts techniques.

In fact, of those that have been created in recent history, most are very similar to their predecessors and have certainly been influenced by ideas of the past. This brings us on to our main question of this article, which is whether it’s possible to create a new martial art, or whether it’s all been done before.

Can you make a new martial art?

Technically, anyone is capable of making a new martial art. For instance, if you look at Hapkido, it is mostly a collection of various martial arts taken from around the globe. Here, you can practice techniques used in boxing, Judo, Eskrima, and more. Obviously, Hapkido is its own thing and brings these styles together. However, ultimately it has taken from other disciplines to create its own hybrid style.

This isn’t just exclusive to Hapkido either. For example, Judo helped inspire both Aikido and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which both used their own interpretation of the martial art. As mentioned earlier, this has gone on quite regularly over the last century, with Sambo taking from Judo – and Krav Maga taking from a few disciplines such as Jeet Kune Do, kickboxing, and BJJ. In short, nothing new has really been created in the last few years and most of the martial arts have been heavily inspired by others.

Most martial arts don’t catch on if they’re irrelevant

Having said this, most martial arts fail to catch on if they’re deemed ineffective. In short, if a fighting style is truly that good, then it will eventually catch on. Take Muay Thai for instance, it was from Thailand and was trained by poor, Thai fighters with little money or marketing. Still, due to being so effective it eventually caught on.

If you look at history on the other end of the spectrum, this has also gone against bogus martial arts that are made for a quick buck. You may sometimes hear of guys that have started their own style and claim it’s unique, only to turn out to be a martial art that is thrown together with sloppy techniques.

These rarely go anywhere and the gyms close due to lack of interest. At best, these gyms remain with one gym in the town they were founded in. So, it’s not as easy as simply making a new martial art with a fancy name. Instead, it’s survival of the fittest and if the discipline is weak, the masses will vote with their feet.

New martial arts emerge with technology

One thing worth noting is that new martial arts emerge with new technology. Humans have been fighting with swords and poles for thousands of years and this has been incorporated into various martial arts. Shaolin Kung Fu uses these weapons and is regarded as one of the oldest martial arts on the planet. However, a newer invention is the gun which hasn’t been around for too long when thinking about human history.

Since the introduction of guns, they have eventually ventured into the world of martial arts. Some people claim that using guns isn’t a martial art as it requires little physical skill. Still, there’s definitely no debate that aiming and cover are skills in their own right. Similarly, many modern martial arts teach gun disarmament techniques.

Therefore, it’s fair to deduce that with new technologies introduced to the world, martial arts will always follow. With this said, it wouldn’t be too outrageous to see martial arts based in below gravity environments in the future with space-based environments.

Is it just reinventing the wheel or are we being arrogant?

So far, we’ve looked at both sides of the coin. On the one hand, you could argue that all martial arts have been created and solved by now. The past few years hint towards this, as nothing particularly innovative has been used. Many martial arts can be traced back to roots in ancient China or Greece, with the likes of Kung Fu and Pankration being examples of this.

However, as we’ve also seen, there is some room for innovation. It’s not just technology that changes martial arts either. As seen with BJJ (which is fairly new), it took the ground game from Judo and changed it. Sure, most of the techniques found have been used for years – but still, BJJ’s interpretation of things certainly led to more efficient techniques.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s fair to say that you can invent new martial arts – however…there is a catch. By and large, most fighting techniques have probably been discovered by this point. Of course, things can be improved upon and built around. This means that we’d be foolish to assume that martial arts can’t grow any further or evolve. Still, the fundamentals are probably here to stay for the most part.

In conclusion, martial arts can be invented – but generally you’d be hard-pressed to create something completely revolutionary at this point. So, if you’re thinking of making the next Judo or Karate then you’ll probably be out of luck. However, if you want to interpret something with your own twist and new name, then it’s entirely possible.

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