What martial art does Baki Hamna use in the anime?
The TV show Baki The Grappler first aired back in 1991 and was later revived in the 2000s. In short, it’s fair to say that this anime is quite popular and has fans around the world. Here, it focuses on Baki who is a fighter…and as you may have gathered his style revolves around grappling. Having said this, Baki isn’t just a grappler and he also knows all sorts of martial arts styles.
This article will delve into what martial arts Baki uses and what his fighting style is. Remember, this is a fictional anime so it’s not exactly realistic but at the same time, if you like fighting shows then it may appeal to you.
Table of Contents
Baki uses MMA
The closest martial art that we see Baki using is MMA. This makes sense as he’s effectively an MMA fighter and uses all sorts of martial arts, hence the term ‘mixed martial arts’. In brief, he uses a variety of striking martial arts and grappling. What’s worth noting about this is that Baki The Grappler was first released in the early 90s in Japan (which is where its set). At this time, Japanese MMA was just beginning to take off with the likes of Vale Tudo around the corner.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising that Baki does MMA and was probably influenced by its growth at the time. Before the Baki series, most anime shows favored traditional martial arts, whereas Baki combined them whilst fighting. Of course, the Baki fight scenes have less rules than conventional MMA which is understandable as it’s not real and has no health consequences.
Similarly, when using MMA – Baki also has his own style which uses disciplines from Kung Fu and Wushu. Generally, these two martial arts aren’t used in modern day MMA. Put another way, Baki is a true mixed martial artist.
Baki mastered Karate in one month
As part of the story goes, Baki mastered Karate in one month. This means that he went from a complete beginner to black belt level in literally one month. As you can imagine, this is very fictional as most Karate black belts take years to achieve. Even after getting your belt, there’s still plenty of learning to do.
This shows that Baki is an incredibly fast learner, and also that he uses Karate in his fights. Even in modern MMA, Karate is a valuable asset and has been used by the likes of Georges St Pierre, Lyoto Machida, and Robert Whittaker amongst others. In some of the episodes, Baki can be seen landing some hard kicks on his opponents, which look like they’re from Karate.
Unsurprisingly…Baki can grapple
Again, going back to early 90s Japan, grappling was a big deal. In fact, Japan has always produced a strong grappling culture, with the likes of Judo, Ju Jitsu and Sumo all originating from the country. This shows a different take on fighting compared to western standards, especially in an animation during the early 90s. Even the likes of Dragon Ball (which was also Japanese) was heavy on striking martial arts.
So, you could say that Baki was well ahead of its time with its grappling. Here, Baki would wrestle his opponents to the ground, control them and sometimes submit them. Having said this, you shouldn’t be surprised considering he’s literally called ‘Baki the grappler’.
Baki uses traditional martial arts too
These days, MMA is pretty much a closed shop when it comes to styles and disciplines. For instance, the consensus is that Aikido doesn’t work in MMA, with other arts such as Ninjutsu and Tai Chi also being shunned. In Baki though, there’s definitely a sense of traditional martial arts being used too. As mentioned earlier, he also uses the likes of Wushu and Kung Fu too, which creates a hybrid style.
In general, the martial arts shown in Baki are pretty open minded and everything goes. Obviously, this is fine considering it’s a cartoon where things are less realistic compared to real life. It also makes for some pretty cool fight scenes which sway away from being too repetitive.
Conclusion
In Baki the grappler, practically all martial arts are trained and considered. Whilst MMA alone covers a lot of different styles, this animation also has included some of the more traditional, or obscure martial arts. In other words, it’s fair to say that Baki literally knows most martial arts, and knows them to a high level too. One thing worth noting is that if you can master Karate in a month then you can possibly do this with all sorts of techniques and styles.
Of course, this may be possible in an anime but wouldn’t really be doable in reality. To conclude, Baki Hamna doesn’t just train one or two martial arts. Instead, he trains multiple disciplines which makes sense considering it’s set in an MMA environment.
