What Martial Arts Are Used In The Pokemon Universe?

If you were a kid born from the late ’80s onwards, there is no doubt that you have come across Pokemon and were likely a fan of it at one point or another. Everything was created from cards to video games, as well as soft toys to clothes and bags. In short, Pokemon was absolutely massive during the late ’90s and still has a huge fanbase today.

Although the world of Pokemon has various characters throughout that are based around elements and other methods of attack. There are a handful of Pokemon that use martial arts as their primary attacks. These Pokemon are strong against normal type and weak against psychic types.

In the original games of Pokemon red and blue on the Gameboy, there is a martial arts gym based around two of the fighting Pokemon. Whilst this is not a strong feature or theme of the game as a whole, there is still an influence from different forms of fighting. This is not too surprising since Nintendo is a Japanese company so employees will be well aware of both judo and karate at the very least.

Various Pokemon & Their Martial Arts Styles

Hitmonlee – Taekwondo

Likely named after Bruce Lee, Hitmonlee is a pokemon that excels in the martial art of taekwondo. You can tell by its physique that the hitmonlee was designed to be a kickboxer due to its very long legs.

The moveset of hitmonlee contains feint, focus energy, double kick, reversal and high jump kick which all point towards this pokemon being a practitioner of taekwondo rather than any other form of kickboxing. Due to the large crossover in moves however, it could be possible that hitmonlee was designed with muay thai or savate in mind.

Hitmonchan – Western Boxing

It is very clear by the animation of Hitmonchan exactly what type of martial art it excels at. If you still aren’t sure, it has giant red boxing gloves on its hands, as well as loose fitting shorts.

With a moveset such as mega punch, counter, agility, close combat and focus punch, it is clear to see that hitmonchan is neither a master of kicks, nor grappling. Much like hitmonlee, hitmonchan got it’s name from a famous martial artist – Jackie Chan.

Hitmontop – Capoeira

If you’re a fan of niche martial arts, then you will have probably guessed by its unorthodox pose that hitmontop is pokemon that practices capoeira. This is confirmed by its name in the German language “kapoerer” – a direct phonetic match.

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that was created by former slaves. As slaves were not allowed to practice martial arts, they hid these moves inside a dance. However, capoeira is still a fairly brutal martial art due to the torque generated from spinning kicks. Overall, it is not a particularly effective martial art, but can generate extreme power.

Sawk – Karate

Compared with Throh, you can see Sawk was designed in the same generation but is physically very different. Instead of being small and bulky, Sawk is long and rangey. This is very suitable for a striking art such as karate. As Sawk is wearing a gi with a black belt, it makes sense that it would know the traditional martial art.

This becomes more obvious when you look at the moveset of brick break, low kick, close combat and low sweep. All of which would be very useful in a karate tournament.

Throh – Judo

You can tell by the appearance of Throh that it is a pokemon that practices a traditional martial art. It wears a classic white gi and is a blackbelt in judo. This is once again a pokemon that has a matching phonetic name, in this case with the word throw. Throh has quite a visibly small yet bulky stature so would be 100% ideal for competitive judo.

As throws are an integral part of judo and required to score points, it makes sense that Throh has a skillset suited towards this. In the Pokemon games its moveset is as follows; focus energy, bulk up, seismic toss and reversal. All of which would be useful in the sport of judo.

Machamp – Freestyle Wrestling

Looking past the four arms, it is clear that Machamp is a very physical Pokemon. All martial arts require intense physical conditioning when performed at the highest level, although wrestling is well known to be one of the toughest physical activities you can do.

Machamp also has the following moveset which would be very appropriate for any style of wrestling, bulk up, focus energy, strength, vital throw and seismic toss. Built like a true grappling champion, Machamp looks to be extremely strong.

Hariyama – Sumo Wrestling

Although Hariyama does not really have the appearance of a sumo when you look at its clothes, Nintendo claims that it weighs over 250kg, which would make it suitable for no other martial art than sumo.

Hariyama also appears to have extremely wide legs which is an absolute necessity in sumo as you need to support your own weight, as well as drive your opponent out of the circular ring. The moveset of Hariyama is also extremely telling of a sumo wrestler using smelling salts, arm thrust, vital throw, belly drum, wake-up-slap and heavy slam. All of which would be useful as a sumo.