Quite often, people focus on the “martial” or combat-related aspects of martial arts because the movements taught in martial arts systems are meant for self defense. However, the word “art” in the phrase also deserves some attention. How can we conceptualize fighting systems as artistic? Combat is full of chaos and brutality – what is artistic about this?
When I think of “art” I imagine a sculpture, a painting, a poem or a song. What these things share is that they are all forms of human expression. In a painting (if you know what to look for) you can learn about the artist and her style of painting. If you study several of her paintings over a period of years you can learn about her what mediums and subjects she prefers and how her style changes over time.
Martial arts systems and movements are a form of human expression in a very similar way. If you are a martial arts student over several years you will get to know your instructor and his style. You will begin to understand “who he is” in terms of his martial arts style. The way a man teaches, learns and trains martial arts can be a window into his personality.
After enough time in martial arts, the movements and concepts that a person uses for their martial arts practice can be become part of them. Every practice session or class then becomes their artistic expression. In this there is a very difficult dilemma – without separating the artist from his medium or his subject, the martial artist risks loosing himself in that medium. Imagine a painter painting a self portrait that was so lifelike and accurate that all the painter’s friends began interacting with the canvas rather than with the artist herself.
The human expression involved in combative movement is artistic because it requires the artist to become the subject of his own study. The word “self” in self defense is the key to this realization. To protect ourselves we must first discover who we are. Only when we are aware of this can we find see the dynamic flow of combative movement as an amazing art that is uniquely human.
