Is "Olympic" boxing a martial art?

[tamamartialarts01]

Boxing is one of the world's oldest and most celebrated martial arts. The art of Thai Boxing is a self-defense technique that is as old as Thailand itself. Thai boxing in Dayton is a branch of knowledge, which has been in existence for as long as there have been Thais.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Boxing is one of the world's oldest and most celebrated martial arts. The art of Thai Boxing is a self-defense technique that is as old as Thailand itself. Thai boxing in Dayton is a branch of knowledge, which has been in existence for as long as there have been Thais.

Is thai boxing an art or a self-defense technique?

 

[Buka]

So......is any kind of Karate, or any other fighting system, an actual Martial Art if it does not include contact fight training? Because it sure as hell wouldn't be worth much as self defense training.

I await to be harangued.

 

[isshinryuronin]

So......is any kind of Karate, or any other fighting system, an actual Martial Art if it does not include contact fight training?

This is a murky subject. Is iaido a martial art? Contact training is not part of it, strictly speaking. Sure, there's kendo, but that's a whole different animal, though some bokken practice can be employed in iaido. How about kyudo? Contact archery? Weapons training is more difficult (though not impossible) to have realistic contact. Even though some MA may not have real contact, they should foster the mindset of it.

In the broadest sense, MA means, "something based on combat." That covers a lot of ground. Football even comes close to that. Is a wild, vicious street fighter a martial artist? There is too much breadth in the simple term "martial arts." I think we need to define more specifically: TMA, contact sport MA, self-defense MA, exercise MA, historical MA, military MA...while discussing the topic. Even so, there is overlap.

They are all based on some combat element (contact or not). They all share physical training of skills, and usually the body as well. TMA also endeavors to instill some personal spiritual attributes. This is typical of the Oriental MA. Other MA's may or may not. Those that don't may collaterally give some "spiritual" development even though it's not an actual goal.

I think that to the extent possible, contact (resistive) training should be employed, or at least give one the potential (mentally, spiritually and physically) to fully employ the particular art in a combat situation. But IMO, contact fight training alone does not meet my TMA default definition of martial arts. Here, I agree with Musashi and Bruce Lee who wrote similar thoughts. I see MA as going beyond fighting but must still be based on being "martial."

So, to answer Buka's question - I generally agree, taking in the above considerations.