is there any fighting or art that is distinctly american?

[bribrius]

i was thinking boxing, but that already existed.

Maybe american kenpo? But that isn't really american either but adapted...

Perhaps it is just what the country is, a blend of other cultures. so a blend of others arts.

 

[bribrius]

mods. i posted this twice with edit. please correct. i thought of the INDIANS...

 

[Xue Sheng]

What do you mean by "distinctly American"?

Many of the MAs in Japan and Korea came from China and if you believe the legends Shaolin Kung Fu came from India so I am not sure what you mean by distantly American.

If you look up American Martial Arts 'United States" you get this list

American Karate
American Kenpo
Shootfighting
American kickboxing
Bojuka
Catch wrestling
Chun Kuk Do
Collegiate Wrestling
Collegiate Fencing
Combatives
combat judo
Danzan-ryū
Extreme martial arts
Gaidojutsu
Jailhouse Rock
Jeet Kune Do
Kajukenbo
Kapu Kuialua
Limalama
Lua
Marine Corps LINE Combat System
Marine Corps Martial Arts Program
Mixed Martial Arts
Model Mugging
Modern Army Combatives
Pit Fighting
Sanchin-ryu
S.C.A.R.S. (military)
Shinkendo
Sli Beatha
Small Circle Jujutsu
SPEAR System
To-Shin Do
Toso Kune Do
World War II combatives

 

[Hudson69]

Would the RBSD systems fall under this heading? Army Combatives, MCMAP, PART, PPCT, FBI Arrest Control and the like are all strictly US though their foundations and some of their technical moves are hybrid from other systems.

 

[Langenschwert]

Bowie knife and Tomahawk fighting are the first things that comes to mind. Many other arts (fencing, wrestling, boxing and cavalry sabre) could be included given their wide dispersion in American culture at various times despite their European derivation.

I would say that civilian defensive pistol is a modern American art.

Best regards,

-Mark

 

[Tez3]

Bowie knife and Tomahawk fighting are the first things that comes to mind. Many other arts (fencing, wrestling, boxing and cavalry sabre) could be included given their wide dispersion in American culture at various times despite their European derivation.

I would say that civilian defensive pistol is a modern American art.

Best regards,

-Mark

I think the Vikings probably had the tomahawk/fighting axe one first though the Gauls had them too. They were also issued to the British troops in the War of American Independance.

Big knives has been around in most cultures that had any type of metal.

Hudson, why would any reality based self defence system be strictly American in origin? Are you saying Americans invented police and military control systems?

 

[Xue Sheng]

I think the Vikings probably had the tomahawk/fighting axe one first though the Gauls had them too. They were also issued to the British troops in the War of American Independance.

Big knives has been around in most cultures that had any type of metal.

Hudson, why would any reality based self defence system be strictly American in origin? Are you saying Americans invented police and military control systems?

tez tez tez.... didn't you know by now (xue speaks while diving for cover)... we invented everything

I am not Langenschwert but from what I have seen of fighting with a fighting axe and fighting with a tomahawk that they are different things.

Also I would not be surprised it is possible to find things popping up that look similar that are rather independent of each other.

I mean if Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz can come up with Calculus at the same time independently of one another I would think it would be possible for Europeans and American Indians to come up with independent fighting styles based on the same weapon. the Chinese used a sword and so did the Europeans and there are sword arts that are indigenous to those areas that are only connected by the use of a weapon called a sword...ok the Chinese called it a knife...but it was a sword...honest

 

[mook jong man]

Oops wrong thread

 

[sgtmac_46]

Bowie knife and Tomahawk fighting are the first things that comes to mind. Many other arts (fencing, wrestling, boxing and cavalry sabre) could be included given their wide dispersion in American culture at various times despite their European derivation.

I would say that civilian defensive pistol is a modern American art.

Best regards,

-Mark

The fighting handgun was developed as much in the US as anywhere on the planet, so you are correct. Pistol combatives are an American product.

 

[sgtmac_46]

I think the Vikings probably had the tomahawk/fighting axe one first though the Gauls had them too. They were also issued to the British troops in the War of American Independance.

Big knives has been around in most cultures that had any type of metal.

Hudson, why would any reality based self defence system be strictly American in origin? Are you saying Americans invented police and military control systems?

True on most counts, but as for the pistol there isn't a nation or culture on the planet that has contributed to the fighting pistol as a weapon even remotely close to the same proportion that America has.

There are two god's of modern handgun shooting that represent two divergent paths, Col. Jeff Cooper and Col. Rex Applegate, and both are Americans.

Anyone who uses a system of combat handgun shooting on the planet uses a variation of one of the systems developed by these two men.

It is a an American martial art.

 

[Tez3]

True on most counts, but as for the pistol there isn't a nation or culture on the planet that has contributed to the fighting pistol as a weapon even remotely close to the same proportion that America has.

There are two god's of modern handgun shooting that represent two divergent paths, Col. Jeff Cooper and Col. Rex Applegate, and both are Americans.

Anyone who uses a system of combat handgun shooting on the planet uses a variation of one of the systems developed by these two men.

It is a an American martial art.

I'm curious though, what do you think it says about America?


Axe fighting has been around since the dawn of man, early stone axes have been found dating back to the Stone Age, I was looking at some last wekk funnily enough, in The Musuem of Cornwall. Nasty looking things too, bash brains in nicely, I think though that metal axes were found in Europe well before the Native Americans used them.

 

[sgtmac_46]

I'm curious though, what do you think it says about America?

What is says about America is that we are a gun culture and have developed the use of the gun to a martial art. That is the point of this whole thread, isn't it?

And because we began as a rough egalitarian culture, lacking the social stratus of Europe, our use of the gun was not restricted to the aristocracy.

The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. -D.H. Lawrence.

 

[mook jong man]

Don't forget Jerry Springer Show Combatives.

A brutal and devastating system characterised by such techniques as the

" Transvestite ***** Slap "

" The Crack Ho Smack Upside The Head "

and the bone shattering " My Mom's Sleeping with My Boyfriend Beatdown"

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The American Martial Art:

 

[elder999]

Seen in this post:

The club most of the eastern tribes were known for is called the ga je wa in Algonquian (all names given here are in Algonquian, as they’re how I know them. The Cherokee and other southern Indians used the same sort of clubs, but they called them something else) or ball club, which was actually more of a wooden sword, a fire hardened and polished piece of wood with a long sharp edge to go with its heavy ball end. Methods of use were taught ranging from crippling techniques-such as blows that directed the edge to tendons- to killing techniques, as well as methods of execution, as this was a primary method of enforcing civil control in the Five Nations.

According to early historical accounts, Indians along the eastern seaboard demonstrated impressive skill in using war clubs and were favorably compared to European fencing masters. If you saw the 1992 movie Last of the Mohicans, you saw the gajewa employed fairly authentically, as my friend and fellow lacrosse player Lewis K. Tall Bear was the fight coordinator for those sequences.

 

[Tez3]

What is says about America is that we are a gun culture and have developed the use of the gun to a martial art. That is the point of this whole thread, isn't it?

And because we began as a rough egalitarian culture, lacking the social stratus of Europe, our use of the gun was not restricted to the aristocracy.

I hope you don't think my asking what the gun culture said about America was meant in a degrogatory manner, it wasn't at all. The arts of Japan say alot abpout the country, who was allowed to carry what weapon, the orgins of karate etc. I was curious to see what people thought the gun meant to them, I've seen the rhetoric etc in the media from the pro and anti gun groups and wondered how far into the American psyche guns were. I have no stance what so ever on gun carrying in America, I have no idea whether it's good or bad, I only have opinions on gun carrying here and that's from a certain perspective not as a civvy.

 

[frank raud]

True on most counts, but as for the pistol there isn't a nation or culture on the planet that has contributed to the fighting pistol as a weapon even remotely close to the same proportion that America has.

There are two god's of modern handgun shooting that represent two divergent paths, Col. Jeff Cooper and Col. Rex Applegate, and both are Americans.

Anyone who uses a system of combat handgun shooting on the planet uses a variation of one of the systems developed by these two men.

It is a an American martial art.

Applegate's point shooting is based off of Fairbairn and Sykes work, making it difficult to state it is "distinctly American".

 

[ap Oweyn]

I think you probably need to draw a distinction between something being distinctly American and something having no trace of influence from other cultures. The latter is probably something of a snipe hunt. The former is possible, though what constitutes a distinctly American martial art is very subjective.

Lots of distinctively something arts have influence from other arts. I don't think anyone would argue that eskrima isn't distinctively Filipino. This despite heavy influence from European swordplay (including the word eskrima itself). Nor that Brazilian jiujitsu is distinctively Brazilian, despite the obvious influence of Japanese jiujutsu.

So I guess the question is "what would make something distinctly American?"


Stuart

 

[bribrius]

I think you probably need to draw a distinction between something being distinctly American and something having no trace of influence from other cultures. The latter is probably something of a snipe hunt. The former is possible, though what constitutes a distinctly American martial art is very subjective.

Lots of distinctively something arts have influence from other arts. I don't think anyone would argue that eskrima isn't distinctively Filipino. This despite heavy influence from European swordplay (including the word eskrima itself). Nor that Brazilian jiujitsu is distinctively Brazilian, despite the obvious influence of Japanese jiujutsu.

So I guess the question is "what would make something distinctly American?"


Stuart

suppose the easiest way would be to look at how they deal with imported cars. what percentage is made abroad and made in the country.

If 90 percent of it is founded in the country then it should probably be considered a american art.

 

[Xue Sheng]

But Chevy Trucks are mostly built in Canada :uhyeah: