This looks like a fun discussion.
In my opinion the problem isnāt within the Art itself but within the practitioners, students and teachers alike. Fighting is natural for all living beings in fact in every human population be it ancient or current there are always two common forms of entertaining, wrestling and a game involving a ball, Martial Arts were design to make fighting efficient quoting Jigoro Kano āMaximum efficiency with minimum effortā. As an example a horse stance straight punch is more efficient in transferring power than a āwild punchā (just swinging your fist towards a target), for the sake of this example letās say that both punches are equally powerful. The wild punch in order to generate that amount of power uses more force and velocity, as opposed to the horse stance straight punch the amount of force and velocity are diminished, this punch is more efficient since less resources were utilized. This goes for Martial Arts techniques in general the correct stance, body movement, weight shifting, torque, alignment, etc. help to generate power while utilizing less resources.
As they stand the arts and techniques are sound, they work properly. My master always tells me to ālistenā to my opponent and look for techniques, meaning that during practice, sparring, combat, etc. I must observe my opponent and seek or create an opportunity to execute the technique that is appropriate, basically not trying to force a foot sweep when the situations demands a shoulder throw. Iāve found said advice to be very useful, when the required technique is properly applied at the right timing it feels as if your opponent offers little to no resistance. Albeit it is hard to do, Iām currently not skilled enough to always do that, but the times Iāve pulled it off I just get this great feeling it is very special.
You often see practitioners engaging in a very sloppy form of kick boxing, wrestling or poking each other with an object (weapon), whatever that is Iām sure it is not Judo, Karate, Muay Thai, Hung Gar, Kendo, H.E.M.A. or any martial art, at the very least it doesnāt look like it. This goes for anything really, doing the same thing over and over and doing it wrong will not help you do it right.
I believe that the problem is that when teaching and learning, masters and students donāt focus enough in properly executing and applying the available technique. Forms can be very useful to learn executing the techniques properly, however the same aesthetic has to pursuit during sparring and every single aspect of training, competing, fighting, etc. By no means should one take forever to execute a technique, to perform correctly one should do it fast, hard, and beautiful.
Like so:
There are many good teachers and students that seek for techniques and do their martial art. I believe that all of us have to really commit to our practice, we need to make an extra effort to do our martial art properly even when it is hard to do. Sparring is great everybody should spar, when you spar doing a perfect roundhouse is harder than doing so against a punching bag or during a form, but we must persevere and try to do it correctly instead of settling for a sloppy kick, with time doing the technique under stress will be easier but it will take time and a lot of work.
When we donāt do so we may look like the guy in black:
We also need to accept that times have changed in many ways for the better, there have been many breakthroughs in fiscal fitness, diverse sciences, technology, etc. that can help with practicing martial arts we should embrace new positive practices and add to our martial art, we must keep the old practices like kata, iron bone training, 72 shaolin arts, etc. In the same way we must try ānewā things like weightlifting, gymnastics, roadwork, medicine for quick recovery, muscle memory exercises, coordination exercises, spacial awareness therapy, polypropylene weapons, new and improved protective gear, sparring if you donāt spar, cross sparring, cross training, hyper-gravity training, etc. Martial arts worked in the past not because they stuck to their first practice but because they where constantly growing and adapting throughout history we can see the evolution of weapons and armor and the martial arts that wield them. A greek soldier from Alexanderās army may have a hard time fighting a knight in full plate armor or a green beret. Martial arts should move forward without abandoning the old practices for they are the essence.
I donāt remember the year or venue but during the Olympics Japan used to be undefeated in Judo until a Dutch Judoka took the gold, the difference was that the Dutch and the Japanese both practiced great Judo but the Dutch guy also did serious fiscal training, he became stronger. With martial arts a physical weaker person can beat a physical stronger one however if the stronger guy also knows good martial arts he may have the upper hand, I believe after the Japan Netherlands match someone said āNow the strong have learned Judoā.
In the same way we are now in 2018 we donāt live during the Bakumatsu in Japan, thus we canāt carry swords on our waist and spears on our hands, we also donāt need to. However we can live like warriors, martial arts really build character, wits, grit, and a quick mind. Todayās confrontation donāt involve swords they mostly involve words however itās still a confrontation and the efficiency principle holds, our martial arts are part of us and thus should be involved in our daily lives outside the dojo.
In my opinion when training a martial art we should do that martial art correctly even if itās hard, we should embrace the old practices and include new ones for our benefit, and adapt our martial skills to our everyday lives. The problem doesnāt dwell within the martial arts themselves, the problem dwells within aloof practitioners.