ACADEMIA SUMMARIES

Asian Martial Arts and Approaches of

Instruction in Physical Education
The original paper contains 1 sections, with 10 passages identified by our machine learning
algorithms as central to this paper.

Paper Summary
SUMMARY PASSAGE 1

Introduction
Harman indicated that this confusion, which can be examplified by the substitution of pseudo-values
such as economic indicators to guide our societal decision making, emerged since the "debunking" of
religion by science. This has resulted in the new appreciation for holistic approaches that not too long
ago were dismissed as "pre-scientific". This trend can partly explain the increasing international
popularity of taijiquan, a traditional Chinese martial art which emphasizes concentration and
relaxation while slowly performing a variety of fighting techniques (Moegling, 1986b;Sagot, 1992 The
purpose of the present paper is to provide a description of the characteristics and classification of the
Asian martial arts and to discuss different approaches that can be used for instruction in physical
education.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 2

Characteristics Of Asian Martial Arts

Through the centuries, these fighting skills became more varied and refined. Gradually this
knowledge spread to other parts of Asia, where specific local variations were developed. This
resulted in a myriad of other Asian fighting styles, in addition to the existing varied system of Chinese
martial arts (Draeger & Smith, 1975).
SUMMARY PASSAGE 3

Asian Martial Arts Disciplines

To provide a basic understanding of the most important variations of the Asian martial arts that are
practiced in the West today, a short description of the most popular disciplines follows.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 4

Chinese Martial Arts

The Chinese martial arts consist of a wide variety of schools and styles.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 5

Japanese Martial Arts

Unlike Chinese wushu, where most styles have unarmed as well as armed techniques, Japanese
martial arts can generally be divided into armed and unarmed styles. Kendo, which means "the way of
the sword", is one of the most popular Japanese styles making use of a weapon (Draeger & Smith,
1975). The sword is held with both hands.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 6

Korean Martial Arts

Asian Martial Arts and Physical Education 10 Indonesian Martial Arts Indonesia also has a number of
distinct fighting sports. The most common is pencak silat (Alexander, Chambers, & Draeger, 1970).
This discipline is characterized by offensive and defensive techniques that originated from the
movements of a number of animals (e.g., tiger, monkey).

SUMMARY PASSAGE 7

Classification Of The Martial Arts

Sporting Approach. The sporting approach does not focus primarily on the acquisition of fighting
competence, but rather regards martial arts as sports with positive effects on the physical, mental and
social state of its participants. Unlike the efficiency approach where "anything goes", in this third view
the variety of fighting skills is restricted to what is allowed according to specific competition rules.
SUMMARY PASSAGE 8

Martial Arts And Physical Education

Data indicated that in the majority of countries martial arts are introduced during physical education
classes in secondary schools (i.e., for pupils 10 to 14 years of age). Only two countries, Ireland and
Estonia, indicated that no martial arts were introduced. Table 1 provides an overview of the specific
martial arts disciplines that are incorporated in the physical education curricula in each country.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 9

Martial Arts Instruction

Often, martial arts instruction at school is regarded as an instruction in one specific discipline and
most authors only describe the possibilities of that particular martial art in a physical education
context: such as judo (Bronchart, 1990;Janalik, 1997;Vanderghote, Heylen, & Veulemans, 1990),
aikido (Linden, 1984;Van Dongen, 1995); kendo (Calmet, Bourrely, & Ontanon, 1994;Kloen, 1995);
karate (Thirion, 1990); taijiquan (Baron, 1993;Kolb, 1994); and taekwondo (Lohre, 1995). However,
taking into account the wide variety of Asian martial arts and the fact that distinct differences exist
between disciplines, instruction which is limited to only one style often provides a one-sided view on
martial arts. Furthermore, the variation in approaches of martial arts practice should also be taken
into consideration with regard to martial arts instruction in physical education.

SUMMARY PASSAGE 10

Conclusion
Data indicated that in several European countries martial arts are actually introduced during physical
education. In most countries instruction is limited to a few specific martial arts styles. Also, an
efficiency approach is often used in which the emphasis is put on self-defense.