5 Asian Martial Arts You Have Probably Never Heard Of

1. Japan - Chanbara

I came across this martial art a few years ago at a sports centre in Singapore. The sport was designed in 1971 in Japan as a diffusion of the sword-fighting components of Japanese martial art 'goshindo' which was used to train samurai.

Nowadays it is practiced by executives in Asia as a sport that can be both fun and a good way to balance the stress of modern working day life.

2. The Philippines - Dumog

When one thinks of martial arts from the Philippines, the names 'eskrima,' 'arnis' or 'kali' might come to mind. Dumog is another deadly Filipino combat art which combines wrestling techniques with small joint manipulation (can I hear you say 'ouch?') that you might find in Aikido.

Some forms of Dumog also concentrate on the use of weapons such as knives or even bow and arrows. It is also known as 'buno' or 'mindoro.'

3. India - Kalarippayattu.

India seems to have the most eclectic set of martial and combat arts that most of the Western world might never have heard of (largely due to the practice of the arts being somewhat limited to India). The idea of kalarippayattu is a mixture of striking movements, kicks, wrestling, weapons and, most interestingly, 'healing methods.'

You may come across some epic Kalarippayattu fight scenes coming from the cinema of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka areas of South India.

Bonus points for knowing that mostly all forms of Asian martial arts actually originated from India before being propagated to China.

4. Indonesia - Silat.

Silat is rapidly growing worldwide as a sport originating from Indonesia, with the traditional side of the art combining disciplines of a variety of weapons, striking and grappling and the sport form of the art making use of strikes and take-down techniques.

So far the World Silat Championships have been held mostly in either Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore. However in 1990 the competitions were held in The Netherlands and in 2010 the championship saw representatives from 32 countries.

5. Vietnam - Vovinam.

Vovinam was developed early in the 20th century as a successor of traditional Vietnamese martial arts (Vo Thuat). Similar to a lot of other Asian fighting arts, the principle behind Vovinam is based on the equilibrium of yin and yang. Or hard and soft techniques - meaning there can be a movement for every situation.

Interestingly, the stunt double of Toby Maguire in Spiderman 1 & 2 is a practitioner of Vovinam.

Thus concludes our round up of not-so-well-known martial arts from Asia. These are just a few of many that exist in Asia that may not be so popular in the West (yet). I hope these martial arts continue to thrive, and get discovered by more people to keep the traditions alive.

Mark is a avid practitioner of Martial Arts and has a keen interest in Asia where he lives.

He is the webmaster of http://www.knowledgeofasia.com/ which is an all in one resource for learning about Asia.

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