I see these words tossed around a lot in MA conversations, but can we clear up what they all really mean?
I can recall "System" "Family" "Branch" "Style" "Form"...
What would you say is the best definition for all these?
The usage of the words depends on the person using them...sorry to seem overly cryptic.
The words are used to categorize and stratify levels of development within the martial arts historically.
When I use the terms, it is often in this type of usage:
It all begins with the student and a teacher. The teacher instructs a particular curriculum that is unique to him based on a
Form of armed/unarmed combat - perhaps punching and kicking, or throwing and locking or sword...
Over time his students become instructors and spread this unique curriculum to the world. It now becomes the Unique
System.
Certain high ranking instructors add their personal preferences, elements and quirks to their curriculum. Although at the core it is still the same system, now different
Styles emerge within the system.
Eventually, the heads of the styles have instructors under them and grant some rights to make decisions for the entire style in their own geographic part of the world, creating a separate
Branch of the Style.
The term
family can be used loosely to describe either the group of styles in the system or just the group of students that train together on their
Forms - patterns of preset movements that teach particular basics, strategies, philosophies and movement concepts.
Then again, you could break the set down differently entirely.