Opinion: What region of the world do you believe has the best assortment of styles?

Kenlee25

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Japanese styles and derivatives: Karate, kendo, ninjitsu, judo, aikido, Jiu Jitsu

Korean styles: Taekwondo, Hapkido, Hworang

China: Kung fu styles

Southern Asia: Silat, Muay thai, cambodian blood sport, Indian Arts

European/middle eastern styles: Pankration, wrestling, boxing, savate, sambo, Krav Maga, fencing

North/South American styles: MMA, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, Capoera, boxing,


I'm quite sure I've forgoten TONS of important styles and/or regions, but in your opinion, If you were to learn and master all of the styles from a particular region what would be your first choice? Second? This thread is solely just for kicks.
 

clfsean

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The local strip mall...

Sent from my Thunderbolt on Tapatalk. Excuse the auto-correct spelling errors.
 

Carol

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Errr.....southeast Asia gets a mention of Cambodian blood sport but misses all of the FMAs? :eek: That's not nice ;)

Also krabi krabong, Vietnamese arts (Vovinam, Cuong Nhu).
 

Ken Morgan

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Any major western city will likely have the most variety
 

Big Don

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[h=2]Opinion: What region of the world do you believe has the best assortment of styles?[/h]The US, because damn near every style is practiced or taught here. If you meant "Which region originated the best assortment of styles?", you should have asked that.
 

Cyriacus

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Oh You bugger.
Making Me pick like this.

North/South American styles: MMA, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, Capoera, boxing.

Now, I choose this, because MMA can and does incorporate many other styles that I approve of.
Now, if I werent picking North and South America just because it lists MMA;
Id pick

Southern Asia: Silat, Muay thai, cambodian blood sport, Indian Arts

They dont need to be My favorite Systems for Me to find the Region to have the best assortment.

 

Daniel Sullivan

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Neet topic!
Japanese styles and derivatives: Karate, kendo, ninjitsu, judo, aikido, Jiu Jitsu
Yay! Kendo!

Korean styles: Taekwondo, Hapkido, Hworang
Hwarang do, not hworang. And you left out Tang Su Do, Takkyeon, Haidong Gumdo, Kuk Sul Won, and Teuk gong mu sul. While the last is understandable, Chuck Norris would never forgive you for leaving out Tang Su Do. Friend him on Facebook quickly and offer profuse apologies, lest you become a footnote in Chuck Norris Facts. :p

China: Kung fu styles

Southern Asia: Silat, Muay thai, cambodian blood sport, Indian Arts
I wasn't aware that India qualified as Southeast Asia (India is South Asian, not southeast), nor that 'bloodsport' was an actual martial art.

European/middle eastern styles: Pankration, wrestling, boxing, savate, sambo, Krav Maga, fencing

North/South American styles: MMA, Brazillian Jiu Jitsu, Capoera, boxing,
Assuming that you are including the UK, European would also include Bataireacht (Irish: shillelagh fighting), Systema, kickboxing, and a number of European sword styles outside of three weapon fencing. Krav Maga, last I checked, is Israeli, not European, and thus would be West Asian.

North American would also include Jeet Kune Do, Chun Kuk Do (Chuck Norris' martial art) and kickboxing. Then you have Jailhouse Rock/52 Blocks, the existence of which are debatable.

North American could also include Parker Kenpo or any sort of American kenpo (I'll leave that to kenpoists to tackle). Of course, you missed the most important North American MA: Wrasslin, which requires not only athletic and MA ability, but also the ablility to be good at bad acting. :)

I'm quite sure I've forgoten TONS of important styles and/or regions, but in your opinion, If you were to learn and master all of the styles from a particular region what would be your first choice? Second? This thread is solely just for kicks.
In order of rank:

1.0 Japan
1.5 Korea
2.0 Europe (most of what is 'North American' that would interest me is also listed in European, and indeed, actually hails from Europe.)
 

blindsage

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China: Kung fu styles





I'll take China.
 

Steve

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LOL. China only on a technicality. I mean, adding peanuts to a dish doesn't make it a whole new dish.

If that's the case, then fencing and wrestling open up into a vast array of discrete martial arts styles. :)
 

blindsage

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Just because we think of "kung fu" as being all the same doesn't make it so in reality. Taiji, wing chun, praying mantis, shuai jiao, lama pai, bajiquan, zi ran men, are very distinct martial arts. The OP distiguishes between judo, aikido, and jui-jitsu; taekwondo, and hwarang do; muay thai, and 'cambodian blood sport' (I'm assuming he means muay boran); pankration, wrestling and sambo; boxing and savate. The styles I've grouped together have much more in common than the Chinese styles I mentioned.
 

ETinCYQX

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This is a difficult question to answer but I think I will have to go with Japan

Fixed that for ya....:lfao:

I can't tell if you're implying Taekwondo, Hapkido, Hwarang-do are Japanese or if that's a typo. You seem to insist on implying Taekwondo is somehow a Japanese style, and it's simply not. Try going to a Taekwondo dojang, or doing some research, or something. Taekwondo is distinctly Korean.
 

puunui

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Outside of countries of origin, I would say Hawaii is up there. There are many high level practitioners in a great variety of styles present here. You might have to look hard to allow them to teach you, or to join the school, but I would say there are a lot of talent out there. Most Japanese styles, if you are into it, but korean, chinese, filipino, brazilian and even hawaiian arts are well represented by high level practitioners.
 

elder999

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This is a difficult question to answer but I think I will have to go with Japan



I can't tell if you're implying Taekwondo, Hapkido, Hwarang-do are Japanese or if that's a typo. You seem to insist on implying Taekwondo is somehow a Japanese style, and it's simply not. Try going to a Taekwondo dojang, or doing some research, or something. Taekwondo is distinctly Korean.

From the ages of 11 to 18, I went to a tae kwon do dojang, Duk Song Sun's chung do kwon. I posted on this months ago:

A funny story, actually: I trained in Duk Sung Son's Chung Do Kwan and kyokushin karate at the same time.I stared in Duk Sung Son's "Korean Karate" when I was 11. When I was 13 I went to boarding school, where no form of tae kwon do was availabl, but there was kyokushin instruction. When I started that, I found, much to my surprise, that the Pyung Ahns of Tae Kwon Do and the Pinans of kyokushin (which were from Oyama Sosai's study of Shotokan directly under Funakoshi) were almost identical. I'd go home for vacations and practice with my tae kwon do class, and go back to school and practice kyokushin-with both of my teachers being completely aware of it. Eventually I wound up choosing one art, but-at the time-neither teacher could definitively say why they had such similar kata. Of course, later it became clear that it was what you've obviously overstated here, and MAist25 has added historical perspective to .For me, the Kyokushin instruction was better quality, and had bunkai that made more sense of the kata-though both of them had diverged a bit from the original Shotokan kata(for best results, start the lower, Korean version first, then immediately start the Japanese version):


Of course, one could argue that American football is strictly American, and distinct fromn the 19th century versions of rugby or British football that were its progenitors, or that American baseball is a distinct game from rounders and cricket, where its origins lie, and, in that vein, one could argue that tae kwon do is distinctly Korean, and its origins in Shotokan have no bearing, but I think that all of those viewpoints are more than a lttle delusional......
 
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Kenlee25

Kenlee25

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This is a difficult question to answer but I think I will have to go with Japan



I can't tell if you're implying Taekwondo, Hapkido, Hwarang-do are Japanese or if that's a typo. You seem to insist on implying Taekwondo is somehow a Japanese style, and it's simply not. Try going to a Taekwondo dojang, or doing some research, or something. Taekwondo is distinctly Korean.


Taekwondo was derived from karate. That is what he means. I can not speak of Hapkido and the rest however.
 

elder999

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Kenlee25

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really now? Hmmm, they added a lot more striking them. Interesting. Honestly I never really cared about the whole "this is derived from this" thing, because honestly, TKD is derived from karate which has roots in kung fu which may have roots in some western arts. Then you have more modern systems like krav maga, jeet kune do and the like that are even more passed down.
 

ETinCYQX

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From the ages of 11 to 18, I went to a tae kwon do dojang, Duk Song Sun's chung do kwon. I posted on this months ago:

Of course, one could argue that American football is strictly American, and distinct fromn the 19th century versions of rugby or British football that were its progenitors, or that American baseball is a distinct game from rounders and cricket, where its origins lie, and, in that vein, one could argue that tae kwon do is distinctly Korean, and its origins in Shotokan have no bearing, but I think that all of those viewpoints are more than a lttle delusional......

Everything has origins somewhere, there aren't any original martial arts. Modern Taekwondo is distinctly Korean just as modern Shotokan is distinctly Japanese; IMHO Taekwondo has changed enough to warrant being considered a distinct Korean style and no longer Japanese.

As a side note I remember learning those poomsae/kata back in my Park's days...good times. :)
 

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