List of martial arts explained

There are many distinct styles and schools of martial arts. Sometimes, schools or styles are introduced by individual teachers or masters, or as a brand name by a specific gym. Martial arts can be grouped by type or focus, or alternatively by regional origin. This article focuses on the latter grouping of these unique styles of martial arts.

For Hybrid martial arts, as they originated from the late 19th century and especially after 1950, it may be impossible to identify unique or predominant regional origins. It is not trivial to distinguish "traditional" from "modern" martial arts. Chronology is not the decisive criterion, as, for example, "traditional" Taekwondo was developed in the 1950s, while the "modern" hybrid martial art of Bartitsu was developed .

A large portion of traditional martial arts can be categorized as Folk wrestling (see the separate article), although in some cases a folk wrestling style and a modern combat sport may overlap or become indistinguishable from each other once the sport has been regulated.

Africa

Angola
Egypt
Nigeria
Senegal
Somalia
South Africa
Sudan

Americas

Barbados
Brazil
Canada
Colombia
Cuba
Haiti
Peru
United States

Asia

Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
India
Indonesia
Israel
Japan
Korea
Laos
Malaysia
Mongolia
Myanmar
Philippines
Sri Lanka
Thailand
Turkey
Vietnam

Europe

See main article: Historical European martial arts.

Austria
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Italy
Ireland
Portugal
Russia
Serbia
Spain
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Others

Oceania

New Zealand
Hawaii
Samoa

See also