Marital Arts: Sport or Cultural Form?

[Ivy]

Me too. In fact, I originally came in here to move the thread to sexuality&mature!

 

[lowtech redneck]

Two guys going at it with fists or swords, that takes skills and lots of training time. There are only so many of those kinda people around.

Yeah, they were called aristocrats; that attitude was at the expense of the Chinese peasantry in ways too numerous to count.

 

[Asterion]

I tried out Taekwondo for a while with a few mates when I was a little younger. It was basically a fancy aerobics class that lets you earn belts (that you pay for) when you advance a rank for memorizing and executing patterns. I didn't see any culture apart from raising the banner and counting in Korean, there were tournaments for the best. Overall, I felt it was a waste of time... unless you're willing to spend two years giving them your money until they 'give' you a blackbelt and finally start teaching you something worthwhile. I think the problem was that they were using the classes as a workout, whereas it should be expected that you do that in your own time, they just need to tell you how to learn and give you something to test yourself on (eg. sparing, breaking boards...).

I'll agree with other and say that mostly it's both a sport and a cultural thing, though it's best when it's both together.

 

[Betty Blue]

I tried out Taekwondo for a while with a few mates when I was a little younger. It was basically a fancy aerobics class that lets you earn belts (that you pay for) when you advance a rank for memorizing and executing patterns. I didn't see any culture apart from raising the banner and counting in Korean, there were tournaments for the best. Overall, I felt it was a waste of time... unless you're willing to spend two years giving them your money until they 'give' you a blackbelt and finally start teaching you something worthwhile. I think the problem was that they were using the classes as a workout, whereas it should be expected that you do that in your own time, they just need to tell you how to learn and give you something to test yourself on (eg. sparing, breaking boards...).

I'll agree with other and say that mostly it's both a sport and a cultural thing, though it's best when it's both together.

hmmm...
I have no idea which class you went to but it dosn't sound like one which teaches you to respect the martial arts and therefore i would be inclined to agree it would be a total waste of time.

 

[Poki]

With Tae Kwon Do its a mixed bag and dependent on your teacher. To me in Tae Kwon Do culture is not taught it is experienced and you need the right teacher to lead by example. The culture is more of a family, helping each other learn, having higher belts back down and teaching the lower belts when sparring, not proving that you are better. Its a culture of teaching and growing as a team and family. The tournaments and tests are about proving yourself, but the classes should be a culture within themselves without the need to "teach" culture.