Whatever Happened to These Martial Arts?

Karate. Taekwondo. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Ask most Americans to name a martial art and the answers usually come pretty quickly. But martial arts history is filled with styles that once had serious momentum, passionate students, and loyal followings before quietly fading from the mainstream. Some were …

The Biggest Martial Arts Myths That Refuse to Die

Some martial arts myths are so persistent that they almost feel impossible to kill. Even people who have never stepped into a dojo have probably heard at least a few of them: black belts are unbeatable, martial artists have to register their hands as weapons, ninjas dressed in all black, or certain …

The Rise and Fall of Martial Arts in America

There was a time when martial arts felt almost impossible to avoid in America. In the 1980s and early 1990s, karate schools seemed to appear in every shopping center, kids practiced spinning kicks in backyard uniforms, and movies turned martial artists into larger-than-life heroes. Then something ch…

Did Samurai Really Test Their Swords On People?

Few samurai stories are as disturbing, controversial, or fascinating as the claim that warriors once tested their swords on real people. You may have heard stories about samurai slicing through criminals to prove a blade's sharpness or testing a sword's quality in ways that sound almost impossible t…