Worldwide wham bam.

It never ceases to amaze that I still encounter new martial arts I
have never heard of before. Today, I read in the Metro newspaper
an article about Kixa – an ancient art from Indonesia. They state
that kixa is not a martial art, but a philosophy and lifestyle plan that
eschews violence or confrontation. And yet the classes consist of
punches, kicks, gradings etc much like any other martial art. Their
website continues the mythic description in more detail but suffice
to say it sounds all very new to me.
Last year I came across the little heard of styles of systema (Russia)
and Viet Vo Dao (Vietnam). I guess in our growing metropolitan
community of people, the formerly ancient and little known arts are
getting a wider audience. This is a good thing since one can always
learn something from another art. Crikey when I was a pup it was
either judo, karate or kung fu and that was it. Nowadays, every
country is rightly claiming a heritage in martial arts, even in good
old Blighty – classes in medieval fighting have been re-branded and
offered as English martial arts – where you can learn to use
weapons such as broadsword, cudgel, battle axe and quarter-staff as
well as unarmed fighting, medieval style.
The breadth of martial arts available to Joe Public is truly
astonishing. In many ways, the variety on offer reflects the different
needs and desires of the people who attend. And that’s a good
thing.