What Makes a Martial Art an Art?

 Martial arts are primarily intended as a way for a person to follow the ways of a warrior and train in martial fighting, with or without ever becoming an actual warrior or ever having actually to use the fighting techniques in war. In martial arts, the emphasis is on the path, the journey, and the means, not the destination or result. If required, a martial artist will use the martial art for combat, but the martial artist trains for perfection in performance of technique, not for the possibility of having to use the technique in combat. Usually a martial art is only used in demonstrations of martial techniques, such as in a sparring, forms, breaking, or weapons competition. In many martial arts, physical contact is not required; a competitor may score by performing perfect patterns or, in the case of no-contact free-sparring, by performing a perfect technique that could, but does not, touch the opponent. The goal of a martial art is perfection of technique; however, even though a martial artist seeks perfection, he or she believes that perfection in the martial art may never be achieved.

In some martial arts, such as Iaido, Kyudo, or Capoeria, the art or way is the goal; the artistic way a technique is performed is more important than with the results of a technique. For example, in the sport of archery, the primary concern is the results, whether the arrow hit the target, while in the art of Iaido, the primary concern is the means, the process of loading the arrow and raising and pulling the bow is more important the arrow hitting the target. Some fighting systems, such as Krav Maga or Brazilian Jujitsu, are called martial arts but they are concerned with results, not means. You win by the physical defeat of the opponent; there is no concern that any artistic expression be used to achieve the defeat.