When someone talks about martial arts, one of the first things that often comes to mind for many are films starring Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee or maybe The Karate Kid. These films can be a great introduction to martial arts, but there is so much more to learn about this art form. Each style of martial arts has its own facets that differentiate it from other styles of martial arts. Some martial arts are linked to spiritual or religious beliefs or philosophies such as Buddhism, Taoism or Shintoism. Other forms of martial arts have their own forms of spiritual or non-spiritual codes of honor. Another example could be their fighting styles. A final example concerns the origins of different martial arts. In this article, I will discuss the similarities and differences between the origins of three forms of martial arts: Taekwondo of South Korea, Shaolin Kung-Fu of China, and Sumo of Japan. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayTaekwondo, which originated in South Korea, became an official Olympic sport about 20 years ago. It was first included as a demonstration sport at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, then again at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. It was not until the year 2000, during the Sydney Olympics, that Taekwondo officially become an Olympic sport. Despite the current fame of Taekwondo, its origin still gives rise to disagreements. The official and most popular belief is that Taekwondo originated 2000 years ago as an indigenous fighting method. However, some recent publications attest that the true origin is from Japanese karate from the Korean colonial period from 1910 to 1945. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence indicating that this is the true origin, but the majority of academic institutions and Korean taekwondo practitioners insist on ancient martial arts being the true origin. With the exception of Hwang Ki, all of Taekwondo's founding fathers studied at Japanese universities where they first learned karate. They established the first five major martial arts academies or Kwan in the Seoul area from 1944 to 1947. Other Kwan were established during and after the Korean War, however, they were not unified in their methods of teaching, their styles or the use of numerous techniques. Due to the disunity, different names were coined based on their style of martial arts: Mooduk Kwan, Jido Kwan, Changmu Kwan, Chungdo Kwan and Songmu Kwan. In April 1955, Kwan leaders, historians and prominent members of the society met to choose a single name, hoping to unify the schools. After a long struggle, they agreed on the name: Taekwondo. They derive the name from the Korean word “Tae” meaning foot, “Kwon” meaning fist and “Do” meaning path. However, this was not universally accepted until 1965. During the 1970s, the Korean Taekwondo Association disbanded the Individual Kwan to unify the martial art. Some rulers moved abroad to retain their original Kwan and some even retained their old name. Today, Taekwondo is an international art and sport practiced in more than 190 countries. Kung Fu generally refers to martial arts in China, but this form of martial arts is believed to have originated outside of China. Kung-Fu can be translated as “the effort and time required to complete a task or master a skill.” Another translation is “perfection achieved through effort.” We think that.