Martial art for self-defence । Ifrith Islam

‘A 16-year-old Garo girl is allegedly raped by her employer in Gulshan area of Dhaka.’
It’s a news that should have shaken whole Bangladesh rather only hurting the victim and her family for long. That’s only because it is not a stray or one-off incident but these sorts of thing are taking place in many places in the country and news are hitting the headlines every now and then. It is such a crime that is committed secretly and tend to be suppressed because of social taboo in a South Asian country like Bangladesh.
If that girl had a little bit of training in defence, at least she could have tried to escape or wrestle with the attacker.
The act of self-defence started since the beginning of the human civilization. 
Martial arts, a various way of sports or fighting skills, mainly it is originated from East Asia, such as kung fu, tae kwon do, judo karate and kendo.
Martial arts can categorized into two streams- armed and unarmed arts.
The traditional armed combat often encompasses a wide spectrum of melee weapons, including bladed weapons and pole arms (a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, thereby extending the user’s effective range). Those kind of traditions includes eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo and historical European martial arts, especially from the German Renaissance.
Sometimes training with one specific weapon is considered a style of martial arts. Japanese martial arts are full of noticeable disciplines, to be obeyed strictly, such as kenjutsu, kendo in which sword is used, bojutsu- staff is used and kyudo- archery. 
The modern martial arts and sports combine many activities such as modern fencing, stick fighting systems like canne de combat and modern competitive activities.
Since the birth of martial art was an act of self-defence and that the continent Asia first on the list. Therefore, East Asia originated martial arts are many type.
One of the most renowned movie series with the name of karate kid did ignite fire not only the young hearts all around the world but also the general people who don’t have any interest to go near TV did wait for the karate kid’s ending part, resulting millions to know about karate and before that the legendary name Bruce Lee still runs around who was a also known as the Dragon of martial art, especially karate with his own techniques.
These arts of self-defence are getting much more popularity day by day in and around Dhaka, of course without local Boli Khela and Kabadi. In absence of nourishment of local martial art or reform to the existing one Indian fitness art Yoga is knocking at the next door following the footsteps of Karate, Judo etc. There are different types of martial arts round the world including those of African, American, Arab and European ones.

 Boli Khela is a traditional form of wrestling in Bamgladesh, particularly in Chittagong and is also considered as the national game of the district.
Kabadi is a particular ancient game is the national sport of Bangladesh and also, it is traditionally known as ha-du-du. It is played at different places with different rules and has been practiced all over the country, especially in the rural parts in Bangladesh for years. The players need to be strong, well-built, swift and agile.
Yoga is a group of physical and mental practices which originated in ancient India. One of the orthodox schools of Hindu philosophical traditions is yoga. The goal of yoga is peculiar. Liberation is the only word that fits perfectly as the main goal of yoga. Besides, the other goals are quite to the people who suffer from different types of agonies. Therefore, the physical, mental, social spiritual and self-realisation are once that help to get back to the original state of people mind.
 
Karate: This covers many styles of self-defence involving kicks, punches, and open-handed chops. It’s believed that the word “karate” was first used in Okinawa, Japan, when a martial artist created a form of martial art that had Chinese influences. “Kara” originally referred to China and “karate” to Chinese hand—but the Japanese translation of karate is “empty hand.” As with all martial arts, karate has different levels of ranking, reflecting expertise. In karate (as well as many other martial arts) they’re denoted by belts in different colors, with the well-known black belt representing the highest level of expertise.
Jujitsu: This martial art developed in China and Japan and is a forerunner of both aikido and judo. All three martial arts rely on grappling, a technique that involves fighting in close proximity to your opponent with lots of body contact; it can involve anything from throws to strangle-type holds to taking your opponent to the ground or floor and fighting there. Jujitsu uses the attacker’s momentum to do joint locks (in which you force your opponent’s joint, such as an elbow or knee, beyond its normal range of motion, resulting in pain or injury) to restrain the opponent. One variant, Brazilian jujitsu, relies on choking the opponent and continuing the fighting on the ground.
Aikido: Like jujitsu, this Japanese martial art—meaning “the way for harmony” or “unification of your spiritual energy” or ki—makes use of the momentum and strength of the opponent to achieve your objective (sometimes called “nonresistance”). Aikido doesn’t use kicking and makes less use of hand strikes than jujitsu. Instead, the practitioner uses a lot of turning motions and pushing movements accompanied by joint locks.
Judo: This martial art also originated in Japan. Like jujitsu and aikido, it’s based largely on grappling, but in this case with an emphasis on throws and pinning the opponent to the ground.
Hapkido: This Korean martial art incorporates a variety of weapons, including belts, ropes, and canes. They’re used in moves including kicks, joint locks, throws, and hand strikes to the body’s pressure points.
Kung fu: This Chinese martial art uses numerous fighting styles, some of them involving acrobatic elements such as flips, jumps, and high kicks. Kung fu can be loosely divided into two schools: those that focus on arm work, such as rapid, close-range punching; and those that focus on acrobatics, with kicks and leg work. Some kung fu forms encourage the practitioner to be aggressively forceful, while others encourage the yielding model, in which you use the attacker’s force against him or her. Some schools emphasize a focus on relaxation and visualization techniques.
Capoeira: This Brazilian martial art was originally developed by Angolan slaves who disguised their self-defence moves as dance. It’s very acrobatic, with flips, punches, and kicks.
Krav maga: Developed by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), krav maga (meaning “battle combat” in Hebrew) focuses on hand-to-hand combat with grappling, wrestling, and hand strikes. It also teaches the practitioner to use virtually any ordinary object in the environment—a tree branch, a garbage can lid—to help fend off an attacker, even one who is much larger and heavier. Classes are often taught by Israelis who served in the IDF.
Tae kwon do: This Korean martial art may be one of the world’s oldest. It emphasises kicking in particular, though the practice also incorporates hand strikes, joint locks, throws, and punches.
Tai chi: Also known as tai chi chuan, this Chinese martial art involves choreographed, slow-motion postures. Some forms use a sword or other weapons. It’s said that tai chi originated when a Chinese monk saw the fluid movements of a crane fending off a snake and combined the graceful movements with Taoist breathing techniques. In the West today, tai chi is usually practiced as a form of exercise, rather than as a martial art.

The Arabian self-defence is quite peculiar. During the fair of Ukaz leading Arabs wrestlers used to compete with each other and wrestler of the year was declared every year.
Persian swordsmanship is an ancient yet beautiful combat that combines skills of a sword man and his incredible strength. In modern time, this combat has been modified to sword fencing.
Tahtib is a traditional stick-fighting martial art. The original version of tahtib later evolved into an Egyptian folk dance with wooden stick. Tahtib is now an art that is both practiced and performed in the Upper Egypt today.
Ngumi stick-fighting from South Africa is a martial art traditionally played by teenage Ngumi herdboys.

Finding a class
You can find martial arts classes at community centers, health clubs, colleges and universities, and stand-alone studios. The first thing you should decide is what style or styles best fit what you’re looking for. Are you interested in martial arts as a fun workout, for example, or as a way to defend yourself, indulge your competitive side, or learn about another culture? Do you like to punch or kick? Would you rather not wrestle or do throws? Do you want to avoid physical contact altogether?
Once you’ve settled on a style, use these tips to guide you:
1. Observe several classes to see how crowded they are, the demeanor of the different instructors and participants, and the general environment.
2. Talk to students in the class you’re considering and find out what they think of the program and the instructors. Is the class a combination of all levels, or is there one reserved for beginners?
3. Note that some classes are very competitive and may feel like military boot camp, while others are more relaxed. Some encourage or require sparring, even at the beginner level. Some are geared toward tournaments. While some classes rigidly follow traditional martial arts styles, others may include more contemporary moves or combine techniques from different styles.
4. Some studios require that you sign a contract for a certain time period (similar to a gym membership) or number of classes and that you pay in advance. Before committing, see if you can take a trial class. There are also pay-as-you-go classes, sometimes with discounts for purchasing a multi-class package.
5. Keep in mind that, like most forms of exercise, martial arts classes can carry some risk of injury. These are more likely in styles that involve sparring or other close contact with your opponent, like punches, throws, and joint attacks. Anyone with an overuse injury or who is not already physically fit should check with their doctor or a physical therapist before attempting a vigorous martial art. And older adults or people with health problems should check with their doctors before starting any martial arts class. For many older people, tai chi—with its gentle movements and lack of physical contact—is a good, if not the best, option, because it’s easier on joints yet has many of the same physical benefits as other martial arts.
6. If you want to try a more intense martial art, note that many classes start with a vigorous warm-up, which may involve multiple push-ups, burpees, and jumping jacks. If these exceed your level of fitness, you might want to start with a gentler martial art or lower-level class and work up. For classes that involve sparring or other physical contact, you might also consider wearing a mouth guard, especially if you have bridges or implants.
 
Every human needs self-defence against evil. Since the ancient time the self-defence system is came handy whenever there is a little or big dispute amongst family, nation or country or continents over the years. At that time, the father figures used teach the children as they had learnt from their fathers or teachers and that was mandatory if anyone wants keep peace in between.
Now, though it is not mandatory but it should be learnt if any difficult commotion arises while casually walking or going somewhere or coming home and since it is to protect oneself from physical harm.
Therefore, it should be one of the main goals for the parents to teach their children the art of self-defence so that they can make use of their skill to defend themselves in danger to protect those helpless people of the society. In the month of Independence Day Bangladesh needs to defend its independence and groom up its future citizens so that they can defend themselves, their country’s independence and the people of the planet who are in danger.