Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts

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WikiProject Martial arts

Founded: 14 April 2004
Shortcuts: WP:WPMA
Portal: Martial arts

Project links

Category • Deletion sorting • Requests

Task forces

Karate • Kickboxing

Project pages

Article Review • Assessment • Loanwords • Notability guidelines • Participants

Archived pages

Discussions (1, 2, 3, 4) • WikiProject Asian martial arts

Descendant projects

Boxing • Mixed martial arts • Sumo

Related projects

Military history • Sports • Biography

V·T·E


Welcome to WikiProject Martial arts. This WikiProject's members work to improve articles related to the martial arts. This is the homepage for the project. Here you will find a list of the project's participants (and can add yourself, if you like!), links to articles in need of improvement or that are undergoing review (see the box to your right →), and descriptions of the style conventions this project uses. If you have any questions, just ask.

Please note that everything here has been created by this project's participants. The conventions are suggestions—things to give you focus and to help you get started. You shouldn't feel obliged to follow these guidelines, but if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following them can be useful and aid you in maintaining previously reached consensus.

Scope

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There are many different martial arts and correspondingly many articles. As martial arts differ wildly, there is a limit to how much standardization is reasonable. But the information could be better distributed and coordinated between articles; that is the primary goal of this project.

Project cleanup listing

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Alerts

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Articles for deletion

Categories for discussion

Good article nominees

Articles to be split

Articles for creation

New articles

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Bot detected new articles
This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2026-02-15 20:03 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

Recognized content

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Featured articles Good articles Did You Know? (DYK) Delisted articles
—alphabetically—
  1. Morihei Ueshiba
  2. Retiarius
  3. Zhou Tong (archer)
 —alphabetically—
  1. Hard Target
  2. Kenshiro Abbe
  3. Mitsuyo Maeda
  4. Rhee Taekwon-Do
  5. Taylor Lautner
  6. Yamashita Yoshiaki
 —chronologically— —alphabetically—
  1. Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu
  2. Hong Kong action cinema
  3. Japanese sword
  4. Sumo
  5. Shintō Musō-ryū
  6. Aikido
  7. Ernest Emerson
Martial arts pages by quality
Quality
Total
FA 3
GA 30
B 129
C 846
Start 8,827
Stub 11,885
List 408
Category 10,661
Disambig 38
Redirect 709
Template 1,384
NA 1,556
Assessed 36,476
Unassessed 1,462
Total 37,938
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 119,276 Ω = 5.49

For more information on how the WikiProject Martial arts articles are rated, see the link on quality assessment guidelines. Whenever the ratings for an article are changed, please update the table of rating categories at the link articles by quality statistics.

Participants

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Anyone may be a participant. If you would like to join the Project, just go to Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts/Participants and add your name to the "active" list, You may also wish to add one of the projects Userboxes shown below.

Notability guidelines

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See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts/Notability

General conventions

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See also: Wikipedia:Manual of style
See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Korea-related articles)
See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)

There is a vast profusion of martial arts and therefore of martial arts lore, most of which has only been written about in the last few decades, and often not by academic scholars. So the same thing can have many names and each name can have many spellings, making reading difficult. One of the goals of this project is to standardize, to some extent, spelling and usage of various words.

Types of articles

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There are several different kinds of articles related to martial arts. Try to list all of them on List of martial arts-related topics. If that page gets too long this policy can be changed. This page is a good page to keep an eye on as a "to do" list and a summary of what's there.

Please note that articles should not be "How-to" articles. Try to discuss what is valuable and interesting about the martial art's practice and history. Detailed instructions are to be avoided.

Articles of global scope

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These are articles such as Martial art and List of martial arts. These should contain some useful information about all martial arts, cross-culturally. Obviously, it is very difficult to be this general, so not much can be said. A major problem (and motivation for this project) is to keep the list of martial arts useful.

Examples of articles with a smaller scope, but still having global topics, are articles like Swordsmanship or Grappling.

Articles about families of martial arts

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Second, there are general families of martial arts, frequently separated by nationality, such as Filipino martial arts or Chinese martial arts. Such articles, while still very broad in scope, may go into more detail regarding general history, philosophy, techniques and training methods. Some may work well as a hub, with a paragraph or two to give an overview of each topic, and a {{Main|article name}} or {{See also|article name}} template to direct the reader to a primary article.

Each family should probably maintain its own list of martial arts in the family, like list of Arnis systems. Family pages should also include links to relevant global martial arts pages, links to related families (if any), links to the list of martial arts in the family, and links to individual martial arts in any family that are directly relevant to the text of the family article.

Some families that may be useful:

Handling of martial arts that cannot be easily classified into a family (for example, capoeira) is a matter for discussion; for the moment it probably makes sense to link them directly from the global pages as if they were families. The number of families should be kept relatively small.

Articles about "types" of martial arts

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Pages of this category are probably the most fundamental to this project and most should be listed in the martial arts navigation bars. "Types" of martial arts deserve a page of their own, such as taekwondo, judo, karate, or t'ai chi ch'uan. Try to avoid being too specific regarding the practice of a specific school or organization, unless of course specific information about an organization helps the reader to understand the martial art that is article's topic. In most cases, particular schools, branches, or styles of martial arts will warrant their own page, such as Yagyū Shinkage-ryū, a school of Japanese swordsmanship (kenjutsu), or Moo Duk Kwan, a school of taekwondo. Subgroups or branches of such schools are typically included in the main page, rather than have their own article (see Ittō-ryū).

Individual martial arts articles will inevitably be rather free-form, suiting themselves to the nature of the art. However, some sections can be suggested:

  • History: this should include both recent history (who is teaching now, where they learned, how the art came to be widely known) and ancient history if applicable (if the art is derived from ancient Spanish and Filipino war techniques, say so). Ancient history will very often be a matter of debate; in order to maintain a neutral point of view, all versions in common circulation should be described, whether plausible or not, with appropriate Wiki links to the relevant history. Ancient history may well be shared with related arts, so this might belong on the family page. This section should also describe any related arts and their relationship (ancestor, descendant, factional split).
  • Technical Aspects: An overview of the art's technical features. This may include:
    • Whether emphasis is on self-defense, military effectiveness, or spiritual preparation
    • Style (close or long-range, striking or grappling, etc....)
    • Training methods, drills, and equipment
    • Weapons used, if any
    • Forms (kata, hyung, poomse, aka, etc....)
  • Sport: Is the martial art practiced as a sport? Are there competitions? Sparring? Is there one or more international organization that administers the sport?

Other things that should be mentioned if relevant:

  • uniform
  • customs and etiquette (bowing, saluting and so on)
  • ranking (colored belts, colored gloves, official instructor certification)
  • organizations (e.g., International Taekwon-Do Federation, which has copyrighted the forms)

Pictures may be relevant, and always help liven up an article. Pictures may include:

  • organization logos (check copyright and trademark issues first!)
  • uniforms
  • training equipment
  • important people

Consider adding a small and short video of a characteristic drill or exercise. See the m:Video Policy first.

Articles about techniques

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These are articles such as Grappling holds, or Punch (strike). These pages should be as generic as possible; while they can discuss the usage within a particular fighting system it should be made clear that they are elements of fighting that are practiced in many systems. Similar to categories of techniques are pages about particular martial arts concepts, such as aiki, and hard and soft (martial arts).

It should be kept in mind that many martial arts share the same techniques or training methods with slightly different names or technical variations. It is easy to be biased towards the particular martial art that one practices, but we should strive for equality and to unify the martial arts under one banner while still retaining what is unique to each martial art. A good way of doing this is to ask other editors from the project who practice different arts, to review large edits on general articles. The following are some articles about the most common types of techniques used in martial arts:

If you have a particular technique that you'd like to create an article about, it is highly probable that it is one of the above types. For instance, let's say you practice judo, and want to write a little something about ippon seoinage, a judo technique. Think hard before starting a new article: What type of technique is this? Ippon seoinage is a throw, and should hence be put under "Throw (grappling)", which is the standard article for all throws. Originally, there was a strong preference not to have individual articles for each different technique, but since that time, there has been a proliferation of stub or start-class articles for every technique, especially those included in the official list of Kodokan Judo techniques.

At this time, when creating or editing an article about a technique, please consider the following:

  1. Is there a corresponding English term for the technique, such as shoulder throw for seoi-nage? The English Wikipedia should remain as English-centric as possible, thus all shoulder throws may be discussed with a reasonable amount of detail, there.
  2. Wikipedia is not a dictionary; the article about ippon seoinage may not consist only of the definition of the term.
  3. Wikipedia is not an instruction manual; the article about ippon seoinage should not consist of detailed instructions on how to execute it.
  4. If at this point, you have nothing left to write about ippon seoinage, it clearly does not warrant its own article, and should be addressed at Shoulder throw.

The final general rule on techniques is that they should not be capitalized. For more details about transliteration, Asian characters, and the use of foreign terms generally, please see the appropriate manual of style or language-specific conventions, below.

List of martial arts

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The List of martial arts should not include martial arts for which only the name is known. Martial arts with an entry, even a stub, belong in the list as there is some information on that art and any notability debate can be focused on that arts article.

The reasoning behind this is that there are very many systems of martial arts, many with basically uninformative names (for example, Modern Arnis is a kind of Arnis; just listing its name is really of no use). Moreover, some students may confuse names of techniques/styles/arts/systems zealously adding non-existent names to the lists. Since there are so many arts, it is basically impossible to verify that something is not a notable based one the name so that it can be removed.

Definitions

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When talking about martial arts, many people use these terms interchangeably. However, in an encyclopedia it makes sense to use these words in a standard way as much as possible. This should not override self-identification but should be used in article introductions etc..., to categorize the subject.

  • Martial art or Art: Very broad term encompassing a general collection of related techniques, such as Jujutsu, or Eskrima. Most are included in the } navigation template.
  • System: An organized method or complete syllabus for teaching a martial art. This probably includes training drills, forms, sparring techniques and rules, warm-up exercises and so on. Systems are taught by schools, and may be overseen or regulated by an organization. Most schools will teach a single system, and in such an instance, the words system and school may be interchangeable. Other schools will incorporate multiple systems, such as Shintō Musō-ryū, which began with a system for the short staff, but over the centuries assimilated several other schools and now additionally teaches systems for the sword, walking stick, chain and sickle, rope-tying, and truncheon.
  • Style: This is perhaps the most vague of all these terms. One may find it used to describe a personal "style" of an individual martial artist, but more often referring to an entire organization, as Shotokan is often referred to as a "style" of karate. As such, this term is probably best avoided for classification purposes.
  • Branch: A subdivision of a system or organization. Branches usually form after the death of the head of a system. High-ranking practitioners then go on separately to continue teaching the ways of their former instructor, often incorporating their own revisions into the system they were taught. An example of this is the system of Shorin-ryū, which has branches including Matsubayashi-ryū and Kobayashi-ryū (which is further branched into Shidō-kan and Shorinkan).
  • Organization: An organization is just that, a group of people collaborating to define a martial art. For example, the World Taekwondo Federation is an organization that certifies teachers and runs tournaments. So is the All Japan Kendo Federation. An organization typically includes many different schools, all of which are usually within the same system (or branch).
  • School: A school consists of at least a single group of people that are usually taught or overseen by a single teacher, most commonly at a single location or small set of locations e.g., Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū. Occasionally, a school might consist of several groups in different places, but at some point in its growth would more properly be referred to as an organization.

Categorization

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In general, a martial art should be listed in 2 categories - one being the name of the specific system of martial arts, and the other being the place of origin. For example, Jujutsu is placed in Category:Jujutsu and Category:Japanese martial arts as it is the main article for the Category Jujutsu it should be formatted as [[Category:Jujutsu| ]] to note this.

Practitioners of a martial art should be listed in one category named for their nationality and system of martial art. For example, Sokon Matsumura is placed only in Category:Okinawan karateka.

If the article is already listed under a subcategory in the Martial arts category, there is no need to put other Martial arts categories on the article unless it is the main article. This is to prevent flooding and help with organization.

Loanwords

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Main page: WP:MOS § Foreign terms

Loanwords are foreign words which have been adopted into another language, in this case, English. For a list of martial arts terms which have been accepted or rejected as loanwords by this project, and to discuss additions or removals, see WikiProject Martial arts/Loanwords.

Spelling

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See also: Wikipedia:WikiProject Martial arts/Loanwords

Many martial arts are not from English-speaking countries. Especially for those that are not European, there may not be a single standard way to write their names (or the names they use for things) in English text. For example, Eskrima is also often spelled as Escrima, and sometimes the words Kali or Arnis de Mano are used instead (and this word comes from Spanish via Tagalog, which are both normally written with the Latin alphabet).

First of all, many organizations have a standardized English spelling. For example, "Rhee Taekwon-Do" is the name for a particular taekwondo organization. In cases like this, the correct spelling (when referring to the organization) is the organization's way of spelling its own name. Meanwhile, the word taekwondo itself has been adopted into English as a loanword. Therefore we write it as "taekwondo", instead of the correct Revised Romanization of the term 태권도, which would be taegwondo. If there is a martial arts organization called "Iron Fist Kungfu School", call it that even if you don't approve of how they transliterated "Kung fu" and they have nothing to do with traditional kung fu or wushu.

For names of techniques, follow the appropriate system of translation or transliteration from the source language. When no standardized system exists, or more than one are in equal use, but one particular spelling is in very common use, try to use that spelling throughout, with an indication where appropriate that another spelling is sometimes used.

In all cases, where possible, give the spelling in its original language as well. Keeping in mind that many readers cannot read foreign alphabets, so try to give the appropriate transliteration (and possibly a pronunciation guide).

Capitalization

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Proper names of individual schools of martial arts should be capitalized e.g., "Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū" or "Shotokan". Broad types of martial arts should not be capitalized e.g., "kenjutsu", or "karate" (see above for definition of 'art' vs 'school').

Honorifics and academic titles

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The use of honorifics or academic titles, such as "sensei", or "sifu", and also those such as "Dr." or "Prof.", should follow the rules from the Manual of Style, repeated here in brief for convenience.

"Academic and professional titles (such as "Doctor" or "Professor") should not be used before the name in the initial sentence or in other uses of the person's name. Verifiable facts about how the person attained such titles should be included in the article text instead" (WP:NAMES#Academic titles).

(e.g., "Morihei Ueshiba is often referred to as Ōsensei by..."; not, "Ueshiba Ōsensei was the founder of aikido...").

Trivia and fiction lists

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Sections including a list of fictional references to a martial art or a particular weapon are generally to be avoided, and eliminated if found. Such a list is contrary to WP:LIST, as well as WP:TRIV. No matter how important the particular work of fiction is, please be aware that its relevance to the weapon or martial art is most likely very slight.

For example, if it is deemed notable and interesting that Toshiro Mifune's character in Seven Samurai carried a nodachi, the place to make that note is on the article about Seven Samurai, or better yet, the article for the fictional character he played, Kikuchiyo. Information in the "Nodachi" article should be restricted to that which enhances the readers understanding of the development and use of the nodachi.

Upon finding a pre-existing trivia section, the proper procedure is to transfer the list to the talk page, and explain why it was removed from the article, this way any really relevant information, such as a specific individual's use in a film can be replaced as prose.

Language-specific conventions

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Chinese-specific conventions

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See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (China-related articles)

The following conventions are intended to apply only to the use of the Chinese language in martial arts articles.

Recommended transliterations:

  • wushu (武術 or 武术; pinyin: wǔshù) rather than wu shu, meaning any Chinese martial art; use modern wushu when referring specifically to those forms that are standarized for competition.
  • Wing Chun rather than Wing Tsun, meaning a branch in the Wing Chun family or martial art; the latter is an alternative English spelling of the phonetic pronunciation of the Chinese characters that make up the name, trademarked by a particular organization to denote their version of the art. Ving Tsun is another alternative spelling that denotes the Toishanese/Cantonese pronunciation of the same characters.

Japanese-specific conventions

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See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles)

The following conventions are intended to apply only to the use of the Japanese language in martial arts articles.

Names and terminology, generally

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Generally, follow the conventions in Wikipedia:Manual of Style (Japan-related articles) for names of people, places, and terms. The primary rules to keep in mind are:

  • Proper names of people and places should never be italicized (except when correct romanization is being indicated parenthetically). This includes the names of schools and organizations.
  • Regular words (non-loanwords) should be italicized and should include macrons every time they appear.
  • Loanwords should not be italicized and should not be written with macrons.

There are several particular issues that are not addressed by the manual; they should be handled as specified in the following subsections.

Names of schools (ryū)

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For articles that are about a school of martial arts (ryū), capitalize the proper name part and add the suffix -ryū. For example, "Shintō Musō-ryū".

Names of forms (kata)

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The name of a form (kata) should be addressed exactly as if it was the name of a book, in addition to being properly romanized. Therefore, the name should be italicized, and all words except for particles of speech (such as no (の), ni (に), or o (を)) should begin with a capital letter. If used, the template format should be as follows:

Italicized English Name of Kata (KANJI, Italicized Japanese Name of Kata)

A specific example of how to code this is:

{{Nihongo|''Iron Horse Riding, Number One''|鉄騎初段|Tekki Shodan}}.

Which results in:

Iron Horse Riding, Number One (鉄騎初段, Tekki Shodan).

Tagalog-specific conventions

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The following conventions are intended to apply only to the use of the Tagalog language in martial arts articles.

Recommended usage and spelling:

  • eskrima rather than escrima, kali or arnis de mano, meaning any traditionally Filipino martial art.

Article categories

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The following is an expandable category tree for all of the subcategories under Category:Martial arts

This article is sourced from Wikipedia. Content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.