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Full WABUKAN articles: history, masters, techniques, weapons, cinema and comparisons. Our own text, with images and the sources at the end of every article.

News

Baku 2026: seven days, fourteen judo world champions

Japan took half the titles, Georgia had its thunder, the UAE won its first ever gold and a 19-year-old Korean closed the week. The story of the Baku Judo World Championships.

· 3 min
News

Bielsko-Biała 2026: karate’s new young world champions

Two Japanese teenagers repeat their titles from two years ago, a Portuguese reaches the kata final and an Egyptian is champion again. The karate World Cadet, Junior and U21 Championships in Poland.

· 3 min
News

From Nagoya to Paris: an autumn of martial arts in three weeks

Karate, judo and taekwondo at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, and a Chinese champion who won again in Paris nine days later.

· 3 min
Masters

Miyamoto Musashi: the swordsman and The Book of Five Rings

Who Musashi really was: the duels, the two swords of Niten Ichi-ryū, the paintings and the book he wrote in a cave shortly before he died.

· 4 min
Weapons

The katana: steel, forging and myths

From iron sand to polished blade: how a katana is made, why it curves, what the hamon is and which myths to forget.

· 4 min
Cinema

Seven Samurai (1954): Kurosawa's masterpiece and the sword on screen

How Akira Kurosawa filmed farmers, rōnin and bandits in 1586 Japan, what the film shows of swordsmanship and archery, and why it is still copied 70 years later.

· 4 min
Comparisons

Karate or taekwondo? Origins, techniques, rules and training side by side

Two striking arts with linked roots: from Okinawa and Korea to the Olympic Games. What unites them, what sets them apart and how to choose.

· 4 min
Technique

Seoi-nage: the shoulder throw explained step by step

One of judo's most famous throws: where it comes from, the ippon and morote variants, Kanō's three phases, common mistakes and safety.

· 4 min
Cinema

Enter the Dragon (1973): the film that got the world training

The story of Bruce Lee's most famous film: production, cast, the fights, Lee's death six days before the premiere and its influence on martial arts.

· 4 min
History

Sambo: the Soviet fighting art born from judo and folk wrestling

From Vasili Oshchepkov and the Kodokan to FIAS and MMA: the history of sambo, sport versus combat sambo, and the rules that make it unique.

· 4 min
History

The history of belts: where the black belt and the colours come from

Jigoro Kano, the first dan grades of 1883, Kawaishi's colours in France, Funakoshi's karate and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu system: how grades were born in martial arts.

· 4 min
Technique

Rear naked choke (hadaka-jime): how it works and how to train it safely

The most famous rear choke in judo, jiu-jitsu and MMA: names, mechanics, why it works so well, defences and safety rules.

· 4 min
Weapons

Okinawan kobudo: the weapons from the farm (and the ones that were not)

Bo, sai, tonfa, nunchaku and kama: origins, the real history behind the farmer myth, the masters who saved the kata and how it is trained today.

· 4 min
Arts

Daitō-ryū and the way of aiki

From Takeda Sōkaku to Ueshiba Morihei: how aikido was born and why there are so many schools today.

· 4 min
Arts

The internal arts: tai chi, bagua and xingyi

Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun: how tai chi left a Henan village, and what links it to baguazhang, xingyiquan and bajiquan.

· 4 min
History

Brazilian jiu-jitsu: from the Gracies to MMA

How Maeda's judo became Brazilian jiu-jitsu, went through vale tudo and helped create MMA.

· 4 min
Arts

Capoeira: from slave quarters to a worldwide roda

African roots, persecution, Mestre Bimba and Mestre Pastinha: the story of Regional and Angola.

· 3 min
Arts

From medieval swordsmanship to Olympic foil

Fiore dei Liberi, the German school and Iberian destreza: the roots of HEMA and of the three Olympic fencing weapons.

· 3 min
Weapons

Eskrima, arnis and kali: the Filipino arts

Sticks, knives and empty hands: Balintawak, Doce Pares, Modern Arnis and Pekiti-Tirsia.

· 3 min
Arts

Hapkido: the aiki that crossed the sea

Choi Yong-sul, Daitō-ryū in Korea, Ji Han-jae's kicks and the Sin Moo, Combat and Hwa Rang Do branches.

· 3 min
Technique

Iaido: the art of drawing the sword

From Hayashizaki Jinsuke to the Musō Jikiden and Musō Shinden schools: how drawing the sword became a way.

· 3 min
Masters

Jeet Kune Do: Bruce Lee's method

From Ip Man's wing chun to the 'way of the intercepting fist': how Bruce Lee broke with fixed styles.

· 3 min
History

From jūjutsu to judo: winning by giving way

How samurai grappling schools gave rise to Kanō Jigorō's judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and sambo.

· 4 min
Arts

Kalaripayattu: the martial art of Kerala

Temple gyms, leaps, weapons and medicine: the story of kalaripayattu, banned by the British and revived in the 20th century.

· 3 min
Weapons

Koryū: Japan's old sword schools

Katori, Kashima, Yagyū and Ittō-ryū: the kenjutsu schools born in medieval Japan's wars and what remains of them.

· 3 min
Arts

Krav Maga: from Bratislava to the Israeli army

Imi Lichtenfeld, the streets of the 1930s and the making of a military self-defence system that reached civilians.

· 3 min
Arts

Kyokushin and full-contact karate

Ōyama Masutatsu, knockdown rules and the schools born from Kyokushin: Ashihara, Enshin, Seidokaikan and Kūdō.

· 4 min
Arts

Kyūdō: the way of the bow

From the samurai's mounted bow to a meditative way: the Ogasawara and Heki schools and modern kyūdō.

· 3 min
History

Olympic wrestling: freestyle and Greco-Roman

From ancient Olympia to Paris 2024: why there are two Olympic wrestling styles and what separates them.

· 3 min
History

Okinawa-te: how an island invented karate

The story of Okinawa's martial arts: the Ryukyu Kingdom, Chinese influence, Shuri-te, Naha-te, Tomari-te, from tōde to karate, and kobudō weapons.

· 4 min
Arts

Savate: French boxing

From Paris street kicking to Charles Lecour and Joseph Charlemont: the birth of the kicking art fought in shoes.

· 3 min
History

Shaolin and the kung fu families

From the Songshan monastery to the southern styles — Hung Ga, Choy Li Fut, Wing Chun, White Crane — and northern Mantis.

· 4 min
Arts

Sumo: ritual, hierarchy and power

From Shinto to the Edo tournaments: how professional sumo works, from its divisions to yokozuna.

· 3 min
Arts

From the kwan to taekwondo

Taekkyeon, Japanese rule, the first schools (kwan), ITF and World Taekwondo: how Korea's Olympic art was born.

· 4 min
Arts

Modern wushu and sanda: kung fu as a sport

From the Central Guoshu Institute to world championships: how China turned kung fu into taolu and sanda.

· 4 min

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