Читать книгу Complete Shotokan Karate. History, Philosophy, and Practice онлайн

14 страница из 39

As societies continued to grow, roles were further specialized to the extent that the economy was able to support a permanent military force. Classes of professional warriors, whose main task in life was to fight, came into existence. These were men who had the time and financial support that permitted the full-time practice of the methods of war and all its intricacies. These circumstances resulted in the development of the martial arts, the aim of whose training was to prepare men for war and to keep them in constant readiness should the need for their services arise. In different areas of the world this process took place at different times.

With the advent of firearms, the traditional martial arts began to decline in value. A conscripted soldier with a little training was capable of killing with one shot even the most heavily armored knight or the most skilled swordsman. The value placed on the arts of the sword, spear, and bow were denigrated. As this transition occurred, the continuous local warfare between neighbors began to lessen. In Japan, this began to take place when a unification process began in the seventeenth century.