THE BEST MARTIAL ARTS STYLE
The terms hard style and soft style are used only in North America and parts of Europe since these are the only regions of the world that have open martial arts competitions.
The terms “hardstyle” and “soft style” came about as a result of the evolution of North American martial arts competitions, particularly in form divisions. For many years, open karate tournaments allowed all martial arts styles and had competitors from different martial arts backgrounds to compete in the same form divisions. Judging a hardstyle form against a soft style form was often like trying to compare apples to oranges.
Sometimes one would see references to “hard” and ‘soft” styles of martial arts. In North America, these terms are used to classify martial art styles into two main categories. Chinese kung fu styles are usually referred to as “soft styles.”
To help resolve these issues, many of the larger martial arts tournaments expanded to have separate divisions for soft and hard styles. Of course, many smaller local tournaments have not been able to offer separate hard and soft style divisions for martial arts forms competitors mainly because of financial budget restrictions. The terms hard style and soft style are used only in North America and parts of Europe since these are the only regions of the world that have open martial arts competitions.
Sometimes one would see references to “hard” and “soft” styles of martial arts. Chinese kung fu styles are usually referred to as “soft styles.” The terms “hard style” and “soft style” came about as a result of the evolution of North American martial arts competitions, particularly in form divisions. Judging a hardstyle form against a soft style form was often like trying to compare apples to oranges. Here at the James Martial Arts Academy, we teach both hard (Kosho-Ryu & Kajukenpo) and soft (Northern and Southern Styles) martial arts.