A History of Kickboxing

The history of kickboxing differs depending on the area of origin you're talking about. Kickboxing hasn't been around for too long altogether, making it relatively easy to trace its roots. Although it is clear that a form of kickboxing originated in Japan, some people believe that this form of kickboxing is different from today's kickboxing, which they say started in the U.S.

Many believe that kickboxing developed in Japan. According to these people, kickboxing is a derivative of several martial arts, most notably one known as Muay Thai. In the late 1950s, karate expert Osamu Noguchi set about designing a form of karate that would allow opponents to hit one another. He, along with a fighter by the name of Kenji Kurosaki developed kickboxing after watching three of Noguchi's Muay Thai fighters lose to Japan's karate fighters. The original name for what would later become kickboxing was karate-boxing.

Those who believe the history of kickboxing begins in the U.S. claim that the sport developed years later, in the 1970s. American karate fighters were looking for a form of martial arts that would allow full contact. At first, the risk of serious injury in kickboxing led to protests about the new sport. Rules were updated to make kickboxing safer and protective gear became a part of the sport.

It was around this time that the Kickboxing Association was founded in Japan. The sport was broadcast on television and enjoyed popularity for awhile. The attention people paid to kickboxing waned when kickboxer Tadashi Sawamura retired, and it remained on the back burner of sports until the 1990s.

Today, kickboxing has made a return. It has spread across the world, becoming popular in a large number of countries outside of Japan and the U.S. Aerobic kickboxing, inspired by the martial art, has become a fitness craze in the U.S. as well as other countries.