2. What is the philosophy of martial arts?

Martial arts was developed in the Far East. For reasons unknown to me, they developed a method of combat involving evasive maneuvers and the ability to use the force of an opponent against him to promote a fall (as in judo) or to throw him off balance and counterstrike (any of the martial arts). Was this weapon-free style of combat developed because these people were often caught by surprise by invading forces? without time to gather weapons before the confrontation? This weapons-free method of fighting enables an unarmed person to appear harmless when approaching but able to scare off or defeat an attacker. There is more than an element of surprise because martial arts is well known for enabling smaller opponents to defeat larger opponents. So with weapons-free and the capacity of a smaller man to defeat a large one, we have a situation where the seemingly powerless is quite powerful and dangerous. The philosophy of martial arts might be embodied in a single word: stealth. This is consistent with subtle and quiet movements, lack of need for weaponry, the danger of an underestimated smaller opponent. Perhaps stealth power is the underlying philosophy of the martial arts. Again... time....