Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
97 free Martial Arts trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
20 free martial arts trivia questions with answers. Think you're a martial arts expert? Put your knowledge to the test with our comprehensive 97-question trivia quiz covering everything from ancient kung fu traditions to modern MMA competitions. Whether you're a seasoned fighter, casual fan, or curious beginner, this quiz will challenge what you know about martial arts history, techniques, and famous practitioners from around the world.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Karate was born in the Ryukyu Kingdom, which became part of which country?
Japan
Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879 and made it Okinawa Prefecture; karate grew there from native Ryukyuan fighting arts shaped by Chinese kung fu.
Q 02Who is widely considered the founder of Judo?
Jigoro Kano
Jigoro Kano developed judo from jujutsu in 1882 to stress physical and mental education, adding randori (free sparring) and dropping striking and weapons training.
Q 03In Taekwondo, what does the term 'Tae' refer to?
Foot or Kick
'Tae' means foot or kick; 'kwon' means fist or striking with the hand, and 'do' is the way, so Taekwondo reads roughly as 'the way of foot and fist'.
Q 04Krav Maga was originally developed for the armed forces of which country?
Israel
Imi Lichtenfeld, who defended Jewish neighbourhoods in Bratislava in the 1930s, emigrated to Palestine and developed Krav Maga for the Israel Defense Forces after Israel's founding in 1948.
Q 05What piece of clothing is typically worn in many traditional Japanese martial arts like Karate and Judo?
Gi
The gi, short for keikogi, is the loose jacket-and-trousers uniform tied with a belt; Jigoro Kano's judo students wore its modern form by 1920 and karate adopted it in the 1920s.
Q 06Which martial art is most closely associated with the Shaolin Temple?
Kung Fu
Shaolin kung fu is the Chinese martial art tied to the Shaolin Temple, founded on Mount Song in 495 AD; its monks' fighting reputation dates to the Tang dynasty.
Q 07Which Korean martial art, built around fast, high kicks, became a full Olympic medal sport at Sydney 2000?
Taekwondo
Taekwondo debuted as a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992 before winning full medal status at Sydney 2000.
Q 08Morihei Ueshiba founded which Japanese martial art focused on harmonious energy and fluid movement?
Aikido
Morihei Ueshiba, often referred to as O'Sensei (Great Teacher), founded Aikido in the early 20th century. Aikido emphasizes blending with an attacker's motion and redirecting their force rather than confronting it directly.
Q 09Which martial art is known as 'The Art of Eight Limbs' for striking with punches, kicks, elbows and knees?
Muay Thai
Muay Thai, Thailand's national sport, counts punches, kicks, elbows and knees as eight points of contact; it is also known as Thai boxing.
Q 10What does the white belt typically signify in many martial arts systems?
Beginner
The white belt marks a beginner; in Jigoro Kano's judo, ungraded students (mudansha) wore white and only dan-grade holders wore black, a split introduced in the 1880s.
Q 11Capoeira, part fight, part dance, part music, originated in which country?
Brazil
Enslaved Africans, mostly from Angola and Mozambique, developed it in colonial Brazil, disguising combat as dance.
Q 12Which Chinese martial art of slow, flowing movements is often practised for health?
Tai Chi Chuan
Tai Chi Chuan (taijiquan) is the slow, flowing Chinese art often called 'meditation in motion'; its Chen, Yang and Wu styles can also be practised at fighting speed, and a simplified 24-form was published in 1956.
Q 13What did Bruce Lee call the hybrid martial arts philosophy he founded?
Jeet Kune Do
Jeet Kune Do, 'the Way of the Intercepting Fist', was named by Bruce Lee in 1967 as a philosophy rather than a fixed style, drawing on Wing Chun, boxing, fencing and Taoist thought.
Q 21Which substance do sumo wrestlers toss into the ring before a bout, a purification rite inherited from Shinto?
Salt
Salt purifies the dohyō in a ritual inherited from Shinto; wrestlers also rinse their mouths with 'power water' before fighting.
Q 22When a yokozuna loses to a lower-ranked wrestler, what do fans traditionally hurl into the ring?
Cushions
The cushion-throwing is technically banned, but it still erupts whenever a grand champion is toppled by an underdog.
Q 23Hakuhō retired holding the record for top-division sumo championships — how many?
45
Hakuhō won 45 top-division championships, passing Taihō's long-standing mark of 32 in January 2015 and adding a dozen more before retiring in 2021.
Q 14In Japanese martial arts, what is the term for a training hall?
Dojo
In Japanese martial arts, a 'dojo' is a training hall or place of immersion in the 'Way.' 'Sensei' is a teacher, 'sempai' is a senior student, and 'kata' refers to pre-arranged forms.
Q 15Which martial art, called the 'Gentle Art', focuses on leverage and submission holds?
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
BJJ is built on grappling, ground fighting and submission holds, letting a smaller fighter beat a stronger one through leverage.
Q 16Karate made its Olympic debut at which Summer Games?
Tokyo 2020
Karate debuted at Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021) as one of five sports added for that edition, alongside surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and baseball/softball, and was dropped for Paris 2024.
Q 17Which Japanese martial art made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Games?
Judo
Judo debuted at Tokyo 1964, was dropped for Mexico City 1968 and returned for good at Munich 1972; women's judo had to wait until Barcelona 1992.
Q 18'Father of Modern Karate' Gichin Funakoshi is credited with systematizing which style?
Shotokan
Shotokan means 'Shoto's hall', after Funakoshi's pen name Shoto ('pine waves'); his students gave that name to his Tokyo dojo in 1936, and the style took its name from it.
Q 19In Japanese martial arts, what is the short shout uttered when performing an attack called?
Kiai
Kiai is the shout; 'rei' is the formal bow, 'zanshin' a state of relaxed awareness, and 'mawatte' simply means turn around.
Q 20Which martial art of Soviet origin takes its name from an acronym meaning 'self-defence without weapons'?
Sambo
Sambo is an acronym of the Russian 'samozashchita bez oruzhiya' ('self-defence without weapons'); the USSR registered it as an official sport in 1938, and FILA recognised it as an international wrestling style in 1968.
Q 24Akebono, the first foreign-born yokozuna, grew up in which US state?
Hawaii
Born Chad Rowan in Waimānalo, he was trained by fellow Hawaiian Takamiyama and reached sumo's top rank in 1993.
Q 25Which Dutch judoka won gold at Tokyo 1964, the sport's first Olympic appearance?
Anton Geesink
Geesink had already broken Japan's monopoly by becoming the first non-Japanese world champion in 1961.
Q 26Karate master Mas Oyama was famed for bare-handed demonstrations against which animal?
Bulls
His students claimed he fought 52 bulls in his lifetime, earning him the nickname 'Godhand'.
Q 27Chōjun Miyagi founded which Okinawan karate style?
Gōjū-ryū
Gōjū-ryū, 'hard-soft school', was founded by Chōjun Miyagi in Naha around 1930; Mas Oyama studied it under So Nei Chu before creating Kyokushin.
Q 28Hapkido was adapted from which Japanese art that Choi Yong-sool brought back to Korea?
Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu
Aikido descends from the same Daitō-ryū root, which is why the two arts share their first two characters.
Q 29Chuck Norris played a villain opposite Bruce Lee in which 1972 film?
The Way of the Dragon
In The Way of the Dragon (1972), which Lee also wrote and directed, Norris played Colt, the hired fighter Lee defeats in a climactic duel staged inside Rome's Colosseum.
Q 30Glíma is the traditional folk wrestling of which country?
Iceland
Glíma is Iceland's national folk wrestling, brought by Norse settlers; wrestlers originally gripped each other's trousers, and a belt was introduced in 1905 to give a better hold.