Template:Harvcoltxt identify a number of different theories of the history of martial arts—the centralized origins theory, the shared conditions theory, the great person theory, the politico-historical conditions theory, and the sociological class theory—and state that a satisfactory account "will have to include elements of all these theories (with the exception of the centralized origins theory)".
(2003) Mastering Jujitsu. Human Kinetics.