Karate

Karate do (空手道) isJapanese martial art, introduced from Okinawa1922. In Japanese, Kara means empty; Te means hand; Do meansway, thus Karate means "the way ofempty hand". See (Shuri-Te),(Naha-Te),(Tomari-Te)The three stylesTe (Hands) that Karate descended From.

This ismost common misunderstanding regardinghistoric rootsKarate. Originally, Karate was written as 唐手 ("Chinese hand") due toinfluenceShaolin onnative Okinawan fighting Styles that Karate originated from, since merchantssailors from Fujian Province were traveling backforthOkinawa.. In 1820 Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura United "Blended"three stylesTe ("Chinese Hand")into "Shaolin" (Chinese)or "Shorin-Ryu" (Japanese) or "Forest Style" (English). However Matsumura's own students brokestyle back down again into more branchestheir students continued this break down adding or subtracting whatever suited them. Gichin FunakoshiStudentoneMatsumura's students named Yatsutsune "Ankoh" Itosu changedmeaning("China Hand")空手 ("empty hand")since no weapons were used. He did this1929better reflectphilosophies ofart;trygetNoticedPopularized byJapanese Mainland. Thus he founded Shotokan from Itosu's version Matsumura Shorin-ryu whichcommonly called Shorei-ryu

Karate, like jujutsujudo, most likely cameAmerica through two primary paths: Japanese immigrantsHawaii andmainland, wherestayed largely insideJapanese American community, although tolesser degreeHawaii,by specialized study by members ofpolice andmilitary. It would be safesay thatbiggest boost topopularizationkarateAmerica came withAmerican military occupationJapan after World War II; once American soldiers had assimilateddiscipline,returned withtoStatesbegandisseminate it.

Like most martial arts activeJapan, Karate made its transitionKarate-Do atbeginning of20th century. The Karate-Do does not, contraryits Chinese relatives, includeuseweapons. Any weapons usedstrictly withinOkinawan tradition, kobudo,usemodified farming toolscommon implements as weapons, since 'normal' weapons were bannedOkinawa. Within KarateKarate-Do, there aremultitudedifferent Ryu's (styles or schools), The most renowned(Shaolin = Shorin-Ryu) "Forest style" (Shobayashi) "small forest style" (Kobayashi) "young forest style" (Matsubayashi) "pine forest style" (Matsumura Seito) " Orthodox Style" (Matsumura Motobu) "Street Style" From these camemore popular styles we have today such as Shorinji-ryu (Kempo)Shorei-ryu as well as Shotokan (pine wave)Goju-ryu (hard-soft way) also Kyokushin (ultimate truth). Other mainstream stylesSeido, Wado Ryu (waypeace), Uechi Ryu,Shito ryu as well as {[Isshin-ryu]}

The Shotokan styleKaratecharacterised by deep,stancesprovide stabilitypowerful movements. Atother end ofspectrum, Wado-Ryu (waypeace) prefers quicksubtle body movements (known as 'tai sabaki')evade attacksswift counter attacks. The Wado-Ryu style was introduced towest by Sensei Tatsuo Suzuki.

Karate ishard martial artemphasises striking techniques (i.e. punchingkicking) over grappling. Karate can be divided into two major parts, kumitekata. Kumite (組手) means sparringdevelops from well defined forms tofree form named randori. Kata (型) means formsisfight againt imaginary enemies,isfixed sequencemoves.

Karatealsocompetetive sport although, unlike taekwondojudo itnot yet an olympic sport. Competition can beeither Kumite or Kataeither as an individual orteam.

Yakusoku Kumite, starts at Green Belt (Yon-Kyu) two opponents usually square offfight untilclean pointscored as indicated by onetwo seated judges by coloured flags or seen bystanding referee. At this point sparringstopped andpointawarded. Points systems vary butgeneralhalf point (wazari)awarded forsingle punch or forkick tobody. A full point (ippon)givenan attack such ashead kick, any attack followingopponent being taken toground orcombination techniqure (renrakuwaza).

Jiyu Kumite,Looks more likeBrawl or Street Fight "it ismore serious side ofmartial arts being done moreDefense or close combat "Real Time" training thansport. Althoughhas certain elementscontrolfighters do push thereselvesbe there best.(No pointsawarded)

In Kata pointsawarded by five seated judges similareither gymnastics or ice skating tournaments depending onquality ofperformance. A good Kata performance should perform allmovements correctly but also showpersonal interpretation ofmovements through one's variationspeed. When Kataperformed asteam (usuallythree), italso importantmatchtimingtechniques as closely as possible.

External links

• PRINCIPLES OF KARATE
• NKKB National Kyokushin Karate Belgium - http://www.nkkb.be