What is Karate?
Karate is a system of self-defence developed in Okinawa, Japan. Many different styles of Karate came from here and, as time has gone by, these have been further modified by Japanese teachers to the extent that there are now numerous styles of Karate practised throughout the world. Its full title, Karate-Do, literally means ‘Way of the Empty Hand’, symbolising that its practitioners (Karateka) are unarmed but trained to use their hands, feet and other parts of the body as fighting weapons.
Karate is a system of punches, strikes, blocks, kicks, throws and joint locks. It is designed as a defensive, not aggressive art. In a class one will practice individual and combination techniques with a partner”or against ‘fresh air’ (like shadow boxing) Techniques are also practised on impact pads to give a realistic feel to your punches etc The mainstay of traditional karate is ‘kata’ these are ancient series of movements containing all the particular techniques of that given school or style of karate. They start off quite basic but as you progress through the grades (or belts) they become ever more complex. They can be practised in quite a small space so you can refine your kata technique at home as well as in the karate training hall (or dojo). Some people have equated kata to being like ‘moving meditation’ and certainly the concentration and body co-ordination required perform a kata perfectly can bring on a state of extreme concentration.
Karate is a hard style that was distilled in Okinawa from Chinese fighting styles. Originally called “te”, for hand, it was later called kara-te for “Chinese hand”. In later years, the Japanese modified this definition to mean “Empty hand”. As Okinawa was occupied by the Japanese at the time of Karate’s introduction to Okinawa, it was a primary self defense style for the unarmed population. The Japanese in general sneered at the art, preferring Judo. A challenge match between a young Japanese police officer and Judo practitioner against the leading Okinawan Karate teacher of the day, Chojun Miyagi (No — not the guy from “Karate Kid!”) lead to the Japanese accepting Karate. The 75 year old Miyagi dropped his youthful opponent with one punch to the solar plexus. The man who brought Karate to the Japanese mainland was Gichin Funakoshi. He founded a version called Shotokan which is widely practiced today. Back to table of contents …
“True karate is this: that in daily life one’s mind and body be trained and developed in a spirit of humility, and that in critical times, one be devoted utterly to the cause of justice.” — Gichin Funakoshi, Founder of Shotokan Karate-Do and creator of the phrase “Karate” Karate translated either means “Chinese hand” or “Empty hand” depending on which Japanese or Chinese characters you use to write it. Okinawan Karate styles tend to be hard and external. In defense they tend to be circular, and in offense linear. Okinawan Karate styles tend to place more emphasis on rigorous physical conditioning than the Japanese styles. Japanese styles tend to have longer, more stylistic movements and to be higher commitment. They also tend to be linear in movement, offense, and defense. Both tend to be high commitment, and tend to emphasize kicks and punches, blocks, strikes, evasions, throws, joint manipulations and a strong offense as a good defense. Karate techniques consist basically of hand an
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