In karate there are the two main types of karate, either the traditional karate dating back to Japan a very long time ago, or the sport karate which has evolved a lot since it has first started off.
Traditional
Traditional karate is the route of all karate and is what you will do when you first start off. There are many different styles of Traditional karate …
- Goju-Ryu
- Shito-Ryu
- Shotokan
There are many more but those are the main three in Ontario. The style of karate that I do is Goju-Ryu and it stands for open handed way, meaning we don not use weapons. The reasons you would want to do traditional karate is to get stronger and to be able to stand up to bullies or getting mugged. Traditional karate is from Okinawa, a Japan prefecture where a long time ago they would use karate to defend their village from attackers.
In traditional karate you learn self defense, kata, and you will also learn kihon ido which is basics with movement.
Self Defense
Self defense teaches you how to get out of someone grabbing you, and how to hurt them. You learn how to get out of all different grips like wrist grip, shoulder, jacket, behind shoulders, bear hugs, and head lock to list some. The four basic steps to get out of some holding are, stance, kick, elbow, take down/strike.
Kata
Even though there is kata in competitive karate, you will still learn kata if you’re doing traditional karate. Even though I do not do kata anymore I know the traditional kata is different from competitive karate. Most of it is the same but they’re all just some small differences. Kata teaches you more ways to fend off people coming at you.
Kihon Ido
Kihon ido is doing your basics with a stance while moving forward and backwards. When I am coaching the younger kids they usually do this. The techniques they use are
- high punch
- middle punch
- low punch
- back fist
- elbow
- high blocks
- middle blocks
- open handed middle blocks
- low block
Competitive
Competitive karate is going to be a sport in the 2020 Olympics and has its own international circuit the K1. In the sport of karate you compete at a tournament against other people. Competitive karate is divided between two different branches, kumite and kata.
Kata
Kata is a pattern of moves to show a “story” of fight. In kata you will present your kata in front of 5 judges who will come up with a score based on your stance and power. The refs will then take the top two scores and the bottom to scores then add them together to get your score. A lot of people like kata and find it fun to compete in but I do not do it anymore because I was not the best at it and I found it kinda boring.
Kumite
Kumite (sparing) is a fast paced style of karate. In kumite you use techniques like jab and reverse punch, body kick, head kick and more. Kumite is a point based sport where you are trying to hit a targeted area with proper technique to score points. There is a ref at each corner and a head ref at the front of the ring who gives the points as wells as the different fouls. I think that kumite is really fun and fast paced as well as more competitive than kata.
In conclusion I hope I have given you reasons why to choose either traditional karate or competitive karate. If you choose either one it will be a good way to learn new things.
Karate 2018 