karate...karate...KARATE??????????

Question

anyone here who knows karate??and can u guys tell me sonething about that sport..im just curious.....

Answer 1

Are you asking about Karate in general? or About ALL Martial Arts?

Karate is two Japanese words "Kara" meaning empty or open, and "Te" meaning hand.

in other Asian cultures you have Kung Fu (Chinese fighting arts, or "Chinese Boxing"), Tae Kwon Do or Tang Soo Do (Korean).

But it basicly means any striking arts of the Martial Arts in general.

Although Martial Arts Is NOT a sport, several have been influenced into becoming a sport (Karate, and Tae Kwon Do; primarily) especialy in the Olympics.

It was developed as early as the 14th century in China, and during the feudal years of Asia (meaning the occupations and wartime of the neighboring countries).

either the soldiers would teach a certain few during the occupation, or travelers from nearby places such as Okinawa,Korea, Japan, Taiwan, etc would travel there, spend up to anywhere of 10yrs learning the discipline, then return home and develop their own techniques based on the basics of what they learned.

Later as the British and American soldiers trained under the founders of the "newer" Martial Arts (meaning, the founder of the discipline adding what they've learned on their own to develop a different way of what they were taught) , the belt system was introduced as an incentive to improve in the class and diversify between the level of the students.

Answer 2

Karate / Karate-do is from Okinawa and is one of many Japanese systems that derive from the peasent class who were not allowed to be armed.. not the Samurai. This echos around and around in the art which is why I mention it.

A translation I like is "The way of the empty hand"


People usually don't mention this, but you should be in reasonably good shape before entering a training program. Even if large people train: You should be able to walk a mile or two and not really be more than 20 lbs over weight or you are asking for serious trouble. In that in being pushed to excel, you can very easily ask too much of your body.

Karate-do is a "do" art which strives to improve your mind, body and spirit instead of just training you to be a fighter. But many of the "jitsu" arts also have this goal.


traditionally it is a striking art .. with punches and kicks.

You will first be tought the basis, then some corographed moves (forms or kata), then your club might do sparing and might do contests - but this is not universal.

Some organizations think that sparing improves training. Other organizations just love the sport aspects and don't care that it improves training. Still others eschew the sport aspects because they feel it ruins the attitude of the student and ruins their art for self defense.

If you are interested in this sort of thing .. visit the classes .. talk with students and instructors .. learn about the art and its traditions. If you like it .. give it a few months or 1/2 year before moving on. It takes awhile to see if you want to stay.

look into karate, tae kwon do, Kung fu, aikido, judo, jujitsu, tai chi ...

See what is available, are you compatible with the class, with the art , and less technically: what floats your boat.

Answer 3

I first started with taking Korean Karate about 39 years ago. Karate means empty hand, and back then the Koreans called it Korean Karate and it was a fairly traditional style, and at that time Korean Karate and Japanese/Okinawan were very similar. In fact my Korean Karate instructor used Japanese books and Japanese Katas/Forms as teaching tools. As time when on, the Koreans wanted to distinguish themselves from the Japanese and Tae Kwon Do (TKW) evolved. TKW was greatly influenced by sports and the desire for TKW to become recognized as an Olympic sport. Japanese and Okinawan styles remained more traditional, but they also evolved to adapt to American tastes, with some becoming more modern than others. Modern styles focus on sports karate and teach advanced techniques to students who have not been studying very long, while traditional styles focus on linear techniques and basic movement for the first few years and leave circular movement and more advanced techniques to be taught after the student has mastered the linear techniques. Few Americans have the patience and persistence to stick around long enough to develop a firm knowledge the science of movement that traditional styles are trying to impart, preferring instead to instant gratification of learning advanced techniques that they may not really understand or are incapable of executing properly.

Answer 4

I know Shaolin Kung Fu. I've been to some karate tournaments. As a sport, it's really pretty cool. The question that is asked without being asked is "Who here would actually win in a totally fair fight?" Of course, sparing isn't exactly fighting, and all the other things we are graded on (kata, breaking, etc) aren't the end-all be-all of a fight, but at the end, you get a pretty good idea of how good everyone else there is.

Answer 5

Karate is Japanese for open hand. It encompasses a range of different styles of unarmed combat, involving punches, chops, kicks and other blows to the nerve centers of the opponent. Proficiency demands a very high degree of physical fitness and mental discipline. Different levels of skill are denoted by different coloured belts. Karate instructors or 'dans' wear a black belt.

To find out more enter karate into a search egine, like yahoo or google.

Answer 6

i studied karate many years ago while serving in viet nam. i was in a secure area and the koreans would teach us karate in the evenings.. at 1st i practiced just for the exercise. but the more i learned the more interested i became in technique.. i practiced every day .. toward the end i would practice all day . when i returned home from the war i sought out different instructors because i wanted to continue learning but i never found it satifactory in the states... because in viet nam the enficess was spiritual, building confidence and self control, physical and mental.. in the states i was taught more self defence.. which is realy useless .. you are either a fighter or not... there are many ways to study karte and many diffrent styles... i suggest if you want to persue this check out MANY diffrent classes and go for the exercise at first and alow "it to grow "on you.....

Answer 7

Karate kind of sucks for self defense but if you want to use it for exercise then it's good.

Answer 8

There is a lot of information out there on the Web. See, for example, www.ska.org.

Answer 9

It's more like dancing for exercise. I took it for 3 years, and all we did was learn these silly dances called " Katas" and only learned a liile self denfense. It was a waste.