What are some tangible difference b/t karate and kung fu?

Answer 1

Bruce Lee actually explained it pretty well in relatively simple terms: think of Karate as an iron bar, think of Kung-Fu as an iron chain.

Both are very powerful, but emphasize different aspects (philosophies, reasonings, not necessarily movements) to fighting.

Tangibly, I would say it has been my experience in Korean systems at the beginning of my martial arts training, we practiced hard on blocking and then counter-attacking. Since my Chinese systems training, emphasis has been placed more so on evading while attacking simultaneously.

Answer 2

It depends on the style of both, but generally Karate is what they call a "hard" style and Kung Fu is what they call a "soft" style. That doesn't have anything to do with which is more difficult to learn or which is better or all that. A "soft" style emphasises circular blocks and using all your joints together to absorb the energy from your opponent's attack and return that energy to them, where as a "hard" style emphasises linear blocks and tries to stop your opponent's energy from continuing. Obviously, the "hard" vs. "soft" distinction is not binary, and some styles of Karate are "softer" than others, and some styles of Kung Fu are "harder" than others, and some styles of Karate are "softer" than some styles of Kung Fu.

There are some other differences as well. Many Kung Fu styles have dozens of forms (the same as kata), and the emphasis is on learning those forms. Almost all of the techniques that a Kung Fu student uses will come from a form. Many forms of Karate seem to have much shorter, fewer, and much simpler kata, but they learn their techniques separately from the kata and use those in fighting. The result is the Kung Fu styles tend to focus more on footwork and have more stylized attacks and defenses. Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to each method. There are also exceptions. San Soo, a form of Kung Fu, has very few if any forms, for example.

There's also more of an emphasis in Kung Fu on stances. We do eight basic stances at my school, and I expect the advanced students to be able to hold a horse stance for at least a minute. Many Karate schools I've seen are satisfied if you can get into the correct stance and don't seem to put much emphasis on how long you can hold it.

There are probably other differences, but since I don't do Karate and only do Kung Fu, those are the ones I've noticed. The debates over which is better are mostly philisophical in my opinion.

Answer 3

Many good answers provided here. Let me add a touch of history to the mix.

Kung Fu (aka Wushu) was developed in China and legend has it that the Buddist Monks created it and spread it throughout the country. The Shoalin monks are still considered to be some of the best practitioners.

Okinawa, a set of islands in the China Sea, was a tributary to China. They exchanged envoys and trade missions between the two nations. The Chinese taught Kung Fu to some of the Okinawan people. The Okinawan combined what they learned from the Chinese with their own martial art, called Te, creating what is now known as karate. In the Chinese/Japanese languages, sounds for characters are often very similar. Kara-te can be interpretted two ways, China Hand or Empty Hand. It was agreed in the early 1900's to use Empty Hand as the correct interpretation.

Karate moved from Okinawa to Japan and from Japan it then moved to Korea.

In Japan, they adjusted the style and kata (forms) to match their needs and combined it with some of their martial art knowledge, creating a number of Japanese styles. (Shotokan is probably the largest.)

In Korea, they took the Japanese style and combined it with their local martial arts to create what has been/is being consolidated into Tae Kwon Do.

If you observe the karate kata of all three countries, you will find that many of them are very similar and easily recognized as having the same origins.

Answer 4

Japanese Karate - focus on striking. Linear techniques, striking with hands open/closed, feet, knees and elbows, includes sparring-often full-contact, variety of weapons such as Sai, Nunchucks, Katana, Tonfa and staff. Includes board/tile breaking, throws and forms/kata. Chinese Kung-Fu - focus on forms. Circular techniques, striking with hands open/closed, feet, knees and elbows, includes sparring-often full-contact, huge and vast variety of weapons with some styles having dozens of exotic weapons and were created by watching animals fight "Crane" "Tiger", etc. Kung Fu usually contains no groundfighting but may contain standing grappling depending on the style. May contain "iron palm" or other body hardening practices. Japanese Judo - focus on throws and competition. Standing grappling without strikes, once the person is thrown, some camps teach more groundgrappling than others but everyone learns some basic grappling. I saw someone had put something about striking in Judo, and Judo does have a very limited amount of forms which contain basically slaps to set up throws but these are not used in competition and many black belts in Judo don't practice them, so technically that is correct, but not in practicality.

Answer 5

i have experience in both, so rather than generalize i'll say what i know. when i'm speaking of kung fu or karate, i'm only talking about the gyms i've been in.

=kung fu focus more on forms.
=in karate we spent 80% of our time working on power.
=kung fu has more joint locks and has ground fighting.
=karate has no ground fighting.
=karate takes the basics and works them until they are very strong
=kung fu has so much in the syllabus that it's hard to master any one thing
=kung fu has more chi gung, breathing , slow forms etc.

i liked both, but for me karate is better now. someday when i feel i'm a very strong fighter, i'll return to kung fu.

Answer 6

Karate is more of a set of certain strikes and moves for certain situations. It is more rigid this way. Karate emphasizes power while kung fu emphasizes speed and agility. Kung fu is a more flowing martial art while karate is more mehcanical.

Answer 7

Sifu Shaun about sums it up...excellent answer for such a limited space!

Answer 8

Geography of claimed origins, striking techniques kicking techniques, purpose of practice.

Answer 9

karate is more of legs but kungfu is more of hands