What are the principle differences between Taekwondo and Karate, other than their origins?

Answer 1

Very interesting question. Without going into the origins of Karate and Tae Kwon Do, it is difficult to delineate between the two in an objective manner. some here will say that Tae Kwon do is all kicks, while Karate uses kicks and punches. Some will defend Tae Kwon Do as a solid martial art, while others will degrade it as nothing more than a sport created for competition (are you listening, Sensei?) Those who come here and degrade any specific discipline in general while at the same time crow about "their" particular art are nothing short of hypocritical, and do not truly understand the "DO" (or the "WAY) that is inherent to true understanding and proficiency in martial arts study. (again, are you listening, Sensei?)

Truthfully, Tae Kwon Do and Karate are, at the base level, quite similar. In fact, Tae Kwon Do was developed rather recently, being founded in 1955, and is a combination of techniques found in shotokan, which is a Karate form (some would say the ROOT of all true Karate forms), and Taek Kyon, which is an ancient Korean Martial art. General Choi, Hong Hi - who is generally recognized as the founder of Modern Tae Kwon Do - was trained in both art forms as a boy and young man, and combined the two to create a unique style that has gained popularity worldwide. Unfortunately, political and social pressures resulted in a major rift in the Tae Kwon do community, which resulted in the splintering of Tae Kwon Do into two worldwide organizations, one being the World Tae Kwon Do Federation, which is recognized in Korea as its national sport and is an olympic event; and the International Tae Kwon do Federation, which, depending on who you ask, is alternately headquartered in Canada of Austria.

As for differences in Tae Kwon Do disciplines: Tae Kwon Do as a sport (WTF discipline) is highly focused on sparring skills, and does, in fact, predominaately focus on kicking, both in attack and defense. Traditional Tae Kwon Do (ITF discipline) is more rooted in overall techniques, both foot and hand (Tae Kwon Do is loosely transleted as "the way of the foot and the fist"). Depending on your inclination, you can learn Tae Kwon Do as a traditional art or as a sport form, but both have their benefits.

Karate, on the other hand, is one of the base elements in Tae Kwon Do, as mentioned above. the history of Karate is long and sordid, but to put it as simply as possible, it can alterantively be used to descirbe ANY martial art, simply because the loose translation of Karate is "empty hand", i.e. any style of fighting that does not involve the use of weapons of any kind; or to to describe any number of martial arts that has roots in China and Japan. But this is too simplistic of an answer. Karate has roots in Okinawa when it was an indigienous country, but also has both ancient Japanese and Chinese influences. As a result, there is no "ONE" style of Karate; many martial arts forms claim lineage to true "Karate", but all have the commonality of teaching not only fighting skills, but instruction on how to live ones life.

Both Tae Kwon do and Karate (any form) are considered "hard" martial arts, meeting force on force; that is, attacks are direct and forceful, while blocks are direct, meeting the attacking force with an equal force, and countering directly with more force. This is as opposed to "soft" martial arts, which seeks to use an opponents force AGAINST them by redirecting the attack in such a way that the defender is put into a more adventageous position,. this is not to say that "soft" styles do not require much strength; on the contrary, utilizing a soft technique to defend results in the defender being required to use minimal force to effectively defend, because most of the force is coming from the attacker.

Truthfully, the differences are not as important as the similarities. Both have training focused on teaching students how to defend themselves. Both, under competent instruction, attempt to teach students tenets which can be applied to all aspects of their lives. Both actually have sport elements to them. Both have so many similiarites that the only TRUE difference is in the practitioners preference. And any true student of the arts will understand that the only reason he or she studies a particular martial art is because that is what they CHOSE to study, not because it has any superiority, real or perceived, over any other.

Answer 2

Here in the USA, Taekwondo has become more of a sport than a method of self defense.

The primary difference between the two is that taekwondo is heavier into the kicking portion than karate. Actually any Korean martial art you will find has a tendency to have faster, higher kicking than a traditional karate(from Japan or Okinawa) like Shotokan.

Taekwondo(and Korean martial arts) tend to gain their power from speed moreso than karate, which gains it's power from strength.

Answer 3

really simple answer: the tecniques are almost identicle, but one major disagreement in philosophy...

Karates techniques are smaller less movement, much faster

TKD's movements are more elaborate, bigger movements, and more powerful

as a Karate practioner developes his techniques become more powerful

as a TKD practioner developes his techniques become much faster

This kicking contest I see called TKD is not what i was taught (it was for demonstrations) but the sparring was not all that flashy... if a guy jumped in the air more times then not his non-kicking leg was kicked out from under him in mid air or the guy just simply moved in close to smother his kick..

I really wish it was time everyone could just apreciate the good ideas about different styles instead of belittling something they dont understand.... it's like someone still being upset over the civil war... whats the point... anyway i hoped i helped

Answer 4

They have the same origins but each country adapts them to cultural preferences.The process was this CHINA to OKINAWA to JAPAN to KOREA .Each country added already existing ideas and techniques to the mix .The okinawan /japanese styles did not exist before 1920 as far as having "names"and tae kwon do didn't exist until 1945 as far as a name was concerned .All these are what is known as "modern martial arts" geared to sport and watered down self defense in some cases no self defense at all.
Methods like KRAV MAGA /SYSTEMA are rediscoverys of those defense techniques and are excellent additions to any style you are practicing .I have found their methods in many arts and in descriptions found in historical writings .
Technique is a matter of preference and ability .I have met karate ka whose kicking skills would put most tkd users to shame and tkd users whose hand technique would put karate ka to shame.The style doesn't decide the user decides.
Of the KOREAN styles only CHUNG DO KWAN and TANG SO DO use the original OKINAWAN / JAPANESE KATA.

Answer 5

Taekowndo is a little more offensive vs. Karate. I would personally take Taekwondo as they are more physically structured in my opinion vs. working on silly patterns and and defensive spiritual stuff...haha..

Actually, if I were you I would look into kickboxing. No suits, no belts, no be one with yourself or "be the crane" ...lol...just a good physic work out while learning how to kick the crap outta something and getting a hard body on top of it all :)

Answer 6

Tae Kwon Do comes from Japanese Karate.

Karate is Okinawan, not Japanese, even though the Japanese have their own version.

The origin of Karate has to be discussed in order to understand the applicable differences.

The main difference is the favoring of kicks, since Koreans tend to have hardy, strong torso and legs.

Karate's usage is more balanced. Even though there is less kicking, emphasis is placed on the ability for the karateka to use leg/footwork integrated with arm/hand techniques to create favorable results.

Tae Kwon Do was also created for olympic-type sports.

Answer 7

tae kwon do is about 70% kicks 30% hand strikes, while karate has a higher percentage of hand strikes in relation to kicks, like 50-50.
Tae kwon do is a sport discipline, also, while karate has traditionally been geared more toward self-defense, although there are many schools out there that stick to just sport karate.

Answer 8

well, all I know is that one of them became the main oriental hand to hand battle technique at the turn of the century or slightly before while the other one has been around for a very long time...............but man o man,..what I know about the martial arts could fit inside an automatic 45 cartidge. but it's still just as effective.......so being the person of convienience I am, I go for the 45 automatic technique.

Answer 9

I know karate is Japanese, Taekwondow is either Korean or Chinese I believe. I don't know much about them other than that Karate used to be more popular than Taekwondo but not any more, and that in my opinion Chinese marshal arts are better. And no I'm not Chinese lol.

Answer 10

yes if you research it you will find that karate is more effusive attacking and Taekwondo is more self defence. for a woman i recomend taking Taekwondo incase of a emergancy.