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Karate

The Japanese martial arts styles of Karate are focused on punching, striking with hands, knees and elbows and kicks. There are many styles of karate.

Renbukai Karate

Renbukai Karate is renowned as a full-contact martial arts style. It was the first style to make extensive use of Bogu (protective equipment) in...
Sport Karate

Sport Karate Organizations

Karate is divided into different style organizations. These organizations often cooperate in non-style specific sport karate organizations or federations. Examples of sport organizations are...
Kosho Ryu

Kosho Ryu

Kosho Ryu is an ancient art form founded in about 1245 AD by a monk named Bosatsu. Legend has it that Bosatsu meditated under...
Karate Do

The Evolution of Karate-do

Today there are four main styles of karate-do in Japan and they include Goju-ryu, Shorin-ryu, Shotokan, and Wado-ryu. Bodhidharma also known as known as "Daruma"...

Modern Sport Taekwondo

Modern Sport Taekwondo has developed in the decades since the 1950's and  its emphasis is on speed and competition, as in Olympic sparring. Modern sport...
Kobudo Okinawan Weapons

Kobudo: Traditional Okinawan Weapons

Kobudo literally means "ancient martial ways". In the karate world, it generally refers to those traditional Okinawan weapons whose history and practice has been...
Shotokan Karate

Shotokan Karate

Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906-1945). Gichin was...
Iain Abernethy

Karate Grappling: Did It Really Exist?

Karate grappling, does it really exist? In this article I’d like to ask does karate grappling really exist? This is a potentially controversial subject as...

Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu

Matsubayashi-ryu is also known as Matsubayashi Shorin-ryu, It is a school of Okinawan Tomari-te karate founded by Shoshin Nagamine (1907-1997) in 1947. the Matsubayashi...
Styles of Karate

4 Main Styles of Karate

History of Karate Bodhidharma also known as "Daruma" in Japan and as often as not, this Indian Buddhist monk is cited as the prime source...
Kenwa Mabuni Shito-Ryu

Shito-ryu

Karate has been taught outside of Japan for almost 40 years, and was exported to the rest of the world along both stylistic and...
Dan Anderson

American Freestyle Karate

"Karate" is a term made up of two Japanese words, "kara" and "te" meaning "empty hand". It is one kind of self defense system...

Shito-Ryu Karate

Karate has been taught outside of Japan for almost 40 years, and was exported to the rest of the world along both stylistic and...
Robert Trias

The Origins and Development of Shuri-Ryu By Robert Trias

One of the brightest stars in the firmament of Oriental thought and culture was the Indian Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. Twenty-eighth in a direct succession...
Goju-Ryu Karate

Goju-ryu Karate

Goju-ryu is well known as a hard/soft style of karate. Founded in the 1920s by Chojun Miyagi, the system blends the hard linear Okinawan...

Shobayashi Shorin-ryu

Shobayashi Shorin-ryu is a style of Okinawan Shorin-ryu karate founded by Chotoku Kyan and passed to Eizo Shimabukuro. Eizo Shimabukuro dropped the Chatan Yara...