Karate
Karate
Karate is a martial art which originated in the now Japanese island of Okinawa. The island group Ryukyu to which Okinawa belongs was officially incorporated into Japan only in 1874, though Japan had political influence and even control there for several centuries. Karate is a combination of indigenous martial arts of Okinawa called ?te? (themselves highly influenced by Chinese martial arts) and Chinese Kung Fu or Chuan Fa.
It was originally called ?tote? meaning ?China hand?. After further evolution and standardization in Japan the name was changed to ?karate? meaning ?Empty hand? to deemphasize the Chinese influence.
Karate places great emphasis on character and attitude (called Kokoro) of the karate practitioner (called karateka). This includes improving oneself, using the art only for self defense, and not injuring the opponent. Other qualities valued by the art include perseverance, endurance, ability to handle stress, and respectfulness. To emphasize its spiritual element character ?do? meaning ?way? is sometimes added to the word; Karatedo is "the way of the empty hand".
Techniques Karate contains many different techniques to be used in self defense. Karate can be considered a ?hard? martial art featuring strikes, punches, kicks, blocks, and other such techniques. However even ?soft? martial art techniques, like joint locks, grappling, body throws, and vital point manipulation can also be observed in karate fighting systems. In order to make the full use of these techniques the student needs to be correctly trained.
Karate is taught and practiced mainly through the form of Kata. Kata as in other martial arts is a sequence of movements performed to demonstrate the practitioner?s competence in the technique and to demonstrate the principles underlying the techniques. Karateka can enhance their understanding of karate by practicing and interpreting the karate moves through Kata. Kata can also be useful for physical conditioning and is aesthetically pleasing to watch. Some modern Kata competitions may resemble gymnastic competitions with an accompaniment of music. Kata competitions are judged by a panel of judges.
Karate is also practiced as sparring or ?Kumite? (meeting of hands). Karate training includes prearranged limited form of sparring between two people. Some karate schools allow hard contact sparring. Sparring in competitions takes place under rules of the sport and may have a system of point scoring for ?hits?. Sometimes techniques similar to those used in Judo and Aikido may also be used in sparring. The competitions divided into weight classes are judged by a referee with the assistance of a side referee.
Weapon training that is sometimes taught along with karate is known as Ryukyu Kobudo and is a martial art for using weapons, originating in Okinawa. Weapons used are also of Okinawan origin and include staff (bo), stick with handle (tonfa), fork (sai), and sickle (kama). Kobudo Kata competitions are similar to other Kata competitions.
In addition to weapons special conditioning devices like chi-ishi (off center free weight) and nigiri game (large jars) are also used in karate.
After its introduction to Japan, Karate adopted the belt (obi) system of ranking used in Judo. Since then other colors have been added. Presently the color ranking in order of progression are, red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, brown with gold tags, and black.
There is an attempt to include karate as an Olympic sport. International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recognized The World Karate Federation as the international sport authority for karate.