The Way of Empty Hand

Karate

Kara means “empty” and te means “hand”. It is the self defense that cannot use any weapons. Karate was originated from Okinawa, Japan, it will teach the techniques of punch, kick, and elbow and knee strikes, chopping, locking and grappling. It is influenced by Chinese kempo, and consists of different styles. For the defense they used different kinds of blocks. The practitioners of karate should perform katas or forms and stances; start with easy form to difficult it would help to widen their knowledge in karate. It is the martial arts that uses the whole body and the ways of moving and bending.

Shotokan Karate


Gichin Funakoshi is the  “Father of Japanese Karate”. He created his own karate popularly known as Shotokan Karate. Shoto meaning “pine-waves” (the movement of pine needles when the wind blows through them), and kan means "house" or "hall". Shotokan uses lower stances.He was the one Okinawan masters who introduced the Karate in 1922.

Funakoshi had trained in both of the popular styles of Okinawan karate of the time: Shorie-ryu and Shorin-ryu. It is divided into three parts, such as kihon, kata & kumite.  Kihon means "basics" or "fundamentals" those are taught and practice as the foundation of most Japanese martial arts. Kata means form or patterns of movements practiced either solo or pairs. Kumite means sparring or one-to-one combat situation with an opponent using the different techniques learned from karate.

Kyokushin Karate


The new form of karate created by Masutatsu Oyama (Choi Yeong-eui his Korean name) a Korean-Japanese karate master. It is the full contact karate style. He studied in Shotokan karate for two years under Gigo Funakoshi the son of founder Gichin Funakoshi. And then he studied in Goju ryu karate. Kyokushikai stands for “ the society of the ultimate truth”.

 



Goju Ryu Karate

Goju Ryu Karate is a hard-soft style and one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate. Go, which means hard, refers to close hand techniques or straight linear attacks; ju, which means soft, refers to open hand techniques and circular movements. Developed by Kanryo Higashionna, in 1867 he began training in Monk Fist Boxing under Aragaki Tsuji Pechin Seisho in 1873 he began studying Chinese boxing and in 1877 he began he began to study kung fu under Ryu Ryu Ko. Karate was influenced by Chinese martial arts since before.

 


 Shorin-ryu Karate

Shorin-ryu is founded by Choshin Shibana in 1933 it is one of the major modern Okinawan martial arts. It combines elements of the traditional Okinawan fighting styles of Shuri-te. Shorin-ryu is generally characterized by natural breathing, natural (narrow, high) stances, and direct, rather than circular movements (with the exception of Shorin-ryu Kyudokan, which makes extensive use of circular movements).