The Sport of Karate
Karate is a type of martial arts which was developed in Japan, particularly in the Ryukyu Islands, which is now known as Okinawa. It was influenced by the Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane.
karate kids Karate uses punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes, and some open-hand techniques like knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. A person who practices karate is called a karateka. Karate can be done as an art, a combat sport, or for self-defense. The training for karate is divided into basic or fundamentals, forms, and sparring.
There were no competitions for Karate before World War II. Now, the competitions for karate are divided into style organizations. Some of these organizations are AAKF, AOK, TKL, AKA, WKF, NWUKO, WUKFC, and WKC. These organizations organize competitions from local to international level. The tournaments are created to match the members of opposing styles or schools. Some of these competitions are separated by age, rank, and gender. There are different rules for each of these categories.
Karate will make its debut appearance at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. There will be two karate events, Kumite and Kata.
Similar Sports
- Taekwondo — a self-defense discipline that originated in Korea.
- Kickboxing — variations include Pradal Serey (Cambodia), Sanda (China), Savate (France), Sikaran (Philippines)
- Muay Thai — a full-contact fighting sport in which fighters try to defeat their opponents by using different techniques that make use of fists, elbows, knees, and shins.
Related Pages
- Karate is part of Budo, which refers to all styles of modern Japanese martial arts.
- More about Martial Arts
- Complete list of sports
- Karate at the Olympic Games
- Karate, a discontinued Olympic sport
- The Encyclopedia of Sports
- About sport in Japan
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