An Overview of Karate

Karate can help build and fine tune the character of a person, developing agility and physically fitness skills in the process. Karate student and masters mature and become enabled to handle more difficult situations in life, too, working within a community, respecting the teacher.

Karate is actually a form of art that teaches a student how to develop the inner self. It teaches restraint, patience and calmness.

Established by Gichin Funakoshi, karate was founded with 20, one being to pursue karate for the whole life. This meant that a person should practice karate so that it becomes part of the inner self, and it should be done without harming others or the self in the process.

And during karate training, students are all treated in the same manner with the same tough standards so that all reach the same level or plane.

A couple of interesting items to note about karate is that it teaches people how to overcome stress plus constantly seek to improve life. Karate also teaches people to build strong relationship bonds and trust.

And as students learn karate, they interact with society and pass their art along in subtle, meaningful ways. They share their capacity for patience and restraint in the fast-paced world today, restoring harmony and balance, respect, equality, courtesy and fairness, presenting stable minds and inner beings.

The Meaning Behind the Scenes

The word Karate actually refers to China or open hand with the first part of the word: "Kara;" and hand or "te." And today's karate training is divided up into two Japanese Kihon forms that involve footwork, punching and posture techniques with focus on foot placement: Kata and sparring also known as Kumite.

While Kata features physical and combat postures, it also focuses on attack sequences while students wear protective gear. And sparring is more relaxed, protective gear not required but recommended for safety.

Since literacy was not high when original karate techniques were established, the training focus was mainly on movements, postures and sequences; in other words people focuses on the karate physique, with no standard patterns and interpretations. Simple forms of the kata were a block, punch, throw, joint strike or lock.

And the various karate styles throughout the Eastern culture that developed each used different training equipment, or "hojo undo" in Japanese, to focus on their own specific techniques. Some equipment is known as the chi-ishi, makiwara and nigiri game – each with different weights or grips to develop strength.

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