Karate (空手), also karate-do, is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts under the influence of Chinese martial arts. While modern karate is primarily a striking art that uses punches and kicks, traditional karate training also employs throwing and joint locking techniques. A karate practitioner is called a karate-ka (空手家).
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 Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including those at Keio, Waseda, Hitotsubashi (Shodai), Takushoku, Chuo, Gakushuin, and Hosei.
Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流), Japanese for "hard-soft style", is one of the main traditional Okinawa styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques.
Kumite is one of the three main sections of karate training, along with kata and kihon. Kumite is the part of karate in which a person trains against an adversary.
Unsu, is the most advanced kata found in the Shotokan, Shito-Ryu and Wado-Ryu karate styles and is generally taught to karateka at the 3rd to 4th Dan. It contains many intricate hand techniques, such as the ippon-nukite in the opening sequence. Unsu also contains a 360-degree spinning double-kick with a double-leg take down at the same time, landing on the floor face-down before continuing. Because of this, it is a very common kata in tournaments and seen as method of testing the competitors knowledge, spirit and skill.
Bunkai (分解), literally meaning "analysis" or "disassembly", "is a term used in Japanese martial arts referring to process of analysing kata and extracting fighting techniques from the movements of a 'form' (kata). The extracted fighting techniques are called Oyo."
Kūsankū (クーサンクー) is one of the kata of karate and is practiced mainly in the Shuri-te lineage. It is also called Kūshankū (クーシャンクー), Kōshōkun (公相君) or Kankū (観空).
Enshin kaikan (円心会館) is a style of "full contact karate", or knockdown karate, founded in 1988 with dojo and students in various countries around the world.
Kata is a Japanese word describing detailed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairs. Karate kata are executed as a specified series of a variety of moves, with stepping and turning, while attempting to maintain perfect form. The kata is not intended as a literal depiction of a mock fight, but as a display of transition and flow from one posture and movement to another, teaching the student proper form and position, and encouraging them to visualise different scenarios for the use of each motion and technique. Karateka "read" a kata in order to explain the imagined events, a practice known as bunkai. There are various kata, each with many minor variations.
The World Karate Federation (WKF) is an international governing body of sport karate with 198 member countries. It is the only karate organization recognised by the International Olympic Committee and has more than a hundred million members. The WKF organizes their Junior and Senior Karate World Championships, which are each held every other year. The President of the WKF is Antonio Espinós, and the headquarters are located in Madrid, Spain.
George Dillman is a controversial American martial arts instructor, who popularized the use of techniques such as pressure points among the United States' martial arts practitioners. Dillman is a member of Black Belt magazine's Hall of Fame, and in 1997 was named Black Belt Magazine's "Martial Arts Instructor of the Year". For 30 years, he ran the Northeast Karate Championships. Dillman also conducts martial arts training seminars at the former Muhammad Ali training camp at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. Dillman has been subject to scrutiny stemming from the fact that many of his most famous techniques don't work, especially those involving alleged touchless chi manipulation.
Shorin-ryu Seibukan, also known as Sukunaihayashi, is one of the many Okinawan Shorin-ryu styles of karate.
Waza-ari is the second highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ippon or waza-ari contest, usually judo, karate, or jujutsu.
USA National Karate-do Federation is the national governing body (NGB) of karate for the United States Olympic Committee and as such is the official Member National Association (MNA) of the World Karate Federation (WKF) in the United States.
Ashihara kaikan is a modern full contact street karate developed from Kyokushin karate by Hideyuki Ashihara with influences from various martial arts including Muay Thai, Pankration, and Jujutsu with an emphasis on Sabaki, using footwork and techniques to turn an opponent's power and momentum against them and to reposition oneself to the opponent's "blind" spot. The style is focused on practical application in a real fight including multiple attackers.
Masaji Taira is a leading teacher of Okinawa Goju Ryu Karate Do, and head of the Okinawa Gojuryu Kenkyu Kai. His teacher was Eiichi Miyazato, a student of Chojun Miyagi and the founder of the Okinawan Jundokan dojo. Taira's karate is that of his teacher and the Jundokan, with the addition of his novel approach to the application of the kata.
Terrance Alan "Tokey" Hill is an American karateka most well known for being the first male American to ever win a WUKO/WKF World Karate Championship which he achieved at the 1980 World Karate Championships in the 80 kg Kumite category. He also won a bronze medal in Kumite at the World Games 1981 He would open up his own school in 1983. He has also been a kickboxing coach for Michael McDonald and later a karate coach for the USA National Karate-do Federation Coach Hill traveled to Argentina as the Assistant Coach for the 1995 USA Karate Team during the debut of Karate at the Pan American Games.
Kaisai no genri (解裁の原理) is a theory and set of rules of thumb which were used by Gōjū-ryū karate masters to extract the primary fighting applications (Oyo) encoded into karate kata by the creators. These rules were historically kept secret and passed on to the most senior students of a school only near the death of the head of the organisation. Without such a rule set describing how kata are constructed, the likelihood of deciphering the original combative meaning of the movements in the kata is very low.
Karate was an event held in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. It was the debut appearance of karate at the Summer Olympics. Karate was one of four optional sports added to the Olympic program specifically for 2020, rather than as a permanent sport. After it was announced not to be included in 2024, in August 2022 it was announced that karate had made the shortlist for inclusion in the 2028 Games, although it was ultimately not selected.
Karin Prinsloo is a South African karateka, gold medal winner of the 6th World Games (2001) in the under 60 kg Kumite category and Karate instructor formerly based in Durban, South Africa, now living in Perth, Australia. She is listed among the top Karate competitors of all time.
Japan (188 medals)
