Karate
空手An Okinawan striking art reshaped in the 20th century into Japanese budo and an Olympic sport. Built on kata and hand and foot techniques.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Comparisons
Catalogs & Databases for Karate
About Karate
Karate arose on Okinawa as a local unarmed system (ti, later tode) which, during the ban on weapons, mixed with Chinese styles brought from Fujian. Okinawan teachers, above all Gichin Funakoshi, carried it to Japan in the 1920s, where it was reshaped into a budo: gis, belts, dojo etiquette and the dan system borrowed from judo. Technically karate rests on strikes, kicks and blocks delivered from firm stances. Its signature is the attempt to concentrate all force into a single instant (kime) — hence the short, explosive execution and the audible exhalation. The core of instruction is kata, precisely fixed sequences in which techniques are preserved and handed on; their analysis (bunkai) reveals what the movements originally meant. The styles differ more than the shared name suggests. Shotokan works with long stances and linear delivery, Goju-ryu with circular movement and breath work, Kyokushin with bare-knuckle full-contact fighting, Wado-ryu with elements of jujutsu. What a club actually practises, and how it spars, is what tells you what to expect. Competitive karate has two disciplines: kumite (fighting) and kata (performing a form before judges). It appeared at the Olympics only once, in Tokyo in 2021, and did not stay on the programme.
History
Karate originated in the Ryukyu Kingdom, on present-day Okinawa, from the local art of te and from techniques brought here from the 14th century by Chinese fighters, probably including the Fujian White Crane style. Kanryo Higaonna travelled to Fuzhou in 1873 and later taught Naha-te at home, from which his student Chojun Miyagi created Goju-ryu. Kanbun Uechi studied Pangai-noon in Fujian and his students renamed the style Uechi-ryu in 1940. Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) brought karate to the main Japanese islands. In May 1922 he demonstrated it at a physical education exhibition in Tokyo, and in June of the same year at the Kodokan before the founder of judo, Jigoro Kano.
Read more
The writing 空手 (empty hand) was first used by Chomo Hanashiro in 1905, and in 1933 it replaced the older 唐手 (Chinese hand). The Japan Karate Association places the switch to the writing 空手道 as early as 1929. Okinawan masters officially adopted it at a meeting in Naha on 25 October 1936, and since 2005 this day has been Karate Day on Okinawa. Masutatsu Oyama, a student of Funakoshi and of Goju-ryu teachers, opened a dojo in Tokyo in 1953, from which full-contact kyokushin emerged. Organizations arose after the war: the Japan Karate Association (JKA) in 1949 (the JKA itself gives 1948), the world union WUKO in 1970, renamed the World Karate Federation (WKF) from 1992. Karate has appeared at the Olympic Games only once, in Tokyo 2020 (the games took place in August 2021). The programmes of the 2024 and 2028 Games do not include it.
Technique
Teaching rests on three components: kihon (stances, punches, kicks and blocks), kata (forms) and kumite (sparring). Kumite is practised from prearranged attacks and defences (yakusoku kumite) through free sparring (jiyu kumite) to competitive shiai kumite. In sport kumite under WKF rules, a punch to the body scores 1 point, a kick to the body 2 points and a kick to the head 3 points. The competitor may hit the head only with a light touch. Contact to the throat, attacks on the joints, open-hand strikes to the face, and strikes with the elbows and knees are prohibited. The styles differ technically. Wado-ryu comes from the jujutsu of Shindo Yoshin-ryu and alongside strikes contains locks and throws. Goju-ryu stresses breathing in the kata Sanchin and Tensho. Sanchin comes from Fujian White Crane, Uechi-ryu also practises it, and into Shito-ryu it was taken over by Kenwa Mabuni, who also studied under the Chinese master Go Kenki. In full-contact kyokushin, under WKO rules hand and elbow strikes to the head are prohibited, but kicks to the head, knees and leg kicks are allowed.
Training
Karate instruction rests on three components: kihon (basic techniques), kata (set sequences against imaginary opponents) and kumite (sparring). The Japan Karate Association regards kata as the foundation of all training. In sporting kumite, strikes stop just short of the target, usually within one inch, and a bout usually lasts around three minutes. Training includes etiquette, which Britannica counts among the characteristics of karate along with the uniform and the belt system. For example, at the JKA university club at Columbia University, people bow on entering and leaving the dojo. At the start of class the students line up by rank, kneel into seiza, meditate briefly (mokuso) and, on the commands Shomen ni rei and Sensei ni rei, bow to the front of the dojo and to the teacher. At the end of class the procedure is repeated and the dojo kun is recited.
Ranks and progression
Funakoshi adopted the kyu and dan system from Jigoro Kano in 1924. Belt colours are not uniform across styles and in some styles a white belt is worn until the first dan. An example from the JKA (Shotokan): 10 kyu and 10 dan, a minimum waiting time of 1 year before the 1st and 2nd dan, 2 years before the 3rd dan and 3 years before the 4th dan. For the 3rd dan and higher an age of at least 18 is required, for the 7th dan 50 years and for the 8th dan 60 years. The exam includes kihon, kata and kumite. Other styles have their own regulations: Wado-ryu regards the 1st to 5th dan as technical and the 6th to 10th dan as honorary, Kyokushin counts kyu from the 11th grade. We have not been able to confirm the typical time to a black belt in the sources. It depends on the style, the organisation and the frequency of training.
Who it suits
The WKF rules divide competitors into the categories under 14 years (12–13 years), cadets (14–15), juniors (16–17), under 21 and seniors from 18. A bout lasts 3 minutes for seniors, 2 minutes for juniors and cadets and 1.5 minutes of net time in the under-14 category. Children under 14 must wear a helmet and a body protector in kumite. Women have competed at the World Championships since 1980. In Tokyo 2020 they had three weight categories of kumite and the kata discipline. The WKF also organises para-karate, with official World Championships held since 2014. We did not find a minimum age in clubs or WKF veteran categories in the sources. A meta-analysis of 28 studies of sport kumite reports 88.3 injuries per 1,000 starts, mostly bruises of the lowest severity, with concussion making up around 2% of injuries. Zetaruk et al. (Br J Sports Med 2005) found an injury with lost training time within a year in 30% of 114 Shotokan karateka, and in 51% of aikidoka in the same cohort.
Competition
The WKF World Championships have been held every two years since 1970. Seniors compete in kumite in five weight classes: men −60, −67, −75, −84 and +84 kg, women −50, −55, −61, −68 and +68 kg. The bout is directed by a chief referee (shushin) with four judges (fukushin). In kata the competitor performs a form from the official WKF list, in the Olympic tournament he could not repeat a form. Team kata is performed by three competitors simultaneously and in the medal bouts they also perform bunkai, an analysis of the kata in pairs. Kyokushin and other full-contact styles hold their own competitions outside WKF. The first Kyokushin world tournament took place in 1975 in Tokyo. Karate fighters have also succeeded in kickboxing: Bill Wallace (Shorin-ryu) was PKA champion in 1974, the K-1 World Grand Prix was won by Andy Hug (Kyokushin, Seidokaikan) in 1996 and Semmy Schilt (Kyokushin, Ashihara Kaikan) in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009.
Gear
Training is done in a white karategi with a belt according to grade. For WKF competition kumite, approved gloves in red or blue, a mouthguard, a body protector, shin and instep guards and, for men, a groin guard are compulsory. The competitor wears a red (aka) or blue (ao) belt according to the draw. In kata, sleeves must not be rolled up and glasses are prohibited.
Philosophy
The suffix do in the name karate-do refers to the spiritual side of the art. The dojo kun, short rules recited in the dojo, stresses the development of character, effort and courtesy. Funakoshi wrote the Niju kun (Twenty Rules of Karate) with an emphasis on humility, respect and patience. The terminology is Japanese: competition commands, names of techniques and kata. In kata a kiai and the announcement of the form’s name are required. Kata preserve the techniques of a style, across styles there are roughly a hundred of them, each of 20 to 70 movements. The JKA recognises around 26 standard Shotokan kata, Wado-ryu nine official ones.
Styles and schools
The names of the main karate styles say something about their origin. Shotokan was named after the dojo that Funakoshi Gichin opened. Shoto was his literary pen name, reflecting his interest in Chinese poetry. Funakoshi himself did not call his karate Shotokan-ryu, and the designation caught on so that his school could be told apart from Shito-ryu, Goju-ryu and Wado-ryu. Funakoshi also renamed the kata: Heian, Bassai, Kanku, Tekki, Hangetsu, Jitte, Empi, Gankaku and Jion are Japanese readings of Chinese characters that he chose for them himself.
Read more
Shito-ryu combines the first characters of the names of two teachers of Mabuni Kenwa, Itosu Anko (shi) and Higaonna Kanryo (to). Mabuni taught under this name from 1934 at the Yoshukan dojo in Osaka, and in 1939, when he received the title renshi from the Dai Nippon Butokukai, he formally founded Shito-ryu karatedo. Goju-ryu, the hard and soft style, was named by Miyagi Chojun in 1929 after a verse from the Kempo Hakku (Eight Laws of the Fist), according to which breath is both hardness and softness. Wado-ryu was founded by Otsuka Hironori (1892–1982), who drew on both Shotokan and the jujutsu of Shindo Yoshin-ryu. Wa in the name means peace and harmony. The styles also differ in how they fight. Funakoshi's karate had no free sparring. Kumite arose later at the request of university students and the JKA, led by Nakayama Masatoshi, worked out the sundome rule for them, stopping the technique before the target. The founder of kyokushin, Oyama Masutatsu, studied with Funakoshi and with Yamaguchi Gogen of Goju-ryu. His organization IKO Kyokushinkaikan was established in 1964 and its fighting is called knockdown karate.
Today
Karate is divided into styles and organizations. The Japan Karate Federation brings together Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Shotokan and Wado-ryu and is a member of the WKF. Karatedo is also one of the nine disciplines of the Japanese Budo Association, alongside judo, kendo, aikido and Shorinji Kempo. After the deaths of the founders several styles split: Shotokan into the JKA, Shotokai and other groups after 1957, Wado-ryu into three organizations after 1982, and Kyokushin into the IKO, Shinkyokushinkai and others after 1994. Each organization awards grades on its own, and we have not been able to document whether they are mutually recognized. Kickboxing grew out of full-contact karate. At the Lumpinee stadium in Bangkok three karateka from Masutatsu Oyama’s dojo fought Thai boxers (sources state February 1964 or 12 February 1963), in the USA Joe Lewis of Shorin-ryu won the first recognized full-contact bout in 1970, and WAKO began as the World All-Style Karate Organization.
In culture
The film The Karate Kid premiered on 22 June 1984, directed by John G. Avildsen, and earned 91 million dollars in the USA on a budget of around eight million. Producer Jerry Weintraub was inspired by a report about a boy who learned karate due to bullying, and the screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen drew on his own training with an Okinawan master. Pat E. Johnson choreographed the fights, and Fumio Demura was among the stuntmen. The film got three sequels, a 2010 remake and an animated series. The story was revived in 2018 by the series Cobra Kai with Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. It was made for YouTube's subscription service and, after the first two seasons moved to Netflix at the end of August 2020, it became Netflix's most watched programme in the USA. We have not been able to confirm from the sources whether the film or the series increased the number of practitioners.
Did you know
Karate got into the Olympic programme through a decision taken at the Rio 2016 Games and made its debut in Tokyo 2020 at the Nippon Budokan with eighty athletes, equally men and women. Before that it had appeared at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018. Eight Olympic titles were won by eight different countries: Japan, Spain, Egypt, Italy, Bulgaria, France, Iran and Serbia. The first Olympic champion in men's kumite was the Frenchman Steven Da Costa, who won all seven bouts in the up to 67 kg class and beat the Turk Eray Samdan 5:0 in the final. Spain's Sandra Sanchez won kata with a score of 28.06 points and, at just under forty years old, became the oldest Spanish Olympic champion. The Bulgarian Ivet Goranova won the up to 55 kg category and brought Bulgaria its first Olympic gold since 2008. In the over 75 kg final the Saudi Arabian Tareg Hamedi knocked the Iranian Sajad Ganjzadeh down with a kick to the chest, and Ganjzadeh was carried off on a stretcher. Hamedi was disqualified and the gold went to Ganjzadeh. The Japan Karate Association holds a world championship every three years for the Funakoshi Gichin Cup.
Styles & Branches
A full-contact style of karate developed by Masutatsu Oyama. Fighting is without gloves, kicks to the head are allowed, punches and elbows to the face are not.
A karate style from the teaching of Gichin Funakoshi in Tokyo, named after his dojo. It rests on deep stances, kihon and kata, and competition is scored by points for a controlled hit.
An Okinawan karate style founded by Chojun Miyagi. He took the name “hard-soft” from a verse of the Chinese text Bubishi, and its hallmark is the breathing kata Sanchin.
A Japanese karate style founded in Osaka by Kenwa Mabuni. The name joins the first characters of his teachers’ names, Itosu and Higaonna, and the style is known for its many kata.
A family of Okinawan lineages descending from Shuri-te. The name points to Shaolin, but that is a claim to the tradition, not evidence of a direct line.
A historical stream of Okinawan karate from the royal city of Shuri, linked with Matsumura Sokon and Itosu Anko. It gave rise to Kobayashi-ryu, Shorin-ryu and Japanese Shotokan.
A Japanese karate style founded by Hironori Otsuka, holder of the highest licence of Shindo Yoshin-ryu jujutsu. It relies on moving the body out of the line of attack (taisabaki).
Okinawan karate of Tatsuo Shimabuku, named in 1956. It is recognised by the vertical fist with the thumb on top and by blocks using the forearm muscle, not the bone.
Okinawan karate of Chinese origin, built on tiger, crane and dragon. Recognisable by the one-knuckle punch and by hard body conditioning.
Japanese full-contact karate by Ashihara Hideyuki, dating from 1980. It builds on sabaki, deflecting an attack and counterattacking from the side or from behind.
A classification term, not a school. The division of karate into powerful Shorei and light Shorin was used by Funakoshi, but sources disagree on what exactly it denotes.
Ed Parker’s system from the USA, rooted in his Hawaiian teacher William Chow, built on 154 named self-defense sequences and belts up to 10th dan.
Okinawan karate founded after the war in Kumamoto by the physician Tsuyoshi Chitose. The name means "a thousand years of Tang" and points to its Chinese roots.
Karate of Motobu Choki built on the kata naihanchi, close-range fighting and the use of both hands at once (me-oto-de). The school dates its origin to 1922.
A branch of Shorin-ryu founded in Naha in 1947 by Shoshin Nagamine. The name "pine forest" honors Matsumura and Matsumora, and the curriculum has 18 kata.
Okinawan karate of Seiken Shukumine from 1949–1953, built on unexpected movement in three dimensions and on its own kata, such as Sansai.
Okinawan Shorin-ryu school from 1962, founded by Shimabukuro Zenryo, a student of Kyan Chotoku. It added its own kata Wanchin.
Okinawan karate branch founded in 1975 by Nakazato Shugoro, a student of Chibana Choshin from the Kobayashi Shorin-ryu line.
Full-contact karate founded by Ninomiya Joko in 1988, headquartered in Denver. It rests on sabaki, deflecting an attack and moving to the opponent's blind spot.
Competitive karate system with Super Safe protectors from the Kenkokan school. According to the WKKF, it was introduced in 1980 and allows strikes to the face and body.
Okinawan branch of Goju-ryu founded in 1952 by Yagi Meitoku. It has its own series of five katas Meibuken named after Chinese constellations.
A historical Okinawan karate stream from the port city of Naha, tied to Higaonna Kanryo and his student Miyagi Chojun. Goju-ryu came from it, and Ryuei-ryu is listed beside it.
Okinawan karate style of Nakamura Shigeru, who according to Ryukyu Shimpo promoted fighting in protective gear and a knockdown system of bouts.
Okinawan karate of the Nakaima family, related to Goju-ryu and known for the kata Anan and Ohan. Olympic kata champion Kiyuna Ryo comes from this style.
Karate style of Yoshinao Nanbu, according to English Wikipedia a student of Chōjirō Tani. Wikipedia places its origin in Paris in 1971, later Nanbu moved on to nanbudo.
Japanese line of Goju-ryu founded by Tasaki Shuji, a student of Yamaguchi Gogen. Fujiwara Seiichi leads it, and it has dojo in more than thirty countries.
Japanese karate of Konishi Yasuhiro, who also trained in jujutsu and kendo. According to Wikipedia the style arose in 1933 and is now led by Ryobukai.
Okinawan branch of Shorin-ryu founded by Higa Yuchoku in Naha. Typical features are makiwara training and the paired exercise kakie.
Okinawan branch of Kobayashi Shorin-ryu led by Miyahira Katsuya. It has its own kata Tetsu Shou, and the first dojo was founded in 1948.
A karate school of the Shorinji-ryu branch, which according to its website was founded by Isamu Tamotsu in Kagoshima in 1955. Its fighting is done in bogu protectors.
Japanese karate of Kori Hisataka from the postwar years: vertical fist, heel kick and sparring in protective gear, from which the koshiki karatedo competition system emerged.
Historical current of Okinawan karate from Tomari port, now part of Naha. Matsumora Kosaku is considered its reviver, claimed today by Matsubayashi-ryu, Shorin-ryu schools and Gohaku-kai.
Frequently asked questions
What do you do in karate?
Karate training rests on three components: kihon, meaning basic techniques (stances, punches, kicks and blocks), kata, prescribed forms against imaginary opponents, and kumite, sparring. In sport kumite, strikes are stopped just short of the target.
What is the difference between karate and judo?
Karate works at striking and kicking distance, while judo uses full resistance in throws and on the ground without strikes. In 1922 judo founder Jigoro Kano invited Funakoshi Gichin to the Kodokan, and karate then adopted the kyu and dan grades from judo. Judo has been Olympic since 1964, while karate was on the programme only in Tokyo 2020.
What are the grades and belts in karate?
Karate uses student grades called kyu and master grades called dan. Belt colours are not uniform across styles. For example, in Kyokushin under the IKO rules, 10th kyu starts with an orange belt and the path leads through blue, yellow, green and brown to the black belt. In JKA, 3rd dan and above requires a minimum age of 18.
When should you start karate?
The competition rules of the Czech Karate Federation have the youngest category for children under 7, followed by juniors from 8 years. According to the World Karate Federation, roughly two thirds of karateka worldwide are under 14, and special rules and mandatory protective equipment apply to competitors under 14.
What is karate good for?
According to the World Karate Federation, training develops flexibility, endurance and coordination and leads to self-control, courage and honour. Britannica also lists an emphasis on rules of courtesy as part of karate. We have not yet found an independent study on the benefits of karate.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.