Karate which was developed and invented in Okinawa(RYU KYU ISLANDS) is the japanese word for (Open Hand Technique).Karate was originally developed for japanese warriors who didn´t have any weapons in war. Karate is a fighting method which uses kicks,punches,knee and elbow stikes and a variety of grappling moves such as locks,throws and strikes which are perfectly aimed vital weakspots and pressurepoints of the body such as the groin,the sola plexus,the nose,the eyes and parts of the neck.In the old times karate was a defence technique which was only allowed to be used in war or in dangerous situations,because one karate technique used on the right spot would most likely cause severe injuries or even death.In 1922 the first karate dojo (TRAINING HALLl) was opened in the Keio University in Japan.In the 1960-1970 the word karate became very popular to the public because of various karate and martial arts films.In this time Karate schools started appearingacross the whole world mostly in the United States Of Amereica.Nowadays karate is practiced for self defence,cultural reasons and for self-perfection meening having a fit and healthy body.The japanese word for people which practice karate is (KARATEKA).Karate has various disciplines such as KATA which in japanese meens shape or model is a fight against an imaginary opponent.A Kata has lots of moves and can be performed in any directions.It is like a large sequence of movements which represents various attack and defence postures.In Kata there are many stances,The most commonly used stance in a kata is the short stance because this avoids getting sweaped(A SWEAP IS WHEN AN OPPONENT PULLS AWAY YOUR LEG WITH THEIR FOOT AND MAKES YOU FALL TO THE GROUND) but there are also wide stances.
Then there is Sparring or Kumite which just meens (MEETING OF HANDS) in japanese.Which is like fighting an opponent and there are three types of sparring the G-contact sparring which is just kicks and punches which are stopped right in front of the opponents body,then theres Semi-contact sparring which allows some contact to the body but not to much because otherewise you get a warning.Then theres the full contact sparring where there can be punches thrown as hard as possible and the goal is to knock the other opponent out. In the Semi and G-contact sparring there are points awarded for several techniques used .
Each karate system has a different order of belts but the general order of karate belts is from white to black.Each belt is called a Kyu. So it goes from 10th kyu which is a white belt,9th kyu: yellow belt then,8th Kyu:orange belt,7th Kyu:red belt,6th Kyu:green Belt,5th Kyu:blue Belt 4th Kyu:purple belt and then there are three stages of brown belts which are 3, 2 and 1st Kyu.Then there is 1st Dan which is a black belt and then it goes up to black belt 10th Dan.Normally it takes 3 and a half years to reach the level of a first dan black belt.Then after black belt third dan which takes another 3 years to reach all the other dans get awarded to you.You get new belts by doing Gradings which are like tests or assessments to show what you have learnt and if you are good enough to pass to a new belt.In these so called gradings you have to show katas and theres all kinds of Katas each one for a different belt.First there is Shodan,then Nidan,Sandan,Jondan,Godan,Kashanku,Nahanchi,Seichan and many others.Karate is now taught everywhere in the world.Karate got very popular in Europe in the 1970-1980 mostly in the soviet union and the united kingdom.But it was also getting very popular in Canada, the USA and other places like Korea.There are three known karate styles.One is Shotokan.Shotokan karate was developed by Gichin Funakoshi and his son Gigo Funakoshi who were both born in Okinawa.Gichin brought Shotokan karate to the public by doing public demonstrations of what he was able to do and how this karate style was different and maybe even better than the other karate styles.He then started teaching at universities and got many students.He also opened several Shotokan karate training centres to have students who would teach his style of karate after he was dead.
Then there is the socalled Wado Ryu which is known for being a free style system which meens that this system takes moves and techniques from other martial arts such as juijitsu.So Wado Ryu is made up of all sorts of different techniques.Most people say that this system is the best because it takes all the good techniques from other martial arts and all those good techniques combined make a perfect martial art.Sebudo Karate is also based on the roots of Wado Ryu.Sebudo karate takes special moves for every situation from other martial arts and uses the best one.Aswell as Kyokushin karate whch is known for its full contact sparring which meens that in this system there is not much control. This is why it isn´t that popular, people dont join the system because there is a high risk of injury.Also most sparring competitions consist of semi or just G-contact sparring so Kyokushin karate would have a disadvantage because they wouldn`t be able to control themselves and therefore they would get warned or even disqualified.
