by Devon McNeely
Here are 15 Interesting Facts about Karate:
1. Karate is a Martial Art the originates from the Japanese island of Okinawa. it also had roots going back to China.
2. Karate means ‘Empty Hand’ but originally it meant ‘China Hand’. The Kanji used to write it was changed to keep the same pronunciation while changing its meaning.
3. Though the name ’empty hand’ makes karate literally the art of self-defense without weapons, many karate practitioners also train in the use of traditional Japanese weapons.
4. Karate focuses on strikes and kicks but also contains other techniques including joint locks and throws.
5. In Japanese Ryu means school or style and many karate styles will use Ryu in their name either officially or casually.
6. While there are numerous smaller styles of Karate, the most popular styles include Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu, and Shito Ryu.
7. Other styles include Kyokushin, Kempo, Uechi Ryu, Shorin Ryu, and many others.
8. Gichin Funakoshi is known as the ‘Father of modern Karate’. he is the founder of Shotokan Karate which is the most well-known karate style.
9. Shotokan is made up of 2 words in Japanese. The first is Shoto which was the Pen name of Gichin Funakoshi. The second is Kan which means house. Shotokan literally means ‘Shoto’s house’.
10. Mas Oyama is the founder of Kyokushin Karate a full-contact style.
11. In Japanese Kyokushin means ‘The Ultimate Truth’.
12. Most Karate training involves solo training (kata and Kihon), Partner practice (bunkai), and sparring (kumite).
13. Karate competitions include events for Kata (forms) both empty hand and with weapons, and for Kumite (sparring) either continuous or point sparring.
14. Karate made its completion debut for both sparring and forms at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (postponed to 2021 due to Covid-19 health concerns).
15. There were a total of eight (8) gold medals awarded for Karate with three (3) weight classes for men’s sparring, three (3) weight classes for women sparring, and two (2) for forms, one (1) for men and one (1) for women.