Which is the best Karate Style?

[kempocos]

I have to agree, AMERICAN KENPO is closer to Kung Fu since Ed Parker revieved most of his training when he worked on the PAI family ranch Hawaii. He and Daniel Pai trained under Daniels grandfather in the PAI LUM KUNG FU style.

 

For a Karate I vote ISSHINRYU it contains the better concepts from SHORIN and GOJU RYU. Shotkan please this is the result of watering down the great Okinawian techniques. Funakoshi, highly overrated.

[ramymensa]

Kenpo has punches, kicks, self defense, katas, and weapon katas like many tradtional "karate" systems. Perhaps isn't viewed as karate in the "traditional" sense, but non-the-less it is still a form of karate

If it has got weapons kata then it's no more the way of the empty hand. Having a weapon in the hand means you are no longer unarmed. And as for my researches Kenpo wasn't in the list for Karate styles. I could be wrong though.

 

As for using the term Karate for every MA style possible, I got used to it also. In my country Karate is Karate, everything else is TKD, Aikido, Kenpo and so on.

 

And of course I was having in mind the traditional meaning because I think that's the one we were talking about. Otherwise, please make a poll option for our friends from TKD, Kung Fu, Tae Bo, Muay Thai and so on

 

I'm mean now. Sorry. At work Sunday. Guess you know how it feels

[ramymensa]

Double post. Sorry

 

As for the changes in the poll, you should be able to do them by editing the initial post. This option could be missing, like the one for deleting your own posts when they are not ok, or double. Maybe our hosts could enlighten us

[kempocos]

"please make a poll option for our friends from TKD, Kung Fu, Tae Bo, Muay Thai and so on "

 

TAE BO IS NOT A MARTIAL ART, IT IS A CARDIO WORKOUT PROGRAM.

[Luckykboxer]

Do none of you people own a dictionary?

 

Or can none of you do a simple search on the net?

 

Karate means.. depending on the dictionary...

A Japanese art of self-defense in which sharp blows and kicks are administered to pressure-sensitive points on the body of an opponent.

 

now

 

Ed Parker had Judo and Boxing experience when he started training with the Chows.

 

A good quote that gives some insite...

Why the name American kenpo karate? Kenpo was a mother art in Okinawa, and most Okinawans referred to karate as kenpo. "Karate is a form of kenpo," Parker explains. "Kenpo is what your last name is to your first."

 

Also American Kenpo Karate is not clsoer the kung fu then Karate.

 

American Kenpo Karate teaches aspects of both styles, and dependant on the practitioner can look more like one or the other.

Basic to American kenpo philosophy is the word "style." To many it means shotokan. goju-ryu and so forth, but such applications have little meaning to Parker and those devoted to his system. "I've developed a system," he says, "and my system is structured to bring out a style of an individual. After that, his style will be determined by his anatomy."

 

In the Traditional Sense it is neither Karate nor Kung Fu, But In many aspects its similar to what Bruce Lee did as far as developing a style that all can benefit from.

 

One thing I am proud of in regards to American Kenpo Karate is that it is constantly evolving and growing to meet our times.

 

Our school has in the last few years added many grappling techniques to our style.

 

As far as which is the best of the three listed I have to go with American Kenpo Karate.

 

I have played with all three styles and I found alot of the other styles to restricting and not adaptive enough for different people.

 

I am not saying there cannot be good or great or outstanding practitioners in any style, but overall I honestly think that American Kenpo is one of the most widely workable forms of martial arts that i have run into.

 

I have trained with, worked with, attended seminars, competed against and with, officiated at, and know many different styles and forms of martial arts, I am fortunate to live in Southern California in the United States, where we have thousands, yes thousands of martial arts studios, clubs, and instructors of hundreds of different styles.

 

I know there are styles I have not yet seen, and probably never will.

 

But until I do, and I am always looking at what is out there I will continue to train where i believe things are the best.

 

At this point in time all things considered equal that is in American Kenpo Karate.

[Fish]

I study Wado Ryu. I enjoy it. Don't know if its the best. Does it matter?

[Zorba]

I have to disagree with this point. Kenpo has punches, kicks, self defense, katas, and weapon katas like many tradtional "karate" systems. Perhaps isn't viewed as karate in the "traditional" sense, but non-the-less it is still a form of karate

 

Name comes via lineage and historical connection, not via content. Kenpo is an American martial art, not karate. All karate is Okinawan-related and has lineage connections to Okinawa.

 

Or is Krav Maga karate because it has a similar content? No, I didn't think so, either. It's Krav Maga - due to its history and lineage.

 

exactly. TKD has puches and kicks and forms to, does that make it a form of karate?

 

there are a lot of people that use karate as a general term for martial arts. I remember back when i was doing tkd and i told people, they would say "What?" , then i say "its like karate" and they go "oh okay"

[Jussi Häkkinen]

If it has got weapons kata then it's no more the way of the empty hand.

 

Still, several Okinawan karate styles incorporate weapons as a part of the style. Karate is not just an empty handed martial art - although the name that Hanashiro Chomo gave it (empty hand) in his 1905 publication "Karate Shoshu Hen" does lead some people to think karate as an solely unarmed martial art.

 

I have occasionally told that "when the hand is empty, it's also free to grab a weapon if needed". So, if you want to have some philosophical connotations (I shiver every time someone mentions philosophy with martial arts...*shivers*), you may think that karate's "open hand" is a hand that has a potential to do anything - open to do different things, constructive and destructive.

[italian_guy]

I have to vote for my style. But I do not know if is the best or not I never studied another karate style but Go ju ryu is fun anyhow....