Karate and Kung Fu

[wing chun kuen man]

markusan,

 

You are right in saying that kung fu is a generic term used - among other things - to describe the numerous chinese fighting systems in existance today. However, in general and again I stress in general, the various kung fu arts share common aspects which gives them the kung fu "identity".

 

With a little experience one can distinguish quite easily the chinese martial art forms from lets say japanese or okinawan karate katas, without necessarilly being able to identify the individual style of kung fu that the form comes from. There are many factors behind this identity some of which were brushed upon in my previous post.

 

Sevenstar, you are correct in your statement that there are plenty of hand techniques in karate (okinwan). However, I still hold that kung fu has more hand techniques. The simple vertical fist can be delivered straight; downward (wrist bending down); or upward (wrist bending upward). There are various "hooking" fist blows that to my knowledge do not exist in karate either - other forum members may enlighten me here. Here, I am not talking about simple boxing hooks necessarilly but for example a downward compact hook into the opponents collar bone area. Many kung fu styles also use very wide "hooking" techniques that I have not seen in Karate.

 

Also, eventhough I have seen clawing techniques in karate, I believe that they do not approach the richness and profoundness of the kung fu arsenal of clawing techniques including those of the Mantis, Tiger and Dragon styles.

 

Wing Chun Kuen Man

[Drunken Monkey]

....the question is flawed.

 

all responses attempting to answer the question as posed will also be flawed

 

until the question is first addressed.

 

a slightly better version of the question would be

 

what differences are ther between the Hakutsuru (and karate derived from it)

 

and the chinese version of the same.

 

or perhaps a more general chinese/japanese debate.

[Judo Warrior]

I think Karate and Kung Fu shouldn't be compared becuase there is thousands of Kung Fu and not that much Karate styles( well not as much as kung fu) but i think Kung Fu should be compared to Jiu-Jitsu because there are thousands of different Kung Fu styles and thousands of different Jiu-Jitsu styles, Thus, in my opinion it would be better to try to compare Kung Fu to Jiu-Jitsu.

[SevenStar]

markusan,

 

Sevenstar, you are correct in your statement that there are plenty of hand techniques in karate (okinwan). However, I still hold that kung fu has more hand techniques. The simple vertical fist can be delivered straight; downward (wrist bending down); or upward (wrist bending upward). There are various "hooking" fist blows that to my knowledge do not exist in karate either - other forum members may enlighten me here. Here, I am not talking about simple boxing hooks necessarilly but for example a downward compact hook into the opponents collar bone area. Many kung fu styles also use very wide "hooking" techniques that I have not seen in Karate.

 

I completely agree. My only point was that there are more hand techniques than alot of people think. That doesn't really mean much though - it tends to cross over to the jack of all trades argument, IMO. I actually don't like the idea of having all of those techniques.

[SevenStar]

I think Karate and Kung Fu shouldn't be compared becuase there is thousands of Kung Fu and not that much Karate styles( well not as much as kung fu) but i think Kung Fu should be compared to Jiu-Jitsu because there are thousands of different Kung Fu styles and thousands of different Jiu-Jitsu styles, Thus, in my opinion it would be better to try to compare Kung Fu to Jiu-Jitsu.

 

How many styles of each there are is somewhat irrelevant. he wanted a comparison of karate and kung fu. The problem is that that is a VERY broad thing - within kung fu itself, you have styles that utilize mainly a straight line, and others with circular; you have styles with several forms, and styles with very few; you have styles with varying methods of power generation. You will find these same differences between some karate styles. The question needs to be a tad more specific.

[KF Dude]

Karate

Edited January 24, 2005 by KF Dude

[47MartialMan]

one came from okinawa, one came from china. kung fu is a term for a ton of chinese things, very broad spectrum (mostly useless i say, but what do i know), while karate is not as diverse- if you can put it that way. what else? in general, kung fu could be described as more circular while karate is more linear. kung fu has a lot of animal mimicing stuff while karate is more punch kick etc.... i dunno, these are all generalizations really, but its kind of the idea... i guess.

 

Actually, in a sesne, Karate did originate from China.

[euphoria47]

this is a very difficult one to answer, but almost every open tournament i've seen, the kung fu guy completely dominated the karate guy. however, this could be completely random or regional as we have extremely strong kung fu programs.

[47MartialMan]

I am not speaking in terms of whom overcomes whom. I am speaking in terms of origins, or foundational structures.

[SevenStar]

Hello board this is my first post.

 

welcome!

 

I have many karateka friends & I've noticed some differences between karate & kung fu. The karate forms lack body conection. There are a lot of movements that are just arm swings/strikes.

 

Good karate is very fluid.

 

Horse stance is too low & the feet point outward instead of straight forward.

 

there are chinese styles that point the feet outward as well. I actually prefer that method, because keeping them forward can place strain on the knees.

 

Also none of my friends can compare notes on qi gong training.

 

there is some internal - the sanchin kata, for example. largely though, karate is more external. There are plenty of external chinese systems as well, however.

 

Sparring most kickbox & don't use technique.

 

I've seen alot of kung fu like that as well. that's not a style issue, it's a school and training issue.