What is shotokan

[dear john]

i hear people say all the time that TKD gets many moves from it. but what exactly is shotokan made up of?

 

throws

 

kicks

 

whatever

 

 

 

any answers?

[Shane]

Shotokan was developed after the first Karate Kid film, its techniques are based on Danielsons movements and the teaching methods of Mr. Miyagi.

 

The realistic fighting techniques viewed in the Karate Kid films is the basics of Shotokan.

 

Not really

 

Any Shotokan artists out there that can answer this question?

[foreveryoung001]

Dang Shane... I was just about to go out and rent the movies so I could learn a whole new style.

 

 

 

 

I learned that TKD was greatly influenced by Shotokan as well during Japan's occupation of Korea. But I can't be much help wither.

[BJJShotoshe]

Hello,

 

Shotokan karate is a type of martial art that uses primarily their hands, empyt hand. It was developed by Master Gichin Funakoshi. Shoto was his pen name. Shotokan is not a gental art but can be. One of the sayings in my Dojo is this..."Why do people in shotokan roll up their gi sleves?" answer... "because shotokan students are the only ones tough enough for it". Just a little joke. TKD was developed from a shotokan karate style. That is all about I am able to write right now. If you need anymore info fill free to ask.

[manuelito]

what is shotokan?

 

depends who you ask.

 

tkd getting moves from shotokan?

 

there are similar moves in many different styles.

 

yes there are kicks, throws, punches, blocks, ect.

 

read a book by mr funakoshi it will help you answer your question.

[ramymensa]

Shotokan is one of the Karate styles born in Okinawa who got quite a promotion when Gichin Funakoshi was invited in Japan and was given a dojo. The fact he a Kano Jigoro were quite close (Jigoro is the "father" of Judo) led to the fact karatekas got to use the pijamas we call today karategi and belts The belt system went from white-black to white-green-brown-belt to the rainbow we use today. Asked by one of his students if they do Shoto-ryu or something like that, the Master replied: "No, you do Karate." He was trying to imply all the differences don't mean some people do more Karate than others

 

Shotokan is a style which emphasizes "perfection" of technique. You'll spend endless hours trying to punch or kick in a way that is considerred the most "effective". Biomechanics is frequently quoted and the Shotokan practitioners try to achieve maximum results with a give technique. You'll hear many "angles", "numbers" and lot's of measurments (heels on a 90 degress angle, a shoulder width distance between the feet, 45 degrees here, and so on until you go crazy). The training is stiff and boring many times. After some years the development is quite obvious. practiced like it was meant to be, Shotokan proves to be a good style. Keep away from stupid instructors and mcdojos and you'll discover a beautiful powerful style

 

Shotokan Karate offers a wide range of techniques. Some are not allowed in competition, but that doeasn't mean they are not practiced. Kicks using the sides of foot, heel and "koshi" (the part you support the body when using high heels (finger area ... ca't tell the term as my English betrayed me again ), open hand strikes, one, 2, 3 finger strikes, punches, elbows, knees. Blocks are an important part of the techniques too. The entire body is used In Shotokan you'll learn throws, wrist locks and hits to vital areas. The stances are very low and many people think we sparr like that. The idea is techniqes are done in a "proper" form ar Kihon (that is when we train basic techniqes). In Kihon we are in deep stance and try to do everything full speed, full force, very correct in our methodology. You'll hear all the time the instructor saying the hip rotation's importance.

 

Shotokan practitioners believe Hara, the lower part of the abdomen is VERY important and we do the techniques from hara (very difficult at first, but the results are quite good). Sparring in Karate is more "relaxed" than the stiff stances we use in Kihon. We have a high stance, but the previous work in deed stance and stiff techniqes provide the stident with some qualities in kumite. We are able to hit fast and touch an oponent that's quite far and thinks we can't get to him.

 

Kumite is done in 3 ways. Kihon kumite is a prearanged fight at 5, 3 and 1 step. The 2 oponents: Tori (attaker) and uke (the attacked one ) are face to face and they attack and block with a given technique. It’s usualy done at lower levels in order to teach new students controll and distance. The next step is semi-free sparring. They have only the level given (jodan – head level, chudan – chest, godan – groin area) and are permited to use the desired technique for attack and counter. After that people get to free spar. They try to land techniqes and the only limit is their imagination.

 

Contact is light to moderate (depends on the dojo and the students.) – light contact to head level, harder contact to the chudan level.

 

In competitions the students score techniques and are awarded points for this (that’s why we talk about point sparring). You could get disqulified for hard contact on head level, as in Shotokan competitions we don’t go for knock-downs. (Again the ruled may vary from federation to federation). In competition we are not allowed to use “open hand” techniques (that’s why they’ve given us some semi-open gloves to make sure our finger won’t stick out of them J). Elbow strikes are not allowed and neither knees (again the rules might vary).

 

For more info, PM me

[GrrrArg]

As far as im aware TKD is known as korean karate. Korea had its own martial arts.. but these were lost/stamped out during the japanese occupation. Afterwards they were "re-invented" but took heavily from the japanese martial arts. The same seems to go for all Korean arts, hapkido = aikido etc..

 

Saying that the Japanese were originally Korean anyway..

 

To each their own, I say.