biggest differences between Shotokan & Kyokushin????

[mlee]

Hey all I am a little over a month into starting Shotokan karate. I notice on these boards a lot of talk about Kyokushin karate. I was just wondering what some of the biggest differences between the two styles were.

Any posts or links in reply to my question would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Matt

[G95champ]

Biggest differance is the Kyokushin trains sparring a bit more hard core than most shotokan schools do today. Not to say you wont get a traditional shotokan teacher that does it but from what I understand Kyokshin is pretty hard core when it comes to sparring.

[Meguro]

Shotokan stresses correct form and mastery is of a prescribed skill set. Kyokushin training is geared towards mastery of your opponent (or at least to give you the skills and guts to try), such as is found in a knockdown competition. Kata has a central role in Shotokan karate. Fighting competitions are limited to point-style, the idea being if your technique is good enough, you should be able to take out your opponent with one deadly blow. Kyokushinkai karateka pay some lip service to the one-shot ideal, but stack the deck in their favor by stressing powerful offensive and defensive technique. Generally speaking, if you don't have a high pain tolerance or don't enjoy contact, you won't thrive and enjoy Kyokushin.

Shotokan and Kyokushin are just different roads that lead to the same place in your personal journey. Pick the path that suits you.

[Chirath]

Kyokushin is also part Naha Te. So it has circular blocks ands strikes,

[Drithen]

well I dont practice shotokan but we stress kata very much in my school, almost as much if not more than kumite

[makiwaraman]

I will let you know next week as I am going to kyokushinkai class then, this is due to all the talk on this forum about kyokushinkai. Which makes me wonder if I would be better suited to kyokushinkai.

regards makiwaraman

[y2_sub]

Kyokushinkai inherited from shotokan as Sosai oyama ( Kyokushin founder ) trained under Master Funakushi for 3 years . Basicly most of the stances , moves and blocks used by Shotokan are also used by Kyokushinkai , however , the way you use those techniques is not the same .

Kata and stances are haveily stressed in shotokan ( as mentioned b4 ) , an a shotokan training session , one performs a small variaty of moves many times from different stances , alone or combined with other moves in order to master ur moves.

Kyokushin stresses stances and kata , but also is famous for its knock-down system of fighting , in another word , fighting is central in kyokushinkai in order to know the real power of your techniques and the endurance of human body .

A larger variaty of techniques is taught in a kyokushin session since lots of high kicks and other techniques are not emphasized in shotokan ( i have never seen a shotokan karteka performing a knee or an elbow strike ) .

Fighting system in sotokan is semi contact point fighting while in kyokushin it's knock down full contact system

katas are also different , + some of kyokushin katas are inherited form goju ryu .

kyokushin movement is circular and linear while shotokan is basicly linar .

Also some moves are slightly different , like the mawashi geri , visit http://www.kyokushinmail.com/koya/KickInstruction.htm for more informations

Shotokan and kyokushin are both great , i highly respect shotokan , however , kyokushin is more suited to me ..

[ivette_green]

Generally speaking, if you don't have a high pain tolerance or don't enjoy contact, you won't thrive and enjoy Kyokushin.

I disagree. I don't think you could make this statement even generally speaking. You need spirit and perserverance, not a high pain threshold to suceed in kyokushin, or really in anything. Kyokushin kata/patterns are much more fluid (IMO) than shotokan kata and as someone said before our movements are more circular.

[Meguro]

Generally speaking, if you don't have a high pain tolerance or don't enjoy contact, you won't thrive and enjoy Kyokushin.

I disagree. I don't think you could make this statement even generally speaking. You need spirit and perserverance, not a high pain threshold to suceed in kyokushin, or really in anything. Kyokushin kata/patterns are much more fluid (IMO) than shotokan kata and as someone said before our movements are more circular.

We are comparing Shotokan and Kyokushin. Overcoming fear and pain is a big part of Kyokushin, unless you're doing a version that doesn't have sparring. If you are sparring in a Kyokushin dojo, you will be tested to your limits, and sister, it will hurt. But if you have spirit, and perservere, you'll be around for the next class, the one after that, etc. Pretty soon, it doesn't hurt so much. By this time you probably enjoy the sparring. You look forward to it. By this time, people might say to you, "Ivette, you must have a high pain threshold, or are you one of those people who enjoys contact?"

[ivette_green]

I think kyokushin is a complicated martial arts, because yes, at the proffesional level of fighting the people who compete are extraordinary and can endure much pain. Also, their lives revolve around sparring and I would hazzard a guess that they do much less self defense and kata in their training.

But in the dojo, in a less goal driven atmosphere I think sparring is a lot less of the program than it is made out to be. I do not have a high pain threshold. We do very light sparring once a week and it is more fun than pain. Don't let the fear of pain (that isn't there most of the time) stop you from doing anything. Believe me, blisters have caused me more pain than sparring in the dojo.