How many Karates are there?

[shogeri]

I agree with Skeptic. In order for it to be karate, it's roots must be from one of the three regions in okinawa.

This is true even for those that branch off and start their own do or 'way'...

[patusai]

Kanken Toyama believed that there are no styles of karate...only karate.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Kanken Toyama believed that there are no styles of karate...only karate.

Well, with that logic, then there are no styles of cars either...they're all the same.

Sorry, I don't buy that. There are vast differences between some systems. For example, if you wanted to consider taekwondo or shotokan ...I could talk about the differences between them and shorin ryu for a long time.

[y2_sub]

Many

[Traditional-Fist]

As long as there are Americans ready to make money and INVENT their own style, more and more will keep appearing.

Agreed. Add to that a few Europeans as well. The number fake karate styles will continue to grow unless the real karate schools/styles make their presence felt by informing/educating the public at large.

How? the answer is not easy, but something has to be done.

[patusai]

Sorry, I don't buy that. There are vast differences between some systems. For example, if you wanted to consider taekwondo or shotokan ...I could talk about the differences between them and shorin ryu for a long time.

I am not arguing. Karate is karate but there are many ways of performing it. There are vast differences and now that karate has come to America there will be even vaster differences within the same "style" and withing the graduating students of each style. It's been like that all along. There are many differences even within most individual systems.

Look at Itosu. Itosu taught karate. His first generation students each developed their own "styles" (except for Toyama to my knowledge (although Shudokan is used to represent his training he never considered it a style) even though they learned from Itosu. Yes, some added training from other masters along the way.

As for style, yes, I do refer to what I do as a style but I think I understand Toyama's reasoning...of course, unfortunately, that reasoning would, I am afraid, cause a great deal of hard feelings and arguement.