Shotokan and Kyokushin

[explosive_power]

I noticed the very big difference between the two is stance.

Shotokan karateka's have a wide stance when sparring

While kyokushin karateka's stand in a shorter stance while sparring

can anyone explain why this is so?

[benjamin]

This will be because, invariably, the different styles were coined by different people. And the styles mimic the styles of their creator.

Although you'll find that different associations, and even different clubs within the association favour slightly different stances.

The stances at my club are considerably longer than the stances of other local clubs in our association. Depends on the teacher too.

[Toptomcat]

The core difference between the two from which all others, including stances, flow, is their method of sparring. Shotokan sparring is fundamentally a martial game of tag- the two participants compete to tap the other in a designated target area. When a point is achieved, they stop and restart. Kyokushin sparring is fundamentally a stand-up fight with restrictions- the two participants compete to knock the other man out or knock him down, throwing techniques continuously. It leads to pretty huge differences in technique and philosophy.

[Soheir]

The fighting style is different so of course the stance is different too.

Edited December 19, 2010 by Soheir

[ps1]

The stance difference is really just a manifestation of the differences in training. Kyokushin is knockdown karate fighting while shotokan is not. They train differently and, therefore, have different habits.

[Kuma]

The stance difference is really just a manifestation of the differences in training. Kyokushin is knockdown karate fighting while shotokan is not. They train differently and, therefore, have different habits.

Exactly. Kyokushin also has elements of Goju Ryu in it, which favor shorter stances than the long deep stances you see in Shotokan.

[Sheephead]

The stance difference is really just a manifestation of the differences in training. Kyokushin is knockdown karate fighting while shotokan is not. They train differently and, therefore, have different habits.

Exactly. Kyokushin also has elements of Goju Ryu in it, which favor shorter stances than the long deep stances you see in Shotokan.

Since Kyokushin's foundation is in both Goju and Shotokan I don't think you can say either is responsible for stance depth/length. And back in the days before point sparring, Shotokan (before Yoshitaka Funakoshis influence I guess) had very narrow stances compared to modern Shotokan.

[jsteczko]

Oyama, the creator of Kyokushin was a student of Shotokan creator - Gichin Funakoshi. Yet their styles are not the same. Why?

Oyama had a vision, where he crated his own style and where people were training sparring. There is not much kumite in Shotokan clubs. Of course very much depends on the teacher.

There are Shotokan clubs where people train kumite, with that little skin-touch which is somehow useless on the street (are you going to use skin-touch strikes when someone attacks you?). I trained before in such club, but I switched to another Shotokan club. There, people are not training kumite but they focus on bunkai, breating, deeper stances and their style is not a sport. They call it budo (the way of the warrior). This means they are training something that you cannot use too much on sport events. You train to really damage your opponent.

As you see, two shotokan clubs but different types of training. This is because one sensei thinks one thing is better, another sensei things something else is better.

Oyama wanted a style where you could train sparring but still hit hard and be tough. And he did it. I do not know much differences there are between kyokushin clubs but I would gladly try out kyokushin some day.

When you will be a black belt you will be able to create your own style as well.

[Blade96]

I noticed the very big difference between the two is stance.

Shotokan karateka's have a wide stance when sparring

While kyokushin karateka's stand in a shorter stance while sparring

can anyone explain why this is so?

Hoi! Our stance isnt that wide lol

You must mean like in zenkutsu dachi stance when moving forward for example oi/gyaku zuki etc in which stance is more the long wide low stance you're describing.

But generally ours kumite stance is about shoulder width. Why? Because one needs to be able to lift our front leg up off the floor comfortably and quickly (as for say mae geri keage/kekomi, , yoko geri keage/kekomi, and so on)

If our stances was too wide or too narrow than about shoulder width this would either be impossible or just very hard to execute.

There - my 2 cents for this morning

[explosive_power]

I noticed the very big difference between the two is stance.

Shotokan karateka's have a wide stance when sparring

While kyokushin karateka's stand in a shorter stance while sparring

can anyone explain why this is so?

Hoi! Our stance isnt that wide lol

You must mean like in zenkutsu dachi stance when moving forward for example oi/gyaku zuki etc in which stance is more the long wide low stance you're describing.

But generally ours kumite stance is about shoulder width. Why? Because one needs to be able to lift our front leg up off the floor comfortably and quickly (as for say mae geri keage/kekomi, , yoko geri keage/kekomi, and so on)

If our stances was too wide or too narrow than about shoulder width this would either be impossible or just very hard to execute.

There - my 2 cents for this morning

what I meant was compared to kyokushin,

shotokan has the wider stance,

and maybe because a wider stance means more power.

and is good for such techniques as the gyaku tsuki.