Yet Another "What Style" Thread

[Badger2011]

Hi everyone,

After I graduate in a couple of months I am looking to take up martial arts and I am trying to decide upon a style. After searching for a while all I have seemingly managed to do is overwhelm myself with informational. I've finally decided to simplify matters and ask for advice! Sorry if this all comes across very newbie-ish!

I know many of you will say "go and try them out then pick one you like best". I am going to consider doing this but I would like to get more of an idea about the styles first so I don't waste mine or anyone else's time trying something that isn't right for me. I also have the luxury of having a variety of places to train where I live so making a decision based on location isn't a priority either.

Basically, besides the fitness, "hobby" and social aspects I want something with the following:

Useful for self defence

A style leaning more towards striking but also with take-downs and maybe a few holds

I prefer the the idea of "diverting" attacks rather than "parrying" them with solid blocks.

I quite like the idea of full contact sparring

I've narrowed it down to four styles that might be okay and are offered nearby:

Shotokan

Kyokushinkai

Goju-Ryu

Wado-Ryu

What do each of these styles involve? A sort of list/breakdown/direct comparison would be useful. And, therefore which of these would be most suitable?

It might be helpful to know what and why I decided certain styles weren't suitable for me (this is purely from an outsiders perspective. I appreciate they all are very powerful in their own right - they just don't seem for me):

Aikido - Too defensive and inefficient (takes a lot of time to reach an outcome). From a self defensive perspective if someone was bigger than me or there were more than one of them it doesn't seem like it would be too much use

Jujitsu - Again, if the opponent was bigger or stronger I could see it being an unfair fight due to the grappling aspects.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[Fudoshin_Ryu]

I would first like to add that, no matter what style you do, even the ones you considered taking as well as the ones you have decided against, it's not just going to be an over night change in your defensive skills or offensive skills.

It's going to depend on the teacher you have in each art, our opinions won't make much of a difference, it's the teacher that appeals to you that will make everything work or not work for you.

I will take Goju Ryu for example, you can youtube it and google it and perhaps even wikipedia it all you want, and your gonna find people like Fabio, Higaonna, Ikemiyagi, Chroniger, etc etc. And your gonna see the way they train in hojo and junbi undo, and your going to see amazing kata performances, BUT you may or may not find that in your local dojo...I would suggest sitting in on each of the respective styles to see what you think of the teachers and such, as well as the atmosphere.

Some goju schools offer full contact kumite, while some don't.

A lot of Kyokushin schools offer sabaki as well, at least my school does, as well as their affiliates.

But even you said, all the styles have their strong and weak points, but if you instill the fact that "I have to excel in this..." to protect myself, or just to be the best, no matter what the art, I think you can be great in it!

That's my two cents on this subject...

Hope it helps, but if not I am sure someone else will have some even better advice ^_^

[JusticeZero]

You seem to have narrowed your search down to "Some form of Karate". Great! You've done some homework.

I suggest that the next step is not to obsess over which ryu is perfect, but rather to start researching the Karate instructors and schools in your area. No matter how perfect "Rare-exotic-ryu-jutsu" might be for you, if the only instructor around has all the teaching skills of a narcoleptic ferret and charges $300 a month, you won't get nearly as far as you would finding a really good teacher of a slightly less than ideal style within walking distance.

[Badger2011]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I appreciate the fact that its going to be heavily dependant on the teacher and classes themselves but I'm just trying to pick one to give a proper go at first. If it turns out I don't like it for some reason I can then try the others.

I have been doing a bit more research and from what I can tell Shotokan looks like it is likely to lack the "realistic" sparring aspect in favour of focussing tournament sparring. It also looks like its going to lack the "soft" side I'd like too. So for now I'm counting that out unless someone is able to inform me otherwise.

Does Kyokushin involve many throw-downs or is it basically just kicking and punches?

[Fudoshin_Ryu]

If your looking for something that utilizes both a soft and hard principle to its style, I would definitely go with Goju Ryu.

Kyokushin does have quite a bit grappling in it as well, but the same with Goju Ryu as well. Many goju ryu techniques within the kata are disguised, but they are actually grappling techniques. Although with Kyokushin you will do a good amount of kicking, which is contrary to Goju Ryu.

[Badger2011]

Do you know anything about Wado?

[Fudoshin_Ryu]

I have never ever taken a Wado class in my life, however my friend in New Hampshire studies Wado-Ryu. From what he throws my way I can see a blend of Shotokan and Shito Ryu, kata wise, I would say it's closer related to Shito Ryu seeing as how the Suparunpei they use is more Shito style than Goju Ryu, but I know a lot more Shotokan people are calling Suparunpei, Hyaku hachi ho, some say Funakoshi coined it as this, however I am reluctant to say if he did or not. But I would say it seems like a reasonable blend of both Shito Ryu and Shotokan.

[Badger2011]

Haha you're going to have to take it down a level. I have no idea what Shito Ryu is like.

I'm edging away from Kyokushin now. The contact and body conditioning is a nice prospect but I think I'd rather a style less focussed on kicking and more on soft style stuff which will probably be more practical.

[Fudoshin_Ryu]

Shito Ryu is sort of like a blend of Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Uechi Ryu etc. Kenwa Mabuni took principle from his friends, ans people he trained with. He trained with Chojun Miyage, founder of Goju Ryu. Kanbun Uechi, founder of Uechi Ryu, Ankoh Itosu, etc etc. But Mabuni used his own demeanor in most of his forms, and not the usual ones.

[bushido_man96]

Haha you're going to have to take it down a level. I have no idea what Shito Ryu is like.

I'm edging away from Kyokushin now. The contact and body conditioning is a nice prospect but I think I'd rather a style less focussed on kicking and more on soft style stuff which will probably be more practical.

Hard strikes and kicks are practical. And the body conditioning should be gradual, so it won't be a major shock to your system. It wouldn't be bad for self-defense, either.

Best of luck finding a place to train!