Are both Shotokan and Kyokushin popular?

[Nabil Kazama]

It seems there are people here who like talking about Shotokan and Kyokushin. What exactly are the differences? I know Kyokushin is full contact but I don't know much else.

I had to give up Kyokushin due to having a job and it clashed with my Shotokan plus I didn't really like the training times. That said I explained to them why I had to quit and they were alright with it actually.

Anyway I'm not a efficient fighter in Shotokan yet and am not very good at sparring let alone Kyokushin but having said that I will still keep their dojo in mind.

[Harkon72]

Shotokan is Kaiokoshin's parent style. Same as our style Shukokai developed from Shito Ryu.

[Kuma]

Kyokushin has strong influences from both Goju Ryu and Shotokan and emphasizes full contact sparring. Those are the most obvious differences.

[bassaiguy]

And Shotokan is cooler javascript:emoticon(':lol:')

[seikokaistudent]

Go for kyokushin if you want to participate in full contact sparring and a little bit rougher style of karate.

[kensei]

Kyokushin to me is more sport Karate and less real strategy, but the full contact aspect makes up for any weakness in strategy (no punching to the face bugs me) and shotokan has more attacks and defenses but is not as impact oriented.

Both are very good and both have strengths and weaknesses depending on how you train and with whom!

[bassaiguy]

I've read that Kyokushin is more popular in Japan today. Shotokan's heyday was the 60s-80s. I think these things are kind of cyclic. They are both excellent forms and have some commonalities. Although I call myself a Shotokan krateka I start each and every one of my classes off with some Kyokushin drills for conditioning the forearms, thighs and shins. If watch high level Shotokan guys their sparring can be pretty rough and tumble, too, so don't discount the impact of Shotokan.

[Dobbersky]

I like both for different reasons

The thing I don't like about both styles is the lack if Bunkai or Oyo of the Kata. It seems that both Shotokan AND Kyokushin only practice Kata to pass gradings.

But Ashihara and Enshin DO practice Bunkai so much in their kata which were created by their founders

[Harkon72]

Our Sensei teaches us our karate based on the bunkai of the Kata. So if what you say is true, we are very lucky.

[Nabil Kazama]

Interesting responses, I was told by someone else who I train with today that when we approach our black belts we will start adding full contact.

So really Shotokan is Kyokushin's father and Goju-Ryu is the mother lol. That's how I think of these styles as one family of Karate.