Koshiki karate,

[Spartacus Maximus]

Has anyone heard of koshiki karate? It seems to be a contact sporting style focussed on free sparring using protectors. How does it compare to other sporting styles or organization such as JKA, WKO?

[Wastelander]

My old dojo allowed some people to do it--the head instructor won the first koshiki tournament in the US, back in the day. It seems to be a modern resurrection of the bogu kumite that was advocated for by the likes of Mabuni Kenwa and Nakamura Shigeru in the early 20th Century. From what I saw of it, koshiki does allow hard contact and throws, but it's still a rather restricted ruleset that focuses on modern tournament-style fighting methods, and they still pause the fight to assign points. That said, I don't believe there is a single overseeing organization that handles koshiki, so different groups may be doing it differently.

[Spartacus Maximus]

According to the bits of information available online there seems to be an organization overseeing it called Koshiki Karate World. The apparently also have their own version of the kata Naihanchi and Kusanku. They use full face mask type head protection and body shields like in Olympic TKD but no footpads or gloves in their kumite.

Does that sound familiar, Wastelander? Their logo/patch says world, so on could assume a presence in USA, but it does seem to be a newer style, perhaps an offshoot of another better known school?

[Wado Heretic]

Koshiki is a word used in Okinawan circles to refer to the old, or original version, of certain thing. Think the distinction between Do and Jutsu made is Japanese martial arts. When it comes to kata this is especially true so koshiki does not necessarily reflect an affiliation to any particular organisation or style in a broader sense.

Otherwise, all I can do is concur with Wastelander. As far as I know, in a competition sense Koshiki refers to a particular style of competition, which has some commonalities with Bogu Kumite.

[Wastelander]

According to the bits of information available online there seems to be an organization overseeing it called Koshiki Karate World. The apparently also have their own version of the kata Naihanchi and Kusanku. They use full face mask type head protection and body shields like in Olympic TKD but no footpads or gloves in their kumite.

Does that sound familiar, Wastelander? Their logo/patch says world, so on could assume a presence in USA, but it does seem to be a newer style, perhaps an offshoot of another better known school?

The equipment is similar to the Olympic TKD body pad, although the headgear is more like the Kudo headgear. The organization doesn't ring any bells for me--they probably just named the organization after the competition format, since it was being called koshiki to begin with. I know Robert Trias of Shuri-Ryu had at least something to do with the koshiki competitions in the USA.