is karate an effective fighting art?

[ShotokanKen]

every martial art is efective its just effective if done right and what situations so different factors

[sano]

about time somebody from the home state you should know than shotokanKen tell those kyokushin people how effective shidokan karate really is if not you must be on the outskirts of illinois.

[aznkarateboi]

sansoouser, think about this. if i didn't think it was good, why would i start it?

[aznkarateboi]

by the way, those two links are bull, you know that that's an advertising site right? if you see a lot of ads, like i do, you'll know that EVERY SINGLE 'invincible street style become martial art master in one day' martial arts ad bash karate to a pulp. examples are lethalo, defendo, self defense 101, SCARS, that link u gave, etc. don't believe a word they say

[superleeds]

As with any style it all depends on the school, the instuctor and the way the student accepts-applies-and practices what they are taught. Within every style there are sure to be "McDojo's" there are also to be found within every style dojos which teach solid karate very suitable for self defense.

Accurate as always madame

[cross]

it has potential

[Sauzin]

What really makes the difference is the kata.

 

If you go to a McDojo and watch the students performing kata you usually have a large group of people off the street attempting a very sloppy and overly exerted version of a basic form or even a once traditional form now done horribly wrong. The teachers in these dojo’s rarely have taken the time to perfect their own kata and in many cases half the kata they know are from a tape or a book. They may have the latest self defense techniques, they may have a reasonable street knowledge of fighting, but they know little about kata. So they teach kata as best they can, and show their students the self defense, and since there is no way to pass on the street knowledge they cross their fingers and hope their students got it. And they don’t.

 

Now you compare this to a more traditional dojo where the teacher has spent at least 20 years perfecting his kata under a master who learned from his master every little detail. I mean every single little detail. From exactly where the eyes are looking and when, to when to breath, to when to tense, to the precise angle and movement of every single technique. You have a guy like this teaching a room full of students and you give a student a year and he’ll know enough to not get killed on the street. You give a student 5 years and he will be competent enough to control and decide the outcome of most situations. You give him 20 and “most” becomes “almost anything you can think of”.

 

“So how do you know it works?” you might ask. It’s difficult to explain but the way I describe it is, if you practice kata precisely and under good instruction for 5 years every day you will have karate coming out of your ears and nose. You will feel the movements in everything you do and it will become as natural to you as putting a spoon to your mouth. In a fight it will work as though someone placed a bowl of cereal in front of you and asked you to eat it. It will happen, you will do it, and if the kata was correct it will work. It’s that simple

 

-Paul Holsinger

[Guest]

I agree that you can tell the quality of instruction by the performance and knowledge of kata. However, there is a significant number of schools and styles that do not focus on kata, and thus it would be unfair to base the quality of instruction solely on kata. There are many effective systems that do not spend any time on kata.

 

However, if you have a dojo that claims to use kata as a method of training, then it would be fair to guage instruction on the students' performance, because if it isn't being done right or is sloppy, then the instructor is wrong, or is sloppy.

[Martial Artist]

Shuri-Ryu Karate is VERY effective. Speed, power, control. See, we hit so hard so fast people don't even know what hit them till they wake up in an E.R. having their jaw wired shut. We do this by complete relaxation so the attacker can't see muscle tensation before the strike. Then, we tense up just as we hit, and throw our entire body weight and hip action into the shot. We don't deal with niceties - block, punch HARD, run away. No fance spinny kicks or crazy blocking sequences.

 

EXAMPLE: I was at school (This was when i was a BLUE belt), someone pulled a knife one me and tried to stab me in the gut. I grabbed his hand, yanked him towards me and vertical fisted him right below the nose strait into the mouth. I broke 6 of his teeth and nocked 8 more out of his head, fractured his jaw and his nise in several places and knocked him out. ONE punch, ended it fast. And no I did not over react - he attacked with a LETHAL weapon, so I responded in like kind.

 

Now as for self defense of say choking attacks and headlocks and whatnot... also effective. Again, we use speed and power to defuse the situation and cause mondo hurt on the attacker in a swift manner.

 

EXAMPLE: I was in Canada a few days ago (Just got back), and I was attacked whilst walking through an alley. The attacker attempted a front choke attack and puched me back. I pinned his left arm to my chest with my right, wrapped my left over it and spun about. This forced him to let go, broke both of his wrists and elbows and rammed his face into a nearby dumpster. I left him and ran.

 

How can that NOT be effective?

[Sauzin]

I agree that you can tell the quality of instruction by the performance and knowledge of kata. However, there is a significant number of schools and styles that do not focus on kata, and thus it would be unfair to base the quality of instruction solely on kata. There are many effective systems that do not spend any time on kata.

 

Thank-you and I very much agree, but I would say this. Kata exists in every art in one form or another. Be it shadow boxing, drills, technique routines, or combo's they contain many of the same attributes of kata, so much so, that I would personally say they are the same. Should a school not teach or focus on "kata" I would then suggest judging their effectiveness by how well they practice what they use in place of kata.

 

As far as I know, however, there is no true karate style that does not practice kata. I believe the original question was regarding karate which is why I did not further elaborate. But thank-you for bringing up this point as I did not mean to suggest non-kata oriented styles were not effective.

 

-Paul Holsinger