There are very few traditional Karate schools in the Louisville area. The only one I can find that looks good at all is a Chito-Ryu school. It is very affordable and has a schedule that works with mine. Is there anyone out there that has experience wtih this style?

I don't have experience in it, but what are you looking for?

I would recommend trying a class and asking about A) their sparring rules/equipment, B) the frequency of free sparring.

There's a strong possibility that it's strongly rooted in kata and punching air. Then again, if they're not, it could be cool.

How does the style compare with Shotokan, Goju or Isshinryu? I already know the school doesn't do enough realistic sparring and would have to find people to do that with on my own.

Honestly, I hate towing the Bullshido party line, but if they're not doing realistic sparring don't bother.

Yes, you can find people to spar with outside class, but if they don't spar realistically then the drills and techniques they teach you are basically untested, which means half of them will be useless junk.

Just find something decent and non-Karate instead. If you had your heart set on Karate, you're better off just waiting until a better version of it comes along than rushing things and winding up a bitter krotty-hater.

There is a school that has MT an BJJ I guess that is where I will go. I kinda wanted to train in Karate and Judo but there doesn't seem to be a good Karate school in my area. We have a decent Judo school and Kyokushin would compliment it well I think. If only we had a school here for it.

I just found a Byakuren school about 45 min drive from me. It looks like they train pretty hard. I bet that would match up well with Judo. Thoughts?

I've never heard of Byakuren, but my googling tells me it could go either way. Maofas is right--good karate is great, but bad karate is a fruitless pursuit.

I would go ahead and try class at the Chito-ryu and the Byakuren school, with my sparring caveats above. If they do lots of air punching and one-step "kumite," don't go back. If they hit pads and hit each other, ask about the rules and frequency.

The Byaken sparring on YouTube seems to use Kyokushin rules. He may have found a winner...

The Byaken sparring on YouTube seems to use Kyokushin rules. He may have found a winner...

Oops, I missed that. I only saw the demos, which were fine.

Kyokushin-rules sparring means go and try it, definitely.

Thanks for the replies. I will try a class or two in the next couple of weeks and post a review.

Stay away from Karate and especially chito-ryu, it is a terrible style filled with BS from top to bottom. Besides there is nothing good in Karate that can't be found elsewhere, so that should be a no-brainer for you.

None of those shitty Karate schools are even worth looking at, certainly not one as crappy as Chito-Ryu. Karate is for losers, unless you happen to be Machida, and even he isn't that great.

...says the Systema retard.

None of those shitty Karate schools are even worth looking at, certainly not one as crappy as Chito-Ryu. Karate is for losers, unless you happen to be Machida, and even he isn't that great.


The undisputed, undefeateated, light heavyweight champion of the world. Yeah, he sucks!

Don't feed the obvious systema troll.

Don't feed the obvious systema troll.
Indeed. Conventional wisdom has it that they are rather overfed to begin with.