Karate question

**kosenjudoka** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 4:35pm

I was having a conversation with one of my Judo buddies the other day about some karate styles, he had kyokushin in Japan, but after taling to him, i was wondering exacly how many styles there are?

He told me there were the non-contact styles like shotokan and 2 or 3 others and the full contact kyokushin which the splintered after oyama kicked the bucket.

so i was wondering how many distinct schools there actually are...

**Punisher** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 4:48pm

Karate is a pretty generic term, and is typically used to describe any Japanese striking art, I would say there are literally thousands of styles and schools.

I do kenpo, which a lot of people consider a form of karate, even though it doesn't have a whole lot to do with kyokushin and shotokan.

**gojuJKDdude** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 5:42pm

There are alot of different Karate styles and within those styles there are many more sub-styles. I would guess there are 20-50 different styles of karate.

***TaeBo_Master*** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 6:12pm

I've heard there are 4 "main" styles of Okinawan karate. But I believe Kyokushin is separate from that, because I believe it's considered Japanese, not Okinawan. And then there are lots of offshoots from Kyokushin, and who knows how many "non-main" Okinawan styles..

**GajusCaesar** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 6:24pm

There is no way to number them or even draw clear distinctions between them. There is no formal body that designates what is or is not karate or a separate style. Suffice it to say there are many.

**TCDD** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 6:34pm

grrr

shotokan is not non contact, infact when they/we make contact we do it very hard indeed

it just doent happen that often

**GajusCaesar** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 6:43pm

Hahahaha, not very often, as in NEVER! Oh, and making hard contact with boards doesn't count. Remember what Mr. Miyagi said: Boards don't hit back!

Just kidding. I just have to give you **** for defending Shotokan. I know, I know, Kyokushin did partially come from Shotokan. Welcome to Bullshido, N00b.

**TCDD** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 6:53pm

well its not gonna be much of a defence as i gave it up last year (after 11 years) and moved onto better things

but having near destroyed one knee in a tournament, when we connected, we did it properly
(helped if your opponent was blind and stayed in punching distance only)

**Ippatsu182** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 8:47pm

What's kind of ironic is that the karate styles that are popular in the U.S. aren't so popular in Japan (e.g. Shotokan, Shorin-ryu, Goju-ryu, etc). I'd say the three most popular schools over here are Kyokushin, Seidokai kan and Shorinji Kenpo. I could be wrong, but these are what I mostly hear about.