Karate question

**punchingdummy** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 9:07pm

Originally posted by Punisher
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.

On the money Punisher. It's much easier to trace back lineages to a handful of styles.

**Ippatsu182** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 9:21pm

Originally posted by albert
Is Seidokai kan a full contact karate style? I looked it up but can't find much information. I get a lot of hits regarding K-1 and Musashi.

In Seidokai kan, we have two sparring styles to choose from.

If you spar in the karate style, you have to wear some of those foam dipped gloves and kicking is from the legs to the head, but punching is only allowed to the body. There are three two-minute rounds. The matches are based on point accumulation or on damage (i.e. KO). By the way, the black belts don't wear any gloves.

The other style is kickboxing (K-1 style). Participants have to wear 14-16oz gloves, headgear and shin pads. Kicks are from the legs to the head. Punches are allowed to the head and the body. You can also clinch for 5 seconds and knee your opponent. There are 3 2-minute rounds.

Both styles encourage full-power blows. I have seen some people get knocked out from head kicks in the karate-style sparring events.

As far as finding information about this style on the net, I think it may be pretty hard to, unless you can read Japanese.

**albert** · Posted On: 3/09/2004 9:42pm

So depending on the school, one style is practiced over another? Or are both styles practiced?

**GajusCaesar** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 4:05am

Seido is cool. I am a big fan of their kickboxing style added to the full contact karate style. They came from Kyokushin.

There is one totally lame thing though and that is wearing gloves in the full contact karate sparring. There are no head punches specifically so you don't have to wear gloves. That makes body punching so much fun! I don't know why they only let the black belts punch bare knuckle to the body. A broken rib or two helps the lower ranks learn!

**Ippatsu182** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 7:20am

Albert: It depends on what the individual wants. You can either focus on kickboxing or karate, but everyone learns karate. The only difference is when we do drills or spar in class. The people who want to learn karate, focus on low kicks and body punch combinations, while the people interested in kickboxing focus more on head-body punch-kick combinations. You should check it out if you're ever in Japan.

GajusCaesar: I hear you man. I didn't really like the fact that you had to wear gloves when sparring, but I think it changes after you get your shodan. I saw some black belts sparring in a tournament and they weren't wearing any gloves. To tell you honestly, I was going to take Kyokushin instead of Seidokai kan, but I changed my mind because Kyokushin doesn't allow head punches.

**Ronin** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 8:08am

Do you mean "offically" recognised schools of karate?
In Japan or Okinawa?
The main ones or the off-shots too?

**Te No Kage!** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 8:16am

I practice Yoshukai which is a Japanese style and was started by Kazuoh Yamamoto in the 60's. He was a student of Dr. Chitose (Chitose-ryu)

**garbanzo** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 9:02am

Ippatsu182:

How much, if any kata, do you do?

**TCDD** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 9:23am

just to throw another pointless defence to the wind...

the shotokan i used to do, all the sparring was with a gumshield and a prayer
(and if you were slow enough to getr booted in the head..it hurt)

**Ippatsu182** · Posted On: 3/10/2004 9:27am

Well, I have to do one kata for my 4th kyu test, which is this weekend. We don't spend much time on kata at all. We do practice combinations though, which are found in some of the katas we do. For example (roundhouse low kick, jab, straight, roundhouse high kick), (jab, straight, knee). Most of our katas are sparring oriented. Ofcourse I'm pretty much a beginner.