Karate Is DEAD (And That's A Good Thing) 

Karate is in a much better state than kung fu

Karate was never meant to be a sport, it was meant as self defense

That’s why I just started this channel my goal is to bring Karate’s original practicality back and its close range self defense methods to revive the art’s true purpose; to escape and avoid harm.

What's interesting is the Karate you are describing is what I was taught in the early 90s.

The problem with karate is that a lot of what passes as karate today was not what it was meant to be. It was never meant to be a long range style. The point fighting style was a sport adaptation. It was meant to be a close range fighting system. Because most conflict happens at the close range. Kata was always meant to be fought at close range. Also Bunkai was always meant to be an academic then a physical exercise based on the historical literature. A student would come up with a new use for a kata move then practice during s two man drill. And practical interpretation of kata was always a part of the styles. You see that in the books written by the founders. They assumed people would come up with their own applications for kata.

Kyokushin wants to know your location

Karate was originally a more complete martial art with grappling included. It's just that after world war II Japan wanted it to become more of a eastern version of boxing. So the problem is that the karate you see today isn't being thought as a complete martial art as it originally was.

Karate will never die

Kyokushin always did fullcontact sparring. At least at the gyms I went to. Just not to the head.

40 years of fighting experience has told me that MMA, UFC is the best fighting on the earth when fighting in a MMA ring with their rules. Boxing is the best in a boxing ring. Karate is best for ippon kumite and for street fighting but useless in a MMA ring as their rules and use of gloves render the karateka's techniques as useful as an unloaded gun. Where MMA is useless on the street as their is no floor fighting in real life. When you go down your as good as dead. Complicated moves and locks and arm catching in marital arts are simply equivalent to set pieces in football they wont work in the flow of a real fight. I find simple fast powerful striking to strategic parts of the body and the use of positioning and the environment are the best in real life combat.

Kyokushin has been there since 1953 and yes there is also head strikes, it's a rule called Shinken Shobu.

Great video once again. And thanks for including clips from our seminars. Everyone is on a different journey for different purposes. And I really believe all of us need to be factual about our practice. Not all Karate is the same, nor should it be. The problem is some organizations try to standardize it, and preserve something that should not be preserved. Karate is a personal expression . If anything is going to be preserved, it should be the evolution of the art. And I think you mentioned this, in your video, Karate is growing, and evolving . This is a very good thing. But to those who refuse to evolve it, and preserve it based on their own standards, as long as they are happy and healthy, and doing no harm to others, I see no problem with this. As far as Bunkai goes, I think the most open and holistic way to approach this is through cross training. When you immerse yourself in other arts, combat sports and combatives, you begin to see that everything is movement, and that we are more similar than different. At Karate unity, we are constantly evolving our practice through immersion in striking and grappling arts along with self-defence exposure…. Why? So we can understand our base art better. Great video, keep up the good work brother .

Hi, I do Kyokushin. Our style hasn't had, like, any of the problems you've described, and Kyokushin has been around for 70 years. The difference between good Karate and bad Karate is whether the karateka and sensei *mean* it. Kyokushin means it, and I'm happy to keep doing it for that reason.

It’s really good to see how you analyze traditional styles with an open mind while still being fair. As an Okinawa Goju Karateka, meeting Okinawans, very happy because you’re not trashing it but you’re also not hyping it up. Kata, Kihon, Bunkai (breakdown of techniques) and Ju-Kumite (not point sparring). In my dojo and association, we do pad work and partner drills, intensifying practices and putting a more Kime (purpose and intent). Very nicely done

NAILED IT! Thank you for this video. As a Karateka I love seeing the art evolve with the practical martial arts movement. Excellent point about pad and bag work. I stress that point all the time with fellow martial artists.

Not a karate guy but some of it seems applicable. Stephen Thompson, Michael Venom page put to use karate stances and footwork. Even Conor has a modified karate stance at times

If karate was death why a lot of doormen or hustlers trains karate in the 70s and 80s?mamy K1 Winners. In the 90s The problem is the fitness industry and the reason why karate becomes soft.. But is still dangerous see wonderboy in mma.

As a 40 year karate practitioner and former police officer who's actually had to fight real fights on the street, karate as practiced in a real, traditional, combative self-defense art is extremely effective. I agree with much of what was said about the watering down of karate over decades. It's mostly turned into a game and an exercise and often not really very efficient at either. But I disagree with the bunkai approach as being merely academic if you're training with a realistic element. Karate as a kickboxing form to me is no longer karate. It's kickboxing. It's boxing with some kicks. Karate is in-close, locking, smashing vulnerable points, and vicious destruction of joints and vital areas. Maybe most people don't train this way, but if you simply place your karate practice within the realistic parameters of "what if someone is trying to seriously hurt you....an unprovoked, non-consensual attack"....then karate body mechanics and applications can shine. The key element is "to sport or not to sport". I have zero interest in sport fighting. I don't want to stand toe to toe, hear the bell, and start trading punches and kicks. I want you to leave me alone and if you attack me, I want to stop you to the extent necessary. I've went from block/counter, resulting in several immediate knockouts, to clinching and locking up and taking down like a torpedo into the nearest hard object, resulting in fractures usually, to having someone in a neck lock applying pressure to break their neck if they continued. All karate basics applied in real situations. If you don't train with that mindset or intensity though, obviously you're just doing an exercise which is basically an Okinawan folk dance. Kickboxing is sport. It is not combat. You would not square up and engage one adversary in a test of attrition is if we're life or death. You would have a zero rules based engagement....not BJJ, not kickboxing, but smashing and breaking as immediately and violently as possible. Also, most people merely practice what I call arms & legs karate these days. There's no emphasis on full body power generation, whip and rebound of techniques done in immediate consecutive action. The point sparring nonsense is they throw 1 or 2 and back off. Everything should flow of the technique preceding it, like bending a stalk of bamboo as far as possible and letting it go. Karate is in a dismal state though, that much is true.

Just subscribe to your channel and I enjoy your honesty in what Karate should be and it needs to evolve. As a Kyokushin practitioner for 15 years, as tough art that it is, I still always have this open mind to refine what I'm doing. What I manage to do is went to Iain Abernethy's seminar years ago and it open my eyes on bunkai which I'll be honest is missing in modern Karate in general and it needs to be implemented along with foot work, more clinches variations dynamic approach, e.t.c...Keep up the good job CSD and best wishes from California...OSU!!

So much got lost when the art went from Okinawa to Japan. I was blessed to train in Shorin-ryu for 9 years. One of the things we had to do to go up in belt was bunkai and defense for dealing with blitz attacks or multiple attacks.

The way you mentioned forms is how my friend and I practice BJJ. Situational based with 40% resistance. It completely changes how you train in the art.

As a traditional martial artist, I honestly love the idea of partner kata! Just feeling out and getting used to common situations and dynamics in a slow, controlled environment would be a great addition to so many gyms I’ve trained in, especially as a way to bridge the gap between isolated and applied technique. I’d really like to see this in action, if anyone has tried this in their class or style, I’d love to know how it went.

Have you seen videos online called Enshin Karate? Back in the late 80s to early 90s there was an attempt to make Karate more legit with full contact strikes. The head kick knockouts and bloody faces were brutal.

Karate has a huge impact and influence to K-1 back in the 90s so its nothing new that Kickboxing is related with Karate

I agree with this. Im also glad my dojo does all 3 just like you explained it. We do kihon 2 days a week. And then we do kihon with a partner 3 days. And kumite 2-4 days. Kata i personally dropped it cuz it just wasnt for me (i did learn them tho)

In ANY martial art, if you don’t live spar, you don’t know how to fight.

In Isshin-ryu, we have "nihito" or "two-man" kata. Seisan and two weapons forms "bo-bo kumite" and "bo-sai kumite" in the curriculum (depending on your lineage). In my dojo (in the Sherman Harrill lineage) we also have several "dojo-only" katas developed by Harrill while he was alive plus our own modifications. In my dojo, I spent 7 years away for military service and got exposed to and trained in other martial arts and brought that knowledge back with me to come up with new ideas. Because our base was already good and focused on practicality (yes, we do a lot of kata for practice but it's not done in lines; the idea is "you know what you're here for, go train"), we've reinforced how we have the tools required to handle just about anything short of a fight where we're rolling on the ground looking for a submission hold. I'll note that my dojo is a black sheep among the Isshin-ryu community and we had a rival dojo that called us "the Dark side of Karate" as a reason why we're just "dumb brawlers". And it took me 6 years of training 3 days per week, 2 hours per session and proving I could be an effective teacher before I got my black belt. As of today, it's mostly my fellow black belts and maybe a handful of junior students and we literally meet up for class in the basement we're renting out of a small office building. A "hole in the wall" dojo.

It’s still hope for karate, unlike taekwondo that become worse every years. Kyokushin still better than other style on pressure test. My son do shotokan karate and how their kumite work is lack pressure test unlike kyokushin does. I’m do taekwondo and muay thai and at least I can teach my son some movement as secret technique.😅

While in the Army I spent two years in Korea, in the 90's. Watching the "natives" train in Tang Soo Do, as intended, was a sight to behold.

Kyokushin? Aren't they pretty effective and at realistic fighting?

Karate Combat will ensure karate will not stay dead. As long as they run it properly it’s gonna do the same for Karate that MMA did for martial arts.

I'd say this is pretty accurate. Contact sparring of 70-80's was legit, no joke combat training but not something that the average practitioner was going to be up for but instead it would be a relatively small tribe of 'wild men' who wanted to get it on. Not so good for getting alot of new students who had barely ever done anything athletic in their lives much less get into a square and throw and receive real blows. I've studied a couple of different Karate styles and the way I approached it was to separate it into two halves, the traditional academic half and the empty hand combat half. You have your 'academic' endeavors to learn forms and technique correctly that you need to be able to generate power but then you have your free flow fighting movement.

You know I been in Karate for many years but I will never disrespect other martial arts out there because I always to learn to show honor and respect to others and MMA. Because remember it’s not about being a Black Belt or winning a fake gold plastic belt to be a Karate person or a Martial artist it’s the person behind the Black Belt to make the difference and it take dedication and commitment.

You left out Andy Hug.

I remember back when I was training in karate in 1990, I heard rumors that when my sensei was still a student, his generation was much more of a fighting generation than my then-current generation.

Great video! As an international karate point fighter and traditional martial artist I think you hit the nail on the head. Though I do enjoy the sport, I look at it as a game that practices parts of fighting but not really fighting. Karate combat has allowed for a platform to develop the full arsenal of karate in a modern way. Sadly they are moving away from that as they are signing more and more mma/kickboxing fighters without a traditional background. Hope that karate can continue to evolve in today’s combat sports environment.

I’ve been getting back to karate for a year or so. I am a pragmatist. I like my techniques to work in live sparring, but I do not compete and I’m not worried about my sefty. I do karate for fun and health. I do play with some bunkai ideas, but it’s very hard to make them work in life sparring even when it’s very light.

America is the reason people think karate sucks.

I’m currently making changes to how I practice my Karate trying to incorporate modern styles training. I’m not sure if it’s working yet but I do feel like I’ve made a little bit of progress in the last few months. My mindset in all this is that Karate is not about how many katas you know or how perfect the technique looks. The original purpose of Karate is to protect yourself.

Karate is basically a Phoenix

Karate is more practical then kung fu

Hitting targets, striking targets, are traditional to karate. Working kata with a partner to work against normal attacks was good it originally worked, not what demo competitions led to. The Old Style karate in this video, mostly came about in the 1940s+, which in the history of the art, is pretty recent. Plenty of calls criticism here, but some extra context is needed.

Actually. Gichin funakoshi, the founder of the Shotokan style, has already made the original Karate child-friendly to make it able to be introduced into the Japanese world outside Okinawa. This, plus the "japanization" of Karate had been criticized by the other traditional Karate masters from Okinawa, which also led to a widespread division into different Karate styles.

Very interesting concept for evolution of Karate. On a recent trip to Japan, most Karate dojo's I visited, are incorporating what you described as "3 New Ways of Training". Regardless of style, dojo's are training their students for fighting similar to K1 or MMA. Another thing I learned was that most who train Karate also had trained Judo growing up, so they were more well rounded. In Japan, there are also very popular style of Karate that are basically MMA, but they still wear a gi and incorporate the traditional concept of Budo. Hopefully the USA will start to change as you suggested. It's already begun in Japan.

low kicks, especially to the shins, knees, and nuts, are understandably banned in most styles, just like head butts and bites are, and for the same reason, There's too high a risk of serious injury. . But such things SHOULD be religiously practiced, with protection and focus on how "deep" the strike goes, cause they work so astoundingly well in a real fight.

I'm a lifelong karateka who has recently started MMA-style training. I fully agree with this video. Also, a personal anecdote: I was expecting the technical aspects of punching, kicking, and dodging to be much different, and to completely abandon karate as an art. I found that most, if not all, technical skills translated well, and finally found meaning and application in many obscure movements and even kata. What is profoundly different and a big detriment to karate and the way it's trained is the lack of a sense of RYTHM and CONTINUITY. You essentially learn the most efficient way to write letters of the alphabet which look beautiful. But you struggle forming words or sentences.

I'm not a karateka and used to have a very low opinion of it, but I've developed an interest in it and greater respect for it while watching Senseis Enkamp and Abernathy's channel and Steven Thompson's fights. I think the practical karate movement that tries to get back to Karate as an off-shoot of southern Chinese kung fu (before it was Japan-ified) has a lot of value for self-defense. Jesse Enkamp's video on the differences between Japanese and Okinawan karate is still arguably the best video in the history of martial arts youtube -- so much scholarly value and still entertaining. I think the point about two-man katas has a lot of merit. Do you think you do that by making up new katas specifically to be two-man or by creating the second part to traditional katas?

Great to hear someone with this POV, I agree with what you say, I've been thru the ridiculous karate past and have emerged into the functional karate future.

To be honest I think many of the bunkai people are suffering from some kind of sunk cost fallacy. They have often spent decades doing karate, so when they become disillusioned with its self-defense application they start searching through kata to reinvent original karate. If your interest is in historical reenactment, that is completely fine, but if you actually want to learn effective grappling moves there are living breathing humans who can teach you right now without having to sit and speculate about kata.

There is only: striking, kicking, throwing, choking, breaking. The rest is just about how to apply these in a frame of sports rules. Sport rules dictate much of how techniques can be applied and how styles developed. Kyokushin karate pretty much is Muay Thai without the strikes to the head, which has had a HUGE impact on how the two styles developed. Not having to worry about getting punched in the face has turned Kyokushin in a completely different sport compared to Muay Thai or Kickboxing.

I'm wondering about if other martial arts that have fallen from grace could be "revived" as karate has. As long as the style has had some relatively recent combat sport use, I would think it was possible.

I'm a TKD guy. The art I study has its roots from karate. I feel like this video seriously touches on my art as well. Thankyou so much for this!

Did about 6 years of Kung Fu split between two schools.Including Sanda, Wing Chun. Currently study boxing and have recently stopped practicing Muay Thai regularly due to reoccurring injury. I humbly admit I was never super talented but dedicated myself to doing the basics right. I’m almost 50 and regret not formally studying Karate with some good schools always near me. King Fu was a mixed experience for me. There is a false sense of security culture. It all depends on the teacher I guess like any martial art per some points in this video. I respect Karate more than ever at this point in my life.

So basically, every style of karate has figured out what Sosai Oyama did with kyokushin since its inception. The funny thing is that Kyokushin was looked down on by other karate styles because it wasn't considered "real karate."

I don't know if this is true or not, but one of the senseis in my dojo said that the reason why gekisai dai ichi was the first kata you would learn was because it is the nost practical to apply in a self defense situation. The main part it's basically a kick to the groin followed by an elbow to the chin. Then again Goju-ryu kata tends to fluctuate between very blunt to very breathing focus. The ones on breathing were very praised for some reason and I never understood why because I didn't went past blue belt.

My son is doing BJJ and Shikiokushin and progressing fast in BJJ and very slow in kicking the air. Once kids kumite starts he's happy 😅 . Consider watching Shihan Cameron Quinn Karate (he's also BJJ master and instructor). Great fusion ❤

What you are talking about is not new and it really shouldn’t be considered an adaptation. REAL KARATE has been doing these things for a long time. I have been involved in karate for about 35 years and my teacher, God rest his soul, was from the sixties and seventies “blood and guts” era and he refused to change to be commercial. I am 52 and still teach, still spar, and still cross train in jujitsu (Sensei was totally cool with it as he was very good at judo as well). Non of these people that you mentioned (Page, Thompson, and the rest) are doing anything different from what I learned and did or my Sensei did or even his Sensei.

Nice video. The clips you’ve edited in tell me you’re very familiar with the karate world. Some hard to find and niche clips in there. I’m a Goju ryu practitioner and I agree with a lot of what you’ve said. I’m glad we do practice a lot of what you mentioned. Balancing tradition and progression is always a challenge.

They just need to incorporate more open sparring with gloves and headgear. The point fighting system is more for kids.

Hi, I started with Judo 1984 and then with Karate 1987. Because I had to stay for my Job in different Locations, I learned Ju Jutsu, Jiu Jitsu, Wing Tsun, Archery and Arnis too. You are fully right, Karate in the 90' was more self defense oriented and complient to the rest of the styles I trained. Today I train with the Makiwara and I make Kata Bunkai. I think that the Kata is like a book. You can read it and understand only the top level of what's written. You can read it very nicely for a child, but that's like Ballet. Or you dive deep in it and seen an endless number of practical self defence. This brings Karate to life and you have a lot of benefits from it. For me personally it helps me to survive in critical situation in my life and pushes me to efficiency in my Job. I respect every Martial art, but I am proud to be a Karateka!!! Please excuse my bad english, I am German. Bye Willy

I'm 60 and grew up in Detroit in the 70's. During that time karate trained guys were coming back from Nam along with Marines who served in Japan. Karate taught then was deadly!!! Ear rips, throat attacks, eye gouging techniques, groin attacks, breaking fingers, breaking ribs, using a ridge hand to break noses, judo chops to break jaws etc... My neighbor family center had a blk guy named karate keith who taught classes there, he was super deadly and this is when gangs were strong in Detroit - he use to challenge all the street toughs and kick their asses in front of everybody. He wouldnt get away with it now cause gangs use guns now instead of just fighting.

been trying to find that old UFC clip at 0:24 for years, what were those fighters' names?

Great video, i agree that karate has to evolve 💜 I practice a martial art called sipalki, it originally was a badass self defense system.... Many schools went for the pointstyle open style tournaments and it watered down the style while some kept training brutally like it was suposed to be... Cristian serpiente bosch is a sipalki guy that when he got asked if it was hard to go from sipalki to full contact sports he said "of course... Because most of the things we did in sipalki were not allowed in the ring... Sipalki was at the time, the closest thing to mma"... With that in mind, the school i practice in has a similar ruleset to mma... But to be honest it still looks traditional... Its like having an mma federation where everyone tried to be the karate kid... So... It can still be done with karate too

Karate is still increasing in popularity. Stick to traditional styles if you want to actually be effective.

Point said, The risk of serious bodily harm. real martial arts is used for war not a daycare system

Other than the tradition, it’s kinda silly to keep trying to “revive” karate and Tae Keon Do back into fighting arts. They have to completely change just to be useful, stop using forms as they did traditionally, and so on. At some point, you’re having the same problem as a guy trying to put an engine in a horse - sooner or later the best performance is in getting rid of the horse part. There are other arts that do the things that people say they want in MA as self defense. Savate, Muy Thai, Jeet Kune do, Bartjutsu, and modern Kickboxing all do the things that you want to modernize Karate into being (and Savate is arguably older than Karate which mostly is an amalgam of styles formalized in 1900, where Savate existed in near modern form in 1830s or earlier). So the question is why bother with a style that isn’t teaching what you need it to teach when other styles do?

"by the time the UFC came around it was pretty clear karate no longer had what it took to compete in continuous full contact fighting particularly against styles like kickboxing, Muay-Thai, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" To be fair, any pure striking martial art will realistically fail against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Wrestling. It has nothing to do with dilution of the style. A pure striking martial art will not teach people how to defend against takedowns effectively. -Royce took down and defeated the Continental Savate Champion in UFC 1. -Rorion took down and defeated a world kickboxing champion in a challenge match. -A judo black belt took down and defeated the world champion of Muay-Thai in UFC 2. Those defeated strikers were not products of watered-down training. Their disciplines had a deficiency, which grapplers exploited.

So i am a kendo practitioner and your thoughts on kata for "neo karate" is exactly what we practice. 2 man practice. One is the attacker, one is the defender. However I am well aware kendo has its own flaws, the primary focus on kihon and keiko (our version of kumite/randori) has made sure that the art has not been watered down to the extent of karate. One question I do have is, how do you think the Second World War and the post-war GHQ ban on martial arts impacted the many forms of karate. In the case of kendo, it was originally a post meiji restoration military art which included grappling, and takedowns as we as skill with a training sword. However post-war the focus had changed significantly to mental and character development. Does karate have a similar history?

"come back stronger than ever" do you know what Kyokushin is? Or do you only know about karate from youtube videos?

Ouch! Has a karate pratictionner, it hurts. But its exactly how i feel when i compare karate versus other martial art. Nice video!

In my school of Song Moo Kwan we practice one step sparring and if interested we can pursue 3 step sparring which similar to what kata with a partner would be but in a shorter form. A one step at my school works by your partner breaking down into a ready stance and throwing an attack at a predetermined location and you defend and return a counter strike. My school for example has 24 one steps separate from the kata we practice. In its most advance form the attack is no longer predetermined you respond from your mental library of one steps. What are your thoughts on the one step sparring method?

Kihon should include hitting on a bag, because hitting the air is more about breaking the momentum than real impact. Kumite should include throwing and basic ground fighting. You can do this with a 10% of cross training with grappling martial arts like Judo, JJJ, BJJ etc…Most basic, traditional MA’s go a long way when coupled with modern concepts and cross training. This doesn’t mean you have to do MMA. Congrats on your vid! 👍

Kind of like Boot Camp in the Marines. All they do is March all the time. Not really necessary but many of my peers will make excuses like it teaches precision and decipline bs. I could teach tactics and make people effective without that shit.

Kicks to the head don't work. -Royce Gracie (Early 90's) All you need is Jiu Jitsu to be successful in MMA. - Royce Gracie (2013)

Great video!! I’m starting a marital arts journey myself. Any advice on where a rookie like me can look for these newer types of karate?

Karate in its basic form has always worked. Simple but effective and many styles but the basic persists. Steak and Potatoes can be done in many different ways but its most basic still exists because it work.

"They are all facing the same issue". Yeah...I don't think Kyokushin has ever faced those tho. So maybe you would like to not include that one. Cause Kyokushin has none of the problems you just said.

Kyokushin Karate still here 😭

As an OG karate-ka who also trained other systems, I think you're more right than wrong here, though with a few caveats. I started teaching again (non-commercial school) recently because almost every local MA school I visited was pathetic, BJJ included. As someone who fought in and out of the ring, did several MA's, was a cop etc, I teach what I've found to work in self-defense. I don't teach kata at all; most bunkai was lost or deliberately obscured so long ago that I don't think there's enough gain in reconstructing it for practical use. Once a student has the form of a technique worked out, we go to partner drill or hitting the bag/shield/mitt. Application and tactical deployment of techniques is emphasized. We don't do kobudo, nunchaku sai and tonfa, we do stick knife and OC. When we spar all techniques are allowed as long as you don't send your opponent to the ER. Sport fighting has its place: it is good to do some, test yourself against others, learn to hit and take a hit... but you have to realize all sport fighting has rules for safety while the real world does not (it has "rules" but they are *entirely* different!) If a student wants to fight in the ring I'll train them for that, but my main focus is self-defense in the real world. Ok end rant, got that off my chest, good video you're hitting some good points, keep it up.

I really love your videos!! Lots of information and better ways to train!! Thank you for these, I try to do a lot of practical training!

My Shotokan Sensei was also a National Competing Judoka. We were doing clinch work because I was bullied by a boxer in my early teens in the 90's. I am all about grappling now.

If you're looking for karate where there isn't so much stoppage during the fight (i.e.: after every scored technique), check out the Koshiki style fighting that is prevalent in Shorinjiryu karate. The fight is ongoing, only stopping now and then to award points and then it resumes again. This is the fighting style that I have trained in since white belt.

Has anyone read any of the material left by some of the famous karate teachers? They tell you outright and with examples, how to train it and how to use it. Karate for fighting is a relatively modern thing. And what we have is kinda crappy kickboxing that doesn't look or function anything like the source material. Rob has it here. He points to both self-defense karate and sport karate. Though they my have some overlap, they are not the same thing for the same purpose. We get bogged down focusing on the skill building that some of us tend to miss the overall benefits of training. You ever look at the lifespan of the past masters with that of some of their contemporaries? Those guys get O.L.D. Saying thing like "It's not for fighting" detracts from the many karateka that dedicate their lives to dueling other martial artists. And saying "you cannot defend yourself unless you do full contact sparring" is kind of leaving out all of the people that would actually need to rely on karate as a mode of self defense. So 75 year old grandma training to recover from a hip replacement needs a concussion to know what its like to get hit so she knows what she is in for when she is attacked in the Wal-Mart parking lot? I don't think so. Self-Defense and fighting are not the same thing. The bell rings. You push the ref into your opponent. Then climb through the ropes and hit the nearest exit without a single blow thrown or taken. That will get you DQ'd in any fighting arena, but that is almost perfect self-defense. I say almost perfect because not showing up would have been better. Make sense?

Have taught and trained in Ashihara - All Kata's are 2 person drills, sparring is full contact both barkeknuckle knockdown and with Gloves. Has takedowns and clinching too.

boxers train themselves to IGNORE the lower half of their opponent's body. That is VERY dangerous vs a skilled kicker. they will probably never lay a hand on such a man and almost certainly will never hit anything but his forearms or the crown of his head. Boxers train themselves to just LET themselves be hit with jabs, but when that jab is a spear hand to the armpit or the solar plexus, gaining 4" of reach, they will be very sorry that they just let themselves be hit with it. They do ZERO training with kicking or evading/stopping kicks. Kicks above the bladder height are to be avoided and only rarely should a kick be attempted above knee height. Such low kicks are much faster, much more likely to do real damage and much less likely to be countered in any way that endangers the kicker. Boxers train themselves to let themselves be tied-up in the clinch. That's just ASKING to be head butted, elbowed or struck in the groin, get a foot raked down their shins or stomped onto the top of their foot.

Muay Thai or go Dutch

C'MON, it isn't about which martial art is the best. Only those who don't know anything about martial arts compares it. Its about finding what its suitable for you, what are you looking for and most importantly, the one you like the most! The thing that counts in the end its the athlete, not the art itself.

Karate may be dead as a real martial art for self defense but for those who are training for it personally for self defense only and not even for sparring with friends much more for tournament, Karate is very much alive and is simple. I believe that real karate technique for self defense when use for tournament fighting or cage fighting like in Mix Martial Arts combat which uses gloves and regulated as there are strikes not allowed or foul are not effective because karate can not use what it trained for like extended knuckles(Naka daka ken or ippon ken), finger strike and bare knuckles of which the fist hardened by makiwara may seriously injure or destabilized by one strike. When you put gloves on the fist only those with innate strong punch are effective even with gloves but one who is not a very strong puncher may destabilized his opponent by using the extended knuckles or finger strike to the face or eyes compensating its luck of strength to deliver a hard blow. However, this extended knuckles, finger strikes are difficult for they are painful to train. you have to strike those with hard object to strike it in a punching bag to hardened them. Kicks are suppose to be simple and strong but now in the tournament they kick high as they strike the face. what if the opponent is very good in kicking defense technique. by catching or scooping the kicking legs and apply techniques against your kick. Many does not even trained for kicking defense to defeat a kicker. High kick could be attacked on the opening created by the high split of the kicking legs and the standing legs. Kicking should also be trained the old way- hip level kicking but fast and strong strike to the bladder area, or floating ribs when striking round kick, and if one is in shoes using the tip of the shoe as impact point. These are my way of practicing my personal Karate. I may not be anymore traditional, but karate must not be restricted by traditions. One can practice what it thinks is essential in case of self defense. Throw away those practices that are not really or should not be practice focus in one or two strikes and make them fast, hard and injurious.

Regarding kata, it really depends. There are several ways to practice kata, all valid for different purposes, BUT I really value the self-defense application of kata. Most do not understand this. Even a basic white belt form (kata) can have extremely effective applications.

As karate stands now, I think it's excellent supplemental training for someone with a combat sports background. But I agree it's got a ways to go before it makes a good "base" martial art. I started in Shorin Ryu karate as a kid and trained all the way through my teenage years. Never got my blackbelt due to a string of injuries and money getting really tight as I got older. After taking most of my 20's off I started BJJ in my late 20's and now train MMA with a heavy grappling focus. I think my karate background adds a lot to my striking (being really tall for my weight, the in and out stuff works great for my build) but I'm terrible at striking in the pocket still. I'd love to go back to karate one day and try to more seemlessly incorporate what I've learned from MMA. Maybe try to build a complete system with better clinch work and grappling supplementing the outside striking.

😢im still training karate 🙏🏽

It's not karate do that's an issue, its the adaption of karate do that was made to sell.

Your not talking about fighting. Your talking about combat sports. Different topics.

I agree with this video fully. I did other styles of martial arts too. I started out with Karate and still practice it to this day. I thought I was seeing all these problems in Karate, and they choose not to evolve. I usually train in some dojo's to learn more and also checking it out how to become better at it. There are a few that changed or is changing their way. This video is analyzed very well keep up the good work.👍

Enshin is basically Jujitsu now. American Kendo following close behind on the blending in MMA path. It's going to be interesting going forward.

I think point fighting is fine if they let the match continue without stopping every time someone scores a point and don't promote using the pulling hand.

I think before anyone tries anything harder like mixed martial arts or kickboxing they ought to learn karate, getting a martial art with the basics to start with will prepare someone for the rigors of the more combative martial arts.

The Japanese master Gogen Yamaguchi introduced a really great system of Jiyu Kumite. They fight from nekoashi dachi, and shift around to other stances as required. It is definitely a close-quarter system that actually LOOKS like their style of karate (Goju Ryu). They don't look like generic kick-boxing, nor do they bounce back and forth like in competition karate tournaments. They most certainly do become effect at defending themselves. The key is dealing with a threat that is unplanned and spontaneous. That is done in point sparring as well, but the range is much further away, and a scoring point just has to make minimal contact.

Early karateka would fight boxers? Would it be far to say that the karateka back then were equals to the boxers they fought?

I disagree in the kata part...kata is not visualization...this is where people gets wrongs. Kata is conditioning, stretching and balance training all at once plus understanding the basis. Yet the wrong way has been made into the norm