Portal:Karate
Karate (空手?) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes. In some styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints, and vital point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a karateka (空手家?). For many practitioners, karate is a deeply philosophical practice. Karate-do teaches ethical principles and can have spiritual significance to its adherents. Gichin Funakoshi ("Father of Modern Karate") titled his autobiography Karate-Do: My Way of Life in recognition of the transforming nature of karate study. Today karate is practiced for self-perfection, for cultural reasons, for self-defense and as a sport. Web Japan claims there are 50 million karate practitioners worldwide. While the WKF claims there are 100 million practitioners around the world.
Kata (形, or more traditionally, 型) (literally: "form") is a Japanese word describing detailed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairs. Each is a complete fighting system, with the movements and postures of the kata being a living reference guide to the correct form and structure of the techniques used within that system. Karate Kata are executed as a specified series of a variety of moves, with stepping and turning, while attempting to maintain perfect form. The practitioner is counseled to visualize the enemy attacks and their responses. Karateka "read" a kata in order to explain the imagined events. The kata is not intended as a literal depiction of a mock fight, but as a display of transition and flow from one posture and movement to another, teaching the student proper form and position, and encouraging them to visualize different scenarios for the use of each motion and technique. There are various forms of kata, each with many minor variations.
Kenwa Mabuni (摩文仁 賢和) was one of the Okinawan karateka to introduce karate to mainland Japan, and the founder of the style known as Shitō-ryū (糸東流). Born in Shuri on Okinawa in 1889, Mabuni Sensei was a descendant of the famous Onigusukini Samurai family. At age 13, he began his instruction in his home town in the art of Shuri-Te (首里手)under the tutelage of Ankō Yasutsune Itosu (糸州安恒) (1831-1915), and Naha-te (那覇手) under Higaonna Kanryō (東恩納 寛量) (1853–1915). He trained diligently for several years, learning many Kata from these great masters.
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