All About Karate

"An unarmed self defense that came from eastern Asia involving the use of hands, elbows and knees or feet for kicks and blows to parts of the body that are vulnerable is called Karate. This system of self defense is often confused with other Asian sport like ju-jitsu,sumo and judo. These involve wrestling, holding an opponent on the ground and choking him and throwing as well.

Karate during the seventies was referred to as an acrobatic boxing. Karate involves a little personal contact and the opponent becomes immobile because of powerful and well directed blows which are delivered far from the opponent as possible. Experts in Karate can crush a large block of ice using his fist, he can splinter a six inch thick pine wood by a single kick and he can shatter stacks of tiles using his head or an elbow.

Calisthenics, kumite and kata are the three main avenues when training Karate. Rigorous, build up acrobatic, flexibility and speed are the characteristics involved in Calisthenics. Training in certain karate blows, kicks, chops and blocks using the knuckles, the blade of the hand, or the ball outside the edge of the foot are involved in Kumite.

This can strengthen the extended fingers which can be very effective when used like a spear point. Katas, which is the third area in karate involves acrobatic forms of kicking, punching, blocking, turning, leaping, dodging and are often practice with an imaginary adversary. Those who are trained in karate school or dojo are barefoot on the wooden floor without mats when they do their training.

In karate, pieces of equipment like punching bags, weights, boxes or corase sand for strengthening the exnteded fingers of the hand are used frequently. Gi is the traditional costume in karate. This includes a loose fitting pants and jacket and a belt or a long cotton sash.

A person's belt determines his rank. Beginners wear white, followed by yellow, green brown and of course those who wear black which are considered to be the experts. These experts are also categorized in various dans or degrees which can be determined by the person's ability in teaching and skills. Schools today are only up to the eighth dan.

Karate peaked during the 70's. Because of this, many movies were released based on this system. Bruce Lee is the most popular actor during the 70's when it comes to this form of martial art. Movies like Game of Death that had Bruce Lee and Kung Fu with David Carradine. Today, Karate is still very popular and many movies are still patterned using this theme. The most recent movie using this is ""Karate Kid'' which was just released last month that starred Jayden Smith and Jackie Chan."