Karate is a system of mostly unarmed fighting, developed originally on Okinawa, then in Japan. Karate teaches it's students to use all parts of the body to punch, kick, strike and block, but also to throw, grapple and immobilise opponents. Whatever the style, Karate practice is usually divided into 3 main areas of practice, Kihon (Basics), Kata (Forms) and Kumite (Sparring). KIHON In Kihon practice, the basic Karate techniques are taught. This can vary according to the style being practiced, but is broadly similar across them all. Beginning students initially concentrate on learning and practicing individual techniques, in order to learn the proper body mechanics required. As the student progresses, more techniques are learned, existing techniques are refined and are practised in combination with others. KATA Kata are a series of formal, prearranged sets of moves that exist, in one form or another, in all Karate styles. Each different style has it's own tradition of how it's kata are performed or named, and kata do vary a lot across styles. Kata are often taught to beginners as a method of teaching basic techniques and turns, or are said to be an example of how to use basic techniques in a fight against a number of imaginary opponents. While this is fine, it's quite a shallow view. Though kata are a good way of teaching students how to move and perform techniques in a variety of stances, and in a variety of directions, a more sophisticated way of viewing them, is that Kata have techniques hidden, or encoded within them, that may be too dangerous to use in free practice. This allows skilled practicioners to be creative and, using their own skill and knowledge of Karate, develop effective self defence techniques using Kata. KUMITE Again, Kumite is practised differently, according to the beliefs of each style. Basically, though, Kumite is where the student takes the theory imparted during practise of Kata and Kihon, and puts it into practise against a live opponent. There are a number of Kumite methods, including pre-arranged sparring, where one or both participants perform agreed techniques, sport or tournament sparring, where points are given for valid techniques scored and more dangerous techniques, such as open hand strikes, joint attacks etc, are banned, and free sparring, where more dangerous techniques may be allowed, if performed with control. STYLES There are 4 main styles of Japanese Karate, Shotokan, Shito Ryu, Wado Ryu and Goju Ryu. Each one seems to have been created by someone who learned the original Japanese Karate style from Funakoshi, and disagreed with some way in which the style was being taught and thought he could do a better job. SHOTOKAN The style we at Kokusai practise. Shotokan was developed in the 1920's by Gichin Funakoshi from already existing style of Okinawan Karate, Shorin Ryu. It was adopted by Japanese Universities and the Military as valuable method of excercise and of imparting obedience, discipline and courage. Shotokan as a system teaches it's students to use long, low stances and perform large, long techniques with speed and power. High kicks and jumping techniques are more often than not shunned in favour of punches, mid level kicks and low sweeps to the legs and ankles. Strong, solid contact with the ground is also favoured, to help transfer power into techniques. Shotokan practitioners believe in meeting opponents head on, using strong, direct blocks and counterattacks, or waiting for an opponent to reveal a weakness in his/her defence, then delivering 1 or 2 finishing blows. Proponents of Shotokan believe in form over function when it comes to Karate techniques. Shotokan people are taught to value good form in a technique over everything else, and so they believe that a well executed technique is an effective technique. To this end, many Shotokan schools emphasise Kihon training, consisting of many, many repetitions of basic techniques performed forward and back across the training hall floor. Shotokan schools generally teach 26 Kata, which are as follows;
Heian Shodan	Heian Nidan		Heian Sandan	Heian Yondan
Heian Godan	Tekki Shodan		Bassai Dai	Kanku Dai
Jion	Enpi		Hangetsu	Bassai Sho
Kanku Sho	Nijushiho		Tekki Nidan	Gankaku
Jiin	Jutte		Chinte	Sochin
Meikyo	Tekki Sandan		Wankan	Unsu
Gojushiho Dai	Gojushiho Sho
Obviously beginners start at the beginning of the list, with Heian Shodan, working their way up from there as their skills improve, and the Kata become more demanding. Up to about 2nd Dan level, you are required to know particular Kata for your gradings. After then, it appears that you learn more advanced kata that appeal to, or interest you. Although in Kokusai Karate Club, we emphasise free sparring from quite an early stage for adults, this is not the norm in Shotokan. Traditionally, Shotokan clubs introduce sparring to students through a number of pre-arranged partner drills, such as 5 step, 3 step, 1 step and semi free sparring. These are thought to prepare and train the students perception of distance, movement, timing and awareness, as well as allowing them to become accustomed to throwing techniques and blocks to a live opponent prior to unleashing them on free sparring. Shito Ryu This Style was founded by Kenwa Mabuni sometime around 1930. It is named after alternate renderings of 2 of Mabuni's main teachers, Anko Itosu and Kanryo Higashionna. Shito Ryu is often described as being a combination of Shotokan and Gju Ryu, which is kind of the case. It does in fact combine facets of Shotokan and Goju's precursors, Shorin Ryu and Shorei Ryu. It takes from Shorin Ryu the speed, power and long, straight line techniques that are also seen in Shotokan, although the stances used are higher. It also uses 18 Shorin Ryu katas, such as Bassai and Naifanchin. From Shorei Ryu, it takes another 16 kata, such as Sanchin and kurururunfa, and it's more circular blocking and evasisve body shifting techniques. It also still uses Okinawan names for all of it's Kata. The style draws from a large number of Katas. 18 from Shorin Ryu, 16 from Shorei Ryu, the Chinese White Crane katas, such as Nipaipo and Paipuren, and the katas developed by Mabuni himself can give a grand total of over 60. Due to the large number of katas to be practised and the time that must be devoted to this, it is often said that Shito Ryu favours kata practise over all else. Wado Ryu Wado Ryu (said to mean "The Peaceful Way" or "The Way of Peace and Harmony") was created around 1930 by Hironori Ohtsuka. Ohtsuka was already accomplished at Shindo Yoshin Ryu Jujitsu when he became interested in Karate. Around 1922, he travelled to Tokyo to study Karate under Funakoshi. As a style, Wado Ryu uses higher stances and lighter, snappier techniques than seen in Shotokan. It also emphasises body shifting to evade attacks, rather than forceful, direct blocking. Wado Ryu has retained much of it's Jujitsu roots, and as such, Jujitsu throws and locks form part of it's basic curriculum. More so than in any other Karate style. Wado Ryu practitioners claim that the style was the first one to introduce modern Kumite, to allow it's students to practise their techniques in a more free form way. Whether this is true or not, Wado Ryu does seem to be well suited to the modern tournament arena. The style practises 17 kata, and use the Okinawan names.
Pinan Nidan (Heian Shodan)		Pinan Shodan (Heian Nidan)	Pinan Sandan (Heian Sandan)		Pinan Yondan (Heian Yondan)
Pinan Godan (Heian Godan)		Kushanku (Kanku Dai)	Naihanchi (Tekki Shodan)		Seishan (Hangetsu)
Chinto (Gankaku)		Bassai (Bassai Dai)	Jion		Jitte
Rohai (Meikyo)		Niseishi (Nijushiho)	Wanshu (Enpi)		Suparimpei
Unsu