What Is Karate?
Karate, literally translated, means Empty Hand. (KARA - Empty, TE - Hand). Karate is one of the oldest and
most effective means of self-defence/fighting known to man. It is an art of unarmed combat as well as an
excellent system of achieving physical fitness and mental discipline. It consists of stretching, body
conditioning, blocking, punching, striking, kicking, throwing and meditation.
Although karate movements can be aggressive, it is taught and practised as self-defence. Karate movements may look odd to the layman, but each movement is based on sound physical and physiological priciples. The essence of karate is speed, and effective application of technique to properly strike the vulnerable areas of an opponent's body. A well-trained karateka can fully control his movements to do the amount of damage his wishes and can defend himself effectively without doing excessive harm to his assailant.
Most people are misinformed about karate, thinking that karate only means brick and board breaking. To add to the confusion, many instructors have capitalized on such feats of strength to display themselves as mystical members of some sort of oriental secret cult and allow karate to be termed a 'killer art' in the past. In fact, It is true that karateka can smash tiles and break boards with their bare hands, but breaking techniques are only meant to show the power of karate blows. Karate today has also evolved into a sport but not losing the element of the art and science of self-defence. The objective many tournaments held today is not to injure or 'knock-out' the opponent. Instead, these sport karate tournaments aims to increase a karate practitioner's fighting spirit, physical capability, mental focus, and more importantly, sportsmanship. Karate used to be a 'male only' activity in ancient Japan. However, female karate practitioners are increasing by the numbers recently as karate teaches the art of self-defence and provides an excellent way to keep in shape. For just good exercise, karate ranks among the best because it utilizes all parts of the body and keeps them toned and flexible. Unlike other exercises that are often repetitive, karate is always challenging, stimulating and especially purposeful. One of the greatest attributes of karate is that anyone, irrespective of size, age and sex, can practice and appreciate the art according to his abilities. |
