| Karate is an ancient artform involving standing and ground work. It began in China. China had already a form of martial arts and brought it over to the island of Okinawa. Okinawa had a basic form ofdefense and when China brought their's over. The two formes blended and created karate. Karate originally meant "China hand" but the meaning was changed in the later years to mean "open hand". Karate was born. |  |
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When Japan invaded Okinawa in 1609, the civilians were easily conquered due to the fact that the Japanese had guns and the Okinawans did not. The Japanese leaders would not allow the poor civilians to practice karate, so they had to do it in secret. Years later its’ secrecy had fallen away. Gichin Funakoshi opened a training hall in Tokyo, Japan in 1922. Karate was brought over to the United States by immigrants. |
| To perform Karate you need a gui (or a uniform) that is usually light-weight, white pants and a jacket fastened with a tied belt. This belt shows your rank in class through the color it is, starting at white and moving through to black. Also, you need pads for sparring and fighting. |  |
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Classes usually start with warm-ups and then you work on your material and skills. Warm-ups usually consist of sit-ups, push-ups, and stretching. This helps not to cause injury during practice. |
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Skills and techniques for karate can be placed into different categories; punch combinations, kicks, throws, holds, blocks and sparing combinations. Some kicks are: the round-house kick, the snap kick, the break kick, and the cut kick. While sparing, throws are very useful in to get someone on the ground and holds keep them there. |
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As you can see karate is a diverse art that requires up most concentration. With its’ roots in china, Okinawa, and Japan it has been a popular sport since the 1950s and with more years still to come. |
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