“Why doesn’t Karate work?” As a Karate guy myself, and having spent more than a decade in the art, this question is difficult to approach from an objective state of mind. But hard truths are part of hard training and to be a more complete fighter we sometimes need to look into the mirror.
Karate suffers from many of the flaws that most traditional martial arts suffer from: a long ramp-up time for skill development, poor sparring practices, very little time spent on grappling or ground fighting, and an over reliance on incomplete kata practice.
Of course, this is only half true. Below we’ll see why that is and how serious Karateka have adapted.
Where Did this Idea Even Come From?
The idea of karate being ineffective nowadays primarily comes from viewers of the UFC, the experience of former Karate students, and the unfortunate proliferation of the McDojo.
UFC
Back in the early days of UFC there were many Karate fighters who got trounced by other styles in the preliminaries and were unable to even progress to the main event. This fed the belief that “Karate doesn’t work” outside the dojo. And you can’t really blame most people for this impression; in a contest that was billed at the time to pit style vs style until the ultimate style won (actually, UFC was originally founded simply as a marketing campaign for Gracie Jiu Jitsu), what can you say about a style that couldn’t even make it to the quarter-finals? Of course, this isn’t true any longer, but more on that later.
McDojo
We also have to acknowledge that, because anyone can open a business, anyone can claim to be able to teach you to fight. That’s right, I’m talking about the “McDojo”. These are the George Dillmans of the world; the guys who claim to possess super-human fighting prowess and if you would only pay him $499 he might teach you his “Dim Mak” (death punch) technique or his weaponized Chi moves.
And don’t get me wrong, I would LOVE for these claims to be true (I mean, who wouldn’t wanna be Goku?). But unfortunately, either these guys obviously aren’t going to be teaching anyone the “Kamehameha” any time soon. The only thing they accomplish is giving Karate, and the martial arts in general, a bad name.
Long Ramp-Up
The third part of why people believe Karate “doesn’t work” comes from the long time investment required before a student is competent enough to handle himself. This is due to a number of factors such as “inbred” sparring, hundreds of hours spent punching air and learning kata, but comparatively few hours spent on the heavy bag or being taught the application of all those fancy kata movements.
It’s fair to say that Karate has developed some major problems and needs to change if the art is to continue to attract students and reclaim some of the respect it once held. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves let’s take a look back. We understand how Karate got painted with this reputation, now let’s dig a bit deeper and uncover why Karate really does work.
The Taxonomy of Karate
As with most martial arts out of the far East, Karate has a fascinating, and sometimes confusing, history. Without going into the deep lore of Karate, there are 3 main classifications: Okinawan, Japanese, and Competitive, and understanding the difference between these 3 varieties is key to understanding where Karate works and why.
Okinawan Karate
The southern islands of Japan are the prefecture known as Okinawa (formerly the Kingdom of Ryukyu). It was here that Karate was developed, called “Te” (meaning simply “hand”), for the purpose of self defense. In Okinawan Karate you find brutal techniques like eye gouges, genital strikes, throws, sweeps, join destruction, etc. in addition to many of the familiar punches and kicks (though even the kicks were often kept low, prioritizing mobility and balance over the ability to KO the attacker).
Japanese Karate
In the 1920s Gichin Funakoshi, a native of Okinawa, brought the art he loved to Japan, modernized it, and changed it’s name; from Te (hand) to “Karate” (Empty Hand). With the vision that everyone in Japan could practice this martial art, even small children, he stripped away the dangerous techniques and adopted the colored belt system, codified the curriculum adding strong emphasis on kata practice, and most notably, changed the purpose of Karate from self protection to self perfection.
“Karate begins and ends with courtesy”
Gichin Funakoshi
Competitive Karate
After the second World War, American servicemen would occupy Japan and one of the first things they wanted to learn was how the Japanese fought. Now competition in Karate was already nothing new, but as anyone who has ever known an American, we tend to take competition VERY seriously. So much so that when Karate was brought to America it became almost entirely sport centered. Almost gone was the meditation and other practices of self perfection. In its place was high kicks, bouncy point-sparring, and (strangely enough) lots of kata practice. All of this for the purpose of winning trophies.
I’m sure you can see where people can get the idea that “Karate doesn’t work”. With most karateka only being taught the competitive type of Karate, people see point-sparring and rightly wonder, “How sure are you going to be in a fight if you approach it more like a game of ‘tag’?”
Karate Reborn
As already said, early UFC was devastating to Karate fighters of the day. But it did not take Karate long to produce some top MMA fighters. People like:
- Chuck Liddell
- Conor McGregor
- Lyoto Machida
- Georges St-Pierre
- Steven Thompson
- Gunnar Nelson
- Bas Rutten
There wasn’t all that much required for Karate to produce champion UFC fighters. Take the strong striking base of full-contact karate, add some BJJ since the arena size and contest rules emphasize ground game, then mix with a ton of hard work and and BAM! You’ve got yourself a champ.
There has also been a growing Bunkai movement in Karate. Bunkai translates to “practical application” in this context and relates to kata. No more waving your arms and legs around not knowing why. Today you can find dozens of videos online showing the many practical techniques (once adapted) that are housed in kata. And, funny enough, many of these “useless” kata contain some of the most devastating techniques that can be done to the human body (think: eye gouging, ligament tearing, jaw breaking, etc).
I’ve also been pleased to see more and more schools re-balancing how they spend their time. Less time air punching for 10,000 reps, and more time bag, pad, or partner punching. And while I can hear my old sensei screaming as I write this, even he couldn’t deny the Law of Diminishing Returns and acknowledge that somewhere around the punch number 2,834 the student could probably better spend his time learning something else.
Final Round
So does karate work? If you’re studying the right kind of Karate for what you want to accomplish, then Karate does work. You must also ensure that your own practice includes anything your dojo might be missing: realistic sparring practice, quiet meditation, analytical bunkai, demanding physical exercise, and grappling/ground fighting. In the end, whether you want self protection, self perfection, or self acclamation Karate has the answer for you.
Photo Attribution
- Photo by SOON SANTOS on Unsplash
- Goran tek-en, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Photo by David Edelstein on Unsplash
- President.az, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons