Japanese+Martial+Arts

Karate (including Jiu-Jitsu)



Brief History

To start off, most of the forms of Japanese martial combat came from Jiu-Jitsu, including Judo and Karate itself. Jiu-Jitsu was created by Samurai warriors during the Feudal Period of Japan; the first records of Jiu-Jitsu trace back all the way to the Chronicles of Japan. Some experts say that Jiu-Jitsu has existed for about 2500 years. There are many stories in the Japanese history that talk about Jiu-Jitsu matches between legendary figures and the journey of Jiu-Jitsu masters, but there is one fact that is agreed upon: it is impossible to accurately trace the history of Jiu-Jitsu. The creator of this combat style is unknown and the true origin of Jiu-Jitsu is unknown as well; some say that Jiu-Jitsu was brought from China, some say it was originated form the Greek martial art "Pankration" (mixture of boxing and wrestling) and some say it was originated from within Japan. After the Feudal Period had passed, Jiu-Jitsu was no longer needed in the battlefield and started to become more of an exercise or combat sport. In the late 1800's, a branch of Jiu-Jitsu formed and it is the famous Judo. At that time, Judo and Jiu-Jitsu were rivaling each other in becoming Japan's national martial art, but after a official match between a Jiu-Jitsu master and a Judo master at the Tokyo Police Headquarters, Judo was crowned as the national martial art of Japan; this is why many people are not aware of Jiu-Jitsu and tend to think that Jiu-Jitsu is just another name for Judo.("Jiu-jitsu History.") However, after martial arts started to be shown in Hollywood films, the public started to show interest in martial arts and it was eventually discovered that Jiu-Jitsu came before Judo.

Karate is a branch of Jiu-Jitsu; the style has a lot of similarities in terms of moves but the focus on which is significantly different. Karate was first created around the beginning of the 20th century and the first world championship was held in 1970. Later on, Karate became an official Asian Games sport during the 11th Asian games in 1990 in Beijing.

Fundamentals

Japanese martial arts are quite different from the arts from its fellow East Asian countries; Japanese combat styles include a lot of ground techniques as well as kicks and punches. Both Jiu-Jitsu and Karate use upright stance and ground techniques, but Jiu-Jitsu focuses much more on taking the fight to the ground while Karate focuses on fighting in upright stances. Jiu-Jitsu is very similar to the Russian martial art Sambo in terms of the mixture of techniques, but of course Jiu-Jitsu has existed much more longer than Sambo. When Jiu-Jitsu practicers receive training, they learn everything from straight punches to advanced arm bars for the sake of extending the arsenal of moves they can use, but they usually focus more on ground fights. Karate users also learn the same techniques that Jiu-Jitsu users learn, but they spend more time on moves like powerful up-stance attacks, mainly strong kicks. A lot of the power sent through Karate attacks are generated in a similar way to TaeKwon-Do techniques, but there is a big difference in the maneuver of their attacks. A lot of Karate kicks look similar to TaeKwon-Do ones, but they do not require as much rotation (although there are a few techniques that make usage of a sudden and explosive spin). So where does the power come from? The answer lies in the body of the Karate user itself. Compared to TaeKwon-Do users or Kung-Fu users, Jiu-Jitsu and Karate users tend to have bigger physiques, which means that the power of the attacks come straight from the muscles. Bigger body build means more muscles and bigger muscles mean more power. Also, quick and short snaps can easily double the force of an attack. Some attacks do include rotation and the combination of sheer muscle and rotation can lead to devastating blows, but the big physique of Karate and Jiu-Jitsu users usually makes it difficult to initiate such attacks swiftly. Here is an example when such an attack actually succeeds. (happens at 0:16) media type="youtube" key="x5z7xc7sC-k" height="210" width="240" align="right"...........................................................................................................................................Domawashi (Wheel Spin Kick) --->

As usual, Jiu-Jitsu and Karate have similar philosophies with Kung-Fu and TaeKwon-Do: martial arts is not a method of violence but a method of training the soul and for protection.

Videos

__**Technique Analyzing from "Human Weapon - Karate"**__

media type="file" key="choku.flv" width="243" height="243"...media type="file" key="gedan.flv" width="243" height="243"...media type="file" key="kote.flv" width="243" height="243" ...............Seiken Choku Zuki.....................................Gedan Mawashi Geri........................................Kote Uchi........................