| Focus | Striking |
|---|---|
| Country of origin |  Japan |
| Creator | Varies depending on subtype. |
| Parenthood | Varies depending on subtype. |
| Famous practitioners | Legends: Andy Hug, Glaube Feitosa, Francisco Filho, Ewerton Teixeira, Musashi, Semmy Schilt, Masaaki Satake, Howard Collins, Nicholas Pettas, Norichika Tsukamoto, Hajime Kazumi, Kenji Yamaki, Hitoshi Kiyama, Kunihiro Suzuki, Toru Okamoto, Takayuki Tsukakoshi, Jōkō Ninomiya |
| Olympic sport | No |
Full contact karate is a wide term used to differentiate between competition formats of karate where competitors spar (also called Kumite) full-contact and allow knockout as winning criterion, and those competitions that use light contact/semi contact point sparring where a knockout is regarded as a foul. The term is also by extension used to differentiate between schools/styles of karate dedicated to such full contact competitions, and schools/styles that are not.
Contents |
History
Full contact karate competition comes in several, and sometimes very different, formats. These different sport rule format have different history and was developed for the art of karate at different times in different places. Some developed independently, others developed out of other full contact rule systems or from light contact rule systems. As there are no major unifying organizations in any of the different formats, the rule details may change drastically between the many rival sport/style organizations and different promoters.
Different formats of full contact karate
Full contact point karate
One format of full contact karate competition is full contact point karate. It is similar to other competition karate, and the only difference from light contact and semi contact karate bouts is that if you knock your opponent out, you win instead of being disqualified for excessive contact. Points are scored for clean hits to the specified target zones, and unless there is a evident knockout or knockdown, the referee breaks the bout after each exchange to score the hits. The blows are delivered with full contact, although gloves, foot-pads, and in some cases body padding, is worn. This form of full contact karate competition is mainly found in North America where it originates, although it has some following in Europe. It is also similar to the competition format used in Taekwondo, and the sport karate competitions using this format often blurry the line between these two related arts.
American full contact karate
A second full contact karate competition format is American full contact karate which was developed in USA during the 60's to early 70's, by borrowing rules, settings and gloves from western boxing, and adapting it. It is continuous fighting, where you do not break the bout for scoring, but sum up point scores at the end of the bout. Protective equipment used is boxing gloves and often foot-pads, shin pads, and amateur boxing helmets American full contact karate is closely related to American kickboxing, and it is often difficult to separate the two sports. As a guideline, American full contact karate do not allow kicks below the waistline, or the use of knees or elbows.
Knockdown karate
Another major format of full-contact sport karate is known as knockdown karate or sometimes Japanese full contact karate. This style of sport fighting was developed and pioneered in the late 1960s by the Kyokushinkai karate organization in Japan, founded by Masutatsu Oyama. In fighting the competitors traditionally wear no gloves, padding or body protection other than groin guards (although local regulations sometimes enforce exceptions to this tradition), but it is bare knuckle fighting. Punches to the face and groin and joint attacks are prohibited but all bare-knuckle and elbow strikes to the body and limbs (with the exception of joints), and kicks (including kicks with the knee) against legs, arms, body, head and face are permitted, as are sweeps. A score is only made by knocking your opponent out, down to the floor, or incapacitating them, or by sweep and controlled follow-up for half a point, and unless there is a knockdown or sweep, the bout is continuous. Unlike American full-contact karate clean hits are not counted, but only score the effect of the hits.
Although this sport format originated with the Kyokushinkai karate organization, it has spread until it today is used by many karate organizations. Karate styles embracing these rules are often called knockdown karate styles, and these include both organizations that originated from Kyokushin, such as World Oyama Karate, Ashihara Karate, Enshin Karate, Shidōkan, godokai, Karatedo Shurenkan and Seidokaikan (the style that originated the K-1), as well as styles such as Kansuiryu Karate, Byakuren karate and many others that originated independently from Kyokushin but have adopted the competition format. Though severely divided by rivaling styles and organizations (several of which use their own minor variations of the basic rules), and lacking a unifying sport organization, the sport of knockdown karate is today common all over the world.
Gloved Karate
One more recent system of full contact karate that has gained in popularity is Gloved karate or Glove karate. Sometimes called Shin-karate/Shinkarate (or "new" karate, in a partial translation) depending on sport organization and promoter -with the largest sport organization being Shinkaratedo renmei [1] This system originates in japan where it has become a popular amateur sport for karate fighters wishing to enter professional kickboxing. Outside of Japan it has gained some momentum in Europe. The rules are based on the knockdown karate rules explained above, but modified to use boxing gloves and allow punches to the face. Although it may be argued that it is unclear where this karate competition format ends and kickboxing begins.
Bogu Kumite
Still another form of full contact karate is Bogu kumite, which is most often associated with a few traditional Okinawan styles of karate. This format of continuous competition use heavy protective padding to avoid injuries. In the beginning, this protective padding was based on the helmet and armor of japanese kendo with gloves to protect the knuckles from the helmets steel bars, although in modern days more specific padding has been developed. While allowing knockout as winning criterion, the protective equipment reduces the chances for it, and points are usually scored for clean techniques and techniques knocking the opponent off his feet. Originally just a training method and never scored, this has developed into a small but growing sport format used in several variations in different organization. At the moment the largest Bogu sport organization is the All Japan Koshiki Karate-Do Federation [2] who calls their specific Bogu format Koshiki Karate. Although compared to most other major full contact karate sports, Bogu and Koshiki is still very small.
MMA inspired karate
One growing trend is MMA inspired karate, where grappling on the ground plays a big role, in addition to the stand-up fighting which is more traditionally associated to karate. One example of a style engaged in this form of karate is the Japanese style organization Zendokai who calls their rules vale tudo karate. Even though many styles/style organizations like these have appeared during the last decade, there are no common set of rules or unifying sport organization, or even a common name/terminology for this type of karate competition rules.
One of the better known styles in this category of karate was Daido Juku, although in 2001 they officially renamed their art and sport from karate to their own term Kudo. This name, however, is copyrighted and cannot be used by other organizations.
Others
Other sport rules, including versions allowing full contact bare knuckle strikes to the unprotected head, exists, but tend to be small and obscure compared to the above listed major formats. These rules tend to be restricted to a single small style organization or even individual sport event promotions.
Examples of minor full contact rules system are the Shinken shobu rules of Kyokushin-kan [3], and the rules of Mumonkai [4]. Kyokushinkan shinken shobu use a variation of knockdown karate using thin gloves, and allows headpunches, clinching and throws. Mumonkai use rules similar to knockdown karate, but modified to allow headpunches with protective headgear and thin gloves.
A example of full contact karate rules unique to a single promotion is the Chaos Madmax [5] special event in Japan, arranged by the FSA Kenshinkan [6] style organization -where fighters fight without gloves or protective equipment, and with headpunches allowed.
References
- ^ Shinkaratedo Renmei
- ^ World Koshiki Karatedo federation
- ^ Kyokushinkan
- ^ Mumonkai karate
- ^ Chaos Madmax
- ^ Kenshinkan Karate
See also
- Kyokushin
- Koshiki karate
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