Karate

Karate is based on older martial arts. The art comes to the world from Japan, but its origin is in Okinawa. Okinawa was a tribute state of China and therefore the people traded goods. Martial arts made their way from China into Okinawa and developed with some differences in the different regions - Shuri and Naha. Kushanku (died 1762?) was a Ch'uan Fa kung fu master and taught Kanga Sakugawa (1733-1815). His "karate" was called "Te." He in turn taught Sokon Matsumura (1797-1889) who is credited with being the master of Shuri-Te. It was from him that Yasutsune "Anko" Itosu (1830-1916) learned Shuri-Te and became one of the most prominent masters in Okinawa. Wai XinXian (dates and style unknown) taught Seisho Aragaki (1840-1918) whose style became known as "Tode." Wei Shinzan was a Fukien kung fu master and contemporarty to Wai XinXian. It was under both of these Chinese instructors and under Aragaki that Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915) studied and became recognized as the "Naha-Te" master.

Once Japan invaded Okinawa, they became a tribute state of Japan as well. In the early 1900's Okinawan masters began to travel to Japan to share karate. Okinawans had used several names for the art. Originally it was called "Te" "Tode" "Uchinade" or "Ryukyu Kempo." It later became more universally known as "karate." The characters used to write the word meant "Chinese hand." In 1905 Hanashiro Chomo wrote a book called "Karate Kumite" and was the first person to use the characters for karate meaning "empty hand." As the Okinawans began to teach in Japan, they used the characters meaning "empty hand" to get the Japanese public to accept the art. (The Japanese hated all things Chinese.) In 1930, Chojun Miyagi registered his style, Goju-Ryu, the first official style of karate with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai - the governing body for martial arts in Japan.

The 1st belt is white then yellow

orange

purple

blue

green

brown

black

Many Karateka practice the world over, in order from least advanced (the Kihon kata) to most advanced. The Heian forms, as you move up, and the Katas become more and more advanced. The entire striking curriculum of Karate, and some of the grappling, can be found in those Katas. However the Katas are not the whole of Karate; there are many grappling techniques, not included in the Kata Bunkai. Bunkai means "application."

Also, the grappling in the authentic style of Shotokan, is all standup, there is absolutely no ground work outside hitting someone once you get them down. Moreover, the grappling techniques Gichin Funakoshi specifically requested from Dr. Kano, when the latter offered to teach him some Judo in exchange for some Karate, are all strictly defensive. Offensively, Shotokan's grappling is worthless, it can not be used in a sports competition. The reasons for that have to do with the fact that it is not designed for scoring points, or merely submitting, grappling in Karate is designed to incapacitate and prevent further attacks. The second reason has to do with the fact that applying Karate grappling is very difficult, it requires a lot of precise movement.

10 years.

a black belt

They created it to help protect themselves from bandits and invading armies. There is debate as to whether the arts were developed by the rich, who had the time, or the peasants, who worked long hours. At one point, Japan had invaded and confiscated all weapons, so the Okinawans developed non-weapon fighting techniques.

Sensei is the Japanese word for teacher. Many styles of Karate will refer to their instructors as sensei. However, lower graded black belts who instruct may be referred to as senpai, meaning senior student, and highly graded or senior black belts will be referred to as Shihan/hanshi meaning master or expert. Some of these senior grades may choose to be referred to as sensei, as a way of being less removed from his/her students

A person who does judo is called a Judoka (student) or a Sensei (teacher).

Karate comes from Okinawa. They originally translated it to mean China Hands, but today it is translated as Empty Hands.

If you mean martial arts then yes. Though not Chinese, Judo and Tae Kwon Do are martial arts and Olympic Sports. Mixed Martial Arts is a popular sport that uses parts of different martial arts, and some Chinese arts can be incorporated into this at appropriate times.

A lifetime. Karate is not something that is learned quickly, it takes many years to build up the skills and experience to be a true karateka. One can learn the basic skills in about three to four years, but the application and refinement takes much longer.

Gichin Funakoshi brought it to Japan from Okinawa. He modified Shorin Ryu karate to fit the what was needed in Japan. It was named after his pen name Shoto.

Unless you meant Bill Russell (11 rings), Bill Wallace's ring history is 21-0, 11 KO's. He is the only full contact world champion to retire undefeated.

There are 9 different major organizations in the Uechi Ryu style. The primary one is probably the Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do Association - the Soke Shubukan - and the head of the group is Kanmei Uechi.

IUKF headed by Sensei George Mattson is the largest and perhaps the best Uechi-Ryu organiztion in the US. There are few other Uechi-Ryu organizations in the US, but they are very small.

Karate was created in Okinawa. It was brought to Australia by the Japanese and Okinawans. While there were certainly practitioners there a long time ago, it was probably in the 1930's that it was first brought to the country.

In short, yes.

Okinowan martial arts were eventually popularized by Gichin Funakoshi, who developed the Shotokan karate style. He took his style of martial arts on tour throughout the country of Japan, demonstrating them at colleges and other community hubs. Eventually many school adopted karate as a part of their physical fitness programs and many colleges have Karate clubs. It wasn't until after the second World War that karate spread out of Japan into western countries. By then it was "all the rage" throughout Japan.

The oldest I'm personally aware of is GM Cacoy Canete of Doce Pares Eskrima/Eskrido - a Filipino martial art. GM Cacoy was born in 1919. I'm guessing there are some older black belts in the world but he is the oldest I'm aware of and there wasn't an answer here yet.

One thing I would request for this subject is that we actually build a list of these "young at heart" black belts. Katsuya Miyahira, 10th Dan, was born on August 8, 1918 in Kaneku Village, Nishihara, Okinawa. He is the head of Shido Kan Shorin Ryu.

The traditional karate uniform is called a "Gi", pronounced gee. The Japanese and Okinawans wear a dogi, usually referred to as the gi to work out in. The belt, or obi, that holds the top together, is also used to indicate rank.

You wear loose clothing called a gi with a belt called a obi.

In all honesty, a punch is a punch, it just depends on WHERE you strike, which could be almost anywhere. There are various different hand strikes in karate / martial arts besides punching, such as: Knifehands, ridgehands, palm heels, eye rakes, etc.

What you get out of karate is abs,courage,strength,respect,citizenship, and a body that look HOT!

The Way of the Empty Hand

Yes because they have it in high school and jr. high

The word shotokan is made up of three Japanese Kanji characters. The first two, Sho, which means pine tree, and To, meaning waves, is literally translated as "Pine waves". Pine waves is the sound made by the wind blowing through pine needles. Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of modern Karate, signed his calligraphy works with the name Shoto. His students built the first freestanding dojo in Japan and named it Shotokan. Kan is the Japanese character for building, making the literal translation "Pine waves building". The word Shotokan has become synonymous with the style of karate taught by Master Funakoshi.

The belt styles vary from style to style. In some, a red and black belt is used for 5th and 6th degree black belts. In others, a black stripe running the length of a red belt indicates a rank between red and brown belt.

A green belt in Karate is about mid-level. There are about 14 initial levels (Kups) and the Green Belt is a 6 Kup. There are seven Kups below it and at least six above it.