Japan International Karate Do Federation
 

 

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Karate-do

JIKF teaches traditional Japanese Shotokan Karate-do.

Karate

Most people have heard of "karate". Many people can tell you, "It's a martial art using punches and kicks."

 

The need for self-defense is as old as man. The physical movements that became the basis for modern karate originated as man's imitation of the tactics used by animals in what is now India, more than 2000 years ago. In those times of early civilization, survival depended on the ability to defend oneself and one's property from others who simply wanted it for themselves.

 

Moves from the most powerful and cunning animals were adapted to the human form and adopted as a means of defensive advantage.

 

These forms of self-defense spread through China to the island kingdom of Okinawa, where the people applied them to their own native self-defense system called te (literally, "hands"). It was the birth karate, but for social and political reasons, it was fighting system that was practiced in secret and given only to a select few by the its teachers. Things slowly changed, as the three kingdoms of Okinawa (Shuri, Naha, Tomari) developed their own systems (Shuri-te, Naha-te, Tomari-te). More than 100 years ago, Okinawa became a prefecture of Japan, and later the art spread to mainland Japan where it was embraced and formalized. One Funakoshi “Shoto” Gichin, born in Okinawa, is considered the "father" of modern karate-do for his efforts in popularizing the art.

 

The word "karate" is used by many other schools as a marketing tool because karate is the most popular martial art in the world today. However, these schools often teach other martial arts like Taekwondo from Korea or kick-boxing from Thailand. JIKF is your source for authentic traditional Japanese karate-do.

Karate-do

In these modern peaceful times, however, karate was no longer required for day-to-day survival. Still, practitioners found that karate training improved their health, focused their minds, and strengthened their spirits. Training continued with a new focus on karate as way to create a healthy individual who was a strong member of family, community, and society. The (pronounced "doh", meaning "way") suffix was added to emphasize the art as a way of life, thought and action. Karate the fighting system became the art of Karate-do, the "way of the empty hand".

 

By the middle of the 20th century, this art had spread throughout America, bringing the benefits of karate-do training to our modern Western world, where it was popular despite sometimes being at odds with cultural norms of materialism, convenience, and tendencies to favor style over substance. Or perhaps it was popular because of these differences.

 

Traditional Japanese karate-do will have at least these things:

  • Traditional values of respect, effort, patience, honesty, and discipline
  • Focus on building the body, mind, spirit
  • Conservative changes in technique that favor substance over style

 

... that make it different from many modern Western or so-called "Americanized" forms of karate.

 

 

Nippon Kokusai Karate-do Renmei

 

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