Karate Basics

Karate Basics

Karate is a martial art that grew to popularity in Japan during the early 1900's. Karate involves two competitors competing against each other to land as many legal hits on their opponent as possible. Competitors are awarded points for hitting their opponent and they want to end the match with more points than their competitor in order to be named the winner. Points are only awarded to hits that meet a certain criteria and some hits are worth more than others. Matches are typically 3 minutes long require well-practiced physical skills, as well as strategy and mental focus. Though it is practiced all around the world already, karate will officially be an Olympic Sport in 2020!

The Most Important Things To Know About Karate

Karate is a martial art that is practiced all around the world. With various types of karate being participated in, there are a lot of important concepts to know about the sport. Let's dive into some now!

1. The three basic skills in karate are: strikes, blocks, and kicks. Mastery of each skill takes time and training!
2. Karate is a martial art that has a ranking system of skill based on belt color. From beginner to expert, the belt colors are: white, yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, brown, red, and black. It can take many years to become a black belt.
3. A competitor is awarded one point for a punch to the head or chest, two points for a kick to the body, and three points for a kick to the head or a take down and punch.
4. Points are only given if the competitor has good form, good timing, hits from an accurate distance, and has good sportsmanship.
5. There are more than 30 forms of karate, but the most popular are: Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, Kyokushinkai and Wado-Ryu.

List of Karate Basic Rules

Karate is a very disciplined sport, so there are rules that need to be followed by competitors for active participation. Here are some of the most basic rules:

• If a competitor has more than an 8 point lead over their opponent during the match, it will stop and they will be deemed the winner. They will also be named the winner if their opponent is disqualified or incapacitated and cannot fight.
• Before their competition begins, the competitors must bow to each other as a sign of respect.
• Once a scoring move has been performed and landed, the referee will pause the match and return the competitors to their original positions to begin again.
• If the competition ends and the competitors have the same amount of points, the judges and the referee will decide who the winner is.

Karate Basics Summary

You should now have a very basic idea of what karate is and how it works! Remember, it is a martial art that requires two competitors to face off against each other. They will attempt to land kicks and punches in order to score points, though different hits earn different points. The competitor with the most points at the end of the competition will be named the winner. As karate practitioners become more and more advanced, they move up in the belt ranking system and receive a new color (the best being black). During competitions, competitors must show each other respect, since karate is considered a mental and physical activity that requires a good attitude. If you want to learn even more about karate, look through some of Rookie Road's other lessons!