Understanding The Art Of Martial Arts - Karate

"Karate is a system of unarmed self-defense which originated in eastern Asia and involves the use of the hands, elbows and knees, or feet for kicks and blows to vulnerable parts of the body such as temples, throat, and groin. Karate should not be confused with a similar Asian sport, ju-jitsu, sumo and judo which involve wrestling, throwing, and holding an opponent on the ground and choking him.

Karate during the seventies was referred to as an acrobatic boxing. Karate involves a little personal contact and the opponent becomes immobile because of powerful and well directed blows which are delivered far from the opponent as possible. Experts in Karate can crush a large block of ice using his fist, he can splinter a six inch thick pine wood by a single kick and he can shatter stacks of tiles using his head or an elbow.

The three main areas of karate training are calisthenics, kumite, and kata. Calisthenics are rigorous and build up acrobatic flexibility and speed. Kumite is training in specific karate blows, kicks, chops, and blocks, involving the use of knuckles of the fist, the blade of the hand, the ball and outside edge of the foot.

This can strengthen the extended fingers which can be very effective when used like a spear point. Katas, which is the third area in karate involves acrobatic forms of kicking, punching, blocking, turning, leaping, dodging and are often practice with an imaginary adversary. Those who are trained in karate school or dojo are barefoot on the wooden floor without mats when they do their training.

Punching bags, weights, bamboo blocks, deep boxes of any dry beans or coarse sand used to strengthen the extended fingers of the hand. A loose fitting jacket and pants called gi is the traditional costume in karate.

A person's belt determines his rank. Beginners wear white, followed by yellow, green brown and of course those who wear black which are considered to be the experts. These experts are also categorized in various dans or degrees which can be determined by the person's ability in teaching and skills. Schools today are only up to the eighth dan.

Karate peaked during the 70's. Because of this, many movies were released based on this system. Bruce Lee is the most popular actor during the 70's when it comes to this form of martial art. Movies like Game of Death that had Bruce Lee and Kung Fu with David Carradine. Today, Karate is still very popular and many movies are still patterned using this theme. The most recent movie using this is ""Karate Kid'' which was just released last month that starred Jayden Smith and Jackie Chan."