Martial arts..... four traditional styles of karate?

Question

when people say the four "traditional styles of karate" is it bad or good.......and what do each emphize on

Answer 1

Aaron J  is correct.  I'm not sure what the person that you got this from intended.  Perhaps they were referring to the four most popular styles of karate in Japan.  If my memory serves me those four are:

Shotokan

Goju-Ryu

Wado-Ryu

Shito-Ryu

But even in Japan there are more than four karate styles.

Answer 2

This turn of phrase is often used by members of the WKF.

They basically to refer to the Karate of mainland Japan (which, as others have wisely pointed out, all came from Okinawa...) that are the older and therefore "traditional" styles. There are other styles which were not recognized early on or came into effect after (such as Kyokushin) and thus they are not considered "traditional"... Splitting hairs is a good way to look at it. Especially as sport karate becomes more and more "unified" and bland.

This means that the four main styles of WKF are the ones they are talking about. Those styles are:

Shotokan

Shito-Ryu

Goju-Ryu

Wado-Ryu

Answer 3

The four? Traditional "Karate" (Okinawa Te) alone has many different styles. They stemmed from family practices to military training so there aren't just "four". If somebody says that they are talking out of their butts.

Traditional style martial arts, as you may already know are about real-world application for attack and defense. That is what they teach and their techniques taught are only the ones applicable in life or death situations.

The lifestyle of the traditional martial artist and the philosophical emphasis is for that of honorable action both in the "public eye" and alone.

So, generally it is a good thing when somebody mentions Traditional Martial Arts, as that means they too act with honor and dignity. Unfortunately though, there are the select groups who desire the mistique of the TMA and the respect their practitioners get. These people will say anything to get this false respect and bring dishonor to the world of the Martial Arts.

So Traditional Martial Arts are a lifestyle lived for the betterment of one self, not for the acceptance of others. This lifestyle is not a FAD and is NOT solely about physical combat.

Answer 4

japanese karate, or okinawan karate?

all karate started (being known as karate anyway) in the ryukyu islands, the largest of which is okinawa. originally called te

originally there were 3 main village styles. tomari te, shuri te, and naha te. shuri te became shorin ryu, tomari te pretty much was absorbed into shorin ryu as well. and naha te became goju ryu. many people lump uechi ryu in with naha te because of similarities. but i dont agree, i dont think it was ever practiced in naha.

goju ryu, uechi ryu, shorin ryu, and isshin ryu are probably the biggest 4 okinawan styles.

goju ryu (okinawan) , founded by Chojun Miyagi. is an okinawan version of southern chinese martial arts. though customized, and thus uniquely okinawan. it flows more and is more circular than your standard ymca karate/tkd. it is said to have been based on taoist internal martial arts but i'm not positive of that. there is alot of sticky hands, and joint locks. and the style tends to "root" down and stay put rather than bounce around moving all the time. the key to goju (and uechi) is sanchin. or 3 battles (body, mind, and spirit) ...the essence of these styles is sanchin, and contained within sanchin. they are both hard and soft.

uechi ryu, founded by Kanbun Uechi, originally was called pangai noon (half hard, soft) and was literally a southern chinese art. it only had 3 kata, sanchin, seisan, sanseiru. though 5 more were added later, based on the original 3, used as "bridges" between them. the movements are based on 3 animals, dragon, tiger, and crane. they use one knuckle punches, and kick with their toes. but very similar to goju in many respects. sanchin is the key. uechi is the closest to its chinese roots. and one of the 3 original styles. (shorin, goju, uechi are considered the root of all karate)

shorin ryu, (it is arguable who founded it)is arguably the original style of okinawan (and therefore all other) karate. it favors upright stances and mobility, has more forms/kata than goju or uechi ryu. and tend to be a bit more linear/angular than the more round techniques of goju/uechi. it is shorin ryu that was the precursor to shotokan.

isshin ryu karate, founded by Tatsuo Shimabuku, is a blend of goju ryu, and shorin ryu. it favors light footedness, and more upright mobile stances. yet contains some circular techniques and kata of goju as well. pretty practical style. and is the only style that incorporates kobudo (weapons, namely bo and sai) in its curriculum. most styles study kobudo separately.

goju ryu, shotokan, wado ryu, and shito ryu (and also kyokushin) are the biggest styles of japanese karate. but they all come from okinawan karate.

in general, japanese karate has alot less grappling/tuite (joint locks) than okinawan arts.

they tend to focus more on the striking aspects.

goju, founded (i think) by Gogen "the cat" Yamaguchi, is said to be adapted from okinawan goju. though i've heard that the founder of goju (miyagi) says otherwise and that it isn't real goju.

shotokan, founded by Gichin Funakoshi, was born from shorin ryu, tends to be very hard and linear for the most part. with alot of sweeps and very hard kicks, punches, and blocks. it is probably the definitive japanese system. the stereotypical "krotty" every one sees.

wado ryu, founded by Hironori Ohtsuka

is unique, it is a blend of shotokan, and shindo yoshin ryu jujutsu. it is a very unique style that contains both joint locks, as well as more "karate" type strikes and kicks. and also sections on throwing and knife defense.

kyokushin, is hard, very hard. some say it is the strongest karate. it is the style of mas oyama. and has produced many great fighters. practically no grappling, but hella hard striking and kicking. it too is a blend of goju, and shorin/shotokan.

shito ryu, founded by Kenwa Mabuni, has ALOT of kata. and is a blend of naha te(goju) and shorin ryu (shuri, and tomari te) i say it this way because it was blended around the same time as all of these arts were "named" ..originally karate was karate...te was te, tomari te was the te practiced in tomari village. etc. shito has very asthetic kata, very sharp, very snappy, very precise. while also probably being the closest to its okinawan roots.

much of this is historical fact, some is my opinion.

hope it helps