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WHAT IS KARATE?
WHAT IS KARATE?
Karate is a Japanese martial art that originates in Okinawa, one of the small islands off the coast of mainland Japan. Karate is devoted to the practice of effective self defence and the cultivation of a good character. Karate is one of the most well known martial arts but there is much more than meets the eye, you will find striking and blocking in Karate, but you will also find joint locking, throwing, ground work, pressure point manipulation, and even weapons. Karate as an art is broken into three sections: Kihon, Kata, and Kumite, or Basics, Forms, and Sparring. It is said in Karate that everything starts in Kihon, you cannot master Karate without proper attention to Kihon but nor can you master it without devotion to the other two aspects. In more modern times Karate has begun to become a sport and competitions can be found all across the world. In competitions Karatekas demonstrate Katas for points and also fight.
Yoshitaka (Gigo) Funakoshi, Co-founder of Shotokan-ryu Karate
WHAT YOU WILL FIND AT OUR CLUB
WHAT YOU WILL FIND AT OUR CLUB
The University of York Karate Club is one the oldest continually run sports clubs at the University of York and we take great pride in offering traditional karate training to any and all who are interested. We train in Shotokan-ryu a Japanese style of Karate founded by Gichin Funakoshi and his son Yoshitaka. We deeply embrace the importance of classical training of kihon and kata, exploring the applications (bunkai) of katas to show to students how the apply to certain situations one can find on daily life. We also happily explore new methods and enjoy experimenting to ensure students get the most of their training with us. Although we train in Shotokan Karate we happily invite Karatekas of other styles to join our training, we often have members who practice Shukokai, Wado-Ryu, Kyokushin, and Goju-ryu amongst our ranks. Above all, the answer to the question we always get, we happily accept people who have not done Karate before, most members have no Karate experience and call our club their first.
"THERE IS NOTHING MORE HARMFUL TO THE WORLD THAN A MARTIAL ART THAT IS NOT EFFECTIVE ACTUAL SELF-DEFENCE"
"THERE IS NOTHING MORE HARMFUL TO THE WORLD THAN A MARTIAL ART THAT IS NOT EFFECTIVE ACTUAL SELF-DEFENCE"
~Choki Motobu
~Choki Motobu
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