Weapons + karate

[kungfudude]

A friend asked me to find out if there are any weapons involved in karate. so i ask you are there any weapons in karate.And also he asked me to find out how good is koyoshin karate

[cakegirl]

Kara-te literally means empty hand, and the core of karate is empty hand fighting and self-defence. However, some karate schools will also teach traditional Japanese weapons if for no other reason than that to defend against weapons, you need to have a solid understanding of how the weapon will be used.

Some traditional Japanese weapons include: bo (long stick), jo (short stick), sai (3-pronged thing spear), tonfa (baton with a handle out to the side), and nunchuku (short sticks on a chain).

Some karate schools have also incorporated non-traditional weapons into their self-defence programs, e.g. knife and gun.

Also, to answer your friend's question about the style of karate, it's hard to say, because every school is different. I haven't heard of koyoshin karate, but it may be a typo and be meant to be kyokushin karate, which is a very well-known style. Kyokushin is a very hard style, with tough training and full-contact sparring. The Kyokushin guys are the bad-asses of the karate world

[HtTKar]

Good answer cake_girl. There's also the eku (boat oar) in traditional okinawan.

Here's a link I think is interesting. They sell quality weapons, but It also has a theory which is different to the norm on how certain weapons came into existence. You'll have to scroll all the way to the bottom.

http://www.weaponsconnection.com/page1.htm

[Cobra_nVidia]

Japanese Karate may or may not teach weapons.

Okinawan Karate, was concerned with striking, blocking, grappling, and weapons training. However, they had highly developed punches (especially compared to their Japanese neighbours) to deal with the fact they would be attacked with shorter, concealed weapons, as opposed to swords (which would favour grappling techniques)

If you want to punch and be punched, the best commercial style is probably Kyokushinkai. Most other Japanese styles (which were founded before) no longer practice full-contact sparring. Well, they never really did. They brawled with each other to see how well the styles matched up. A lot of blood, broken bones, and stuff. So some people with big aggressive egos but little fighting ability (read: Nakayama) devised ways so that they could try to dominate over their opponents without actually hurting them. Of course, now most Japanese styles don't know how to hit.

If you want a really effective Karate style, try to find someone who was taught my Hohan Soken. It's not like Shorin-Ryu, where all the punches are weak and there's no real grappling instruction. It was a martial art. Granted, they would not consider a civilian a "martial artist" but it's still a fun thing to do for health and basic self-defense.

[Hardball]

The Gun has no Equal. {The Book of 5 Rings}

[bodhisattva]

If you want to learn about effective weapons fighting, try the Dog Brothers tapes. They are really great.

Pad up some sticks, put on some gloves and a headgear that protects the eyes.. That's the best way to learn.

Boat Oar? That's interesting. I've often thought my paddle would make a great weapon...I always wondered if the paddle end would break if it hit someone with force.

[koto_ryu]

I think some styles use kamas too, if I recall correctly...

[academian]

Karate=Empty Hand> Kobudo=weapons forms.
Kyokushin is Good Unfortunatly Most Kyokushin teachers are Not!