Yamaguchi Toru fighting Shirai.

Yamaguchi Toru fighting Shirai.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Yamaguchi
• Toru
• Shirai
• jka
• karate
• kumite

[christianbrecht]

These were the best years to have been a karateka. Now its mostly sport bullshit

[micirv20]

Maybe with the growing intrest in MMA Karate and Taekwondo will move away from sports styles and back to their traditional methods. I hope so because I'm fed up of those pretentious bastards giving us lip!

[nandino77]

... our kumite style (seiwakai) is pretty rough.

Having said that, I wouldn't like to confront a MMA practitioner in a real life because taking it to that level, we would have to defence ourselves using techniques which we train and practice: broken joins, groin kicks, thumbs in eyes, strikes in the throat, slaps on eardrums, etc What's the point then?

I love true martial arts that focus on "do" as much as is focus on "jutsu". We can't train only on spirituality. Training has to be realistic.

[nandino77]

Guys, don't be angry at MMA. It is only a fighting modality, not a martial art per se. It picks techniques from various different martial arts such as karate, ju jutsu, judo, BJJ, western boxing, wrestling, etc. which is then applied in an "almost everything goes" modality. Yes, practitioners are tough because they are used to a very aggressive and hard fighting level, but their techniques are often clumsy.

I'm a Goju-Ryu karateka and aikido practioner. I'm in love with karate and...

[Ballowall]

@Ruben1994OL I agree, MMA fighters train hard but all my teachers hate MMA because the sport is loaded with meatheads. Karate is about humility and peaceful resolution. Fighting should always be a last resort. MMA is about being as badass as possible, which to us usually means being as childish as possible.

[Ballowall]

I wish karate was like this today. Lucky for me many of my teachers feel the same way.

[tenchimouse]

@Ruben1994OL Spoke my mind. Domo.

[BelloBudo007]

ke7ggz - I started karate in 1970 too and it's all too easy to convince oneself that 'the older I get the better I was'. Maybe fighting spirit better then but some of todays karateka are 100 times better technically. But I agree it needs to move away from sport back to Budo.

[ke7ggz]

I trained in the 70's and this was the way fighting was done~! Mouth guard and cup..My first fight, I had my groin stuffed into me hard and had to be revived~! I had broken nose's, broken fingers, bruised ribs, broken toes.. We toughened our shins, forearms, fists and feet~! We practiced our break falls on cement floors, wood floors and outdoors. We fought to the take down and tap out as if in Combat fighting for our lives. Rank all the way to Black Belt was given only after fighting~!