Karate is primarily self-defense

The birthplace of karate is the island of Okinawa, which is now part of Japan.

At the moment there is a global division of karate into Japanese and Okinawa.

Japanese karate

Kihon - the basic technique - is considered "theory", far from practice. Kata competitions, including group performance, are considered important. Competitive fights - kumite - non-contact. In them, it is important to score points for the strikes, but at the same time it is forbidden to deliver strong blows in full contact, and the fight stops after the first touch. Kumite technique and kata technique are different.

There is an opinion that I share - such karate is useless for self-defense.

Okinawa karate

First of all, it is part of the culture of the inhabitants of the island of Okinawa. Kata is a personal practice aimed at practicing karate techniques. Competition is not the main goal, but kata competitions are held to promote Okinawan Karate.

More important workshops and seminars, where the masters share the features of the technique and training approaches of their schools.

There are no kumite competitions fights. It is believed that non-contact fights are meaningless, and full contact fights in the format of competitions are dangerous for the life and health of the participants. Depending on the school of karate, there may be different formats of training fights.

Okinawa karate also involves kobudo training - the use of traditional household items as weapons.

Okinawa karate Sindo-Ryu

Our school of Okinawa Sindo-Ryu karate stands out among other schools of Okinawan karate. In the Sindo-Ryu school the technique of kihon, kata and kumite is the same. Kata and Kihon are not considered "theory" but are very practical means of training. Kobudo is a continuation of Karate training.

A distinctive feature of the Sindo-ryu school is full contact fights for men and weman with a high level of training, without any protective devices, according to the traditional old Okinawan rules of the “uri kumi go” duel, according to which only blows to the eyes and any technique is allowed.

This is done because only a tough, real fight allows you to truly evaluate the effectiveness of the technique learned in training and test the strength of the spirit of the fighters.

To avoid injuries used special training methods developed over the centuries and allowing students to successfully participate in such fights after one and a half to two years of training without harming their health. Moreover, the techniques are not widely used and are practically unknown even to experts in martial arts, since this is the main wealth of the esoteric system of the family school.

There are no competitions under these rules. The goal in the competition is to win, inflict damage, and the goal in "uri kumi go" is not to lose, not to miss a blow, not to get injured. Therefore, only training fights are held when the instructor knows the level of the students and very closely monitors the course of the fight and certification fights with holders of the degree for which the student claims.

The fight lasts 2 minutes. The goal is to demonstrate the ability to withstand the pressure of an obviously more experienced opponent - the owner of the senior belt.

Children, of course, do not participate in such fights under 16 years of age, and after 16 years of age they participate only with the permission of the instructor, if he is confident in the preparation of the student.

For children a more important variant of the fight at their age is available tegumi - a struggle to unbalance.
This guarantees the acquisition of the most important skills: balance, feeling of a partner, control of the environment. Tegumi also develops physical strength very well.

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