# Silly question



## Manny (Sep 10, 2010)

What are the main diferences beetwen Japanese Karate and Okinawan Karate?

Manny


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## Andrew Green (Sep 10, 2010)

There is as much variance between different Japanese schools and different Okinawan schools as there is between the two as a whole.  

At most you might see some cultural or ideological differences if you go back to the source, but they are going to be fairly small, and training in North America is going to trump those anyways.


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## Omar B (Sep 10, 2010)

Manny said:


> What are the main diferences beetwen Japanese Karate and Okinawan Karate?
> 
> Manny



Oh that's a sticky question.  Karate is Karate, differences between Okinawa and Japan based style are the same as differences between one style or another.  Thing is, being Karate they are pretty much all similar, sharing the same skill-set, kata, etc.  Their may be tiny differences depending on the value judgments of your founder, but it's still pretty similar.

Some styles feature more body hardening, some feature lower kicks, some focus more on sparring and free fighting.  But they all cover everything, it's just the focus that may be different.


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## Touch Of Death (Sep 10, 2010)

The pronunciation...:mst:
Sean


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## dancingalone (Sep 10, 2010)

These are generalizations, but there's some truth to them else the generalizations wouldn't have been made in the first place.  If your school is the exception, fine.

Okinawan karate:  


higher stances
generally more fluid movement as a result of kakie drills
frequently has kobudo (weapons) training too
has Iron body training & traditional physical conditioning using the older training tools.
Two man formal sets and bunkai is frequently a training staple (bunkai is sort of a convoluted topic - whenever you think bunkai became entrenched into Okinawan karate is unimportant - what is important is that it's probably very pervasive at this point)

Japanese karate


often more staccato in performance reflecting the one punch kill principle - focus on power over fluidity, especially in the Shotokan lines
Usually no weapons and while you can find exceptions here and there, the curriculum will not be as comprehensive as a full kobudo program.
Much more of a focus on sparring and tournament competition in general
More likely to have picked up some of the fancier kicks than their Okinawan cousins

But again these are just generalizations.  What your teacher considers important will trump all these and it really does come down to individual talent and knowledge.  

Some styles like Shito-ryu straddle the fence between both worlds.

I love Okinawan Goju-ryu karate.  It's a dynamic, fluid system with destructive power with both small and large movements.  If you know the entire 'system', you'll know weapons, pressure point applications, and a good deal of grappling and take down techniques.  That said, it only takes one bad instructor to make you think Goju-ryu is a cruddy, inefficient system with odd sound-making, and believe me I've run into my share of mediocre Goju-ryu.


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