This is something that kind of bugs me, but maybe shouldn’t?
Hi Michele
I don't think it should bug you or at least irritate you. I teach American karate/TKD but I call it American karate. In a nut shell it is not that we are hiding our art, it is for marketing purposes. I even know of one school that teaches Modern Arnis and he uses the term "karate" on his school since people wouldn't know what Modern Arnis is. One of the influences in Modern Arnis was Filipino karate so it is karate in that sense but he uses the term for the same reason I do. Marketing
When I first started looking to get back into martial arts I looked around a 30 min radius of my home. *Most* of the schools had “karate” in the school name but didn’t specify on their website what style they were. Inquiries through social media messages revealed that they were all “American Taekwondo.”
First of all, huh? And second, Taekwondo is a martial art, but not a type of karate. If your art is legit, why hide your style?
Karate is a catch all term like MMA has become. When you think of karate you think of people in uniforms learning kata or doing unifrm drills like the opening scene in "Enter the Dragon" when you hear the term MMA you think of learning to fight like in UFC.
I don’t get it. It was also very frustrating as I was trying to find something close to my original art. I found MMA, BJJ, one KKW Taekwondo, and a bunch of “karate” schools that were “American Taekwondo” (oh, and had astronomical tuition fees compared to the non American Taekwondo schools, like you have to put several thousand dollars down to even start). There are no *real* karate schools anywhere near me.
Years ago when I first started teaching at a YMCA (in the mid 90's), I advertised (what little I did back then) with fliers and such as American TKD. However around where I live in TX, American Karate has pretty much taken over as the common term for the art as I and the association I belong to teaches.
As to astronomical fees I teach in a Rec. Center and my fees aren't astronomical, not cheap but not high either. All of the higher tuition schools are 1 Olympic style TKD school, 1 ATA franchise school and the MMA gym in town.
It could be that the higher tuition rates are the stand a lone school programs that offer more class times, more equipment, more programs etc. etc.
Also I find that the Olympic style schools are more expensive because the focus is on competing in the Olympics therefore there is a lot of competition expenses that aren't factored in to monthly fees. Plus you are training with the former Olympic or world champions too.
Can anyone enlighten me as to this strange phenomenon where there is an Americanized version of Taekwondo that calls itself a karate and doesn’t advertise its actual style? I still find it rather annoying.
I'll try
Unlike what we were taught back in the day (80's and prior) that TKD was some martial art that existed for 1000's of years, today there is enough research to make the case that 1950's/1960's era TKD was heavily influenced by Japanese karate. So much so that art's like Tang Soo Do kept the older Japanese kata and Gen Choi's TKD forms were cut and paste Japanese kata with a little Korean kicking (flavoring adding to them). Then in the late 60's/70's the Korean government became more involved and TKD moved further from it's karate roots. People began to research more in the 1980's and onward and the more modern view of the Japanese karate influence became more pronounced.
American Karate around here in TX became it's own type of art as it moved away from it's 50's/60's roots it split into two camps; it's all about the fight, and it's more so about the art. In both camps though as Jhoon Rhee moved from the area the connection with Korea was lost. So it became more independent in nature and took on the name "American" karate.
The it's all about the fight line looked at kata as being basically being useless and really just needed for tests to belt rank up. Over time there appears to be a disconnect between forms, basics, (the art) and sparring. With the emphasis being on sparring. As one instructor from this line or lineage told me he was recently talking with his instructor and the senior instructor told him "you mean there is meaning to those kata", because the junior instructor and his senior were talking about a recent seminar/class the junior instructor on bunkai. Granted the junior instructor owns his own school and has been in the martial arts for 30+ years, so I'm referring to the junior as in their teacher student relationship. I have no clue about the senior except that he comes from the 1960's/70's era.
Where as the other line (it's about the art) tends to mix in other arts to make their curricula more eclectic. This is the camp that I fall into. For myself I de emphasize the sparring (or tournament) aspect and focus more on the self defense side of the line. I blend in in the advanced class weapons defense from my studies in the FMAs, empty hand sparring type drills that are influenced by JKD and the FMAs (Modern Arnis). I teach bunkai applications (or techniques) that I learned from or inspired by the late GM Remy Presas and Iain Abernathy. I use drill concepts that I learned from Hock Hochheim and so on. I also teach Kobudo this based on our associations Kobudo program but is again filtered or influenced by my study of the FMAs.
Our association also conducts black belt level monthly training classes exposing instructors to subjects like Judo throws and take downs, knife defense, bunkai, etc. etc. all with a blend of influences (Japanese Karate, Filipino martial arts, Aikijujitsu, Judo, military, etc. etc.). I've taught on FMA type subjects in these types of classes for them as well over the years.
So really my only connection to TKD is my forms. My instructors were all American, my influences are from various martial arts and systems, and since karate has become a common catch all name I use it for marketing purposes. Hope this helps you understand why we use the term American Karate and what it is.
