GREENSTONE HEALTH

The word Karate, pronounced Ka-ra-te, is a form of fighting born out of a need to defend and protect oneself. Karate is a combination of two Japanese characters: kara, meaning empty, and te, meaning hand; thus karate means “empty hand.” Like most martial arts, Karate has been defined as a weapon-less means of defence with a goal to teach you how to fight. Adding the suffix “-do”, meaning “way,” i.e., karate-do, implies karate as a total way of life that goes well beyond the self-defense applications taught in most martial arts schools. The physical methods of karate teach a student how to become a more efficient and effective fighter, allowing them to better defend themselves. It develops and conditions the whole body by turning every part of it into a weapon.

It combines offensive and defensive techniques (a variety of blocks, strikes, evasions, throws, and joint manipulations) that use all parts of the body to their maximum advantage. Fundamentally it teaches the body to react in a specific manner, under pressure, in certain situations. Conversely, as Gichin Funakoshi so eloquently states, the true nature of karate lies not in the physical confrontation but in the pursuit of character development; perfection of action through pure and truthful thought. Karate in the hands of people, without these ideals, becomes nothing more than a effective tool to hurt people with. The aim of training then is to not only polish the skill of karate but to polish our spirit, and attitude; To shed the ego and strive towards the goal of character perfection.