Karate or Kung Fu

[Dexter]

It's easy;
In Karate we enjoy LARPing strong feudal Japanese fellows. It's very important you can count to 10 in Japanese or your belt doesn't count.
In Kungfu they wear a sash and twirl both themselves and shiny objects.

Your forgot the most important part of karate - pretty white pajamas, very much liked by soccer moms and dads who want their kiddies to be cool.

 

[Benaskrenstriking]

A very broad generalization: Karate emphasizes more linear and direct strike. Kung Fu is more circular.

 

[Frode Falch]

A very broad generalization: Karate emphasizes more linear and direct strike. Kung Fu is more circular.

Nah..

 

[Benaskrenstriking]

Nah..

That's what Bill Wallace said, and I agree.

But anyway, kung fu is such a generic term. It's meaningless without specifying

 

[JohnPJones]

It seems a lot of people with no experience of karate are attempting to describe and explain karate

 

[BoTyson]

Karate = actual self defence
Kung Fu = Movie shit

 

[destroyer4147]

Your forgot the most important part of karate - pretty white pajamas, very much liked by soccer moms and dads who want their kiddies to be cool.

But in the US, the pajamas are black because 'Murrica, that's why!

 

[Woldog]

This wrongfully accused man was a kung fu practitioner

 

[Dan Torrance]

It seems a lot of people with no experience of karate are attempting to describe and explain karate

They probably all get togther and mimic Karate then come on here thinking they know something about it. LOL what a bunch of jokers.

 

[Benaskrenstriking]

It seems a lot of people with no experience of karate are attempting to describe and explain karate

It's like trying to define love

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

Kyokushin Karate seems the best to me

 

[Frode Falch]

That's what Bill Wallace said, and I agree.

But anyway, kung fu is such a generic term. It's meaningless without specifying

Great fighter. And maybe one of the goat no lowkick kickboxers. But i dont agree with him there, nor would i think of his name, to seek out in a kung fu vs karate discussion

 

[AndyMaBobs]

It seems a lot of people with no experience of karate are attempting to describe and explain karate

If by that you meant two of Spacetime's alts, and then a bunch of people with years experience, then sure Everyone else is just memeing

 

[Noodles03]

I like this quote from Chojun Miyagi.

 

[Hotora86]

I know the answers are going to be subjective. However, for those who study karate and kung fu, which did you enjoy the most?

This is like asking which food is better - Japanese or Chinese? There's thousands of different dishes in each cuisine and you'll get different tastes depending on the restaurant.

Both Karate and Kung Fu have multiple styles and each style has multiple orgs and even each org can have clubs that train differently despite the common curriculum. So it's not even apples vs oranges, it's food markets vs grocery stores!

I personally tried Shotokan, Kyokushin, Sanda and Tai Chi. So if you're asking which I enjoyed most I'd have to say Shotokan but only because it was my first martial art and we had great comradery in the dojo. The closest thing to proper kickboxing was Sanda. The best thing for mental and physical toughness was Kyokushin. The best thing to avoid injury was Tai Chi, tho I did like it the least of all, it bored me.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

This is like asking which food is better - Japanese or Chinese? There's thousands of different dishes in each cuisine and you'll get different tastes depending on the restaurant.

Both Karate and Kung Fu have multiple styles and each style has multiple orgs and even each org can have clubs that train differently despite the common curriculum. So it's not even apples vs oranges, it's food markets vs grocery stores!

I personally tried Shotokan, Kyokushin, Sanda and Tai Chi. So if you're asking which I enjoyed most I'd have to say Shotokan but only because it was my first martial art and we had great comradery in the dojo. The closest thing to proper kickboxing was Sanda. The best thing for mental and physical toughness was Kyokushin. The best thing to avoid injury was Tai Chi, tho I did like it the least of all, it bored me.

This is a key point.

If you hate training muay thai, you're not going to be as effective as if you loved it - but if you fucking love shotokan and have a great team around you, you'll probably do quite well

 

[Hotora86]

This is a key point.

If you hate training muay thai, you're not going to be as effective as if you loved it - but if you fucking love shotokan and have a great team around you, you'll probably do quite well

100% correct.

The one and only response to all the "Which martial art should I chose?" threads is THE ONE YOU ENJOY MOST.

 

[JohnPJones]

I like this quote from Chojun Miyagi.
View attachment 848089

Ya the 'old masters' would hate what's happened with most karate.

 

[listrahtes]

Karate in its origin was never meant to be divided by styles and with strict curriculums. It was fight & train with other schools full contact, find out what works and train that and adapt. There are a lot of quotes regarding that from Okinawan coaches. They were all very critical of Funakoshi. Gichin popularized Karate but at the same moment it took its adaptability away. Karate before that was pretty much like boxing in terms of being open to change. Afterwards the slow descent began until Oyama and others started to counter that.

Kung Fu, like I wrote. Lost all that knowledge about training methods with the cultural revolution. Read up about it. The temples were empty and students /teachers went to labour camp. Sure some may have survived but it cant have been many. I would bet before it wasnt much different to Okinawan "Kung Fu" because it had to work. Full Contact sparring and fighting to take out what doesnt work and enrich it with personal preference of style.

Thats why I dont really differentiate between them regarding were to go but just good and bad coaches.

Sanda imo is the real successor in China and by supporting Sanda on University Level China created a real breaktrrough in martial arts and it will or has surpassed most other systems as its a mixed martial art. Sanda fighters depending on the University will train in Karate, Boxing, MT, Wrestling..etc. and come together under the Sanda ruleset. So its really back to were Kung Fu and Karate originally came from. I really like that development.

 

[Ogata]

Comparing two very traditional and classical styres like this, is more easy then doing MMA vs TMA.

In my personal opinion, kung fu is way better because kung fu is fluid. Where karate tries to make you into Robocop.

That being said: there are more bad/useless kung fu styles out there then karate styles.

And outside china, its more easy to find a good karate gym, then a legit kung fu.

But IMO kung fu is not a finished fighting system, ready to use for live fighting. But it gives you some very good attributes you can use to become a very good fighting.

But if fighting skills is your main priority: seek out the "fast food" systems like boxing, wrestling, MMA, or thai/kickboxing.

Its called a dojo.

I agree that overall, Kung Fu has really bad representatives and this gives Kung Fu a bad name. Horse stance and bow and arrow stance are legit ways of developing exceptional base and balance. Its also designed to be explosive and athletic as well as fluid and gentle so that your not tearing your shit up everyday.

Karate is strong, aggressive and direct which is a good thing. Meanwhile Kung Fu has a long learning curve but it compliments other styles due to the physical development aspect of it.