Understanding the types of karate

You may need to defend yourself for real - hadn't you better know which techniques will save your life?

In every dojo, we practice three types of kumite. It’s vital that you understand the difference so that you can trust your karate when you need it.

How often have you been practicing your karate, and you’ve learned a piece of self-defence, and thought, “Well why not simply poke the attacker in the eyes, or kick him in the groin, or stamp on his knee?” I bet it happens all the time. You’ll be learning an escape from say, a strangle, and your escape doesn’t in any way hurt the attacker – it simply frees you from his grip. Alternately, perhaps you’ve watched a kid’s class where they were taught something, and you thought to yourself, “Steady on sensei, that’s a bit strong for kids!” Or perhaps you’ve learned an aggressive combination, but it’s so bound up by rules (nothing below the waist, you can’t follow through, no contact) that the combination is useless for self defence. The truth is, there are three levels of karate, and by understanding that, you can approach each with the correct attitude. The three levels are: kumite, compliance, and deadly.

Kumite is easy enough – it’s practicing for tournament style points sparring. There are loads of rules about where you can hit, how you hit, and with which parts of your body. In many dojos, this is the main type of sparring. You’ll see loads of people bouncing about on their toes, trying to score one perfect technique, using great form, and then retreating. Kumite is absolutely nothing like real fighting. It’s clinical, relatively safe, and rates looks above effectiveness. That’s not to say it’s valueless in teaching self-defence. It still teaches you how to face an aggressive attacker who is not fighting to a script, and who wants to hit you. However, it lacks the fear factor that comes with real self-defence, and by eliminating contact, it takes away your most powerful weapon.

The next level of karate is compliance. This is primarily what we teach to kids. It’s techniques such as the saifa wrist grab escape, or escapes from bear-hugs that don’t start with reverse head butts! In other words, compliance techniques are all of the “friendly” escapes that don’t end up with the attacker permanently injured. These are great for younger kids who will primarily be victims of playground harassment, rather than life-threatening violence. They enable people to defend themselves, and even to control the other person using pain, without causing actual physical injury.

The final level is what I consider to be the “real” karate – the stuff that can be used to defend your life. This is the stuff like knee stamps, elbow breaks, throat punches, eye pokes, elbow strikes, groin attacks, knees to sternums, head butts, and wrist breaks. It’s the kind of techniques that proper karateka practiced back in Funakoshi’s day and before. It’s the kind of stuff that you practiced in the days when you were more concerned about staying alive than thinking about the legal ramifications of defending yourself. Although we discuss this form of karate, and sometimes go through the motions of practicing it in a very sanitised way, for obvious reasons, we never practice it full on. Unfortunately, we never allow our attackers to up that level of aggression to intimating levels, so that we feel genuinely threatened. This means that when people face extreme aggression, even when it is not accompanied by actual violence, it often overwhelms them. This month alone, I have witnessed four people in four different situations (sensei training, a grading, a public class, and one-on-one training) who literally were reduced to tears by the intensity of kumite. Not because they were in the slightest danger, or because the kumite was out of control, but because it is extremely unsettling to be faced by intense aggression.

We all need to know how that feels, so I urge you to ask your sensei to add some reality training into your classes, so that you can learn to cope with the huge emotional surge that can literally paralyse a grown man.

So whenever you’re thinking in advance about your defensive strategy if you need to apply your self-defence, be sure to work out which techniques are for the drunken uncle at a party, and which are for the rapist who jumps out from behind a bush.

Oh, and on the subject of teaching kids – I believe that they are the most vulnerable and weak of all potential victims. I know it may seem reckless to teach them dangerous techniques, but against an adult attacker, they certainly won’t have the strength to win unless they counter an attack in the nastiest way, targeting the most vulnerable areas. If you don’t want your kids to have a realistic chance against a child abductor, angry ex-partner, or a much older attacker, take them to ballet or soccer instead, then keep your fingers crossed that they never need to defend themselves. Personally, I’d sooner teach deadly techniques, and responsible use, than see a single one of my junior students hurt or worse…