What is Karate

The Martial Art of Karate originated a long time ago in Okinawa, a small island close to Japan. Karate, meaning Hand, or Open Hand was only introduced mainstream to Japan in the early part of the last century, after previously only been known by the Okinowans and the people of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Martial Art was learnt and practised by many of the islands inhabitants and their ancestors, the secret would have been passed down from family to family, with some lines of karate stretching back hundreds and hundredsof years to ancient Chinese monks and warriors that would have settled on the islands.

Karate Explained

Karate is often thought of as just a method of Self Defense but Karate's deeper meaning is essentially and entire lifestyle. Karate uses strikes such as punches, kicks, knee strikes, elbows and different types of open handed techniques known as knife strikes, spear hands and palm strikes. In certain styles there are also moves such as grapples, throwing, joint locking, restraining, and pressure point strikes. Students of Karate are traditionally known as Karate-ka, and in traditional situations, training commences in a place called a Dojo, or a Karate school. Karate-ka students wear a traditional white Gi, which is strong dress wear for practising the art. The level of the student ability in karate is shown by the wearing of different coloured belts. While there is some variance between different styles, such as Shotokan, GoJu, Gkr, JKA etc, in general the beginner will start off wearing a white belt while those students at the top of their style will be awarded a Black Belt, usually there are quite a few coloured belts to be earned in between, these belts are obtained at your Dojo or karate schools grading events. Karate students will have to be trained to learn kata, moves and self discipline to a certain degree before progressing to the next belt.

Learning Karate

There are many reasons why you might decide you would want to Learn Karate, and here are just a few of them...

Self Defense, the number one reason people turn to karate is for Self Defense, maybe you are getting bullied, or maybe your confidence is low and you need to improve it, or maybe you just want to learn how to handle certain situations, if this is the case then Karate is perfect for you. You may enjoy sports and activities, and if you love a challenge and been active, then you will certainly love Karate too. You may be interested in learning Karate katas and ancient forms that have helped the Okinawans defend themselves for hundreds of years. What ever your reason, we are sure you will benefit in some positive way by Learning Karate, and you can start right here with our online Karate Class provided free of charge by Mill Hills own Shodan Ranked Sensei Mark Brown.

So if you are eager to kick off and learn karate online, then get stuck into our Karate Lessons from our own Mill Hill Dojo Sensei, Mark Brown. Sensei Brown is a regular karate instructor both online and in the dojo, and despite been totally blind, Mark holds the highest coloured belt in Go-Kan-Ryu Karate.