Do they have any differences in style or technique?
The techniques they have is similar, but their sparring style and the way they do the techniques differ quite a bit. It easier to understand if you know boxing. Think of shotokan as out boxing style(staying at a distance slightly out of reach, coming in for a strike or two then popping back out of reach) and kyokushin as in-boxing style(coming in close and delivering the powerful shots even if that means you are within the opponent’s attack range). And the way the techniques are performed tends to reflect that kind of tactic. E.G. shotokan’s rounds house kick is quick strikes best for striking and moving, while kyokushin’s kick is more concentrated on delivering powerful kicks than just a quick one. That’s the main trend of the styles and the way techniques are taught.
PS Trivia: the founder of kyokushin studied Shotokan and then studied goju ryu. The style of kyokushin is often seen as a kind of blend of the two.
All karate arts go back to Okinawa. This is the birthplace of karate, to put it simply; Okinawan 'te' blended with Chinese martial arts and became 'tode' (chinese hand)...a hybrid of the two. Over time good instructors gathered a following in 3 main areas and named their 'te' after these areas. Shuri-te in Shuri, Tomari-te in Tomari, and Naha-te in Naha.
Shuri te, and Tomari-te combined and ultimately became Shorin Ryu Karate, which Shotokan evolved from.
Naha-te became several other systems, most notably Goju Ryu. Most all karate styles can be traced to Shorin, Goju, or both.
The founder of Shotokan was Gichin Funakoshi, a student of Shorin ryu
Shotokan is characterized by long deep stances generally, quick, sharp, powerful, and direct. But the way most people practice it, very sportive, whereas the old Okinawan arts were more about self defense. Most Shotokan tournaments are based on 'one strike kills' (not literally killing your opponent of course). They tend to start at a fairly great distance, and go until one person gets that one good strike in, then they are awarded a point. This is probably the biggest influence on point sparring types of karate all over the world. The idea being to teach a sense of urgency: you may only have one shot, you had better make it count. This is probably a concept borrowed from mainland Japanese arts such as Kyujutsu (archery) and Kendo...hence the distance, and emphasis on only needing one strike. It is considered by most to be a part of Japans "Budo culture" ...meaning lethal fighting skills is not its primary concern, but physical fitness, and self development, hence it's called karate-do. "Do" meaning "way" implying a more spiritual pursuit centered on character development. Unfortunately another trademark of this style in the past has been absolutely ridiculous self defense applications of their kata (forms).
Kyokushin was founded by Mas Oyama. Who was a student of Gichin Funakoshi (Shotokan founder) and Gogen "the cat" Yamaguchi, progenitor of Japanese Goju Ryu karate. Thus Kyokushin is a combination of the two. It is often referred to as "knockdown karate" because their tournaments are continuous..meaning they do not stop the action every time someone gets hit and are full contact. They tend to used more upright and mobile stances, and place much emphasis on fitness. Use lots of shin kicks, and body punches, as punching to the head is illegal. Honestly in a way it kind of reminds me of kickboxing while wearing a gi. Most of them that I have seen place MUCH more emphasis on freefighting over self defense. If hard contact is your bag, kyokushin is your art.
Both systems are predominantly striking oriented as opposed to the generally more well rounded Okinawan arts.
To put it quite simply if you want point karate, go with shotokan. If you want kickboxing with a gi...go with Kyokushin.
The first one is more of a sprawl and brawl style. The other one is like full body fencing lots of distance and training in grappling defendes standing up and on the ground very little submission offenese lots of defense and often combine with judo.
Can someone tell me what's different about those 2 Karate??
Do they have any differences in style or technique?
