Both karate and Kung-Fu are good as long as you train with a truly qualified instructor. I'm familiar with Eizo Shimabukuro. He is the Soke (head of style) fro the Shobayashi branch of Shorinryu. I know some of his top students. He is as good as they get. The best traditional martial artist I know has well over 50 years of Karate training. He is also one of Eizo Shimabukuro's top American students. If you have a chance to train with someone that is affiliated with Soke Shimabukuro you have a great opportunity.
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What is it you really want to learn? Philosophy or martial art? Personally I would stay away from a school that "really stresses philosophy". A martial arts school should "really stress martial arts" a philosophy school/class should really stress philosophy. If you want martial arts you go to a martial arts school. If you want philosophy you take philosophy classes. You don't go to an English class to learn math. I feel it is necessary in traditional martial arts to understand the culture your martial art is from and know the way they thought but this is a far cry from stressing the philosophy of a culture.
Sounds like the Kung Fu teacher has a more level headed idea of what is necessary than the Karate teacher. I'd probably go with the Kung Fu IF the teacher could tell me what Kung Fu styles she teaches.
Philosophy is not necessarily part of martial arts. Thos who teach it together do so because they, like yourself, are philosophy fans.
Whatever you do, whether it is or is not martial arts, you can always study philosophy on your own.
Either school seems good, I also know of Shimabukuro Sensei.. that's good karate.
If you can post the other school's site, I can give you my opinion.
I trained in both - Okinawan Karate and Chinese Martial Arts.
Kung fu is something if u want to learn ull learn. Theres nothing to discuss about. Its a life time experience.
go for it
I have never taken martial arts before and want to start, but I can't decide if I want to study karate or kung fu. I am familiar with both styles and the differences between them. I like kung fu for its beauty, but I like karate because of its practicality and philosophy.
I really like one school near me that teaches shorin-ryu karate. They really stress philosophy, like respect and peace, and they have practical applications for self defense. They are very traditional, and the man who runs it studied under the grandmaster Eizo Shimabukuro. The problem is, it's about fifty minutes from my house. But maybe it's worth it to drive fifty minutes to learn the real thing?
I also took a sample kung fu lesson from a local school run by a Chinese woman. They're pretty legit because the woman studied in China. They teach both traditional and contemporary kung fu. I really had fun at the lesson. The downside is that they don't stress philosophy. They teacher said that they teach a little philosophy, but it's not a big part of their curriculum.
So both schools have different aspects that I like. So is it bad to study both at once? What if i tried one for a few months and then added the other school?
