20 articles
American Kenpo
American Kenpo, also called Ed Parker's American Kenpo Karate, is a self-defense-oriented martial art created by Edmund K. Parker (1931–1990) from Hawaiian kenpo, organized around named motion principles, structured technique sequences, and the Long Beach Internationals.
Ankō Itosu (糸洲安恒)
Ankō Itosu (糸洲安恒, 1830–1915), Okinawan Shuri-te karate master, teacher of Funakoshi and Mabuni; created the five Pinan kata, introduced karate into Okinawan schools from 1901, and wrote the 1908 Ten Precepts of Karate.
Comparison of karate styles
Comparison of karate styles: Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, Wado-ryu, and Kyokushin. Founders, Okinawan Shuri-te/Naha-te roots, kata syllabi, stances, and sparring rules that distinguish each style.
Feryal Ashraf
Feryal Ashraf (فريال أشرف), born 1999 in Cairo, Egyptian karateka; won women's kumite +61 kg gold at Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic gold by an Egyptian woman, and Mediterranean Games gold in 2022 and 2026.
Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流)
Gōjū-ryū (剛柔流), hard-soft style, is an Okinawan karate style founded by Miyagi Chōjun, who named it in 1930 from the Bubishi; it descends from Higaonna Kanryō's Naha-te and centers on Sanchin and Tensho kata.
Ivet Goranova
Ivet Goranova (Ивет Горина) is a Bulgarian karateka from Pleven, who won the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal in the women's under 55 kg kumite category.
Jim Kelly (martial artist)
Jim Kelly (James Milton Kelly, 1946-2013), American karate champion and actor, played Williams in Enter the Dragon (1973) and starred in Black Belt Jones and other 1970s martial arts blaxploitation films.
Joe Lewis (martial artist)
Joe Lewis (Joseph Henry Lewis, 1944–2012) was an American kickboxer and full contact karate fighter who won the first professional full-contact karate titles in the United States.
Jovana Prekovic
Jovana Preković (Јована Прековић), Serbian karateka born 1996, Olympic gold medalist in women's kumite -61 kg at Tokyo 2020, two-time world champion (2018, 2021) and 2021 European champion.
Karate
Karate (空手, Karate-do) is a striking martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom on Okinawa, later spread to mainland Japan, and contested as forms (kata) and sparring (kumite).
Kenpō (拳法)
Kenpō (拳法, kempo), Japanese for "fist method," denotes Chinese-derived striking arts and a family of modern systems: Nippon Kempo (Sawayama, 1932), Shorinji Kempo (Sō Dōshin, 1947), and Ed Parker's American Kenpo; distinct from karate and kung fu.
Kumite (组手)
Kumite (組手) is karate sparring, from prearranged drills to free sparring; WKF sport kumite uses controlled contact, yuko/waza-ari/ippon scoring to eight points, on an 8 m tatami.
Kyokushin (極真)
Kyokushin (極真, "ultimate truth") is a full-contact karate style founded by Masutatsu Oyama (1923–1994). It was formalized in 1964 as the International Karate Organization Kyokushinkaikan (IKO).
Mas Oyama
Mas Oyama, born Choi Yeong-eui and known in Japan as Masutatsu Oyama, was a Korean-born Japanese karate master who founded Kyokushin, a full-contact karate style.
Mike Stone (karate)
Mike Stone, American karate champion of the 1960s-70s, "The Animal," Shorin-ryu black belt in six months, retired undefeated with 91 consecutive wins, later wrote Enter the Ninja and lives in the Philippines.
Nunchaku
Nunchaku (nunchucks): two sticks linked by cord or chain, an Okinawan kobudo flail weapon popularized by Bruce Lee. Legal in nearly all U.S. states after a 2018 Second Amendment ruling; basis of the sport Nunchaku-do.
Okinawan martial arts
Okinawan martial arts (沖縄空手, kobudō): karate and weapons traditions from the Ryukyu Kingdom, rooted in the art Ti, shaped by Chinese kempo, weapon bans, and spread worldwide since 1922.
Ryo Kiyuna
Ryo Kiyuna (喜友名諒, born 1990) is an Okinawan Japanese karateka, first Olympic men's kata champion (Tokyo 2020) and first male kata athlete with four World Karate Championships titles (2014-2021).
Shotokan
Shotokan (松濤館流) is the karate style founded by Gichin Funakoshi, who renamed karate-jutsu karate-do in 1929. Known for 27 kata, semi-contact kumite, and the JKA, founded 1948, which split after Nakayama's 1987 death.
The Karate Kid Part II
The Karate Kid Part II (ベスト・キッド2) is the 1986 Columbia Pictures sequel directed by John G. Avildsen, sending Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi to Okinawa to face Sato; it outgrossed the 1984 original and was shot in Hawaii, not Okinawa.