3 Stupid Karate Rules That Don't Make Sense

Karate was never meant to be a sport. Its original purpose was self-defense.
That's why traditional Karate from Okinawa and Japan is so different from Olympic and full contact tournaments.
In this video you'll learn 3 ridiculous competition rules from WKF (World Karate Federation), Kyokushin and JKA (Japan Karate Association). This includes both kata and kumite.
Enjoy!
☯️ BIO: Jesse Enkamp a.k.a The Karate Nerd™ is a #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author, National Team Athlete, Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur, Carrot Cake Lover & Founder of Seishin International - The World’s Leading Karate Lifestyle Brand.
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WARNING: The advice and movements shown in this video are for informational and educational purposes only. Consult a health professional before engaging in any exercise or martial arts program.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Do you prefer Karate as tradition or sport? 🥋

[@nellustylejeb7210]

tradition

[@gurdevsandhu7744]

Yes

[@kartikchaturvedi5286]

Obviously, traditional

[@christodoulos04]

Both but mostly tradition

[@scottt7309]

Tradition.

[@JohnnyBit]

As a Kyokushin practicioner I fully agree with your recommendation: practice headstrikes, blocks, evasion etc - not for competition, but for your own safety and skill.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Great to hear!! 👍

[@Guitarman7u]

You clearly dont know what you are talking about. We Kyokushin Karatekas know this is a begginer when we hear that.

[@yubukai]

@@Guitarman7u What are your thoughts?

[@linkdiablo4476]

as long time practicioner too, i can say some people too underestimate not puching in face, but in my experience when sparing with other martial art, many dont have body conditioning like kyokushin sometimes just one hit to their body make sparring ended. it true training head to dodge punch, bloking, and evasion is important but that depent on people to people. plus many people without real experience with real punch will lose their mind when get only one real punch....believe me. in real fight it's all about reflex, it much faster than people can think.

[@jean4j_]

@@Guitarman7u could you elaborate more on that?

[@MissyLaMotte]

I do train in Kyokushin. The way the "no hands/elbows to the head" rule was explained to me was that Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin, was very adamant on no protective gear, especially no gloves, being used in full contact fighting. Now, if you try to train gloveless full contact sparring in a regular basis, you end up with very few students. All the others are out with either cuts and broken noses or with broken hands. And that was exactly what happened in the early days of Kyokushin. As with many other styles as well, the traditional, meant for self-defense and fighting in real life or death scenarios, way of doing things just could not be maintained unchanged in a sportlike contest and even less in training. Something had to give. And while other styles chose to go the route of protective gear and semi or light contact for matches, Mas Oyama chose to just ban the part of the fight which most often led to injuries even with non-perfect and non-decisive attacks. And as devastating as the kicks to the head look when they cause a knockout, they are a lot rarer and harder to pull off than a punch to the face. And if they hit, they are usually decisive and end the fight, so you are unlikely to ever receive more than one of those blows to the head in a tournament, while you could probably eat quite a few punches to the head in the cause of a fight.

[@Defsolid]

Long ago, I've read an interview with a dutch student of Oyama (can't remember his name)where he said that in his job which was the security of Amsterdam's red district, he started using open hands instead of punching because of an incident where he cracked the skull of somebody.

[@BernardSinai]

Osu! That's what I learnt too.

[@antarjones7888]

@ Missy LaMonte, I train Kyokushin too, and heard the same thing: his accountant and attorney students didn’t like coming to the office with a fat lip. In any event, it does make you tougher to eat a bunch of hard shots to the stomach a couple of times a week.

[@luciacastro8343]

I also practice kyokushin and I'd heard the same story. But I must say that the pourpose that jesse mention it's definitly a big part of the spirit of kyokushin karate. Not that much of awarding toughness, but more like incentiveting the students to become tougher in mind, body and soul, and, at the same time to develope more complex ways to win a fight, with longer combinations and atacking other vital points. At the end, it's not the tougher who wins, but the smarter, the well rounded, the one who fights better all along the tournament. Osu!

[@jackevans9328]

OSU! couldn't have said it better myself. Bare knuckle face punches lead to a bloodbath, broken jaws and pissed off fighters.

[@fujitafunk]

I’ve asked this same question to a Kyoukushin guy who spars. “Why no head punches?” His answer was this, and I’m paraphrasing: If you look at the bone structure of the face comparative to the ribs or gut; the ribs have more spring and give. The skull is actually quite angular aside from the forehead. It’s either rounded surfaces or jutting angles, like the brow, the cheeks, the lower parts of the jaw. Since Kyoukushin is bare knuckle, there’s a lot more risk and a substantially higher chance to break knuckles or bones on the skull. This can put a practitioner out of training for a while and it’s contradictory to the longevity that Karate promotes. I’m not so sure how knees and kicks to the head differ in terms of impact and long lasting damage. The guy also mentioned, it’s kind of a staple in bare knuckle boxing, you stay away from the head, not just to avoid broken knuckles but to draw out the sport. Old time bare knuckle boxers also preferred to use palm strikes and wrist strikes to the head instead. They found it a safer and more effective alternative for your hands. Great video Jesse! Always find your content inspiring and makes me appreciate my own practice.

[@maliksarmadawan255]

Kyokushion karate mathted is stronger as u will... and there is also powerful punch from other martial'arts..because its true..when kyokushion fighter give a punch on face.^there is only I think knock down

[@James-wd9ib]

Pancrase open palm strikes

[@vikt0r339]

@@steve00alt70 You actually can condition the forehead. Haven't you seen the guy pinching bolts with his head?

[@vikt0r339]

@@steve00alt70 But I don't think it's very good for the brain

[@dylanmahanets6603]

doesn't explain prohibiting the use of elbows though.

[@parlindgren9009]

Brilliant video. I prefer Kyokushin because of the “keep going attitude” it has strengthen me in all kind of ways and makes life “problems” more easy to handle. It’s all in the head

[@1individeo]

you get that in muay thai and actally learn how to fight

[@Apex.am1]

@@1individeo Our Taekwondo teacher be like: “Kick harder! Very good! Yes kick like that, try to improve your speed too. Remember, always do your best!”

[@TheDondajonhon46]

@@1individeo I remember having discussions about what martial arts style was the best, when I was in elementary school, when I was 8 years old.

[@perrypelican9476]

@@TheDondajonhon46 i know what you mean but it's fun when it doesn't get really serious and practitioners don't get defensive. It's the fighter who matters much more than what martial art he uses.

[@Naraku1987]

"There's no throws in Karate!" uhm but you can make de ashi barai right? "That's a foot sweep that's different " waitttt....

[@BWater-yq3jx]

I knew one of these would be the no-head-punches rule 😏 From a self-defence perspective, head-punches are what you need to be able to defend against, and punching to the body will leave you open to them. To be fair though, I believe that Kyokushin dojos often practise boxing now in their training. The story seems to be that originally head punches were allowed, but there were too many injuries, and Oyama didn't like gloves. When I did Karate tournaments (not Kyokushin), you had to pull your head punches and kicks, but could make solid contact to the body. As a result, chudan gyaku-tsuki was the common technique, because you could score with it reliably. I don't train like that anymore.

[@undercoverwarrior3149]

They don’t really train boxing it’s still kyokushin but before oyama had to remove the face punching. But with gloves ofcourse. (At least where I’m from)

[@szymongrabarczyk3561]

The reason why sport karate have rules: - hey I've heared you've been on your first tournament, how did it go? - Well I lost, first my opponent landed a kansetsu geri and broke my knee-joint and then he took my eye with a keiko technique, It was great competition, I'm thinking of going again next life.

[@bradenpourciau6638]

Without "sport karate", there would be no such thing as sparring in karate. In my opinion, sparring is a very important part of learning how to apply the techniques you learn to a pressure-tested situation. The only thing wrong with sport karate is the silly rulesets that ban effective techniques or makes a sport about point fighting(full contact pseudo-mma would be much better).

[@Mancorl]

What are you talking about? Practitioner of shorin ryu matsubayashi here. the traditional self defence form of sparring we use predate the sport sparring of other styles and is imho effective for learning self defence. Though im not the most knowledgeable about self defence as i have never been in a real fight

[@isleiff]

French kissing Distance :D Need to remember that! Olympic rules is messing a lot with martial arts. I did Judo for a longer time, and competition rules had a huge influence on every day training. Like the ridiculous ban of leg graps (direct disqualification!) that were introduced because russian athletes were too successful with them.

[@martiallife4136]

That's not why they were banned. They wanted Judo to look more exciting by showcasing the more spectacular throws so that Judo wouldn't be on the chopping block by being cut from the Olympics.

[@InGrindWeCrust2010]

@@martiallife4136 Sure. An official statement by a committee member was so that it doesn't look like "wrestling in pyjamas," which is exactly what it is. It was to keep it more distinct from freestyle wrestling. WKF rules had plenty of problems prior to being adapted for the Olympics, so while the Olympics may have ruined judo and TKD, there wasn't much to ruin by the time they got krotty.

[@karatearmchairhistorian9825]

@@InGrindWeCrust2010 I prefer to call it "crotty".

[@freelancerblitz2579]

You know Iain Abernethy’s practical bunkai is so badass when he can take someone down with a bunny hop! 😂Really wanna train with him!

[@KARATEbyJesse]

He’s so bad-ass and creative!! 👊💥

[@wendellbenedict4793]

Yes only Iain could find a Bunkai out of bunny hops. I want to train with him too. He was coming to North Carolina where I live but never had the opportunity. Last time I tried to go to one of his seminars here we were having a hurricane.

[@practicalkatabunkai]

Thank you! Made me laugh :-)

[@gbormann71]

@@practicalkatabunkai Was that clip a joke about that hopping, Iain? 😂

[@chormatics]

Great video! In my opinion, it's important that we don't take ourselves, and especially not our chosen style of practice, too seriously. After all, most of us are sweating about in pyjamas with a belt with arbitrary meaning wrapped around our waists while screaming to our heart's content. (It is a lot of fun though!) One of the most random rules for WKF is the dress code: Kata practitioners aren't allowed to wear glasses (apparently for safety reason and the imminent risk of injuring oneself...). Contacts (only soft lenses though) are allowed but are specifically stated to be worn at the karate-ka's own risk.

[@TNTTestificate]

Your glasses can break if you get punched in the face. Also during kata they can fly off. This has happened to me before, but luckily not in a tournament.

[@Moodo76]

Man, I really hope that the spirit of karate survives the Olympic games standards. My martial art ( WTF Taekwondo) did not. I'm like a dinosaur these days, practicing forms, the basics and self defense. The younger generation just wants to bounce around on their toes trying to kick the other guy in the guts as fast as possible.

[@shazamsakazaki]

Olympic ruins every martial arts except for wrestling. Judo lost its leg-grab techniques, the lead leg touch is now dominating TKD tournaments. Karate has lost many things in the journey to Olympic. If you compare JKA kumite and WKF kumite, you can see the WKF guys lack MANY things in both offensive and defensive aspects. What will it lose next in the Olympic runs, time will tell.

[@Octopussyist]

A lot of the spirit is long gone in any kind of karate compettition. Look how many of them do kata. Perfect choreographies. And when you take a closer look at the details it becomes obvious that they have no idea what many of the techniques are for because they could never work the way they perform them.

[@Gacho39]

@Cmd Dowd what's with all the 8s dude

[@Gacho39]

@Cmd Dowd still dont understand what the hell you're saying man

[@profegaitero]

A mi me sucede lo mismo amigo Opus Dei, añoro aquel viejo Taekwondo mucho mas útil. Saludos desde Colombia.

[@harishprasadb.m.1476]

Practicing karate as a tradition is much more important than as a sport But if the karate wasn't introduced as a sport then it would have not been introduced in many places as per my knowledge

[@KARATEbyJesse]

You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette, eh? 👍

[@smithsci]

How about aikido or ninjutsu? They don't have competition

[@ulfhednar6439]

@@smithsci can you imagine a competition in aikido, both competitors waiting each other to attempt something, or ninjutsu, where those techiques are suposed to be deadly? Me neither

[@gbormann71]

@@ulfhednar6439 And yet there is Aikido competition 😁

[@1000Demons]

@@smithsci And Muay Thai. Boxing, too. Both have competition, and as as street art are pretty damned real.

[@Dojo_daniel]

One of the reasons that no punches are allowed in Kyokushin is, that in the first tournaments they found out that the fights are too bloody in the end. It is too dangerous for a sport, to punch someone in the face without any protection.

[@sandrissandris7174]

I would like to add a bit. There were even lethal ends. Mas Oyama did not like tournament fights. Even though there were great fighters who have been excellent at face punching.

[@oldschoolkarate-5o]

I saw a guys jaw get unhinged and broken at kyokyishin tournament from a close range roundhouse to the face, so I don’t see why they don’t allow some limited head punch’s in competition, so you can counter some of those brutal kyokushin kicks with a jab to the face

[@sandrissandris7174]

@@oldschoolkarate-5o for instance gyaku-cki performed at proper angle into chest bone nearby the place all the ribs are connect can and leads to serious traumas.

[@geoffreyfletcher6976]

Especially when kicks can generate more impact power than punches.

[@АлександрАнтонович-м6д]

This explanation was good enough like 30 years ago. Does not work anymore in MMA era

[@ronnysudiono315]

Indeed so much fun! Like the video! As you said, men has to sacrifice something in their pursue to make karate a sport. Your explanation about the Kyokushin rule for not allowing to punch the face is half correct, because there is another reason as well. Simply because every kumite will end very soon in damages if we are allowed to punch the face with seiken, shotei, shuto, hiji or even nukite. Boxers use gloves that minimize the damages. We can make our body stronger but not our faces. The downside of this rule is that Kyokushin karateka's do not develop a strong chin like boxers do. Every succeeded jodan mawashi to the face mostly ended in knock out.

[@frankfont11]

Karate is a way of life, it’s so much more than a sport, which is just an aspect of it. My choise is Traditional, all the way.

[@davel4449]

Do you suggest it to me the kyokyshin as auto defense for everyday protection?

[@frankfont11]

@@davel4449 Kyokushin is strong and effective, it's focus is mainly Kumite, so a lot of self defense techniques are not allowed, but their katas includes them. You could give it a try. One thing is for sure with Kyokushin; It's all about being tough

[@TurningGuns]

I mix, box and osu, deadly combination. Small joint manipulation for restraining. Run Forest, run.

[@RamMyuay]

Karate is kind of fitness it’s not a martial art

[@georgesavvidis1132]

The reasoning behind no punches to the face in kyokushin (at least that I know off) is that there is a greater risk of damaging your hands than your opponents face. Do I agree with it? No. Do I want them to add punches to the face? Hell yeah!

[@KARATEbyJesse]

That’s why the makiwara was invented! 👍 The skull is harder than most people think... There’s literally a thing called ”Boxer’s Fracture” in medicine 🥊

[@usaseireikaikankaratedoorg3609]

Osu! My base training is Kyokushin and Oyama karate. Don't get it twisted son. In our old schools in NY, we practice face/head punching. When in sport of knockdown/full contact it is not a weird rule. Check it out. We condition our knuckles just like other styles of traditional karate so being punched with those bare knuckles would be the result of many broken cheek bones, cracked skulls, and crushed jaws. You can't even use boxing as an example. I practice karate for more that 40 years and boxing is still my favorite fight sport. But on that note even Tyson broke is fist in a street fight and still knocked the guy out. But as far as the sport of Kyokushin, it may have also been omitted from our sport rule set due to the story of Sosai Mas Oyama killing a man with one blow (ichi geki-ikken hisatsu) and the damage Sosai did to the bulls with his bare hands to show the power of karate (not Kyokushin, just karate). But on the flip...I feel that before anyone judges any style, one needs to experience that style first, ask questions and understand what you are practicing and why. I cannot stand a spectator side-seat experts. (Random thought) Funny how the word spectator sounds similar to speculator.

[@tauhid9983]

@@usaseireikaikankaratedoorg3609 what's the difference between Oyama karate and Kyokushin...

[@usaseireikaikankaratedoorg3609]

@@tauhid9983 the spirit of toughness, conditioning and never give up mentality are the same. The kata of Oyama karate are different from Kyokushin except for a few advanced kata. Oyama karate has strong emphasis on street fighting instead of tournament strategies.

[@214warzone]

@@KARATEbyJesse What do you guys think about training with shoes, jeans, no gloves, and a shirt? Because that's what you'll most likely be wearing in a street fight, I believe. Fun Fact: I wear pajama pants as much as possible, just in case i ever need to high kick someone or something :P

[@phillipmoore9012]

I've seen some pretty imaginative interpretations of a technique or group of techniques in a kata before. For example, I believe Naihanchi was originally largely grappling techniques. I agree with your view about investigating other styles, especially older styles. I study the history of karate. I appreciate your broader interpretations of kata.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Glad to hear!! 🙏

[@robertdlithgow]

Thank you. First video I've come across since KZbin began that explicitly gives that reason for Chinte's concluding movements. I've seen it in writing, but never before in a video. Satisfying.

[@figraa]

No matter how envious I am to see my mates showing off their karate competition medal and picture, I always see it as a tradition and way of life. PS: Btw, have you ever upload a video talking about how to not being "shaky" during kata? Thank you in advance, sensei.

[@Froge4291]

Hey friend about the shaking thing it usually happens to me when I'm either stressed out or tired, so try to relax when doing kata this is my tip

[@jaronby]

Now I finally got a real reason for these hops at the end of Chinte....thanks!!!

[@tauhid9983]

Here's my take on karate being originally a self-defense form of art: For something to be a martial art practiced for the sake of self-defense, we need to practice it while pressure testing in other works via sparing. And such a form of sparing to test whether a martial art worked or not became a sport because ppl wanted to continue the art form as a form of a reactional activity. Basically, one thing led to another...and here we are.

[@messey12]

Omg THAT'S the reason for the bunny hops in Chinte??!? I can't wait to tell this to the Shotokan folks I work out with tomorrow.

[@figraa]

Chinte

[@AlbertoAustoni]

I partially agree on the "no grab with both hands rule", some years ago it was allowed but there was no limitation to it so sometimes the clintch took to much time in a 3 minutes kumite round. Personally I think that it should be allowed but just for a very short amount of time (5 second for exemple)

[@InGrindWeCrust2010]

Wow...when was that allowed? I remember no clinching being the rule but more contact being allowed, light contact to the face and heavy contact to the torso. Then it seemed to become light or no contact everywhere, bigger fist pads and (🤦🏻) instep pads, and all of a sudden they could single-clinch throw. So was the two-handed grab allowed during some transitional period?

[@raphaelandrews3617]

I want say a BIG THANK YOU and how much I lean for you teaching. I wish I had seen you 20 yrs ago. I am now training again after stopping for the last 20 years. and working on building my technique.

[@Liam1991]

As someone who originally started martial arts for self-defence, I find the sport aspect ruins the system! I think when it comes to self-defence, you should be allowed to do whatever you can to defend yourself, as longs its reasonable force, and you can justify your actions if you had to go to court.

[@martonberesdeak]

loved it sensei! never knew about the kata adjustments! now it makes sense!

[@燕北山前萬梅山莊主人]

I laughed when I saw how the Japanese lady hopped at 6:20 🤣😂

[@sc-mh8hy]

Very informative as always. Love how you debunk these little myths about some moves of this beautiful sport / art.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Thanks!

[@christiannathanel5690]

0:43 if you want to know the Japanese name,its mawashi kaiten geri😁

[@1000Demons]

I heard "Kaiten Mawashi Geri" and "Tobi Kaiten Mawashi Geri". Don't know about the order of words because Japanese isn't my native tongue. All I know? I've seen my instructor knock someone out with it in one of their gradings.

[@christiannathanel5690]

@@1000Demons wait theres an order? And holy moly your instructor is strong

[@christiannathanel5690]

@@1000Demons oh yeah yours is the right one,its kaiten mawashi geri, dont worry I'm no native either

[@steebo7883]

At the begining of my training competition meant so much to me, performing a kata as perfectly as i could, knowing my hard work was paying off, i could actually see myself improving. Bringing throphies back to the Dojo and photos of various arenas packed with karateka all in it to win it. However i matured and realised that they were very controlled enviroments and i began to explore various attack drills with the senior grades and Bunkai open up a new world of possibilities throws joint locks short range combat etc and the "not so pretty side to defending yourself and going home safe". Your videos have always brought about pieces of knowledge that even now i must raise my hand and truthfully say, I did not know that ! That part of your videos i honestly appreciate. The history of this amazing art has become more and more important to me. I hope you and your family are all well and forever fighting fit. *Deep Bow*

[@christcipher9933]

In kyokushin the other reason why their's no punch to the face cause is too brutal and bloody its bare knuckle. our founder wants it to close in really fight back in the days their is no mma gloves.only boxing gloves

[@mikitadou]

Then there should not be competition in kyokushin. Seeing 2 fat guys come 20cm from each other and throwing punching into their beer bellies and low-kicking each other at the same time hurts a lot...and has nothing to do with karate at all.

[@chrisgould101]

@@mikitadou really I don't think u have ever experienced full attack by a kyokushin trained. There is a point to the rule more than one the highest being that the spirit is tested by the endurance and punishment able to be taken. If tournaments had face punch , first we will have many injured people then fights will be over so quickly and the huge emphasis on the power kicks loses much of its path. I was trained by one of these fat guys I speak if and I say if he actually punched someone in face, they won't survive. The fact using everything else than our most easily obtainable k. O. Via Punch to face doesn't take as much spirit and determination. So it then comes a battle more of wits movement and positioning and tactical striking with continuously wearing down the body with mid punches it's a test of spirit not to end the fight with bareknuckle face punched!

[@mikitadou]

@@chrisgould101 I don't debate that it hurts...and tests your pain tolerance. But it has nothing to do with real fighting. Kyokushin guys get so used to their way of fighting that they barely even react to the jags to the face at all, I had some semi-contact sparring with a few of them. That's why Kudo is waaaaay superior to kyokushin.

[@teacheralessandrobarbosa2098]

I am a black belt in shotokan karate and my Focus is self defense. I do train all the parts of my body: elbows, knees, hands, feet. We need to practice the tradicional way indeed. Competition is just a small part of karate.

[@Foltore]

Kyokushin: The no hands to head rule has a simple cause, i think: Without any gloves the risk of injury is way much to handle. A well trained blank fist against headstructures may cause heavy damage. So we can do hard fights, but this on relative save ground. But it has a price here, the rules are leading to a not verry realistic fightingstyle in tournaments. Anyway, in my opinion the fullcontactsystem can prepare for a verry verry important part in real self defense: It hurts, maybe you get serious injury. Not to loose your focus, your zanshin, your control, your will to survive - thats a goal, you can (and must) train. Otherwise karate is not verry realistic. (Thats the background for my big big love for uechi ryu and also old goju ryu. They pay attention to this basic parts of preparing for real and dangerous self defense situations.) I've chosen kyokushin in 1996 as my basic style (after practicing goju ryu and shotokan - theese early days secretly in GDR ) . My feeling about kyokushin was: BACK TO THE ROOTS. It was spiritual and psychological verry close to old okinawan karate in my view. But when asked, i say allways "i do karate". When asked more, i say "traditional karate" ;) So i learn. Nowadays more and more from old okinawan styles (like seibukan), also kobudo of course. I look to many styles, i learn, i integrate in my and our training in my dojo, regardless of "style" or something like this. I do traditional karate, based on a homestyle that suits to me best. Sometimes people say "ohhhh, frank san, thats not kyokushin, waht you're doing here!". But my heart feels different. In my opinion thats real kyokushin, as pure and original as possible. Kyokushin was from the begining the melting pot of the modern karate style creations, integrating methods from different other styles, also muay thai, boxing, tai ki ken and such things. So im verry happy, Jesse Sensei, about your chanel and your content. Because i feel, with my beliefs and thoughts about karate we are close.

[@subsonic9854]

The damage would be to the fists more than the head, though. Gloves were invented to prevent damage to hands. Guys like floyd mayweather and paulie malignaggi would not have become so great if they had fought barefisted because they had a reputation for breaking their hands. If hand strikes to the head were allowed by the rules, we might see more interesting and advanced application or evolution of hand strikes as fighters adapt to avoid breaking their hands. For example, bas rutten famously used his wrists to KO people in a ruleset which only allowed open-hand strikes to the head.

[@Foltore]

@@subsonic9854 I have done such a LOT of fullcontact tournaments, including european championchips and World Tournaments in my live, such a lot of sparring and kumite. Trust me, i know the effect of a well executed pure hands strike to face, even a not intended, verry well. Of course, there is a risk to hands when striking hard body parts or have contact with your knockles to teeth (ouch ;) ). Meanwhile most of the situations i've seen the damage on face structures was a lot more than the intense of maybe handinjurys. The damage risk to hands, when striking: Thats one of the main reasons (not the only one) for conditioning methods like makiwara striking or executing kote kitai in traditional karate btw. Its also a good reason (not he only one) to study for example correct seiken tsuki with right body movement, good position of wrist angles and so on through repeating this technics over and over and over again in kihon and kata. I for myself have to remember a situation, when i striked to my opponents rips. Pinky was not good closed at the fist. So i have taken an injury here, it caused a tear off to the stretch tendon. Problem was not the hardness of the striked bodystructure here, but the weakness of my not good enough closed fist. (So i lost the fight, because pain and iritation following the injury has broken my concentration and will to fight :D ).

[@subsonic9854]

You said yourself that certain rules make fighting too unrealistic. I am saying that I agree and that the classic "no face punches" rules of Kyokushin should be changed to make the sparring more realistic and that people's hands will take more damage than their heads / brains, NOT their faces. Busted hands can be permanently injured while torn up faces and broken bones often heal. Busted brains either stay busted or get worse. Of course you can condition the hands, but that doesn't mean you can just strike the head at 100% all the time. Far from it. Allowing bareknuckle face punches would be extremely good for practitioners.

[@kareemhabib5421]

OSU

[@edwinbaezjr.945]

Yeeees!! I used to practice Shotokan mid to late 80's and I remember that we had to finish where we started. I was showing my wife one of the katas I remembered and I finished where I started.

[@goldentsar9388]

Kudo is one of the most complete karate system in my opinion.

[@mrstrdknmabalz1412]

Agree. Unfortunately its not widely practice. Instead we got the jumping around yelling karate.

[@chrislindner6880]

Agree. As a guy who trains muay Thai I'm thinking about making the switch to kudo as I find it more realistic

[@tegaralaju5408]

Yep, but kudo is not karate anymore, kudo come to be stand alone

[@RicardoKooh]

Kudo nowadays is technically closer to mma than sport karate.

[@huntergrant6520]

@@RicardoKooh it's what they call kakuto karate(combat karate). All martial arts are MMA. America just wanted another three letter acronym.

[@DrFrankLondon]

I have practiced Kuyokshin since I was s small boy and now 47. The reason for not hitting to the face is because early on in competition, it was considered too bloody. But we still train and spar with gloves hitting the head. Additionally I have trained different martial arts and boxing to improve my skills with my hands and arms. Have a great weekend, Jesse.

[@mikitadou]

I definerly prefer Karate as a beautiful tradition that should live on. The sport aspect of it should be left completely separate as it is aimed at the entertainment value.

[@sergiocostacouto3835]

Really I laughed at your comments on the three ridiculous “bunny hops” of Chinte. I sent the video to old friends who trained with me in the ‘80s, remembering how we used to avoid this kata - not in group, of course -, leaving it to the girls, only because of its ending. Congratulations for your work. Compliments from Rio de Janeiro.

[@DareToWonder]

I'm a judoka and id pay good moeny to see Karate+Judo in the olympics.

[@usagiyojimbo7475]

So lets there be a kudo ;) ..

[@MettaDojo]

You are spot on, Jesse. I'd like to say this type of things myself but couldn't find a nice way to address them like you do. Great job!

[@jeffmiller8257]

I’m a kyokushin guy

[@brianvirnelson1668]

Another great video Jesse!

[@Howard_O_Pato]

AMEI você por a possibilidade de legendas em português(sou do Brasil, e todo brasileiro é apaixonado por lutas).

[@ARMANTHEGREAT]

Hi Jesse, thanks for sharing this useful and interesting information. My favorite style is Kyokushin but I know that is very tough. Andy Hug been one of my favorite martial artist. I do practice through his old videos at times.

[@marco4317]

All true, I compete in a federation similar to wkf, and originally that 2 hands grab wasn't a thing, then they introduced it to try to emulate wkf and maybe (hopefully) this year that rule is deleted, so every year we need to change the way we fight 😂

[@marco4317]

@Dhruba Fik, an Italian federation associated to IKU

[@xenoherder6491]

I’m so glad Jesse is demonstrating the same frustration with sport karate as so many whilst giving the proper explanation as to why these problems exist. It’s invaluable to have someone with this kind of critical yet non-partisan examination.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Glad to hear! Thanks 😇

[@diongks]

IMHO, WKF kumite competition is getting less interesting to watch nowadays due to too much waiting (passive fighting, time wasting video review, frequent yame....etc.) & too complicated rules for normal audience to understand. To make the match more spectacular, understandable & closer to real fight (without sacrificing safety issues), I hope the rules can change as shown below: (1) Reduce the size of tatami fr 8mx8m to 6mx6m as a fighter should be able to fight within limited space & also to discourage dancing around. (2) Reduce the bout duration to 1.5min for all categories. (3) First contestant to score 6 points will be the winner instead of 8. (4) 1 point for hand techniques, 2 points for leg techniques & scoring on fallen opponent. (5) Be more lenient on the definition of "fallen opponent" to encourage take down, which is very spectacular & effective. (6) Don't stop the fight after one fighter being grabbed of taken down until there is a score or foul. (7) Allow pushing. Karateka should learn to counter these. (8) Allow hiji ate and hiza ate which are effective in close range fight, as long as the techniques are well controlled. (9) Fouls to be cumulative regardless whether they are contact or non contact fouls. (10) No escalating the level of penalty on all fouls. (11) No atoshi baraku and therefore no withdrawal of shenshu. (12) Coach's appeal for score (video review) is allowed only with the support of one judge. (13) If equal score and no shenshu, the fighter with less foul wins, before going for hantei. Just my 2 cents & I am a nobody with a hope that SOMEBODY will see this comment.

[@MeinGoobbyXI]

I believe that the protective gears are being added because they Want Karate to be in the Olympics just like what happened to Taekwondo.

[@MrShiro82]

do you think it's passive because of the fighters or because of the rules? I'm interested to hear because I'm not sure myself

[@MrShiro82]

do you think changes should be made to the scoring to make it more fun

[@diongks]

@@MrShiro82 Both, IMHO but rules maker can continually improve on it & actually did. That's why we hv "passivity" as cat 2 offence.

[@diongks]

@@MrShiro82 Any changes for the good of karate are welcome.

[@MelvinFung]

I train Kyukushin Karate and it was said that people back in the day would train their punches so hard that it would break someone's arms when they would try to block punches. And when they sparred with face contact, many students would get life-threatening injuries that would cause them to not be able to continue their training, and therefore face contact was then banned.

[@PhilipSneyd]

Missy gave a great explanation of why face punching is not allowed (or rather, was dropped) from bare knuckle full contact competitions. Just one thing I'd like to add is, when Jesse said "while it's not allowed to punch the face when you compete in Kyokushin, if you practice it I suggest you incorporate some face punching and blocking as well", the first thing I thought was "we DO!" As Jesse said himself, the no face punch rule only applies to competitions (and only certain competitions at that. Some branches, like Kyokushinkan, have competitions which include face punches albeit with MMA style gloves). In kihon keiko we practice jodan tsuki all the time, including kumite gata (aka two-step sparring or yakusoku kumite), and, of course, when we practice dento kata and study their bunkai applications. Kyokushin may be most famous for its sports aspect, but we also delve into traditional karate in more detail than many are aware.

[@hughjazz4936]

Never did Kyokushin but some who trained with me in Shotokan back then did. Let me tell you that if this guy was allowed to hit faces... I can see why this had to become a rule.

[@edp.1917]

Every time someone tries to explain why Kyokushin doesn’t allow face punching in COMPETITION, I cringe. That being said... you nailed it. That is exactly why it wasn’t allowed. Also, it’s a ridiculous notion to think or believe that Kyokushin doesn’t train head striking and defense. I assure you we do as it part of all of the Kata, Kihon and most drills. Of course it’s trained in the dojo for self defense, it’s just not allowed in the TOURNAMENT rules for the reason you specified. Glad to see a fellow Karateka did the research to educate the masses. Osu! I am now cringe free. Thanks Jesse

[@alfredog.2889]

Oss Sensei Enkamp🥋 Thanks for video!

[@richardmcevoy946]

Weirdest fight I was in had my competitor wave his foot repeatedly about a metre from my face. Apparently, this was a score.

[@SomnathRoyGrimfangs]

Way to keep it real! I'd have expected some or other reasons to be cited for propaganda purposes or for the sake of explaining things the easier way around. But this really explains a lot about the overall politics in sports and its perception by human nature. Really insightful!

[@sreetheerth468]

Hmm weird 🤔 First comment 😉

[@Ronin-101]

Bro I'm a kyokushin black belt...one main reason for not having face shots is that it's bare Knuckle..mas oyama did not want to use gloves and face shots would often result in broken teeth.this was bad for popularity...so face shots were compromised to make the game a bit safer..the skills you gain in kyokushin are amazing..only thing u need to do is incorporate some boxing and your set.

[@EduardoAlmeidaRec]

that's why I admire the Kudo style, because it has adapted, and today it is no longer defined as a karate style. I am in favor of understanding martial art as something alive and changing. even if it also creates some problems. Great content like ever! Osu

[@ActivelyVacant]

Imagine if the 100m Dash runners were told they had to skip because the 200m Dash is already about running.

[@hansenlein]

The no punch to the face is also because of a common health concern being the brain bouncing around, even tho gloves protect your face, the brain is still bouncing. Of course with the kicks, exactly the same happen. But with a kick it’s one hit, done. With punches, they are often enough to produce damage but not necessarily knock you out with the bare knuckles. Kumite isn’t for hurting other people, but for learning how to get better.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

If you’re concerned about your health, maybe find a new hobby 😂 Or get protectors 👍

[@hansenlein]

Jesse Enkamp 😂🤣why should I? Did you forget that Karate isn’t a hobby, but a lifestyle? And gloves just don’t feel the same way as getting a punch to the chest, bare knuckle from a Kyokushin practitioner and then noticing what you just endured.😜

[@mikesstuff1589]

True. Shotokan (JKA) is not the only style to enforce the kata embusen concept, but most styles do not, including ours. This can lead to some interesting and silly interactions - for example in open tournaments where judges take points off performances of kata of non-Shotokan stylists for not adhering to the embusen. Which is just one reason I don’t much care for open-tournament kata competition. Many of the old kata end a step or two forward or off center (although off the top of my head I can’t think of any that end back from the starting point).

[@cesaraboareto0267]

In Kyokushin, in addition to what is asked in the rule, there is also one principle of physics: smaller area causes more pressure. Punches to the face do more damage to the brow, chin, etc. Kicks, using a larger area, cause more impact, less blunt. This can preserve the practitioner.

[@raynerben3843]

OSS!! Well Shared Jesse🙏🙏. Seems like Oliver has seen "the future"👍👍

[@zoricicdavid]

The shade thrown on Ian Abernathy😵😵

[@KARATEbyJesse]

No shade! 🙏 I spoke to him before publishing the video. And I have plenty of bunkai for ridiculous movements myself! (That doesn’t make them less ridiculous! 😄)

[@rodneywippenaar6277]

Yes, to make karate suit a competition format certain adjustments are made. As long as we are clear about why the adjustments are there, then its ok. Good video.

[@FightEquipt]

In a way I have enjoyed this video very much. It's good to see you as a big youtuber, telling the truth about rules that are weird, not to benefit the art and the fighters but established for other reasons. I am 4th dan in shotokan karate, also do shito ryu karate and muay thai. Being exposed to different styles I see things others who only do one style do not see. But I found it difficult to say negative things about a particular style on my channel. If I say things that's weired or doesn't work in karate I often get more dislikes as my small channel Thanks for putting these out there. Any style can only be improved if people are open mined to be tested.

[@terciary]

Jessie, this time couldnt agree with you. Mentioned limitations are of some sense. If you allow punches to the face , kiokushin inevitably melts down to dead ringer of any other competition (striking) MA - kickboxing, sanda etc. if you allow two handed grips, then olympic karate will be overflown with impersonated judokas. Starting and finishing katas mostly in one place serves simple purpose - kata becomes much compact and its much easier to find enough space for practicing.it

[@Defsolid]

The "bunny hops" part cracked me up hhhh.

[@isaiasrequelme599]

3:05 I just figured why I used to lose a point when triying to do that... That rule is confuse because a few years ago holding on to the oponent using both hands was allowed, even holding his two legs.

[@ulfhednar6439]

I though that the main reason for no face-punching in kyokushinkai is because, despite the power of kicks, punches causes more damage to skin due to small contact superfice. When UFC started they didn't use gloves, but they had to change this because knuckles can disfigure someone's face more than feet. I suposed that if they had to choose, they would have chosen to fight without gloves instead of punching with boxing gloves. Maybe some authorities wouldn't have allowed full contact face punches with bare knuckles in competition.

[@Kusankusai]

In Isshinryu, kata do finish in the same spot and facing the same direction. This is not done for competition but as a check sum to ensure that all moves were properly included and all footwork properly spaced. It's not a perfect solution but works as designed most of the time.

[@medhasni6432]

The karate nerd's contents are getting much more better

[@azeemelbey7292]

WT Taekwondo has a rule set somewhat similar to Kyokushin; not only we cannot punch the face, but we cannot low kick, we cannot duck under an attack and we cannot grab at all. This was very difficult for me to transition to after switching to WT TKD so I’m in ITF now

[@hangetsukuzunoha2467]

as a non-athlete karateka who mainly practice at an athlete factory(if you know what i mean) i was so excited watching the intro.. and 02:32 rly touch my heart... i hope i can say this line to my kouhais the next time i get the chance. thank you so much sensei jesse

[@AntonioFernandesAM]

I agree, perfect. You are right.

[@amurspace5832]

Офигенный чувак, очень грамотно и убедительно излагает весьма тонкие аспекты каратэ и его истории

[@kpitman1990]

Jesse! This to my surprise was one of my favorite videos you have created. I love your content about the history of Karate but would also really love videos such as this that talk about the more modern day "politics" and changes Karate has gone through. I've always wondered about these things when watching online tournaments or sparring of different styles and organizations and this video was exactly some of the answers I was looking for. In matter of fact, your explanation of the "bunny hopping" makes such logical and rational sense. Would you believe I've also been told a story that the hops exist because after the founders of these kata passed away, their highest ranking students had not learned the entire kata. So, out of respect for their founders and the art, they added hops to return to where the kata started because the students did not want to add wrong techniques to a kata their founders had created. Fun story with good intentions, but I always thought that was a bit far-fetched! Thank you for all the content you create and I hope to see more content such as this.

[@Shivaguru_official]

Thank you for showing one of the history between traditional karate and sports karate!!

[@muhammed-vm9nl]

thanks a lot for your efforts Mr jesse can you make videos about full contact karate styles

[@nakedeye44]

very interesting, the bunny jumps got me laughing. 😂😂

[@arunbhoopasamudra1136]

Couldn't be more absolutely correct. Entirely agree.. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@ig8821]

You couldn't make it more clear: "...the price to pay for the spread". Old guard Karate feel bad about it but we are to advance. Thanks for the great vid, Jesse.

[@Herowebcomics]

Wow! Some of these rules are crazy! But they make things more fun when it is time to explain them!

[@widsonbcadet5630]

Very useful this video!

[@jyemi1215]

Appreciate the unbiased observations Jesse. Agree with them all. I prefer Karate as tradition with an emphasis on character development first and on training resulting in utility in a real life encounter between multiple opponents. Deeper study results in knowing how to recognize non-physical conflict and preventing the escalation to a physical encounter.

[@skullospice]

One of the points of limiting hits to the head in Kyokushin kumite is not causing smaller recurring concussions that are way more harmful than standalone knockouts. For applied use Kyokushin has shinken shobu practice, which is typically kept in-house.

[@ShinSuperSaiyajin]

thank you for the explanation for Chinte's last 3 steps. Been wondering about that for years.

[@golong1343]

Excellent! You have done a tremendous job; the lesson you gave was a huge contribution to the martial arts/karate world and to the people who have witnessed this ridiculous rules and who might l have been misinformed by those people you have mentioned.

[@sirdeetoh]

After many years (many means between 20 and 30) I’m training judo and taekwondo (WT) again, in fact I’m preparing my exams for tkd referee, many rules are changed but I notice something, in some ways now is easier for a referee to do its job and keep the match “clean”. Form example, judo forbid some ways of grabbing the sleeve, now you can grab it anyway you want (or can) if you immediately try to throw your opponent down, that means no more than a couple of seconds, the same with grabbing the belt. That makes that a judge don’t have to deal with the claim that a throw was illegal because one competitor grabs the other one in a way or another... Hey... the guy did what he could in a fraction of a second after several minutes of fighting... So they simplify the rules like: “You can grab here but not here, and if you do in a different way than this one you will get a penalty if you don’t try to throw your opponent down”. In tkd now a referee will stop and separate the players when they are in clinch, that means you won’t see fights that look like dancing, some people used to hug their opponents more than their actual lovers... That solves and simplify a lot what happens when you grab the other player since you have less change to do it. Just keep kicking and show your skills. Some rules really made sports loose some good points, like no more leg grabbing in judo, maybe 20% of throws were forbidden, but some other make things easier and safer and helps to reveal real skills. and the most important is the evolution of the rules after seeing what works and what not, sometimes is weird because rules change very fast, but just adapt. You loose some things but that makes discover new ways. I hope since karate is becoming olympic rules are changing and adapting to become more rations and helps to develop the sport much more. And remember, rules are for sport, you can still keep practicing the full martial art in the way you want in your dojo, nobody will forbid that.

[@jiroup7390]

the "return at start position" in Kata, is also applied in tkd Poom

[@kanalmeister8476]

Jesse I want to thank you. Before I started studying karate, my way of fighting was straightforward, tricky and brutal. The karate training made my martial arts stronger and deeper. Better breathing, better positions, deeper knowledge of the duality of fighting techniques. Without you I would probably never have guessed it.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

Fantastic!!

[@karatemom24RedHawk]

I love your videos! I've learned so much about martial arts and enjoy it. "A teacher is a forever student." I will always love learning.

[@justagerman140]

"Gut punching from French kissing distance" lmao

[@orsat.ursus.strazicic]

I always wondered what those "bunny hops" represented in Chinte :) This was really educating :) Thank you :)

[@profikiller7303]

Even tho i dont doing any sports i love you talk about karate

[@heindafel7660]

This video predicted the future for the 2021 Olympic karate.

[@gerardorudy]

Dear friend in kyokuyin karate we have the techniques of hitting the face. Except in kumite, that is why in competitions there are no punches to the face. In other scenarios if we hit with our fists and if we hit very hard. The best example was Andy Hug, Michael J White or Dolph Lundgren. So if we hit the face, if we practice blocks to the face.

[@finnurth]

Brilliant video!

[@thagontube1115]

Another solid video, keep it up brother!