Full Contact Karate
| Focus | Striking |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Creator | Varies depending on subtype. |
| Famous practitioners | Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Don Wilson, Terutomo Yamazaki, Akira Masuda, Hajime Kazumi, Andy Hug and many more |
| Parenthood | Varies depending on subtype. |
| Olympic sport | No |
Full contact karate is a broad term used to differentiate competition formats of karate where competitors spar (also called Kumite) full-contact and allow a knockout as winning criterion, and those competitions which use light contact/semi contact point sparring where a knockout is regarded as a foul.
The term is also used by extension to differentiate between schools/styles of karate dedicated to such full contact competitions, and schools/styles that are not.
Full contact karate competition comes in several, and sometimes very different, formats. These different formats have different histories and were developed for the art of karate at different times in different places. Some developed independently, others developed out of other full contact rule systems or from light contact rule systems.
There are no major unifying organizations in any of the different formats, and the rule details may change drastically between the many rival sport/style organizations and different promoters. Some organizations stick rigidly to one set of rules. Other use several rule formats harmoniously side by side. Some even have tournaments that switch rule formats between rounds of the same bout. Sometimes the differences between the different rules are large, and sometimes the only significant differences between different sport rules are the organizational structures that use them.
One major format of full-contact sport karate is known as knockdown karate or sometimes Japanese full contact karate. This style of sport fighting was developed and pioneered in the late 1960s by the Kyokushin karate organization in Japan, founded by Masutatsu Oyama. In fighting the competitors traditionally wear no gloves, padding or body protection other than groin guards (although local regulations sometimes enforce exceptions to this tradition), but it is bare knuckle fighting. Punches to the face, groin, and joint are prohibited but all bare-knuckle and elbow strikes to the body and limbs (with the exception of joints), and kicks (including kicks with the knee) against legs, arms, body, head and face are permitted, as are sweeps. Grabbing and holding the opponent, including clinching, is not allowed under the basic- knockdown karate rules as used in Kyokushin, but are occasionally allowed in some variations used in other styles.
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