Thread: Full contact karate

You can pretty much find Kyokushinkai just about anywhere if you look hard enough. It's the first karate system that really emphasized full contact training. Unfortunately they do not allow full on clinching like you would see in Muay Thai.

Seidokai is a branch off of Kyokushinkai. You probably would not be able to find a representative school in the US unless you looked really hard though. They do allow clinching for a few seconds.

There's a major Shidokan school in Chicago... there might be one in NY as well. They practice bare knuckle in a similar fashion to the seidokai group, but they also practice kickboxing and grappling. They also host the Shidokan Open every year in Chicago.

Although I do prefer Daido Juku, tend to agree with The_Judo_Jibboo. You won't find it in the US as far as I know, although I guess it's gaining popularity in Europe. Shidokan is my recommendation if you can find a school in NY.

I am currently doing Kyokushin Karate. Most karate styles don't have full contact until green belt or higher. In Kyokushin you're sparring from the first lesson. As Jibboo said, it's bare knuckle with no punches to the head, basically so no one gets a broken hand.

I've been pretty impressed by Kyokushin so far, but check what organisation the dojo you find is in before entering it, International Kyokushin Organisation or the World Kyokushin Organisation (shinkyokushin). I am with WKO(Shinkyokushin), not particually out of choice, just because the dojo was more convienient when I started. There ARE a few differences between the two though, I've heard the IKO don't do head kicks anymore (they'll teach them, just not let you use them in sparring), which I think is unfortunate, but use your own judgement. There are a few other forms of kyokushin aswell, but the IKO and the WKO are the two biggest and the two you will most likely find.

As far as comparing to other full contact Karate styles, I can't comment, because I haven't come across any other full contact Karate personally. Sorry I couldn't be more help

why not just do muay thai ?

Originally Posted by 3mptin3ss

why not just do muay thai ?

I would but the classes are to expensive so I found the next best thing.

Originally Posted by aseepish

Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

Some people are looking for a traditional, structured, disciplined style. Kyokushin (and its varients) may be perfect for them. People might have some intererest in or connection to Japanese/Okininawan culture. Plus there are the added benefits of being forged into tough-as-nails-SOBs, as the majority of kyokushin people (men and women) I've met are.

the bottome line is full contact karate for the most part = kickboxing.

and the best style of kickboxing is muay thai. so just cut to the chase and get to business.

Technically Karate is actually from Okininawa, and your making some general comments about "Karate" as though it's the one martial art. Sure, in Kyokushin the only aim isn't to fight, but it's a focus. Not a "go out a look for one" type thing, but you know, you're not learning how to smash your shin against someone's head so you can nit your grandmother a sweater. And we have no problem with fighters who are there to learn how to fight, and who's primary focus is tournoment fighting. We basically will have 3 types of people who go there. Kata people, point fighters, and tournoment fighters. Whether you just want to do one as competition, or like doing bits of each, we don't care, but you're certainly not looked down on for just wanting to learn how to fight effectively and realistically.