Kumite is a fairly new way of karate practice. The old masters of Okinawa used "kata" as the mainstay of practice of the art of "Ti." Ti is the Okinawa word for hand (sometimes referred to as "toudi"). Kumite is new and comes from the institution of karate as created in Japan by Funakoshi Sensei and other famous Okinawans who put it into the school systems of Okinawa. It fits well in the sport aspect of competitions.

Tatsuo taught his kumite because of supply and demand. The contracts for special services were lucrative so to get a contract he had to teach kumite for the sporting aspects so that he could teach to the military. The military folks wanted to fight which meant they wanted to "kumite."

So, sport kumite was born and kumite in general was born. The Military wanted that black belt and to fight so in lieu of just teaching kata, etc. kumite was taught - which in reality was a bit of boxing and some kicks thrown in. They learned a set of combinations that would work and used them exclusively.

Kata practice became the means to determine when someone should be awarded the Sho-dan or first black belt. Kano Sensei grade/belt system became popular and as any good sales person would do it was pulled into the karate system and used to create the system as it was taught then. It was assimilated by Americans and then used in the States but since then it has grown and expanded into a rainbow of colors. Of note, the implementation and water-down of kata for the school systems ended up excluding the bunkai or technique applications of kata.

Kumite is still held separate and taught pretty much the same, i.e. a few combinations and go for it. Only recently are kata, and their newly created bunkai, are returning to provide more fodder for the commercialism of promotions, i.e. the more you add to it the more and longer it takes to achieve a level of proficiency, according to us anyway. This means more fees ... commercialism, don't you love it.

In truth there are now more ways to practice kumite to achieve greater ability in using "karate techniques" to actually fight vs. just the kick-boxing techniques and combinations.

Due to the innovativeness of today's Isshinryu practitioners along with the due diligence of "some" first generation practitioners of Tatsuo's the kata to kumite connection is being reconnected. This means we use kata as blueprints to create better "karate kumite."

Kata kumite begins with using the kata in traditional form to fight with another practitioner in a set pattern/form, i.e. fundamental drills. Later they take the sets of combinations and use those - then finally the individual techniques. All with control and speeds that allow for learning and coding them into the brain.

Once encoded then it is time to provide a more chaotic type of kumite which is true "free style."

Karate Kumite vs. Sport Fighting

Karate kumite is that fighting ability that comes from and is readily discernible as actual "karate techniques" such as drawn from fundamental techniques, i.e. upper and lower basic techniques, and are combined and used to respond to attacks. The sport kumite or fighting is more in line with a set of techniques or combination of techniques, i.e. usually three or four, used to fight.

The sport aspect is more reminiscent of boxing with a set of kicking techniques. If I had to say what UFC/MMA was I would say, boxing, wrestling, and kicking. Nothing I have witnessed today resembles karate technique in kumite, fighting, self defense, self protection, etc.

One reason I feel karate takes a while to learn is to make it work in fighting is in all likelihood the absolute most difficult goal to achieve. I have not seen anyone, outside of a planned demo, who actually seems to be using karate techniques, etc.

What makes it even more difficult is when one has a adrenaline dump it tends to take it completely out of context and into the realm of chaotic behavior which we hope is a response worth having.

It may be that karate techniques are to complex for violent encounters and all they entail but then again if it has not yet been achieved then who actually knows if karate techniques properly executed in self protection work or don't work, no one has actually done it yet. Not that I have seen anyway.

Yes, the techniques will not look exactly like they do in kata but then again as I explained previously it shouldn't but you can still "see" karate in it when done and if drawn from kata or the blue prints of karate in the kata.

Understand, I am not saying one or the other is superior or deficient but I am saying that it has not been established as to whether working karate techniques are usable/valid in fights. I am not saying the other is not efficient either but I am saying karate techniques can work if we actually take the time to actually learn and use them.

I do, most of the time, in practice kumite. Then this also begs the question as to why it isn't so. It comes to my mind that expediency was the culprit. Marines on Okinawa had no patience and wanted to fight now, not years down the road after painstakingly learning to implement the karate techniques. This is also a causation of too early black belt status. If one could defeat the opponent in karate contests then they knew karate but in reality that ended up being a type of kick boxing.

Nagle earned his initial reputation from development of a type of kicking that no one had seen in tournaments so when he used it with his natural speed he kept winning all his contests. This does not deter his later achievements but this is how I understand he got started. I was led to believe he barely knew the kata when promoted to black belt at the end of his tour.

No one can say for sure. Nagle is gone and the stories, true of not so true, abound and are held vehemently by his followers so they remain as the Nagle legacy. No disparage intended.

The only person I am aware of who actually teaches the use of kata kumite drills is Arcenio Advincula. Everyone else I have encountered falls into the sport version of which this post speaks. Not a bad thing, after all Tatsuo said, "All bottles are good, they all serve a purpose!"

Today's sparring seems inappropriate to the self-defense or combative aspects of karate. Violent attackers do not fight, they are hell bent on removing your ability to protect with the least amount of damage to themselves. When a violent person decides to attack their victim they have already stacked everything in their favor. They have surprise, environment, weapons, numbers if more than one attacker, and a clear strategy to apply pre-set tactics to do you in.

Violent folks tend to hit first, hit hard, hit fast and all from total surprise you mode. How does this apply to dojo/tournament sparring? What we use in sparring does not exist in a fight. Especially a stacked against you attack.

It is important to know your training methods and what they will and will not do. It is important to differentiate between sport, fighting, and violence of a predatory nature.

KEEP COMING BACK - MORE TO COME!