Karate Kumite - Techniques, Drills, etc.

This section focuses on Karate kumite (or sparring). Kumite is controlled sparring between two students who usually wear protective gear (i.e. head gear). It is used to teach martial arts techniques and self-defense while competing against a live and often unpredictable opponent (versus a stationary kicking bag).

List of Kumite Topics

• Kumite Drills
• Shotokan Kumite Techniques & Drills
• Wado-Ryu Kihon Kumite

For beginners, Karate schools often use basic techniques such as Shotokan Kihon Kumite. As students progress, they learn more complex sparring techniques. Finally, they train with free form sparring against other students. However, most kumite is not "anything goes" training because the sparring is covered be a variety of rules in order to reduce potential injuries to a student. In Karate kumite tournaments, participants are awarded points for a variety of kicks, punches and takedowns (depending of the Karate style sponsoring the tournament).

Some styles of Karate use kumite as a more grueling form of training. Kyokushin is famous for the "100-man kumite". This grueling sparring match consists of one man or woman fighting 100 rounds of kumite against 100 similar or higher level opponents (although some opponents may go multiple times if the match does not have significant numbers of participants).

Reference Sources

1. World Karate Federation, Kata and Kumite Competition Rules, http://www.wkf.net/pdf/wkf-competition-rules-version9-2015-en.pdf, Added - 04/01/15