Karate Styles
Every karate style traces back to Okinawa. Before karate reached mainland Japan in the early twentieth century, it was taught in three loose traditions named after the towns where they developed: Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te.
The major modern styles grew out of those roots, often by combining them, and many later split again into organisations with their own emphasis. Each guide below covers a style's history, founder, lineage, key kata and the organisations that teach it today.
Style guides
Shotokan
Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957) · Shuri-te, Okinawa
One of the most widely practised karate styles in the world, taken from Okinawa to Tokyo by Gichin Funakoshi and known for deep stances, linear power and a 26-kata syllabus.
Read the guideShitō-ryū
Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952) · Shuri-te and Naha-te, Okinawa
Kenwa Mabuni's synthesis of Okinawa's two main traditions, Shuri-te and Naha-te, with a larger kata syllabus than most styles.
Read the guideGōjū-ryū
Chōjun Miyagi (1888-1953) · Naha-te, Okinawa, with Fujian influences
Chōjun Miyagi's "hard-soft" style from Naha, built on Sanchin breathing, close-range fighting and a compact set of twelve core kata.
Read the guideWadō-ryū
Hironori Ōtsuka (1892-1982) · Shotokan karate and Shindō Yōshin-ryū jujutsu
Hironori Ōtsuka's "way of harmony", combining Funakoshi's karate with Shindō Yōshin-ryū jujutsu and built on evasion, body movement and redirection.
Read the guideKyokushin
Masutatsu Oyama (1923-1994) · Shotokan and Gōjū-ryū
Masutatsu Oyama's full-contact karate, "the ultimate truth", known for knockdown fighting, hard conditioning and the 100-man kumite.
Read the guideUechi-ryū
Kanbun Uechi (1877-1948) · Pangai-noon, Fuzhou, China
Kanbun Uechi's karate from Fuzhou, China, built on Sanchin, heavy conditioning and distinctive one-knuckle, spear-hand and toe-kick techniques.
Read the guideShōrin-ryū
Chōshin Chibana (named the style in 1933) · Shuri-te, Okinawa
The Okinawan family of styles that grew most directly out of Shuri-te, known for natural, higher stances and the Naihanchi, Pinan and Passai kata.
Read the guideIsshin-ryū
Tatsuo Shimabuku (1908-1975) · Shōrin-ryū and Gōjū-ryū
Tatsuo Shimabuku's "one heart method", known for its vertical, thumb-on-top punch and spread across the United States by returning US Marines.
Read the guideChitō-ryū
Tsuyoshi Chitose (1898-1984) · Okinawan karate (Shuri-te and Naha-te teachers)
Founded in 1946 by the physician Tsuyoshi Chitose, a "thousand-year-old Chinese style" known for tension, body rotation and movement off the line of attack.
Read the guideKenpo and Kempo
Chinese quanfa, via Okinawa, Japan and Hawaii
Not one style but a family of related arts that share a name meaning "fist method", from Okinawan karate to Ed Parker's American Kenpo.
Read the guideOther Karate Styles
A short guide to the smaller and less-known karate styles, where they came from and which major style they are closest to.
Read the guideJoin the Discussion
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