Karate styles: Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, Wado, Shito and Kyokushin

01The short answer

02What a style is, and what it is not

A style is recognised by three things: its kata list, the way it fights in competition, and the organisations that represent it. The kata say where it comes from — several styles share the same forms under different names, Itosu Ankō’s five Pinan, for instance, which Shotokan calls Heian. The competition format says what it trains: point fighting, controlled contact, or full contact. And a style is not a single organisation: Goju-Ryu is practised with no competition, at points or at full contact depending on the organisation, and since 1994 Kyokushin has had several organisations, none of which is “the official Kyokushin” — The Kyokushin organisations names them.

03The five, one identity card each

• Shotokan. Founded by Gichin Funakoshi; the style Oyama trained in first. Long, low stances, explosive entry and exit from a long distance, a vast and highly codified kata curriculum; traditionally point kumite, at controlled contact. It is the karate everyone pictures. Kyokushin vs Shotokan puts them side by side.
• Goju-Ryu. An Okinawan lineage going back to Higaonna Kanryō and Chōjun Miyagi, the Naha-te: close-range fighting, Sanchin and Tensho, breathing and conditioning. Three organisations, three formats. Mas Oyama taught Goju-Ryu in his first dojo in 1953, and Kyokushin’s Sanchin, Tensho, Gekisai and Saiha are Goju kata. Kyokushin vs Goju-Ryu tells that story.
• Wado-Ryu. Founded in 1934 by Hironori Ōtsuka, fourth-generation heir of Shindō Yōshin-ryū, a school of jūjutsu — the name “Wado” dates from 1929. A karate whose federation writes a school of Japanese jūjutsu into its founding history. We have no Wado comparison: we do not practise it, and we do not describe its technique.
• Shito-Ryu. Founded by Kenwa Mabuni; the name joins the 糸 of Itosu Ankō, master of Shuri-te, and the 東 of Higaonna Kanryō, master of Naha-te — a name that joins the two Okinawan lineages; the JKF describes it as a complete technique, throws and joint locks included. No Shito comparison either, for the same reason.
• Kyokushin. Founded by Masutatsu Oyama in post-war Tokyo. Kihon, kata and kumite like the others; what sets it apart is its competition format, knockdown: full-power strikes to the body and legs, bare hands and feet, kicks to the head allowed, no punches to the face. What is Kyokushin karate? is the page to read next.

04The real dividing line: points or full contact

Between Shotokan, Wado and Shito, the differences are of stance, distance and repertoire; their competition, under the Japanese and the world federations, is point fighting at controlled contact. Goju-Ryu sits on both sides depending on the organisation. Kyokushin is on the other side: a bout is decided by knockdown or by decision, and the body takes the hits. That line, far more than the shape of the stances, decides what you will actually do on a Tuesday night — and it is the one a beginner should look at first. In Montreal, much of the karate on offer is point or semi-contact; full-contact clubs are a small part of it, and Kyokushin karate in Montreal says how to tell them apart.

05How to choose

Three questions, in this order. Which format? If you want to touch without being touched, score points and aim at federation point-scoring competition, a Shotokan, Wado or Shito karate club will suit you better. If you want to hit and take hits for real, that is full contact, so Kyokushin or one of the Goju organisations that practise it. How much kata? No style does without them, but their weight in the hour varies more from one club to the next than from one style to the next. Which club? The question that really decides: how beginners are looked after, how kumite is supervised, the instructor’s lineage, and whether you can get there in February. For a child, the honest answer is a good school of any of them — the same questions apply to all. The site’s comparisons say, art by art, what the other discipline trains and Kyokushin does not — and the reverse.