10 Differences Between Karate in Okinawa & Japan 🇯🇵
Been interested to know about Karate after watching Cobra Kai, watch this! It’s a good 10 minutes video summarizing the differences between Okinawan and Japanese Karate, making you realize Cobra Kai is Japanese Karate and what Miyagi has been doing with Daniel is actually the right Okinawan Karate!
For one, the original purpose of Karate is indeed as Mr Miyagi put it, “Karate is for self defense only.”
Karate’s birthplace is not in mainland Japan where many believe it to be but in Okinawa. There’s a lot of ancient words in martial arts in Okinawan Karate that do not exist in Japanese Karate. In Okinawa, Karate is not a sport but a way of life which grows with you till the end of time and is part of the Okinawan culture.
Kobudo is the ancient art of using Karate’s weapons. Although Japanese Karate is mostly empty handed, in Okinawa, almost every dojo has weapons on the walls. Karate and Kobudo are like brother and sister, they are different sides of the same coin but they should always go hand in hand. Because unless you know how to use a weapon, you’ll never be able to defend yourself against one.
While you do not carry Kobudo weapons in real life, the idea is that, they represent basic common attributes of tools in your surroundings in everyday life. If you know how to use Kobudo weapons, you can use anything as an extension of your body to defend yourself. So in a way you could fight with anything you could get your hands on, just like Jackie Chan. 😆
Now it makes sense as why Chozen have always been contempt with Daniel who thinks he knows everything. And why Daniel is shocked when he learns about Miyagi’s Scroll from Chozen that he did not know of. I guess you could say, Chozen knows the original Okinawan Karate more than Daniel does.
Cobra Kai Season 3 Episode 5
Maai (Space intervals between two opponents)
Okinawan Karate teaches close range fighting skills while Japanese Karate teaches long distance engagements.
Okinawan Karate is about individualism while Japanese Karate is about collectivism. So for Okinawan Karate, the Sensei is able to share more unique, specific attention to detail, so that you can elevate your skills. That level of specialization is not possible to teach a big group of students. This is why so many movements are exaggerated so they could easily be seen by others.
In Okinawan Karate Dojo, you’re almost never afraid of anybody, as you can be comfortable being yourself at your own pace since the Sensei is able to train you individually based on your respective strengths and weaknesses.
In Japanese Karate Dojo, it’s often a kill or be killed mentality. It’s more rigid and strict as you’re required to keep up the pace with the group. So if you’re a slow learner, you’ll have difficult time adjusting to catch up with the rest.
There’s a lot more interesting trivia in the video if you watch it. And the word “Do” means “The Way”. So Daniel’s ‘Miyagi Do’ literally means, “The Way of Miyagi”. Just like the word Bushido means “The Way of the Warrior” and Kendo means “The Way of the Sword” and so on.
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