What's the difference between Karate, Judo, Taekwondo and all the rest?

I have no idea whats the differences are...


:) Thanks :)|||My advice is to check out different places and take trial classes. Find an instructor you like and a place you enjoy going to, and the style really becomes secondary.





Here is a breakdown of some common martial arts:





Aikido - uses opponents momemtum and strength against them, redirecting the force, instead of blocking the force. Never engaging strength against strength. Aikido is very defensive.





Judo - Olympic sport, opponents are more engaged with each other and try to use leverage and balance to throw their opponent. Judo is closer to wrestling, there are no punches, no kicks, all throws. You are mostly standing until you are thrown. After a throw, you usually get back up and start over.





Ju-Jitsu (Brazilian and Japanese) - Brazilian ju-jitsu is more of a grappling, ground fighting system, where the object is to submit your opponent through joint locks (such as an armbar or kimura) or you can choke your opponent out by getting in a dominant position and using a combination of your arms and or legs to choke them (triangle choke uses legs, rear choke uses arms). Your opponet %26quot;taps%26quot;, to signal his submission and the match is over.





Karate - Karate originates in Okinawa, but many styles were adopted and modified in Japan. There are many different types of Karate (Shotokan, Gen-wa-ki, Kempo, Kenpo, Kyokoshin, Goju, Isshin-Ryu). Karate also usually incorporates weapons training into it%26#039;s system using the traditional Budo weapons (Staff, Nunchaku, Tonfa, Kama, Sai). Empty hand Karate utilized punches and kicks and the training usually involves serious %26quot;toughening%26quot; of your entire body.





Kendo is sword/stick fighting. They where a type of armor/face shield and fight with bamboo swords.





Tae Kwon Do - TKD is almost like 3 different martial arts. TKD comes from Korea. It is is an official Olympic sport and some TKD practitioners train exclusively in this version of the art. TKD is also a practical self defense system that is utilized by the Korean military and secret police. It is often taught in conjunction with another Korean martial art called Hapkido, which uses small joint (wrist, fingers, ankles) manipulation and submission tactics. There are also different types of TKD, such as Moo Du Kwan or Han Mu Kwan. One of the unique things about TKD is that they have a global governing body that unifies all of the forms (Poomse or Kata) and standards required for promotion. So let%26#039;s say you are a blue belt or %26quot;5th Geup%26quot; in Korea, you are learning the exact same form as a blue belt in California, or Europe, or anywhere else in the world. TKD is also unique in that it%26#039;s ratio of kicking techniqes to hand techniqes is about 80% kicking to 20% hand techniques.





Kung Fu/Tai Chi - Chinese in origin. Although Tai Chi can be used in self defense, it is primarily used as exercise around the world. It is believed by many that there are many unexplainable health benefits in practicing Tai Chi. The Chinese believe that all life has an inner force called %26quot;Chi%26quot;. Tai Chi is a means of channelling and releasing one%26#039;s Chi and therefore reaping the benefits.





The concept of Chi is not exclusive to Tai Chi. It is part of all types of Chinese Kung Fu and is known as %26quot;Ki%26quot; in Japanese and Korean martial arts. The concept is typically considered part of all traditional martial arts.











Hope this helps....





James|||Karate is mainly controlled kicks, punches and fists, a %26quot;hitting%26quot; martial art as taekwondo is, but the second is much more focused on kicks.


Judo is throws, armbars chokes and controlling positions on the ground.


Aikido is lighter, cleaner and more artististic, mainly focused on defense and armbars or other leverage.


Ju-jitsu is the whole lot before being divided and especially developed in the aforesaid martial arts.


Budo includes all these japanese arts plus weapon arts as Kendo, swords and other, mainly all that deriving from the ancient techiniques from the samurai which later turned into martial arts between the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.


Each martial art has several styles depending on the school or grandmaster.|||Just like religions they all have different interpretations on the same theme|||Perhaps if you narrowed that question down a little you would have a better chance of getting a definitive answer.|||Its like food, everybody has different taste.|||They each have there own techniques and rules.|||OK Tae Kwon Do and Karate are considered a striking Martial Art while Judo is a Grappling Art.





But Karate and Tae Kwon Do, also do grappling as well but their main focuses is on the striking part of the art. While the opposite is the thing for Judo. So of the other Striking Martial Arts that you might of heard of are Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, Savat and the Kung Fu styles (there are many kung fu styles)





While some well know grappling arts are Akido, Brazilian Jiu - Jitsu, Judo, Sumo and Wrestling (not WWE and that other fake stuff).





I consider Tai Chi to be a bit of the both so it is a bit hard to fit it in with one focus or the other so I think I%26#039;ll leave Tai Chi as a bitser (one of both).





Here is a link that will tell you a lot about all the Martial arts that I have told you about as well as some more, Have a look.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_Art...|||The difference is in how much each style venerate the progenitors of their style, usually along racial, nationalistic terms; based of course on far eastern cultures of ancestor worship. These stories range from the probable - %26quot;He was a good soldier- to the improbable- %26quot;He could fire a Chi ball and knock out an army%26quot;. For a western example, North American Karate worship the 10th degree black belt more than anything, so everyone gets to create their own style to become one. Bruce Lee took Kung Fu (Gung Fu) from his ancestors and made great movies, now he himself is venerated beyond all rationality. (who would win, a Tsunami or Bruce Lee ect....)





Taekwondo is a Korean placebo designed to help raise nationalistic self esteem, caught between so many competing Asian cultures, so Korea sent out lots of 8 to 10 degree black belts to teach, but this is of course based on Japans sponsorship for Judo a generation ago.





Current fads to study are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA legends in the making. Clearly noble heroes who will have extinguished volcanoes and subdued global warming, and united humanity with their ground grappling skills, according to their deeply devoted disciples in just a few years time.





Basically all are vehicles by which tough guys needing to test their manhood and prove validity, as has been the case since caveman days. (much like how peopel act on blogs)





IMO you might be better served if you were to check out Gates Jitsu, or Buffet Kwon Do, or Trump Chi if you really want to raise your self esteem, ward off bullies or impress the ladies. You might not be a killing machine but with enough practice you will transcend culture and nationalistic ego with your VISA limit, and you can always buy a well trained and style indoctrinated thug when you need your dirty work done. Its always been that way.