What are the differences between karate and tae kwon do?

AND which is better to start with. I dont have any experience in martial arts but i really want to start.|||Taekwondo focuses on kicks and light, fast and flexible footwork. Karate focuses on hand mvoements and rooted stances.





Karate is very grounded, while Taekwondo has many spinning aerial kicks.





Both are rigid and usually have more straight movements than circular. Blocking is usually hard too, depending on the style (Shorin, Chito and Goju have soft blocking methods). But this is veru general, as there are many styles of Karate and most taekwondo styles more similar than are Karate.





Karate is more balanced as far as kicking and punching and is easier to apply to a self defense situation. I recommend Karate to start out with.|||What%26#039;s the difference between apples and oranges?





Karate is Japanese (I don%26#039;t know why some people think it%26#039;s not but Okinawa IS part of Japan).





Tae Kwon Do is Korean.





Karate is a specific martial art, but it has many ryu (Japanese for school of thought) such as Kyokushin, Isshinryu, Goju Ryu, Shotokan, etc. Most of them have rooted stances. It has punches, kicks, grappling, ground fighting, and weapons. I%26#039;d describe it as strong, hard (hitting), heavy.





Tae Kwon Do is also a specific martial art with variations (kwan?). It%26#039;s main focus is kicks but it does have punches as well. I%26#039;d describe it as light, swift, medium (hitting), vulnerable.





Karate has a lot of balance since balance is one of the most important things in a fight. Tae Kwon Do has many high kicks and jumping kicks which put them extremely off balance. The kicks can easily be caught and then the already off balance practitioner can be taken down.





I have never taken Karate but I have trained in Tae Kwan Do Chung Do Kwan.|||For one thing, tae kwan do is a specific style. Karate could be referring to any vast amount of styles and they are all very different. What i can tell you about tae kwon do is that, they mostly use kicks and feet, they also rely on 5 main tenets to guide them which are Courtesy, integrity, perserverance, self-control and indomitable spirit. If the tae kwon do school you go to is very fast paced it might be hard for you to get into all the leg movements, but if they take the time to build up your leg strength and help you get good at it, then it might be just as good for you as karate. It all depends on you.|||I don%26#039;t know much about tae kwon do..





But karate training promotes self-defence and fitness, it also promotes discipline, confidence, inner security, character development and an improved feeling of well-being.





Mostly punches are used, but kicks are also used aswell.


Karate stances are used to remain balanced while fighting/defending yourself.





I think you should start off with karate. If you start to find it boring or you just don%26#039;t like it, then maybe try tae kwon do.





I%26#039;m 15 years old, karate has helped me so much.


I am more confident,more disiplined, fitter than ever and now have many people in my life that i am truly grateful for (other students and also sensei%26#039;s)





What country do you live in ?





Once you decide which one you want to do, report back to us k ? ;)|||Bujinkan: okinawa is NOW a part of japan, but it wasn%26#039;t always so. and if you ask an okinawan if he%26#039;s japanese....duck.





now to the question.


there isn%26#039;t a whole helluva lot of difference initially. taekwondo is based on japanese karate (shotokan to be more specific)...which is descended from the shorin ryu schools in okinawa. shorin ryu was developed from mainly what was called shuri-te, with some tomari-te as well.


there were originally 3 main types of %26quot;te%26quot; ...shuri-te, tomari-te, and naha-te. te means hand. shuri, tomari, and naha are cities or villages. %26quot;te%26quot; became known as %26quot;tote%26quot; or %26quot;china hand%26quot; with the influx of chinese settlers in okinawa, and a number of okinawans who travelled to china to study chuan fa(kempo in japanese)...who brought it back to okinawa, over time it mixed with %26quot;te%26quot; and was called %26quot;tote%26quot; or %26quot;tote jutsu%26quot;...eventually the character (kanji) that is used to write %26quot;to%26quot; was changed to be pronounced %26quot;kara%26quot; ...thus it became called %26quot;kara-te%26quot; the word karate still meant %26quot;chinese hand%26quot; ...however later, kara was changed again to mean %26quot;empty%26quot; ...still pronounced kara....so today we have an art that is okinawan in origin, with influence from southern chinese martial arts that we call karate..or %26quot;empty hand%26quot;





naha te became arts such as to%26#039;on ryu, ryuei ryu, and goju ryu. they are more %26quot;rooted%26quot; to the ground...very powerful, and combine both hard and soft. very flowing and their root kata(form) is %26quot;sanchin%26quot;





the shuri te and tomari te regional %26quot;te%26quot; became known as shorin ryu (shaolin style) and is more, light, quick, snappy, and mobile. yet still powerful. more angular, than circular.





it is shorin ryu, which led to the creation of shotokan karate in japan, and during the japanese occupation of korea, the japanese made koreans learn a japanese art rather than practicing their korean arts.





after time, there were many styles in korea, tang soo do (literal translation of karate do...chinese hand way) tae soo do, soo bahk and others. there was a meeting around 1955 where the heads of the korean schools all agreed to call their art taekwondo to distinguish it from japanese karate, yet maintain some ties with each other and their korean heritage. by this time karate in korea had evolved into something uniquely korean...this is why they changed the name.


so literally...taekwondo is what i call %26quot;culturally patterned%26quot; karate. or just korean karate.





to put it simply





in china you had Chuan Fa (kempo)...on okinawa you had %26quot;te%26quot;


when you mix the two you get %26quot;tote%26quot; which became known as %26quot;karate%26quot;


introduce karate to japan in the form of %26quot;shotokan%26quot;


have japan invade korea and teach them %26quot;shotokan%26quot;


after a while %26#039;shotokan%26quot; mixed and blended with korean arts and became known by various names.


have a meeting with all the korean school heads and agree to solidify, and unify them, and call them %26quot;taekwondo%26quot; and creat a uniform set of forms for them.


let the politics and differnce of opinions take effect and each %26#039;style%26quot; of taekwondo makes their own organization...and you get a bunch of different %26quot;kwans%26quot; of the same art %26quot;taekwondo%26quot;





so you have moo duk kwan taekwondo...chung do kwan...etc|||karate is okinowan tkd is korean.


tkd is a sport karate is better for practicle self defence.


i suggest trying both to see which one suits you.





bujinkan ninja for someone who pretends to know everything you obviously dont know squat.you need to learne your MA history and general history.|||Karate is the most referred to in types of martial arts. Its mentioned in most Cartoon shows, like Spongebob (xP). Its not as specific as TKD.





I am an assistant instructor in TKD, and I am supposed to know this stuff...but TKD means, the art of kicking and punching in literal terms.|||neither, i would suggest muay thai or brazilian jiu-jitsu





but the difference is tae kwon do is all kicks|||Karate is mostly punches.Karate self -defense too. Tae kwon do is mostly kicks and blocking for self-defense.