Hello all:

I am absolutely new to karate, and have found a kyokushin school near me. I am curious what experience you have had with kyokushin vs. other schools of karate. I have read that kyokushin is more focused on actual contact sparring than other schools, but beyond that I can't tell the difference.

In broad terms, how does kyokushin compare to other schools of karate, and do you think its good for a beginner such as myself?

Many thanks!

Kyokushin is actually a very good karate to develop fighing ability and a fighting spirit. There are only a couple of draw backs from this system that I have observed:

1) No punching to the face

2) No grappling/limited clinch

3) They tend to go toe to toe instead of using angles of attack

but other than that I would go for it.

ingo,

I think Raul hit it on the points pretty well. It may be a bit straight forward in its approach to combat, sans the face punches, but you will learn how to throw some good body shots that won't just be for show.

-B

ingo,
It will largely depend on the specific instruction also.Lots of schools that teach the same styles teach differently.Our school is a goju school that is kata based self defense,but also incorporates groundfighting.We do lotsof sparring at all ranges,but all goju schools do not do this.Go and check it out.If you think you can get what you want out of it,go for it.

Thanks everyone for the input! I stopped by the school this afternoon on my lunchbreak and have been reading some of the materials i picked up. It sounds like a greath method.

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Well since yall answered his question, How about shotokan vs. other arts?

Same thing.If you get out of it what you want,go for it.

I think the level of contact depends on the individual school as much as the style. Koei Kan uses bogu gear so they can spar full contact. In the old days, the local Isshinryu schools allowed heavy contact. Not so much now that we're such a litigious society. I haven't heard of too many Korean-style schools that went in for much contact.

Kyokushinkai - Go and train for a while, see if you enjoy it. If you do, Great!

Shotokan - Go and train for a while, see if you enjoy it. If you do, Great!

It's not that difficult guys, is it.

Anyone have experience with Seido vs. Kyokushin? I understand Seido was spawned from Kyokushin, but I'm curious about technical differences...