Difference Between Aikido And Karate

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Aikido and karate are both forms of martial arts. Each of these two forms of martial arts is very popular around the world. It is common to see people of various ages practise any of these two in a given part of the globe be it Asia, Africa, America or Europe. Here are the differences between aikido and karate:

Intensity
Karate is more intense than aikido. Actually, some people refer to aikido as “soft” and karate as “hard”. Aikido is viewed as less active compared to karate.

Motive
Aikido revolves around the main purpose of martial arts, that is killing somebody. Because of this, aikido can be very dangerous especially to a person who is not yet well-trained on how to go about it. A person who is not well-trained can easily break their neck or joints in the course of aikido as they will not know how to fall and go with each throw. Aikido focuses on redirecting an attacker’s energy. Its de-veloper wanted something that could offer one protection while also protecting his or her opponent from injuries.

The main goal of karate however is to enable one execute strong punches at his or her opponent. Karate aims at self defence through punching an attacker into defeat and not killing somebody. New students in karate are usually required to start with executing basic punches to enable them develop muscular strength first before they can graduate into more intense punches.

Style and format
Aikido mainly comprises of turning and entering movements which are aimed at dodging an attacker’s throws. It focuses on redirecting the attacker’s momentum so as not to get harmed. Aikido techniques involve square, triangular, and even circular movements. Aikido beginners usually start with square movements and then move to triangular movements after he or she has become more adept at aikido. After a student has undertaken circular movements and has shown progress in them, he or she may be taken through circular movements.

Karate techniques on the other hand include punching, kicking, elbow strikes, and knee strikes. It may also include techniques like knife-hands and spear-hands. Kara-te however tends to dwell more on upper body strikes such as punching compared to lower body strikes such as kicking. During karate training sessions, one is usually encouraged to deliver punches while keeping their body relaxed.

History and origin
Aikido was developed in Japan in the 1920s by Ueshiba Morihei. The term “aikido” only came to be used in the 20th century. Ueshiba had created aikido with the inten-tion of having something that would unify life energy or in other words create har-mony in the spirit. For these reason, aikido was not just founded for the purposes of martial arts only but also for the purpose of bringing universal peace and recon-ciliation. Ueshiba had a personal philosophy of universal peace and reconciliation.

Ueshiba was born in December 1883. He began studying under Takeda Sokaku in 1915. He however later distanced himself from Takeda. Ueshiba earlier on referred to his created form of martial art as “Aiki Budō”. It was in 1942 that the name ai-kido was adopted as the official name by which to refer to Ueshiba’s form of martial art. Greater Japan Martial Virtue Society was at that time involved in a martial arts centralization and reorganisation that was sponsored by the government.

Karate on its part started in Ryukyu Kingdom. Ryukyu Island is the present day Okinawa in Japan. Karate wasn’t introduced in mainland Japan until in the early 20th century. Mainland Japan adopted karate following cultural exchanges between China and Japan.

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