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In my studies over the years it has become apparent that karate has taken on a lot of "bling," so to speak. Folks believe there are deeper philosophical-like teachings within karate that, in essence and traditionally speaking, didn't and don't exist.
What is karate has been asked and answered many times over its, relatively, short life span especially the Americanized Karate practiced, mostly, today. I have tried to answer that question over the years and if you do a google search on my blog sites you will notice changes as the years pass.
Today, in this instance, I am going to take away all the fluff, bling and trappings created to make karate more, at least commercially, and try to convey what I feel is "Karate."
Karate is, "A physical system of patterned, rhythmic, methodical, principled based methodologies used to break human beings in the name of defense when faced with violence and aggression." Nothing more and nothing less, especially all the mystical ancient practices and beliefs attached, somewhat, such as Zen-Buddhism, Confucianism and other philosophical teachings derived from Asian beliefs and philosophies, i.e., from the teachings of I Ching, Tao Te Ching and others.
Traditional Karate from Okinawa is: "A physical system of patterned, rhythmic, methodical, principled based methodologies used to break human beings in the name of defense when faced with violence and aggression, a system that evolves according to environmental, cultural and social changes."
Why we humans take on other add-on’s to things like karate is explainable but that would be a complete and long article in and of itself. When you break it down into its most simplistic atomistic form then the above definitions are what karate or traditional karate is.
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