Wushu, karate and taekwondo are three representatives of oriental martial arts. They originated from three different countries, China, Japan and South Korea. China, Japan and South Korea are all Asian countries. After continuous exchanges and contacts, the three martial arts have a certain origin relationship, which leads to many people not being able to distinguish them. Now, let’s take a look at their differences~

Connections

Wushu, karate and taekwondo all have a practice form that arranges a certain number of martial arts moves in a certain order. Taekwondo is called “poomsae”, karate is called “kata”, and martial arts is called “routines”. For the convenience of expression, the three names of poomsae, kata and routines are often collectively referred to as “movement drills”.

All three martial arts include two contents: move drills and actual combat confrontation.

From a certain perspective, taekwondo and karate are similar to two types of boxing in Chinese martial arts.

Differences

Technical system

Taekwondo and karate have basically the same technical system. Both are martial arts that study bare-handed fighting skills, in which the routine form of fighting technology coexists with the actual combat form.

In addition to boxing, martial arts also include weapon routine forms and weapon actual combat forms.

International organizations

There are two world organizations for taekwondo, one is the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) recognized by the Olympic Committee, and the other is the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). Although the technical systems of the two world organizations are different, the overall style is basically the same.

Karate was introduced to mainland Japan from the Ryukyu Islands. People who practice karate have formed different factions based on their different understandings of karate. At present, there are four main schools of karate in the world: Shotokan-ryu, Goju-ryu, Keto-ryu, and Wadō-ryu. Except for the “International Karate Federation”, which advocates full-contact actual combat karate, other different schools are centered on the World Karate Federation.

There is only one world organization for martial arts: the International Wushu Federation. Martial arts include boxing and weapons, which have both routines and fighting forms. Martial arts are rich and colorful. According to the definition principle of “orderly boxing flow, clear boxing theory, and outstanding style”, there are as many as 129 martial arts schools, each of which contains techniques, exercises, boxing, weapons and other contents. Various martial arts schools are unified under the leadership of the International Wushu Federation.

Competition method

Taekwondo competitions adopt a limited full-contact fighting form. The characteristics of Taekwondo actual combat competitions are to encourage the use of leg techniques, restrict boxing techniques, and prohibit twisting and wrestling. A competition form is formed in which the winner is determined by the pros and cons of the use of leg techniques.

Karate competitions adopt a non-contact fighting form. Its actual combat competition design concept requires: most dangerous techniques are prohibited, and all techniques must be controllable. Therefore, the non-contact “inch stop” (stop one inch before hitting the opponent) competition method came into being. With the development of karate, a certain amount of contact is allowed, and “inch stop” is limited to weak parts such as the head and throat.

The main form of martial arts actual combat competition is Sanda, which adopts a limited full-contact combat form. The three techniques of boxing, kicking and throwing are equally important, which belongs to the three-dimensional attack and defense combat form. Under the consideration of the safety of the players, the original appearance of martial arts is displayed to the greatest extent.

Competition form

Taekwondo move drill competition, the World Taekwondo Poomsae Competition has been held since 2006. There is no Taekwondo Poomsae Competition in the Olympics.

The content of karate move drill competition is bundled with the content of actual combat competition. In the entire karate competition system, the focus is on actual combat competition, and the move drill competition occupies a secondary position. The techniques used in karate actual combat competitions must be karate techniques. This approach avoids the separation of move drills and actual combat competition techniques, making karate move drills and kumite actual combat form a whole.

Both martial arts move drill competitions and Sanda competitions are included in major international competitions, and both intercontinental competitions and world championships are official competition contents. The martial arts moves are practiced in pursuit of high, difficult, beautiful and new. Although its content is drawn from traditional martial arts and has offensive and defensive meanings, it is becoming more and more styled and artistic, basically losing its practical value and separating from the technical system of martial arts Sanda.

“Moves Practice” Tricks

Taekwondo moves include 16 poomsae, karate has more than 50 forms, and there are now 1,600 recorded martial arts routines.

In the world competition, there are 8 forms of karate (two from each of the four schools) for players to choose from.

There are two categories of martial arts: boxing and weapons. In boxing, three different styles of routines are selected: Changquan, Tai Chi, and Nanquan; weapons include four items: knife, gun, sword, and stick. The technical difficulty of martial arts routine competition is higher than that of karate, and there are more items than karate.

Competition safety protection

Taekwondo has more restrictions on techniques, emphasizes the use of leg techniques, and uses protective gear to protect players.

Karate not only limits the types of techniques, but also various techniques can only be performed in a non-contact manner of “inch stop”, and the number of protective gear is reduced accordingly.

Wushu Sanda has fewer restrictions on techniques, and the players use more protective gear.

Competition referee operation

Taekwondo and karate are the same and relatively simple, with 1 referee on the field and 3 assistant referees off the field.

Wushu Sanda is relatively complex, with 1 referee on the stage and 5 side referees off the stage.

“Violence” level

Karate is the most civilized, Taekwondo is relatively cruel, and Wushu Sanda is the cruelest.

Practicality of self-defense

Wushu Sanda is the most practical, with Taekwondo and Karate listed behind.

Complexity of techniques

Wushu Sanda is the most complex, followed by Karate, and Taekwondo is the simplest.

Difficulty of teaching

Taekwondo is the simplest and easy to practice, followed by Karate, and Sanda is relatively difficult.

Master the practice time

For Taekwondo and Karate, most people can master the skills to participate in official competitions after practicing for half a year to a year. If you use the same amount of time to practice the competition skills of martial arts routines, practitioners need to make more efforts.

In short:

01, from a certain perspective, Taekwondo and Karate are similar to two types of Chinese martial arts. All three martial arts include two contents: move drills and actual combat confrontation.

02, The move drills of Taekwondo and Karate are simple and easy to get started, while the move drills of martial arts are more complicated and have more content.

03, The confrontation forms of the three martial arts are distinct. Taekwondo focuses on leg techniques, karate stops at the right time, and martial arts Sanda emphasizes boxing, leg techniques and throws.

04, Whether it is move drills or double confrontations, Taekwondo and Karate are easier to get started, while martial arts Sanda is more difficult.