Secrets of Karate

Karate is a martial art. In a martial art, people fight each other, but there are no weapons. People only use their hands and feet to protect themselves. The word ‘karate’ means ‘empty hands’ in Japanese. When people do karate, they wear special robes and belts. As karate students learn more and more, they wear a different belts with different colours. The colours of the belts are from nature, like the blue of the sky, or the green of plants. That’s because teachers believe that karate students grow, just like plants. Karate students have to work with great discipline and learn respect. They pass through three steps: kihon, kata, and kumite. In Japanese, ‘kihon’ means ‘the basics’, ‘kata’ means ‘form’, and ‘kumite’ means ‘the meeting of hands.’ Karate is one of the most popular martial arts in the world.