In this podcast I discuss the future of karate. While some like to think that “traditional karate” is an unchanging entity; a quick look at the history shows us that is totally untrue. Karate has never stopped evolving and changing. Indeed, the past masters recognised and encouraged this. In his book, “karate-do: my way of life”, Gichin Funakoshi wrote:

“Times change, the world changes, and obviously the martial arts must change too. The karate that high school students practise today is not the same karate that was practised even are recently as ten years ago, and it is a long way indeed from the karate I learned when I was a child in Okinawa”.

While Funakoshi did not use modern computer terminology to reflect this ceaseless evolution, he would certainly recognise the sentiment that there are many versions of karate; with each building on what went before.

In the podcast I discuss what I feel have been the two main types of karate that have gone before, the history of their development and passing, and what I feel the karate of the future needs to look like if the art we love is to thrive.

The core of the podcast looks at the key components of Karate 3.0 and includes discussions on modern bunkai, practicality, context, styles, karate for life, karate myths, the role of sensei, and more besides.

I hope you enjoy it!

All the best,

Iain

PS The download link can be found under the player.