What is Japanese Style Kickboxing?
Kickboxing is a term that has two meanings. first, it stands for a group of arts that mix kicks and punches together like my Muay Thai and and, it is also a combat sport on its own created in the 1950s in Japan.
Japanese Kickboxing is a hybrid version of Karate with full-contact rules, which is based on a mix of Harate and muay Thai Rules put into one. style of fighting. The founders of this Style were Tatsuo yamada and boxing promoter osamu Noguch who first named their style "kickboxing" keep reading this article to learn more about Japanse Japanese Rickboxing we are going to explore lis Japanese kickboxing history and of see how it compares with other styles. Kick boxing
What is Japanese kickboxing? Japanese Rickboxky is a martial art created as a hybrid mix of Kara techniques and muay Thai rules. It emerged in the 1950s in Japan as a result of a big rivalry between these two arts. In its initial form, most techniques came from Kyokushin while the rules were from muay Thai But over time, Japanese Kickboxing has evolved a lot and now also includes advanced techniques from western boxing.
The emphasis is on fast foolwork, blitz attacks, high output of punches, and fast kicks. It is a clean style where all fighters are very technical when it comes to both offense and defense.
Japanese Hickboxers tend to be disciplined during the exchanges, always keeping their hands up and delivering fast counterattacks. In the initial form, Japanese kickboxers could also. use dirty tactics like headbutts and powerful throws. The main idea behind this decision was to make it different from muay Thai. But these moves got banned in 1966 to improve safety.
History of Japanese kickboxing
The story of Japanese kickboxing begins in the tate 1950s At the time, there was a big rivalry among muay thai and Karate, the two best striking arts of that time. fighters from sapan used to travel to Thailand to compete in Thai boxing matches and vice versa. A man who sel things moving was Karateka Tatsuo yamada Who began to study muny Thai in more detail. He even invited a Couple of Thai fighters to be his guests in his own dojo "Nihon Kempo Karate-do" Back in those days, Karate was all about light contact and there was no direct striking with full power. In some way. yamada studied pra muay Thai with the intent to upgrade Karate as a system. He set an outline for new ma martial art and a combat sport that would come to be known as kickboxing Though yamada was the first one to play with Karate and muay Thai, he is not seen as the only father of kickboxing. No, that like goes to Osamu Noguchi, a boxing promoter. Who was the one to put together rules based on karate and muay Thai He created a new combat Sport and martial art which he called Kick Boxin Yes, Noguchi was the first one to use this term and found the first "Kickboxing Associatio in 1966 in the following years, kickboxing gyms would Start opening up all across Japan. of the first and most famous ones was one "Mejiro Gym" which has produced many great Rickboxers and where foreign martial artists could come and learn this new form of combat one such man was a Dutch. martial artist jan plas who would go back to the pletherlands and develop the famous "Dutch Style".
Is K-1 a Japanese kickboxing?
NO, k-1 is not Japanese Kickboxing K-1 is the Name of the famous Kickboxing, promotion from Japan that emerged in 1993. The leller "K" stands for kung fu, Karale, and kickboxing, and this promotion is directly responsible, and this promotion is directly resposible for the rise of kick boxing in the 90s and 2000.
The man who created K-1 was Kazushi Ishii, and he did it with one goal in mind to find out which striking art the best fighters from all forms of Karate, muay Thai, Kung fu, and Kickboxing used to fight against each other under the unique K-1 rules. The events were also a place where a lot of Japanese kickboxers used to compete. K-1 events. were among the most popular sports events in the 90s and 2000s. The matches were exciting to watch mainly because the rules favored a high pace action matches were 3-3 minute rounds which means that fighters did not have to worry bo much about fighters did not have to worry getting fatigued They could throw each strike with full force, and that is why a lot of K-1 matches ended in brutal KOs.
Although there were a lot of fighters for from Japan, it is fair to say that Dutch kickboxers. ruled the K-1 scene. for instance, out of 19 K-1 world Grand prix champions, 15 of them were Dutch fighters.
Is Japanese kickboxing Better Than Karate?
The answer to this question really depends on better fo for what? first of all, lets not forget that Japanese kickboxing has origins in Kyokushin Karate. In fact the initial form was based on Karate, techniques mixed with muay Thai full Contact Rules. so these two share a lot in common, but differ a lot when it comes to rules, conept of training and the way fighters execute Lechniques. All in all, you can look at Japanese kickboxing as a better version of Karate. Its concept of training and techniques. are more practical for real-life fighting and here is why. Back in the 1960s, the emphasis of Karate used to be on light contact and Point fighting. There were no direct strikes, or heavy shots that could knock the opponent out cold. This was the biggest weak point of Karate which got solved with the birth of Kickboxing Tatsuu yamada improved karate and made it more effective by adding full contact Rules from muay Thai.
So when it comes to real fighting, yes Japanese kickboxing is better than most forms of Karate. It is more practical and teaches you how to throw each shot with a lot of power to Knock the opponent our over time, this kickboxing style has evolved and changed a lot. In modan days fighters also use western boxing techniques, have better movement, and are far more aggressive But bear in mind that it is easy to shift from Karate to kickboxing because the techniques are quite similar.
| Japanese Kickboxing | Muay Thai | |
| History and origins | Japanese kickboxing has origins in Karate and Muay Thai. It emerged in the late 1950s and its original founders were Tatsuo Yamada and Osamu Noguchi. | Muay Thai has origins in the combat system called Muay Boran. It emerged in the 19th century in Thailand where it is a national sport. |
| Strategies and emphasis | The main goal in Japanese kickboxing is to learn how to use all limbs as weapons to strike with kicks, punches, knees and elbows. The emphasis is on high output, speed, footwork, western boxing and attacking in a blitz. | Muay Thai fighters use all limbs as weapons to deliver each strike with a lot of power and violent intention. The emphasis is on hard kicks and dirty fighting in the clinch using elbows and knees. |
| Length of the matches | Matches include 5 rounds with each round being 3 minutes long and there is a 1-minute break | Muay Thai also has 5 rounds where each round is 3 minutes long. But the rest period between the rounds is 2 minutes. |
| Fight gear | Pair of full padded boxing gloves, Shorts Mouthguard | Pair of boxing gloves, Shorts, Mouthguard, Armbands (optional) |
| Notable fighters | Masato Kobayashi, Tenshin Nasukawa, Masaaki Noiri, Satoshi Kobayashi | Buakaw Banchamek, Somrak Khamsing ,Saenchai |
| Japanese Kickboxing | American kickboxing | |
| History and origins | Japanese kickboxing emerged in the late 1950s in Japan. The people who created this style were Tatsuo Yamada and Osamu Noguchi. Noguchi founded the first kickboxing association in 1966, and this marks the birth of Japanese kickboxing. | American kickboxing got developed in the 1970s in the US. The original founders of this style were the karateka Joe Lewis, and promoter Lee Faulkner. They both organized the first full-contact karate event which would later become known as American Kickboxing. |
| Strategies and emphasis | Japanese Kickboxing is a mix of karate techniques (mostly from Kyokushin) and Muay Thai. But on top of that, it puts a lot of emphasis on western boxing and mixing hand strikes with low/high kicks and knees. | The focus of American Kickboxing is on western boxing and karate kicks above the waist. Fighters use advanced boxing combos which they mix with kicks to the body or head. |
| Length of the matches | Matches have 5 rounds and each round is 3 minutes long. There is a 1-minute break between each round. | Matches go from 3 to 10 rounds where each round is 2-3 minutes long. There is a 1-minute break between each round. |
| Techniques | Punches, High-Kicks, Low-Kicks, Elbows, Knees, | Punches, High kicks, Spinning kicks *Fighting in the clinch is not allowed as well as using elbows, knees and low kicks. |
| Fight Gear | Pair of boxing gloves Shorts Mouthguard | Pair of boxing gloves Pants Mouthguard Kick boots |
| Notable fighters | Masato Kobayashi, Tenshin Nasukawa, Masaaki Noiri, Satoshi Kobayashi | Rick Roufus, Dennis Alexio, Bill Wallace , Demtrious Havanas |