8 Myths About Karate

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A lot of myths surround the martial art of traditional Okinawan karate. Here are eight that you may have heard and the real truth.

1. Once you achieve black belt you must register with the local police station as a dangerous weapon. 
   False. A black belt at the first degree level is someone who has just mastered the basics. Plus, a true black belt would have the scruples to never use their art in harm. Their art is a defensive art only. A gun is far more dangerous than a person holding a black belt rank. Furthermore, no state has any law that explicitly indicates a martial artist must be register themselves as a potential danger.
   
   
2. Once you reach black belt you are done with karate, unless you teach.
   False. In traditional karate there are 10 ranks below black belt and 10 ranks of black belt. A first Dan, Shodan (1st Degree Black Belt) has just mastered the basics. Now they are in the "club" to really learn the advanced techniques!
    
   
3. A martial artist can do amazing feats like climb up walls, levitate, use energy fields to injure an opponent and break through boards or bricks.
   Partially False, Partially True. Some highly trained martial artists can in fact run up a wall perhaps 3, maybe 4 steps. But, martial artists are human. Gravity affects them just the same as the rest of us. What goes up, must come down. Usually, a run up a wall is a way to back flip over an opponent and, honestly, not a very practical way to do so. In a battle, fancy tricks will get you killed. It's the simple techniques that are most effective. Levitation is a parlor trick and not really possible. Energy fields or Chi/ki is partially true, in that a martial artist can focus their inner strength with power. However, actually generating fire or an energy ball to injure an opponent is movie magic, not realistic. Sorry kids. As for breaking boards and bricks, yes, this is possible. It just takes practice, proper technique, speed and power. It's physics, not magic.
   
   
4. A martial artist can take a full kick to the groin without injury.
   True. This is true only for some very highly trained practioners of what has been called "combat ki." It's really not magic, but a technique in which a male martial artist learns to pull his groin up with muscle practice. Prior the kick, the martial artist also positions his hips in a way that the skeleton protects the groin further. It makes you wence to watch, but it is possible!
   
   
5. There is a martial artist who used to chop the horns off a charging bull and then punch the bull in the face until he died.
   True. His name is Mas Oyama, the founder of kyokushinkai karate. He used to do karate demonstrations in the 1950s using a live bull. The part of the story you didn't hear is when he got older, he had so much pain in his hands due to arthritis that he could barely use them. 
   
   
6. A martial arts master has mystical powers and can perform the "death touch"
   False. Most of these discussions come from China. In the old days, if anyone died during a fight, outside of the normal physical injuries, it probably happened in two very distinct ways. One, The person could have been predisposed to a certain injury, that is, he had a weak heart, an aneurysm or something similar, or Two, poison was used. In China, weapons as well as finger picks were used to transmit various poisons. A slight touch and the victim would die within a few days and the mysterious "death touch" would be credited. 
   
   
7. You can kill a man by striking him in the nose and pushing the bone into his brain.
   False. If you know anatomy and physiology you would understand that the nose is made up of soft tissue known as cartilage; and what’s behind the nose inside the skull is the sinus cavity. The brain is not even close, and the nose doesn't have any bones per say. Needless to say this is not the deadly strike that many believe it is. In fact there have been cases where sharp objects have penetrated the nose and sinus cavity and never caused mortal damage. There are even many cases where the brain that is slightly above the sinus cavity has been punctured and the victims survived without long lasting side effects.
   
   
8. There are unbeatable fighting techniques.
   False. Regardless of what anyone tells you, there is no such thing as an unbeatable technique. There is always a technique that will counter their "unbeatable" technique. There are also counters to every counter, meaning that every skilled fight is also a battle of wits. Whoever can think of counters faster will be the winner, and the one who doesn't think of the counters quickly enough will lose. Simple as that.