Karate: spiritual homecoming, anniversary and a rebirth - ATR Extra

At Tokyo 2020 there will be a homecoming, an anniversary, and a milestone marked when karate debuts as an Olympic sport.

The biggest event in the past 50 years in international karate came in 2016 when the IOC added it to the program for the 2020 Games. Before that, karate appeared in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, which set the stage for its Olympic debut.

WKF Pres. Antonio Espinos calls it a seminal moment.

"As the well-deserved moment of seeing our beloved sport making its Olympic debut at the Olympic Gamest Tokyo 2020 gets closer, a great sense of anticipation, excitement and unity is currently being shared by all the Karate family. We are convinced that Karate will be a huge success at the Games and that our sport will bring outstanding added value to the Olympic movement. The whole world will witness Karate’s magnificence in less than two months, and we will, for once and for all, demonstrate that Karate deserves to be and to remain in the Olympic programme."

There will be 80 karatekas in competition in Tokyo — 60 in Kumite and 20 in Kata. Both divisions will be split 50/50 between male and female athletes.

Spain is the world ranking leader in both men’s and women’s kata competition – but their fiercest challengers are homegrown.

Thirty-nine year old Sandra Sánchez - a karateka the WKF called "the greatest of all time" – could continue her record with an Olympic gold. Her biggest obstacle is Kiyou Shimizu of Japan, a two-time world champion and three-time Asian champion.

Ryo Kiyuna of Japan is the men's favorite. He is a three-time World champion and has not lost a bout in more than three years. Kiyuna -- the number one favorite – is expected to meet Spanish karateka Damian Quintero.

Kiyuna beat Quintero in the final of the World Championships in 2018 and 2016, and their rivalry is one of the biggest stories of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Karate tournament.

The eight-by-eight-meter kumite mat will see intense competition in the three men’s and women’s weight classes, especially in the battles between Spain and Japan. American Tom Scott of Richardson, Texas, the USA Karate team captain and the current Pan American Karate Federation gold medalist, is currently ranked sixth in both WKF world rankings and Olympic rankings. He will compete in the men’s under 75kg group and is one of the top American medal hopefuls.

Like the rising sun avatar of the host nation, the martial art with Japanese origins returns to its spiritual home with a new future breaking on the horizon. It will be a moment practitioners in the Ryuku Kingdom couldn’t possibly have dreamed of, but one that surely would stir their souls.

Karate began in the Empire of Japan as an ancient Chinese martial art refined and imported from Okinawa by Ryukyuan immigrants. It evolved into a fighting style and discipline known as the way of the open hand, or te.

Thefirst university karate club in Japan was established at central Tokyo’s Keio University in 1924 and competition began to grow. American soldiers stationed on Okinawa in World War II learned the art and exported it westward as they returned home. Soon karate spread as far afield as Africa, central Asia, Europe, and the Soviet Union.

On October 10, 1970 – 50 years ago -- the World Karate Federation (WKF) was formed in Tokyo to serve as the governing body for international competition.

President Espinos calls karate’s Olympic debut "a brilliant full circle" of history.

"Our first World Championships were held in Nippon Budokan in 1970. Now, 50 + 1 years later, our first Olympic presentation takes place in the same city, in the same venue. It is one more reason not to miss the Karate event at the Games which we are absolutely sure will be one of the most spectacular sports of Tokyo 2020."

Also that year, the first Karate World Championships in 1970 featured competitors, or karatekas, from 33 nations competing for two gold medals (individual and team competition) in Tokyo. Japan’s Kouji Wada was crowned the first karate world champion, and two years later, in Paris, the international reach of karate was extended with the world championship victory of Luis Tasuke Watanabe of Brazil. The host nation of France took the team gold medal.

In 1981 karate became one of the cornerstone sports of the World Games in Santa Clara, California.

The World Games are held every four years — one year after the Summer Olympic Games — and feature sports that are not contested in the Olympics. Japan dominated, winning five of nine gold medals in the inaugural event.

The structure of international tournaments was established then, too, with two main disciplines, Kumite, a one-on-one sparring battle for points, and Kata, an individual demonstration of expertise in 102 different forms as recognized by the WKF. International tournaments have followed this structure since.

Maneki Neko, the smiling cat symbolic of good fortune, would delight in the choice of the Nippon Budokan as Karate venue. The facility was built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games; judo — the other major Japanese martial art — also made its Olympic debut there.

After appearances from the likes of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan, Tokyo 2020 brings more good fortune to Japan’s premiere martial arts hall, located in the central Tokyo district of Chiyoda in the shadow of the Japanese Imperial Palace.

The significance of the Nippon Budokan hosting the Olympic debuts of the two major Japanese martial arts some 57 years apart can’t be overstated.

The return of karate to its spiritual homeland, celebrating a half century of international competition and a new era as an Olympic sport is thrilling, and should make for a memorable Olympic Games.

Presented by the World Karate Federation. Click here for more information on the WKF.

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