The question should not be "Is karate still an effective method of self-defense?", but should be "Is karate being taught today as a martial art?" In most cases the answer is no. It is predominately a sport, and the proliferation of tournaments and competitions will give weight to this assertion.

As soon as a karate instructor (Senseii), starts teaching competition techniques, the system gets watered down. Everything from the nature of the punch, to the types of kicks that are being taught, is minimised in effectiveness. I blame a lot of this on the pursuit of the almighty dollar, but the Chinese have a saying, "Don't make martial arts your rice bowl."

Unfortunately the old ways are being lost. The US soldiers in Japan were taught to belt the bejaysus out of each other, and thought that this was how it was done. The Japanese that adopted the method of karate as taught by Funakoshi forgot that that this method of karate was introduced for the benefit of school children. And now claim that this is how it was done, "In the old days." Around 10 - 15 years ago, one of the senior instructors in the Mei Bu Kan Goju Ryu system, was heard to comment, "In 10 years time, the only people who will know real karate will be the foreigners that we are teaching now." And so it is that Shodans (first dan black belts) can now call themselves Senseii, when at most they should be called Sempai. How can they teach what they are only just being exposed to? They change katas to suit themselves because, "It doesn't make sense to do it that way." The reason it doesn't make sense, is because they aren't looking to learn the principles and the concepts of combat that are built into the kata, they just want the moves to be apparent or clear to them so that they can teach their own version or understanding of moves and techniques, rather than exploring long term to find the essence of the kata. This is due to either ego or the need for instant gratification.

True karate punches are meant to be quite short. Karate is a close range combat style. When you punch, you should keep your elbow pointed to the ground, and the elbow should not extend past the front of the rib cage. This causes the fist to impact with the opponents body at a 45 degree angle, allowing the first knuckle (that of the index finger) to fit into crevices and areas of soft tissue on his body, whilst maintaining protective cover in attack. This, as opposed to the full extension flat fist we see taught so often today

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