Ikken hissatsu

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Ikken hissatsu ( Japanese 一拳 必殺 , dt. To kill with one blow ) is the ideal of the old Okinawa Karate (also called Tōde). The aim was to develop body and mind through years of hard training in such a way that it was possible for the fighter to direct all his energy into the one final hit at the decisive moment in order to survive the fight against an apparently superior opponent (Karate was developed by farmers on Okinawa in order to be able to defend themselves against heavily armed and battle-tested samurai warriors).

In the meantime this principle has been largely forgotten due to the advent of a more sporty karate; The first Kumite competitions were still designed for Shōbu-Ippon (victory with only one point - the Ippon in the "fatal" hit), this changed over time to Shōbu-Sanbon (victory when reaching 3 points) and only recently Time in even more sport-friendly counting methods (where acrobatic foot techniques already get 3 points, even if they would never be fatal) and thus away from ikken hissatsu .

Historically, however, the existence of the principle is not proven for the time before the introduction of karate in Japan. In addition to the above theory, more and more historians now assume that Ikken hissatsu is not of Okinawan origin, but of Japanese. When karate became popular all over Japan in the early 20th century, it learned about a. Influences of Kendo . In sword fighting, the ideal of killing your opponent with one movement is extremely realistic. It is assumed that Ikken hissatsu is part of a wider Japaneseization of the Okinawan martial art and had nothing in common with the original karate.