Early thoughts, the third "K": Kumite

The term "kumite" means sparring, but while most people may think of sparring as a free, relaxed but still somewhat competitive one-on-one match (as typical in western boxing), such practice in karate is only one way of doing it, called Jiyu Kumite, while Kumite is a more general term for a wide array of possible exercises. It could be said in fact that any type of exercise involving two or more practitioners using attack and defense techniques against each other is a kumite, even if everything is predetermined. The purpose of kumite is of course to bring one's skills closer to their original application i.e. a real fight, but by varying the nature and the rules of the kumite exercises we are allowed to focus on developing different skills such as timing, aiming, distancing, balancing, controlling speed and strength, and generically adapting to the situation, all of which are impossible to practice doing only Kihon and Kata without a sparring partner.

Consider for instance different levels of:

- predetermination vs improvisation (one or both the participants)
- contact (possibly using protective gear)
- speed
- starting distance
- target areas allowed
- attack techniques allowed (e.g. only specific strikes allowed, no takedowns)
- battle tactics and trickery (e.g. feinting not allowed, low aggressiveness)
- timeframe (e.g. point-and-stop, continuous sparring), rests and time limits
- scoring and winning conditions (e.g. no scoring, points, knockout)
- use of weapons
- any additional rule

Anyone can tell that changing any of the above significantly affects which skills are given the spotlight during the kumite!

An example of how focus is changed across kumite exercises can be taken from the few kumite exercises that are part of our first belt test (yellow). All these are called Kihon Kumite which sounds like "basic sparring" or "sparring with the basics", and they are completely prearranged.

- The first exercise belongs to a subtype called Ippon Kumite, "one-point" sparring, meaning one attack, or one step. The defender uses one predetermined defensive technique followed by a counterattack. This exercise is so short and simple, that inevitably prompts you to try it faster and faster, and so its purpose becomes that of developing reaction time, precision and speed of execution.
- The second is a Sanbon Kumite, or "three-point" sparring, and in this case the first person does a sequence of attack+defense+attack while the second responds with defense+attack+defense. These sequences require a different stance at each step, so the focus is on learning to use stances in an applied scenario and to shift between such stances seamlessly and naturally.
- The third is a Gohon Kumite, or "five-point" sparring, which in this case ends up being mostly static because only one step is taken with the feet and all the techniques are done in the same one stance. The focus now is on concatenating several attack/defense techniques in a longer series, to develop coordination, balance and rooting to the ground.

(Note that the above is just an example and does not imply that all ippon/sanbon/gohon kumite are always like these or have the same purposes.)

The most important point in my beginner's view is therefore to understand that while jiyu kumite or free sparring will be necessary at some point to develop some very practical abilities, such as reading the opponent's intentions and handling your own emotions (just to mention two problems that would be of primal importance in a real fight, but are non-existant in a prearranged exercise), there are many more fighting skills that can never be isolated from an improvised sparring and then conquered, and this is the reason that makes kihon kumite and its more advanced semi-arranged variants very much essential in karate training.