Why We Need to Define Self-Defense. Tradition vs. Reality.

 

Posted by ADAM CARTER on SEP 12, 2025

Why We Need to Define Self-Defense. Tradition vs. Reality.

(Approx 3 minute read)

Why we need to define self-defense.

In my experience, reading the messages I receive, many people seem to have the wrong idea of what it is, and what it isn’t.

Let’s be clear about what we mean.

Self-defense is not sparring or any kind of step-kumite. It’s close-quarter survival, where you must fight back with reasonable force to escape. In a legal sense, it’s a justification for an act that would otherwise be considered a crime.

Traditional karate drills, step-kumite, yakusoku-kumite, even jiyu-kumite, etc., are excellent for coordination, distancing, a back and forth exchange, and discipline, but they are not self-defense drills.

Why?

The range. It’s wrong. If you practice for a distant, formal punch in zenkutsu dachi, real violence doesn’t happen at two steps away. It happens at zero or near-zero range, often with surprise, deception, or weapons involved.

At that distance, your rehearsed blocking will collapse because human reaction time is too slow. The first response cannot be “block, then counter.” You have to take control with intent to escape and stop the threat.

The attacks are unrealistic, and the intent is missing. Habitual criminals don’t square off, they may distract you before striking or grabbing you. They use unpredictability, numbers, and environment as their advantage. Their violence doesn’t look like a karate punch, or any kind of combination. It’s wild, ugly, and designed to overwhelm.

Competition fighting and dojo kumite train for distance, and rule-governed exchanges. Practicing any kind of stepping attack may suit a grading requirement, but it won’t save you if someone grabs you from behind and drags you into the bushes. Ask anyone who’s experienced this, did those drills help?

Under pressure that’s what you will revert to. And when the pressure comes, when there’s a real threat of injury, when the adrenaline dumps, you’ll be clutching at straws.

I understand tradition. You follow a sensei and his methods; you respect the history of an art. Much of today’s karate was shaped in early 20th-century Japan where fighting at distance was a requirement.

That historical context explains why techniques look the way they do.

But a real, aggressive, brutal attack rarely begins at those distances. Respect the tradition, but be honest about its limits when it comes to survival.

That is why self-defense must be trained differently. It must include pressure, surprise, distraction, environmental factors, and attacks that mirror the habitual acts of violence seen outside the dojo, including weapons and multiple attackers.

Traditional drills have value in their context, but if you present them as self-defense you are misleading your students and giving them a dangerous sense of confidence.

Karate can absolutely contribute to effective self-defense, but only when practiced with realism, context, with the right intent and mindset. Without that, it remains a beautiful art form, but not a method of survival.

If you teach self-defense, make it reflect the ugly, close, and unfair reality it is meant to address.

And don’t keep telling me you have to start somewhere. Because starting in the wrong context only trains the wrong habits.

Some will argue, of course, that these kumite methods are where rhythm, timing, balance, speed, and power are learned. I’ve read claims that if you can’t see its value, then either you weren’t taught it correctly or you’ve yet to discover the ‘depth’ it supposedly holds. But this isn’t an answer, it’s deflection. Yes, those attributes matter, but they can be trained in drills that also reflect reality.

Look, context is everything. If your training rhythm and timing at the wrong range, with unrealistic attacks, then you’ve only reinforced bad habits.

Thousands of instructors will argue this point until they’re blue in the face. By spending years training for a distant, formal punch, a student is conditioned to a predictable and cooperative exchange, a response that will fail under the chaos and pressure of close-quarter attacks.

The body’s conditioned response to move in an unrealistic way is a dangerous habit that is far more difficult to unlearn than it is to simply train for reality from the start.

Written by Adam Carter – Shuri Dojo