The Essence of Karate is in Kumite, the Essence of Kumite is in Kihon.
The great Karate master, Mas Oyama who founded Kyokushin Kaikan always told his disciples, “The Essence of Karate is in Kumite (Free Sparring), and the Essence of Kumite is in Kihon (Basic Techniques). Therefore, we must practice the Kihon Keiko (Training) the most."
However, there is continuation. Most people don’t know, but it’s as follows.
“The Essence of Kihon is in Seiken (Fore Fist)"
The meaning of “Karate’s Essense is in Kumite" is that if you don’t practice Kumite, “It’s just dance Karate. It’s useless in actual fighting."
It means that you can’t learn how to get interval with the opponent, timing, how to put power, how to apply the technique, how to breathe in the fighting, etc. without practicing full contact Karate. (In this case, you don’t necessarily have to hit the face)
The meaning of “The Essense of Kumite is in Kihon" is that the important thing to become stronger in Kumite is to practice Kihon very hard.
Mas Oyama talked about his experience of experimenting. One disciple named “A" practice mainly on Kihon basic training, and one disciple named “B" did not do much Kihon basic training and practiced like kickboxing by hitting and kicking a punching bag from the beginning. When they made to fight in Kumite, “A" who had done Kihon basic training very hard, was chasing “B" around the dojo. “B" who did not do Kihon basic training very hard, was completely beated it at all with “A" who was doing Kihon basic training very hard. Kihon basic training is important to become stronger with Kumite.
“The Essence of Kihon is in Seiken (Fore Fist)" means that however Karate has many Kihon basic techniques, the most important Kihon is “Seiken (Fore Fist)", The conclusion is that “The Essence of Karate is in “Seiken (Fore Fist)"
The disciples who have not yet mastered the correct “Seiken", their Karate match becomes like a push hand of Sumo. Mas Oyama was telling to his disciples that “If you hit one shot with “Seiken" in a match, the opponent must fall down by that “Seiken" (meaning that you should learn “Seiken" that can beat your opponent with a single shot without hitting his face). Therefore we, disciples must practice daily to master the correct “Seiken (Fore Fist)".
“The Essence of Karate is in “Seiken (Fore Fist)". “Seiken (Fore Fist)" is a fist with bare hands. Therefore, it means that the fighting with gloves is not Karate fighting.
So the fighting with wearing gloves like K-1 and Kick-boxing, the fighting with wearing a thin open finger glove like Mixed Martial Mrts, the fighting with just wrapping a cloth around a fist like Myanmar Lethwei are not Karate fighting.
Keep in mind that Karate is a martial art of training “Seiken" (Fore Fist) bare-hand and fighting by “Seiken".
Karate trains bare hands and bare feet, and play Kumite or matches with bare hands and feet. However, for the safety of the participating players, they do not hit the face with “Seiken" bare hands in a match.
The Karate match with the Full Contact Rule was devised by Mas Oyama of the Kyokushin Kaikan (IKO) for the first time in the world, and the first All Japan Tournament was held in 1969 and opened to the public. In full contact Karate match, hitting the face with bare hands is prohibited as a foul. (Attacks on Groin and from behind are also prohibited)
How did Mas Oyama make a full contact Karate rule?
Mas Oyama experimented a lot before officially deciding the rules for the matches. After trying the matches with gloves, or like Kendo protector of body and face, he concluded that the full contact Karate rule of not hitting the face with bare hands is safe and more practical for the players.
This is also because Mas Oyama worried about the aftereffects (punch drunker) of constantly by hitting the head in practice or matches like a boxer.
Most dojo disciples are not professional, they have to study as students at school, or have to work as ordinary members of society, therefore he thought it would be problematic later for disciples to hitting their heads.
Of course, even if you don’t hit a face in the match, in the practice of Kyokushin Karate dojo, you will practice the Yakusoku(fixed technique) Kumite using the Jodan-tsuki(Upper Punch) and Jodan-Uke(Upper Block).
In addition, children, women, and middle-aged and older people will practice Kumite and sparring according to safe rules (wearing a protector or light contact without strong contact) so as not to hurt them in Kyokushin Karate dojo.