Frankly, I reckon Morio Higaonna. I think most serious karateka, or even just people curious about karate, would have heard of him or seen his videos. No other living karateka still has that amount of popularity.
Another one would probably be Lyoto Machida. He’s the one guy who I think single-handedly made karate respectable again in the eyes of the masses.
Machida is definitely widely known, although you might be surprised at some of the more traditional karateka. I've never heard of Higaonna and I'm fairly tapped into these things. I think he's probably very Goju specific.
I think the same will apply for the vast majority of famous living karateka. They'll be almost universally known in their style, but not much at all outside it.
I suppose for the UK and some parts of Europe I'll throw in Iain Abernethy who seems to be famous cross-style, but I'm not sure he's got much/any presence outside Europe.
>I suppose for the UK and some parts of Europe I'll throw in Iain Abernethy who seems to be famous cross-style, but I'm not sure he's got much/any presence outside Europe.
Iain Abernethy and Pat McCarthy were mentioned by name during recent seminar by Shihan Cammeron Quinn (who operates from Australia). I think people who do cross-styles universal things will be better known overall but the actual influence comes from people focused on given style.
I'm not sure that that's the case for actual influence. I think Iain Abernethy has had quite a significant influence on anyone in UK karate who is more thoughtful about their karate (as opposed to those who just parrot the organisation line). I've met plenty of people from different clubs and styles around the country who claim to have been moving towards more practical bunkai training at least in part because of him.
I know it doesn’t count since he has passed, but given that he just passed 1 year ago, I would argue Fumio Demura would be the one most widely known, both to karatedoka of all styles, martial artists of all styles, and even non martial arts people to an extent.
No, he was the stunt double for Pat Morita. The martial arts coordinator was Pat Johnson. Originally Demura Sensei was approached about the role of Mr. Miyagi, but he turned it down due to his trouble with English. Pat Morita however ended up basing a lot of Miyagi’s mannerisms and general demeanor on Demura Sensei.
I also have never heard of Higaonna and I've been practicing karate for quite a while and regularly talk to other karateka, though admittedly no goju people. So there's definitely some sort of bias going on here. I personally would've thought Lyoto was the easy answer to this.
Edit: when I say "bias" I mean from myself as well. You might just have to be in the right circles to have heard of him, but if you are it seems like you hear a lot about him.
Higaonna is very big in the Goju scene but I don’t think he touches Machida in general popularity with non-karate people. Or am I young and missing some history here?
No but in my eyes influential usually has a correlation with popular. Most, but not all, of the most influential, are well known. But it was also a direct response to how the comment mentioned his popularity.
I definitely agree that Machida is more popular for non-karateka due to his MMA success. I would definitely say that Higaonna is more influential within the karate world though. Although he’s Goju-ryu, and more famous within the Goju world, no other living master reached his influence across any of the styles or across the world. I don’t think I’m biased either, since I’m not a Goju guy, and neither Higaonna nor Machida is very country specific too.
Karateka everywhere have taken note of Higaonna Sensei's innovations and contributions. He is absolutely more influential to karateka in the long term, and it's not even close. All serious karateka have opinions about him, his skill, his teaching methods, and his students.
As for who is more influential to the general public, well that question isn't quite as interesting but I'm sure it's some famous Social Media person?
Have been lucky enough to train at his dojo a couple of times. Physically small in stature, but his strength is astonishing. You'll be training away, doing your thing and sensei will just appear at the door, walk about a bit, sit down and just watch and then correct whatever he feels the need to correct. He seems pretty humble too, no air of 'I know how good I am' etc, he just gets on with it because he loves karate.
Some good little interviews and demos with Sensei here: https://youtu.be/S9wODMKiHAA?si=eEhzkCZwZLu7Y9Qj
The other chap is one of his students, Terauchi sensei, formidable guy and properly solid strength, like Higaonna.
> Frankly, I reckon Morio Higaonna. I think most serious karateka, or even just people curious about karate, would have heard of him or seen his videos. No other living karateka still has that amount of popularity.
Which is unfortunate.
>Another one would probably be Lyoto Machida. He’s the one guy who I think single-handedly made karate respectable again in the eyes of the masses.
Nah, it's not really respected, and usually rightfully so.
Glad to hear it. Welcome to karate!
Ignore the "karate isn't effective" / "karate isn't respected" trolls. I have only ever encountered these opinions in Reddit.
Have fun!
Probably GSP even though many don’t think of him as a karate practitioner these days. He himself credits Karate as a core component of his style with his kicks being clearly karate influenced and he himself states karate’s distancing and timing is what allowed him to excel in his takedowns.
I mean to be fair it didn’t say influential in the karate world lol although he has been doing work for karate combat which is cool. I relate to him because I transitioned to mma from karate but still consider myself a karateka at heart.
If you mean keeping the art alive and evolving (I'm biased towards Shorin Ryu):
Seikichi Iha
Koichi Nakasone
Maeshiro Morinobu
Patrick McCarthy
Doug Perry
Masatoshi Miyazato
If you mean spreading and popularizing it:
GSP
Jesse Enkamp
Chris Wilson
Sensei Seth
Master Ken 😂
On the Shotokan side there are a few:
- Tatsuya Naka
- Masao Kagawa
- André Bertel
- Rick Hotton
A YouTube search with any of those names renders a large number of results.
George Mattson. He was the first American to achieve a black belt in Uechi-Ryu, and introduced the style to the United States.
He also taught my sensei, so I'm perhaps a bit biased.
I like Mattson. He ranked my sensei to 10th Dan. First woman ever to have the rank in Uechi. However, I am trying to be less biased and find people whose influence is multi country and cross styles.
That’s pretty cool, although I would agree that there is definitely bias here. For those outside of the states, it’s a bit “who cares?”
Edit: definitely pissed off some Americans lol
Honestly it matter perspective . For some Michael jai white might be thier biggest influence. For other it Jesse enkamp. There are so many great karate practitioners out there it hard just one. For me shihan Ryu narushima and shihan Judd reid my biggest influences.
Well I tend to find the Karate influence comes in a few forms so I'll give a couple examples of each. The first is the mainstream media consisting mainly of Actors This is where people like Michael Jai White. Personally I would say that Chuck Norris is the biggest person in this category due to shear fame and adoration the amount of people he brought he has brought to all of Karate but especially TSD is huge with him even having his own style in Chun Kuk Do. While the name recognition isn't near as large I would also put Jeff Speakman in this category because after his time in the spotlight he then went back into American Kenpo doing what Ed Parker always wanted by continuing to adapt it leading to the Kenpo 5.0 system he currently teaches. Lastly while he passed away in 2022 I still would like to give JDF a shout since I know he inspired so many people to start their martial arts journey and it feels like he didn't always get the credit he deserved for that.
Next is the Social Media influencers and I personally think these guys don't get as much credit as they deserve ny a lot of traditionalists. People like Jesse Enkamp and Sensei Seth have massive influence on Karate through their social media presence and showing off Karate in a different light and keeping it from falling out of the casual persons life since its easy for them to never even consider martial arts outside of what they see in a movie.
On the more sport side people like MVP. GSP. and Machida all show how Karate can work within the wider rulesets of MMA. Then you have someone like Stephen Thompson who not only exudes the principles of Karate but also is both a high level MMA Fighter with a great social media presence and continues to teach classes all at the same time. l'd also like to give Ross Levine honorary Mention here since he was able to essentially become the face of Karate Combat at least in America where he is completely loved in the Sport Karate circuit.
Frankly, I reckon Morio Higaonna. I think most serious karateka, or even just people curious about karate, would have heard of him or seen his videos. No other living karateka still has that amount of popularity. Another one would probably be Lyoto Machida. He’s the one guy who I think single-handedly made karate respectable again in the eyes of the masses.
Machida is definitely widely known, although you might be surprised at some of the more traditional karateka. I've never heard of Higaonna and I'm fairly tapped into these things. I think he's probably very Goju specific. I think the same will apply for the vast majority of famous living karateka. They'll be almost universally known in their style, but not much at all outside it. I suppose for the UK and some parts of Europe I'll throw in Iain Abernethy who seems to be famous cross-style, but I'm not sure he's got much/any presence outside Europe.
>I suppose for the UK and some parts of Europe I'll throw in Iain Abernethy who seems to be famous cross-style, but I'm not sure he's got much/any presence outside Europe. Iain Abernethy and Pat McCarthy were mentioned by name during recent seminar by Shihan Cammeron Quinn (who operates from Australia). I think people who do cross-styles universal things will be better known overall but the actual influence comes from people focused on given style.
I'm not sure that that's the case for actual influence. I think Iain Abernethy has had quite a significant influence on anyone in UK karate who is more thoughtful about their karate (as opposed to those who just parrot the organisation line). I've met plenty of people from different clubs and styles around the country who claim to have been moving towards more practical bunkai training at least in part because of him.
I know it doesn’t count since he has passed, but given that he just passed 1 year ago, I would argue Fumio Demura would be the one most widely known, both to karatedoka of all styles, martial artists of all styles, and even non martial arts people to an extent.
Demura sensei was the karate adviser to the Karate Kid films, as far as I'm aware.
No, he was the stunt double for Pat Morita. The martial arts coordinator was Pat Johnson. Originally Demura Sensei was approached about the role of Mr. Miyagi, but he turned it down due to his trouble with English. Pat Morita however ended up basing a lot of Miyagi’s mannerisms and general demeanor on Demura Sensei.
I also have never heard of Higaonna and I've been practicing karate for quite a while and regularly talk to other karateka, though admittedly no goju people. So there's definitely some sort of bias going on here. I personally would've thought Lyoto was the easy answer to this. Edit: when I say "bias" I mean from myself as well. You might just have to be in the right circles to have heard of him, but if you are it seems like you hear a lot about him.
Higaonna is very big in the Goju scene but I don’t think he touches Machida in general popularity with non-karate people. Or am I young and missing some history here?
You didn't say "popular" in your post, are you only interested in the most 'famous' karate person? Chuck Norris might be up there in that case.
But chuck might be up there anyways also
No but in my eyes influential usually has a correlation with popular. Most, but not all, of the most influential, are well known. But it was also a direct response to how the comment mentioned his popularity.
I definitely agree that Machida is more popular for non-karateka due to his MMA success. I would definitely say that Higaonna is more influential within the karate world though. Although he’s Goju-ryu, and more famous within the Goju world, no other living master reached his influence across any of the styles or across the world. I don’t think I’m biased either, since I’m not a Goju guy, and neither Higaonna nor Machida is very country specific too.
Maybe it’s just me. Higaonna is definitely well known but I didn’t see him as big outside of Goju and some Uechi people but that might be just me
Karateka everywhere have taken note of Higaonna Sensei's innovations and contributions. He is absolutely more influential to karateka in the long term, and it's not even close. All serious karateka have opinions about him, his skill, his teaching methods, and his students. As for who is more influential to the general public, well that question isn't quite as interesting but I'm sure it's some famous Social Media person?
Hmmm true. I didn’t know it passed outside of the Naha-te schools. I’ll take your word for it then.
Have been lucky enough to train at his dojo a couple of times. Physically small in stature, but his strength is astonishing. You'll be training away, doing your thing and sensei will just appear at the door, walk about a bit, sit down and just watch and then correct whatever he feels the need to correct. He seems pretty humble too, no air of 'I know how good I am' etc, he just gets on with it because he loves karate. Some good little interviews and demos with Sensei here: https://youtu.be/S9wODMKiHAA?si=eEhzkCZwZLu7Y9Qj The other chap is one of his students, Terauchi sensei, formidable guy and properly solid strength, like Higaonna.
> Frankly, I reckon Morio Higaonna. I think most serious karateka, or even just people curious about karate, would have heard of him or seen his videos. No other living karateka still has that amount of popularity. Which is unfortunate. >Another one would probably be Lyoto Machida. He’s the one guy who I think single-handedly made karate respectable again in the eyes of the masses. Nah, it's not really respected, and usually rightfully so.
Please can you explain your second comment further? I’m new to karate and at the start of my journey and really curious.
Don't mind him. That dude is a notorious Shotokan hater and will bark at anyone giving praise to a Shotokan practisioner.
Thanks. My self and my children are loving Shotokan and feeling all sorts of benefits after only a few months.
Glad to hear it. Welcome to karate! Ignore the "karate isn't effective" / "karate isn't respected" trolls. I have only ever encountered these opinions in Reddit. Have fun!
Probably GSP even though many don’t think of him as a karate practitioner these days. He himself credits Karate as a core component of his style with his kicks being clearly karate influenced and he himself states karate’s distancing and timing is what allowed him to excel in his takedowns.
Within the MMA side definitely
I mean to be fair it didn’t say influential in the karate world lol although he has been doing work for karate combat which is cool. I relate to him because I transitioned to mma from karate but still consider myself a karateka at heart.
Chuck Norris Senzo Tanaka
Frank Dux
Itosu Anko Edit: hahha my bad I didn’t see the LIVING part…
If you mean keeping the art alive and evolving (I'm biased towards Shorin Ryu): Seikichi Iha Koichi Nakasone Maeshiro Morinobu Patrick McCarthy Doug Perry Masatoshi Miyazato If you mean spreading and popularizing it: GSP Jesse Enkamp Chris Wilson Sensei Seth Master Ken 😂
Ahhhh this is a good list even with the bias. Some of these are on my list as well.
Master Ken does Karate? I thought he was an 11th Black belt in Americadote, the most dangerous martial art ever
Master Ken does and is all styles!
wow, impresive. He is a dangerous man
Don't forget my choom nat hearn
How about Rick Hotton?
I love Rick Hotton.
He’s definitely a big deal
Jesse Enkamp, the Karate nerd.
I feel like most people won’t admit it but he’s definitely near the top lol
You're spitting some truth. Give credit where it's due!
Word.
On the Shotokan side there are a few: - Tatsuya Naka - Masao Kagawa - André Bertel - Rick Hotton A YouTube search with any of those names renders a large number of results.
How about the Kanazawa family, Murakami, and Koga to mention a few.
Ohshima Sensei, founder of Shotokan Karate of America: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Ohshima
Patrick MacCarthy or Steve Rowe I think
Chuck Norris. He mainstreamed it in the US. Dare I say, without him there might not be a UFC.
Joey Karate
😂🤣😂
Tetsuhiro Hokama Sensei
Depends on who you ask where and what style lol. But I’d personally say Lyoto Machida in the general space, at least in the west.
Rafael Ağayev. Machida and Wonderboy are incredibly good but are more of an MMA profile
Sandra Sanchez
Maybe not so popular, but I like the Bunkai I can find on YouTube from: David Gimberline Andy Allen Didier Lupo
Bill Superfoot Wallace
Hatsuo Royama? Founded Kyokushin-kan. Dolph Lundgren - Kyokushin Blackbelt and Actor Michael Jai White
Good guys. Idk if I’d say most influential but definitely in the most famous category
George Mattson. He was the first American to achieve a black belt in Uechi-Ryu, and introduced the style to the United States. He also taught my sensei, so I'm perhaps a bit biased.
I like Mattson. He ranked my sensei to 10th Dan. First woman ever to have the rank in Uechi. However, I am trying to be less biased and find people whose influence is multi country and cross styles.
That’s pretty cool, although I would agree that there is definitely bias here. For those outside of the states, it’s a bit “who cares?” Edit: definitely pissed off some Americans lol
Kyoshi Eddie Bethea
Might be a bit of a bias to American Shorin-ryu… but please don’t tell him I said that I don’t want him mad at me hahaha.
Fusei Kise would be my thought.
Honestly it matter perspective . For some Michael jai white might be thier biggest influence. For other it Jesse enkamp. There are so many great karate practitioners out there it hard just one. For me shihan Ryu narushima and shihan Judd reid my biggest influences.
I love Reid
I really like Ueda's way to teach and to demonstrate. He's authentic and sympathetic and really a rising star IMO
Lyoto Machida, Wonderboy Thompson, Rafael Aghayev
Kayo Ong
Unfortunately, I would say Sajjad Ganjzadeh has outsized influence on the reputation of karate.
Well I tend to find the Karate influence comes in a few forms so I'll give a couple examples of each. The first is the mainstream media consisting mainly of Actors This is where people like Michael Jai White. Personally I would say that Chuck Norris is the biggest person in this category due to shear fame and adoration the amount of people he brought he has brought to all of Karate but especially TSD is huge with him even having his own style in Chun Kuk Do. While the name recognition isn't near as large I would also put Jeff Speakman in this category because after his time in the spotlight he then went back into American Kenpo doing what Ed Parker always wanted by continuing to adapt it leading to the Kenpo 5.0 system he currently teaches. Lastly while he passed away in 2022 I still would like to give JDF a shout since I know he inspired so many people to start their martial arts journey and it feels like he didn't always get the credit he deserved for that. Next is the Social Media influencers and I personally think these guys don't get as much credit as they deserve ny a lot of traditionalists. People like Jesse Enkamp and Sensei Seth have massive influence on Karate through their social media presence and showing off Karate in a different light and keeping it from falling out of the casual persons life since its easy for them to never even consider martial arts outside of what they see in a movie. On the more sport side people like MVP. GSP. and Machida all show how Karate can work within the wider rulesets of MMA. Then you have someone like Stephen Thompson who not only exudes the principles of Karate but also is both a high level MMA Fighter with a great social media presence and continues to teach classes all at the same time. l'd also like to give Ross Levine honorary Mention here since he was able to essentially become the face of Karate Combat at least in America where he is completely loved in the Sport Karate circuit.
Ahhh this is well thought out. Thank you