L’altra metà del tatami

Abstract

This paper analyses the dimensions of “sport-karate” and the increasingly important role that female athletes have within it. The first part of the article is about the history of “karate” martial art, articulating its genesis (in an all-male prospective), the traditions and the geographic development (Okinawa, Japan and finally in the rest of the world). The second part investigates the dimension of contemporary karate. Even though this discipline is male-dominated, in particular at managerial and political level, women have been able to carve out for themselves an important space within this discipline and reach excellent levels worldwide.