shoshin: Yes sabaki is more important in ashihara and enshin than in kyokushin. in ashihara and enshin it is religion, in kyokushin it is just one method.


T: Enshin and ashihara has to my knowledge not had any all japan opens. Ashihara is not realy into competition in all that much in japan, and enshin is realy based more in the US with the founder.
Seidokaikan has held many all japan and their connection to K-1 is well known. Shidokan has held many all japan and does a lot of knockdown. I disagree a bit with oliver about kyokushin being better than the other knockdown karate styles -I think the reason kyokushin fighters often defeating other fighters in open competitions is that kyokushin as a larger style has a deeper talent pool. I dont think the spirit and dicipline realy differs between knockdown styles, even if it certanly differs from other, non-knockdown oriented, karate styles.


Oliver: beeing a well known andy fan I sort of suspected that that was the reason you didnt like it :-)


Dan:
There are many otheres. Peter Graham and Sam greco were kyokushin. Pettas is back in karate, but has gone independent. Semmy schildt were ashihara, but has now joined seidokaikan. Jadamba (K-1 Max) is kyokushin. there are a lot of kyokushin/knockdown karate fighters in k-1 and other kickboxing. Many of them are still into the art even if they compete in other rule systems nowdays.

1. there are a lot of punches thrown in knockdown competitions, but since they are not allowed to land on the head they tend to be used to wear a opponent down and press him backwards. For knockdown you rely on kicks (and the occational liver punch).
Hand wraps or other supports are not permitted unless there has been a injury to the hand during the competition, and never in the first round of a tournament.

2. mainly it causes the guard to be held lower and more to protect against kicks, esp in close distance (where high kicks are difficult). The guard is very often held more to protect the chest and ribs than to protect the head. It is the main reason many knockdown karate fighters in k-1 have a sloppy guard at times. When they are tired they regress into old habits.

http://www.kyokushinmail.com/clips/coupe_du_monde4.mpg
http://www.shinkyokushinspain.com/07_downloads/videos_mpg/2001cpto_europa04.mpg
http://www.shinkyokushinspain.com/07_downloads/videos_mpg/2001cpto_europa02.mpg
http://www.shinkyokushinspain.com/07_downloads/videos_mpg/2001cpto_europa01.mpg