News

We made this belt for a Karate photo shoot many years ago. It's an Isami F-1000 silk black belt with golden dan stripes embroidered on one end. This belt is handmade in Japan and has a special shine and texture unlike generic cotton belts. I liked it so much that I decided to keep it. So we added the traditional BJJ rank bar sleeve to hide the golden degrees. Now the gold is starting to show due to natural wear and tear after all these years. The silk fabric is not as strong as cotton, but it ages beautifully like...

Our parent company Isami has a very long and deep history with Kyokushin Karate in Japan. Sosai Masutatsu Oyama, founder of the Kyokushin Karate style, was an acquaintance of Mr. Shigeyuki Iso, Isami's president. At first Sosai Mas Oyama would wear our unbleached full contact dogi  Isami K-400 Classic. This is Isami's most traditional Karate uniform. However he later switched to the newer and improved version Isami K-500, which we now call "Mas Oyama Gi". He chose it because it was the most long-lasting and easy to wear Karate Gi he had ever tried. Shop Mas Oyama Gi As the...

Our parent company Isami Japan stopped producing and selling official Kyokushin Karate gear way back in December 2015. You can read all about it here. This shocking announcement caught the entire Kyokushin community off guard, after all we had been custom making our world famous Black Belts and Karategis to IKO and other organisations for decades. Since then a very sad development has taken place: there are a handful of online shops selling counterfeit Isami Kyokushin gear and claiming it is the original Japanese stuff that ChokeSports is known for. Every so often we are contacted by people who have been ripped off by these sites. They...

ChokeSports and Isami have had a close partnership for almost two decades. Throughout all these years, we have connected with Karateka from all over the world. Today our site ChokeSports.com is one of the main sources of high quality Karate Gear from Japan on the net. That's why we just dropped a "Top 10 Karate Gear from Isami Japan" video. In this short video (1m15s) we give you a glimpse of the most sought Karate gis, belts, kudo helmet, shin guards, knee pads and gloves. Enjoy! SHOP TOP 10 KARATE GEAR

One of the most popular customization service we offer is stitching dan stripes / degrees on our famous custom made martial arts belts. Watch this short video to understand the options available... There are two types of of stripe embroidery:- front side only- all around the beltIf you are ordering a custom made belt from ChokeSports, the embroidery stripes will be made on the fabric, prior to making the belt. This means the belt stitch lines will show over the embroidery, but there will be no trail on the reverse side.Whereas if you order a pre-made belt from ChokeSports, we'll apply the...

ChokeSports and Isami are known for the custom made belts with embroideries that we produce in Japan. For the past 10+ years we have made belts to some of the most legendary names in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Karate and other martial arts. There are simply so many options to choose from when ordering a custom made belt from ChokeSports that the process might seem overwhelming to some people. With that in mind, we have recently elaborated new embroidery charts to help our customers navigate the embroidery possibilities so they can get the belt of their dreams. Here's a quick list with what you need to...

We have just released a chart to help our customers understand the differences between our famous Isami Karate Gis from Japan... As you can see in the chart, our base uniform is the Isami K-400 Classic. All the other uniforms are harder/softer and thicker/thinner in relation to the K-400. This is the same chart we use in Japan and it was elaborated according to the feel and weight of the different fabrics in our collection. It's worth mentioning that we do not really produce any heavyweight Karate gis anymore, so even our thickest/hardest gis feel very comfortable and easy to wear. As...

The latest video released brings you up and close with one of our best selling cotton shin guards... As the names says, these shin guards have a wide padding that protects against unchecked low kicks from the side. We also added padding over the achilles tendon for extra protection during sparring. CLICK TO SEE MORE

This week we bring you Sensei Mauricio Alvarado's KWF Kyokushinkai in wonderful Costa Rica. Sensei Mauricio is a regular customer here at ChokeSports. He's also a renown martial artist in his home country of Costa Rica where he runs a successful dojo offering Kyokushinkai Karate, Fitness Training, Krav Maga and Jiu Jitsu to students of all ages. Hola Sensei Mauricio. When did you first get involved with martial arts?I started to practice Kyokushinkai when I was 9 years old in 1989. What is your current rank?I am 4th Dan in Kyokushinkai. What keeps you motivated to train martial arts after all these years?To continue...

This week we bring you Andrea Stoppa's Centro Studi Arti Marziali located in the city of Pordenone, Italy. Andrea is a good friend and regular customer here at ChokeSports. He's also a complete martial artist who's spent years developing his striking and grappling skills. Today he holds black belts in Kyokushin Karate and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, among others. Ciao Andrea. When did you first get involved with martial arts?It was in November 1987. While watching "The Karate Kid", my sister said "why don't you start doing some martial arts at local gym?". What is your current rank?I'm a 4th degree in Kyokushin, black belt 1st stripe in...