[Say, it isn't that bad!]

Originally Posted by maximara

Points to Shotokan Karate Black belt Men Sparring - Charleswood vs Lac Du Bonnet IDSL 2012 as a counter example. And Karate-Do Shotokan Sparring (Kumite) is another.

There is Circle sparring but from what I have seen of it, it doesn't have actual circling.

In the first video, Red Gloves starts at 0 degrees and Blue Gloves starts at 180 degrees, designating towards the referee's starting position as 90 degrees and directly opposite the referee's starting position as 270 degrees (arbitrary designation of angles, and ignoring position), by 39 seconds, Red Gloves and Blue Gloves have:

1) Rotated to 90-270.
2) Rotated *back* to 0-180.
3) Rotated to 180-0 (the opposite facing of which they started).

This video proves, not disproves, circling. The second match starts with them rotating to 45-315 before a single blow is thrown. I rest my case on this video.

In the second video, coincidentally Red Gloves is at 20 and Blue Gloves is at 200. The angles can be used as stated, with 90 degrees being towards the referee's starting position and 270 degrees being directly opposite the referee's starting position. By 6 seconds into the video, Red Gloves is at 180 and Blue Gloves is at 0. They then spend the next 9 seconds moving between 180-0 and 135-315. The match ends.

The second match sees them rotate to 150-330 before the first blow is thrown. They then rotate to what looks like 110-290 before rotating to 10-190. The next exchange occurs from 330-150 to 350-170 - and breaks apart into 330-150. They then conclude at 70-250.

And that's 54 seconds and the second match ends.

I'm just going to watch the rest of the video without analysis and if you have a particular match you feel proves your case, please tell me the start time and end time.