This study analyzes how karate was represented in Norway between 1957 (the year karate was first mentioned) and 1973 (the year the Norwegian Karate Federation was formed with the goal of better integrating karate into civil society), a period marked by increasing concern over media violence and its influence on youth. By extensive analysis of the Norwegian National Library’s vast digital archive (containing newspapers, books, and journals), this study finds that the Norwegian press produced a series of alarming media reports in the mid-1960s, claiming that children had been injured, even killed by ‘karate chops’ which they had learned by consuming popular culture or ordering correspondence courses in karate. This caused police officers, doctors, lawyers, and other authority figures to warn against the ongoing ‘karate epidemic’, and ultimately led to a ban on ‘karate films’ (i.e., Hong Kong-produced movies) in the 1970s. The representations of karate are interpreted as part of larger discussions on the media’s role in the ‘brutalization’ of post-war Europe and on the state’s role in censoring movies and regulating interpersonal violence.