This article details the qualifying phase for karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics (postponed to 2021[2] due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
80 quota places for the Games are entitled to the karatekas coming from their respective NOCs, based on the results at designated tournaments supervised by World Karate Federation.
Host nation Japan has reserved a spot in each of all 8 events, while four are made available to NOCs through a Tripartite Commission Invitation.
Only NOCs that have not qualified through Olympic standing for a given division are eligible to enter an athlete in the qualification tournament.
If none of the medalists can be entered, the highest-ranked eligible athlete from that continent in the rankings (regardless of finish at the continental games) qualifies.