facts about karate

There are many arguments as to where exactly the study of martial arts came from. Some would say the Japanese; others are stern in their belief that the Chinese brought martial arts to its popularity and so forth. Although there are minimal sources as to who started the study, it is clear that the study of martial arts was born on the Island of Okinawa.

Okinawa is a small island that is located south of Japan and east of China. It is the main island of all the Ryuku Islands and runs approximately 6 miles wide and about 70 miles long. Due to the convenient location, one could imagine that there were many visitors from many different countries, the Chinese, and Koreans, and also visitors of Taiwan were amongst them. Thousands of years ago, the visitors on this island not only exchanged goods but also their knowledge of their cultures, martial arts being one of them.

 On this island, there were various types of martial arts that were taught and practiced. One of the earliest was a form known as “Te” or “Hand”.  This is a form where one would fight with a closed fist.  It was encouraged to learn this form of martial arts without the use of weapon, and/or to limit the use of weapons.  One of the reasons that there was a strong force of use without weapons was due to the uniting of local kingdoms that issued a ban of all weapons in 1429. Therefore it was important to teach locals to learn to fight with their bear hands, or “Te”. The form of “Te” is known today as Karate. The literal meaning of Karate is “empty hands”.  

 The knowledge of “Te” or “Okinawa-Te” grew throughout the main cities of Okinawa: Tomari, Naha, and Shuri. Within these cities, which were only about a few miles apart, one would find a different style of “Okinawa –Te” being practiced. At this time, Karate was not a practice that was praised due to the uniting of the Kingdoms surrounding Okinawa.