Karate 空手

[Blade~]

Despite the common belief by many who do not practice karate that it is an ancient Japanese art, it's rather a new creation. The birth place of Karate is the largest of the Ryukyu islands, Okinawa where Karate was first born. Karate was first brought to Okinawa by merchants who traveled to China and were trained in some of the Chinese martial arts.

Karate was first brought to Japan in the early 1920s when the Japanese Athletic Association held an event and to make it more interesting they invited one of the well know Okinawa Karate masters Funakoshi Gichin. Funakoshi accepted the invitation and compiled a very exciting demonstration. The demonstration was also seen by the found the of Judo, Gigoro Kano who was impressed and asked Funakoshi not to return to Okinawa but rather start teaching the art of Karate in Japan. Funakoshi decided it would be a great opportunity to bring Karate outside of Okinawa and let others know about it. Little did he know at this time that he will never again return to his home land.

Funakoshi began teaching and his school, which he named 'Shotokan', began to grow more and more. Many famous future masters studied in Funakoshi's school but later most created their own styles which often closely resembled Shotokan but with slight variations. Some of the most important changes were in the forms - also known as 'kata' - where most instructor stressed different techniques.

Most Japanese Karate styles root in Shotokan and are the variation of this one style. Image below shows the founder of modern Japanese karate, Funakoshi along with a few old images.