| History of Karate |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Many theories exist as to the evolution of karate in the
martial arts. I will attempt to take the commonality of these
theories and summarize my interpretation on these theories.
The evolution of karate began in the martial arts over a
thousand years ago. The details of the origin are vague, but
most research shows that about 1400 years ago (525 AD)
an Indian Priest named Budhidharma (known as Daruma
Taishi in Japan) was the source of martial arts.
It should be noted that there are some references to a
prince in India over 5000 years ago who watched the
movements of animals and their methods of defense.
Apparently the prince then applied these techniques to the
human body and found that many of them worked.
According to legend he experimented with over one hundred
slaves in his experiments which included determining weak
points of the human body by jabbing needles into the body
of a slave until the jabbing killed the slave.
Budhidharma, who was a Buddhist Monk, gave to karate the
“Spirit of Zen”, and therefore is the founder of Zen
Buddhism. Zen Buddhism is a form of meditation striving
toward abrupt enlightenment. Emphasis is placed on direct
transmission from master to pupil with little written
documentation. Some refer to this, “Spirit of Zen”, as the
most important contribution the martial arts ever received.
Budhidharma then traveled from India to China, bringing a
systematic set of exercises and physical drills designed to
strengthen the mind and body. These exercises, some of
which looked like dancing, were taught to the monks. The
exercises were initially meant to give the practitioners of Zen
the “experience of enlightenment”. However, they eventually
became the base of ch’üan-fa (“fist way”), which is known as
kempo to the Japanese. Budhidharma’s teachings were the
basis for most Chinese martial arts.
The early ch’üan-fa schools were very secretive and it was a
capitol offense to display the techniques to the
“uninitiated”. This is probably the main reason why there
are not many references to additional details of the
beginning evolution of Chinese weaponless martial arts.
However, these appear to be the beginning techniques that
come to be called karate. Ch’üan-fa is more popularly
known, in Madarin China , as kung-fu.
Budhidharma taught these exercises and drills to the
monastery of the Shaolin temple in China . This is believed
to be the beginning of the Shaolin Style of temple boxing
(Shaolin Boxing). These early stages of martial arts moved
from China to Japan and Okinawa. Controversy exists as of
the exact timing of these movements. Several references
state the movement began during the T’ang dynasty,
approximately 618-906 A.D. The first character to of the
word tode is the symbol of this dynasty. The influence of
this dynasty was so great that the Japanese used the
character to (also meaning kara) to mean ‘China ’. From the
T’ang dynasty period until the Ming period (1368-1644),
references to the art of karate are little to none. It was not
until this period that a permanent
Okinawa settlement was developed. The first settlement
was from a group that formed its own community and is
known as the “thirty-six families”. It is believed these
families were largely responsible for the spread of ch’üan-fa
throughout the Ryukyu Islands . The Ryukyu Islands are a
chain of islands lying between Taiwan
and Japan. Okinawa is the largest island in this chain. These
islands were the crossroads of major trading routes and was
a ‘resting spot’, which was first discovered by the Japanese.
It was later the trading center for Southeast Asia, trading
with Japan, China, Indo China, Thailand, Malasyia, Borneo,
and the Philippines. Okinawa is now a small island of the
group of islands that are part of Japan . It is the main island
in the chain of Ryukyu Islands that is located between Japan
and Taiwan . Therefore, this first settlement became a
major factor for the spread of the martial arts throughout
other countries.
| History of Karate |
Maryland Martial Arts and Kick
Fitness Boxing School
New Vision Martial Arts
10840 Guilford Road, Suite 403
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701
Phone: (443) 745-0192
Contact Us
Fitness Boxing School
New Vision Martial Arts
10840 Guilford Road, Suite 403
Annapolis Junction, MD 20701
Phone: (443) 745-0192
Contact Us
| New Student Special |
| Try Any Martial Arts Or Kick Boxing Class Free For One Week! |
| Training Schedule |
| Contact Us |
| Follow Us |
| Follow Us On Baltimore Social Network |
Copyright New Vision Martial Arts. All Right Reserved. Eating Healthy Partners
Annapolis Junction Catonsville Clarksville Columbia Ellicott City Elkridge Laurel
Annapolis Junction Catonsville Clarksville Columbia Ellicott City Elkridge Laurel