What is Karate?

Karate is a system of fighting which originated on the island of Okinawa, which lies 450 kilometres southwest of Japan. The term karate, meaning ‘China hand’, first appears in the latter half of the seventeenth century when a famous Master took the name ‘Karate Sakugawa’. Sakugawa was a student both of the native Okinawan fighting art of to-de and one of the many Chinese martial arts (or chuan’fa).

Karate has no single point of origin, though it is principally associated with the Okinawan towns of Shuri (the feudal capital), Tomari and Naha, and also with the Chinese settlement at Toei.

At the end of the eighteenth century, the practice of karate was encouraged and the Okinawan schoolmaster Gichin Funakoshi gave a demonstration in Kyoto. Five years later, he returned to Japan and took up residence there. Other Okinawan Masters followed and, within a short time, the Japanese were producing their own karate teachers.

Modern karate is a well-organized and regulated fighting system using punches, kicks and strikes as its weapons. Over the years, much work has been done on the development of impact force with the result that karate blows can be extremely forceful. A skilled karateka (one who practises karate) can shatter several bricks with a single blow. Karate is also a combat sport, utilizing controlled techniques to score points.