What is Karate

There are many books outlining the history of Karate, and Kyokushin Karate in particular. The following is a brief outline.

The earliest forms of unarmed combat were brought to China from India by Buddhist monks. In particular, around 500 AD a zen Buddhist monk named Bhodidarma arrived in China and as well as teaching Zen, he also taught an unarmed system of combat called Shorin Kempo. Bhodidarma also linked his combat system with yoga and Zen meditation making a more complete system. Even today Zen has an inseparable link with the fighting arts.

From China, kempo spread North to Mongolia, east to Korea and South East to Okinawa (around 1393). In Okinawa, at various times in its history (1400 and again in 1609) authorities forbade the use of arms by the populace. During this time, unarmed combat became even more widely taught throughout Okinawa for obvious reasons.

It was not until the late 19th Century after many centuries of cross development that mainland Japan showed any interest in the combat art that came to be known as Karate (the way of the empty hand). In 1916, Master Gichin Funakoshi came from Okinawa to Tokyo and pioneered the modern system of Karate in Japan.