Karate's origin

The precursor of Karate was Bodhidharma, the same who founded Zen Buddhism in India. Well known in the East, he was invited by the Chinese emperor of the time (520 B.C) to bring their expertise to China. But it was in Japan, more precisely on the island of Okinawa, that Karate was definitely systematized as the struggle of hands free, or better without weapons.

The story goes that in the early fifteenth century, King Hasshi, the Sho dynasty, managed to gather all the islands of the archipelago Ryu Kyu (whose largest island Okinawa was) a single nation. In order to discourage any armed coup of rival groups, he ordered that all weapons were confiscated, making his possession crime against the state.

Later, in 1609, Okinawa was invaded by the Lord Shimazu, converting it into his fiefdom and again the guns were banned, causing the people to return eagerly learning of unarmed fighting techniques. It was at this stage that there was a renewal of forms of combat and then came the OKINAWA-TE. The trainings were secret and students trained firmly and as the weapons were prohibited, attempts were made to make the hands and feet were as dangerous as conventional weapons. Thus, the technique has improved and they began to make use of knees and elbows, as well as significantly increasing the speed.

KARATE IN THE MODERN ERA

Modern Karate has been enhanced and published by Gishin Funakoshi (1869-1957), after studying many years on the island of Okinawa. In 1922, already in Tokyo, he taught at universities and their students spread throughout Japan, spreading your system with the ZEN (mental exercise).

Because Karate have been secretly practiced in the past, a large number of colors has been developed. The most practiced are Shotokan, Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu and Wado-Ryu, whose philosophy and struggle are the same, varying only a little shape. After World War II, Karate spread to the world