Karate was first developed by the aristocratic warrior classes or Pechin of Okinawa. This class was the equivalent of the Japanese Samurai. Okinawa-Te (the earliest form of Karate) was first developed by these warriors as a striking and grappling supplement to their weapon arts. But then in the early 17th century the Japanese Satsuma clan invaded Okinawa and an edict was pronounced banning the carrying of arms by the Okinawan warrior class. This gave a considerable impetus to the development of Karate as more complex and sophisticated fighting forms had to be developed in order to beat the armoured Samurai. It is also at this time that disenfranchised Okinawan warriors also adopted farming implements as weapons. This separate art would eventually be known as Rykyu Kobudo or Okinawa Kobudo (Okinawa Weapon Arts). Therefore, it is not surprise that the majority of modern Masters of Karate and Kobudo were descendants of these noble warrior families.

Though the martial arts of Okinawa originally developed indigenously, they were also significantly influenced through trade with China. In its long history, Karate was influenced in particular by those Chinese martial arts from Fujian province. Because Karate became known as To-Te or China hand (To, being the Japanese pronunciation of Tang, as in the Chinese dynasty) it was changed in 1936 to the less Chinese sounding term Karate (empty hand).

In time, three large groupings of To-Te emerged: Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomari-Te. Shuri, Naha and Tomari are villages in Okinawa and Te means hand. Therefore these “Te” refer to traditions that evolved in the different villages where they were practiced.

Many modern styles would develop from these three traditions. From Shuri would develop all the styles of Shorin Ryu, from Tomari Motobu Ryu and Matsubayashi Ryu and from Naha, Goju Ryu, To’on Ryu and Shito Ryu.

Karate as a martial art is mainly characterized by the following components:

Tsuki Waza (punching)
Geri Waza (kicking)
Uke Waza (blocking)
Nage Waza (grappling)
Kata (pre-arranged sequences of techniques)
Tanren (body conditioning)

In the 20th century, Karate would be exported to the Japanese mainland by Gichin Funakoshi, Choki Motobu and Kenwa Mabuni, all of Okinawan descent. From then on Karate would evolve differently in Japan. Later in the 1940-50s Karate would be imported into North America, mainly by American GI’s serving in Japan and in Okinawa. Once implanted in North America, some Karate would also go through a second cultural change.

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