| Karate-do, in all its various forms, finds its origins | | | | merchants, Chinese officials on diplomatic missions, |
| in one place - the Ryukyu islands off the coast of | | | | and young members of wealthy Okinawan |
| Japan. What we know as one of the most widely | | | | families who went to China to learn "Quan Fa" / |
| practiced systems of self defense and discipline in | | | | kung fu to further their education and martial arts |
| the world is the result of centuries of | | | | studies. The general name given to the fighting |
| development. While Karate-do was introduced as | | | | arts learned and further refined by the Okinawan |
| a code of ethics to a peacetime America only a | | | | martial artists was tode-jutsu (alternately spelled |
| few decades ago, it began through the need of | | | | tou-di), the Okinawan name given to Chinese |
| Ryukyu natives for better methods of fighting. | | | | martial arts. |
| There are a few theories about the origins of the | | | | In February 1609, invasion of Okinawa by the |
| fighting arts that later became collectively known | | | | Satsuma clan (of Kyushu, Japan) triggered |
| as Karate-do. However, it is certain that many | | | | another period of rapid development of native |
| notable Chinese kung fu practitioners settled in | | | | Okinawan fighting arts. Satsuma control lasted until |
| Okinawa, the capital of the Ryukyu kingdom. | | | | 1879, when the King of Ryukyu finally abdicated |
| The origins of the Chinese arts themselves are | | | | and the country became part of Japan. |
| also shrouded in the mists of time. A widely | | | | During this period, kobudo (often translated "old |
| accepted theory is that Bodhidharma, the founder | | | | fighting method"; commonly used to represent |
| of Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism created what would later | | | | Okinawan weapon fighting) evolved. Farm |
| evolve into Shaolin kung-fu. The original exercises | | | | implements were used as weapons, as traditional |
| were used to strengthen his monks' bodies, | | | | weapons were not allowed. However, some of |
| minds, and spirits, to help them better fulfill their | | | | the native Ryukyu warrior class traveled up to |
| duties. This level of personal cultivation carried | | | | the Satsuma clan in the later part of the 19th |
| across to many Chinese martial arts. By way of | | | | century and learned their samurai fighting art |
| transmission to other countries, this carried across | | | | Jigen-ryu kenjutsu. It was not long after this that |
| to other martial arts, Karate-do being one of | | | | Sokon Matsumura, "Toudi" Sakugawa, and Tsuken |
| them. | | | | Koura, among the many who had made the trip, |
| Details are rather sketchy at best as to the | | | | introduced their contributions to kobudo. |
| actual origins of Karate-do, however. It is most | | | | Matsumura is commonly considered the great |
| widely accepted that in the year 1507, the | | | | grandfather of the karate movement in and |
| weapons ban passed by King Sho Shin led to the | | | | around Shuri. He learned native Okinawan fighting |
| rapid development of native unarmed fighting arts. | | | | from Sakugawa (who in turn learned from |
| These arts were primarily influenced by various | | | | Kusankun and other masters). He later studied in |
| forms of Chinese kung fu, which Okinawans | | | | Fujian and Satsuma. He learned Shaolin Boxing |
| began learning in the 14th century. | | | | (Shorin-ryu) under the tutelage of master Iwah. |
| Okinawans learned forms of Shaolin kung fu from | | | | As a result of the efforts of Matsumura, the |
| Shaolin masters who fled China as a result of the | | | | fighting arts that surfaced around the noble / |
| oppressive Qing dynasty. Okinawans also learned | | | | castle district of Shuri came to be known as |
| various forms of kung fu from Chinese | | | | Shuri-te (Shuri hand). |