Karate has many forms and variations. The very origins come from the fifth century AD, with a Zen Buddhist monk called Bhodidharma.

Priests were well practised in self defence due to the precarious nature of their lives, with people of different faiths coming into conflict regularly. The self defence then was based on yoga techniques.

Towards the end of the fifth century Bhodidharma went from India to China to teach at the Shaolin-Szu monastery to teach yoga for the purposes of aligning the body and soul to achieve enlightenment.

The exercise involved was difficult, so to help this, he introduced kempo, a style of Chinese fighting. It worked, and soon the Shaolin-Szu temple became one of the most respected fighting schools in China.

The target areas in karate are based on parts of the body which were highlighted by medical science for Chinese acupuncture. Kempo was used with acupuncture and other medical techniques.

With the increase in popularity of the new style of unarmed combat, it spread across China and then across East Asia. Variations were practised in different places. One of these places was an island in the Ryukyu archipelago of islands between Japan and Taiwan.

This island, called Okinawa, already had its own system of martial arts. It was known as te (hand) and been in use before the Shaolin-Szu techniques arrived. As warriors began carrying weapons, te had not been practised as widely.

In the late fifteenth century, there were restrictions imposed in Okinawa on the carrying of weapons, and te became more popular again. When the Chinese kempo reached Okinawa, it combined with the Japanese te to create tang hand.

Karate

The word 'karate' was originated in 1922. Gichin Funakoshi, who was an exponent of tang hand from Okinawa, gave a demonstration in Japan. He had combined some of the skills of te, tang hand, and the Japanese ju-jitsu to create a new form of fighting.

He called the new form 'karate'. It was not a physical-only pursuit. The principles of karate have their roots in Zen Buddhism. Zen was the meditation aspect, while karate was the action element.

Funakoshi's style of karate became known as shotokan, so called because his nickname was Shoto, and it was the precursor to other styles which developed - shitoryu, gojuryu, wadoryu, shukokai, and kyokushinkai.

Shitoryu was founded by Kenwa Mabuni who took his style to Japan in 1930. Gojuryu was developed by Chojun Miyagi, who, like Funakoshi and Mabuni, was also from Okinawa.

Hironori Ohtsuka was a Japanese student of ju-jitsu at Waseda University, and adopted karate techniques to form the wadoryu (way of peace) school of karate. Another Japanese student, Chojiro Tani, founded the shukokai (way for all) school. He was a former student of Mabunim who formed his own school in 1950.

Kyokushinkai (the peak of truth) was founded by a Korean, Masutatsu Oyama. He went to Japan in 1938 when he was 15, to study aviation.

There are many other techniques, like wadokai, gojukai, shotokai, kanshinryu, kung fu, and wing chun.

International karate

During the Second World War, when many Western servicemen were stationed in the Far East, their awareness of martial arts was raised. Karate began to spread a little from then, although wider development had not yet happened.

In 1964, there was an effort to create a set of standard rules for competitive karate, and the Federation of All Japan Karate-do Organisations (FAJKO) was formed with state approval.

In 1970, when some other national associations had been formed, the first 'all styles' world championship took place in Tokyo, Japan. At the same time, the World Union of Karate-do Organisations (WUKO) was established.

Karate

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