Kara-te (meaning 'empty-hand' or without weapons) has existed in the Far East for many centuries. It originates from the small island of Okinawa which lies midway between China and Japan. Okinawa now forms part of Japan but over the centuries it has been fought over and governed by both China and Japan.

As a busy seaport it constantly had visiting merchants and travellers from both these and other eastern countries. This exposure too many different cultures and their various fighting forms led to the development and perfecting of karate. However the most important influences seem to have been the Chinese Shaolin monks and the various forms of Chinese "boxing".

In the 17th century the Japanese invaded and occupied Okinawa. The Okinawan people fought their invaders at every opportunity and made life very difficult for the Japanese. So much so, that a decree banning the use and possession of weapons by the locals was passed. The islanders then had to fight without the help of weapons, using only their "empty hands"! It was during this period that karate became very refined and truly flourished.

The mid 1800s saw the emergence of karate into Okinawan society. Until this time it had been practiced and taught only
in secret. The two most important Masters of this time were Kanryo Higaonna and Ankoh Itosu. These men are the founders of all the modern day karate systems. Both lived and taught in different cities and had different students. Most of the basic karate techniques they taught were the same although different aspects were emphasised.

Three famous students of the two masters were Kenwa Mabuni, Chojun Miyagi and Gichin Funakoshi. In later years, each of them taught in Japan having a major influence on the development of karate.

At this time there were no names or styles of karate: karate was simply referred to by the city where it was taught, either Shuri or Naha. The Japanese word for hand is "te" therefore it was called Shuri-te or Naha-te (hand fighting from Shuri or Naha).

In the late 1890s karate began to be taught in the schools of Okinawa, such was the respect it commanded from the
locals. This regard was due mainly to its highly valued qualities of discipline, health, and self-defence.

It was only in 1915 that karate was introduced to mainland Japan after a demonstration was given for the Emperor by one
of the top Okinawan karate Masters, Gichin Funakoshi (mentioned above). It soon became popular with the Japanese people and other masters were encouraged to visit from Okinawa to teach the art, among them Kenwa Mabuni and Chojun Miyagi. This teaching mainly took place in the Japanese universities. It was then that the Japanese decided to give names to distinguish between the teaching methods of the Masters.

Shotokan was the name given to Gichin Funakoshi's method.

Goju ryu meaning 'hard-soft' style) was Chojun Miyagi's choice.

Wado-ryu, another well-known karate style was developed and later named by one of Gichin Funakoshi's students,
Hironori Ohtsuka.

Shito-ryu was the name chosen by Kenwa Mabuni. He had studied under both Ankoh Itosu and Kanryo Higaonna in Okinawa and the name "Shi-to" is made up from Japanese characters for their names. Shito-ryu is the style of karate that we practice.

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