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Japanese Martial Arts
It is generally accepted that the roots of karate grew in Okinawa. Karate is an art that teaches strikes with the elbows, knees, hands and feet. Karate can be translated as "empty hand". After world war II and american military bases were in Japan, karate was able to spread to the United States.
Because ethics and principles are taught many students feel a spiritual connection with the art. Today it is almost always learned for self defence. Keep in mind that karate is also a sport and there is a possibility for it to become an olympic event.
history of the japanese martial arts
It was at the end of the 1300's that many Chinese moved into Japan. They lived in groups and shared the Chinese culture. By the 1400's the king at that time disallowed weapons. It was events like this that helped the art develop further.
During these times if your family was rich you might get a chance to travel to China to study. It is certain that the Chinese arts spread into the Japanese martial arts styles. With this happening diferent flavors of the Japanese arts arose.
In the early 1900's karate was introduced to the Japanese school system. Many of the forms and patterns taught in those days are still common to many of the arts. By the time Japan was invading China some changes were made to the style names to remove any relation to the invading forces.
The building where the art is studied is called a dojo and the patterns and forms are known as kata. It was before the 1920's that the colored belt rank system was developed. The patterns that are learned are the strikes and blows performed in a set sequence. Kata can mean "shape". To advance to a next belt the student must perform the patterns for that level. The forms for the higher belts can be very complex and require a lot of practice to pass the required tests.
There is a school of thought that karate should be so formal and that real life combat situations should be considered. This led to a sub-set of karate known as kumite. Kumite is simply fighting or sparring without such a strict and stiff karate overtone. The aim of kumite is to bring the opponent down to the ground.
At first the art was written as "chinese hand". This was later changed to "empty hand". This might show the strong Chinese influence in the Japanese martial arts.
To learn more about Karate see the following links.