The Japanese art of karate’s roots can be traced to ancient India, China, and Okinawa. India, which developed yoga and its diaphragmatic breathing methods, has exerted influence on numerous combative techniques throughout the Orient. Many martial scholars consider India the birthplace of all martial arts. During the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. Zen Buddhist monks transmitted Indian combat techniques similar to modern karate to China.

It is thought that at the end of the 5th century A.D., a Buddhist priest named Bodhidharma traveled to China from India to instruct at the Shaolin monastery. There he taught the monks a combination of yoga and Indian fist-fighting that became the kung-fu system of Shao-lin. As the art proliferated throughout China, variation and local styles appeared.

The fighting techniques of China were subsequently carried to the offshore islands, most notably Okinawa, by waves of immigrants, refugees, and priests. Weaponless combat, called te (hand), had already existed on Okinawa; with the ban against carrying arms issued by the Japanese occupation in 1470, these empty-hand techniques thrived.Later, with the aid of Chinese kung-fu masters who fled from China, te developed into a crude form of karate. At first the new art was translated to mean T’ang, or China hand, to indicate its Chinese origin.It was not until the 20th century,Okinawan karate instructor – introduced Okinawa-te to Japan, that it acquired the name karate. In the years following in Japan, other styles of karate-do were developed. Many Okinawan masters brought their styles to Japan, among them Chojun Miyagi, who combined hard Okinawan karate with soft Chinese forms and called it goju-ryu (hard-soft way). Rivalry among these groups was so intense that each style practiced its art in secret.