Karate @ FightUK.com

India.

Based on mans’ instinct of self-defense, different fighting arts were developed in most cultures, especially in central Asia, Egypt and Turkey. The principles of the Asian martial arts are believed to have spread from Turkey to India, where they were further developed to sophisticated arts (”kalaripayt”).

The history of Karate as we know it today can be taken back to India, perhaps two thousand years before the Christian Era. India was the birthplace of a bare-handed martial art called, in Sanskrit, Vajramushtthi. Evidence seems to indicate that it was commonly practiced by the Kshatriya, which was the Warrior Class of that time, and which can be compared to the Japanese Samurai and the medieval Knights of Europe.
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The history of the Asian martial arts in general is cloudy. There are some aspects that people can agree upon, amd then there are the differences. What I will tell you is in no way the ultimate history. It is the general history of martial arts as I know it, which will lead us to Shotokan. The history of Shotokan itself, where it started, who started it, how it spread is known, and verifiable, due to Shotokan’s brief history (It’s been around less than one hundred years).

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The Martial Arts leading to modern Karate-do are thought by many to have originated centuries ago in China. It is known, however, that in the 6th Century AD a Buddhist monk, Bodhidharma, travelled from the Indian subcontinent to the Temple of Shaolin in China. On his journey, and at the temple itself, he discovered devout monks observing spiritual Zen practices with great zeal, but who were physically feeble and weak. Bodhidharma undertook to improve their fitness as a part of their religious observance, since physical well-being is a core precept of Zen philosophy.
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The true history of traditional karate is almost impossible to verify due to the secrecy surrounding the arts and the lack of written records. It is known that the martial arts of Okinawa and Japan were influenced in the development of their martial arts by various Chinese sources. It is also clear that at least one source of influence on Chinese martial arts came from India.
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