Traditional Karate and its historical beginnings In its earliest stages, the martial art known, as "karate" was an indigenous form of closed fist fighting, which was developed in Okinawa, referred to as "Te" or "hand". Weapons bans, imposed upon the Okinawans at various points in history, encouraged the refinement of empty hand techniques. For this reason, "Te" was trained in secret until modern times. Further refinement came with the influence of other martial arts introduced by nobles and trade merchants to the Island.

Te continued to develop over the years, primarily in three Okinawan cities:

Shuri, Naha, Tomari

Each of these towns was a center to a different sect of society; the aristocracy (kings and nobles), the middle class (merchants and business people) and the fisherman and farmers, respectively. For this reason, different forms of self-defense developed within each city and subsequently became know as

Shuri-te, Naha-te, Tomari-te

Collectively these practices or early systems were called Okinawa-Te or "Tode", meaning Chinese Hand

The first demonstration of "Karate" took place in Japan in 1917 when Gichin Funakoshi performed at the Butoku-den in Kyoto. This and subsequent demonstrations not only greatly impressed many Japanese, but drew the attention and enthusiasm of the Crown-Prince Hirohito.

The first demonstration of Karate takes place in Tokyo which was supported by Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo.

Karate was still not a codified system and was not considered a "legitimate martial art" due to the prejudice of the Japanese populace toward the Okinawans.

Yasuhiro Konishi, a board member of the Dai Nippon Butokukai (the sanctioning body for martial arts in Japan) becomes interested in Karate in 1924.

In 1935, Konishi succeeded in having Karate accepted as a legitimate martial art and registered the system with the Dai Nippon Butokukai. With this, a formalized curriculum was established for each "ryu" or system of Karate as a requirement for sanctioning.

Six systems are registered:

Goju-ryu under Chojun Miyagi
Shito-ryu under Kenwa Mabuni
Wado-ryu under Hirononri Ohtsuka
Shotokan under Gichin Funakoshi
Kushin-ryu under Ueshima Sannosuke
Shindo Jinen-ryu under Yasuhiro Konishi


From the six original systems, four of them became very popular and established themselves as the primary systems within Japan:

Goju-ryu
Shito-ryu
Shotokan
Wado-ryu