How long has karate been around?

Answer 1

Karate is based on older Martial Arts. The art comes to the world from Japan, but its origin is in Okinawa. Okinawa was a tribute state of China and therefore the people traded goods. Martial arts made their way from China into Okinawa and developed with some differences in the different regions - Shuri and Naha. Kushanku (died 1762?) was a Ch'uan Fa kung fu master and taught Kanga Sakugawa (1733-1815). His "karate" was called "Te." He in turn taught Sokon Matsumura (1797-1889) who is credited with being the master of Shuri-Te. It was from him that Yasutsune "Anko" Itosu (1830-1916) learned Shuri-Te and became one of the most prominent masters in Okinawa. Wai XinXian (dates and style unknown) taught Seisho Aragaki (1840-1918) whose style became known as "Tode." Wei Shinzan was a Fukien kung fu master and contemporarty to Wai XinXian. It was under both of these Chinese instructors and under Aragaki that Kanryo Higaonna (1853-1915) studied and became recognized as the "Naha-Te" master.

Once Japan invaded Okinawa, they became a tribute state of Japan as well. In the early 1900's Okinawan masters began to travel to Japan to share karate. Okinawans had used several names for the art. Originally it was called "Te" "Tode" "Uchinade" or "Ryukyu Kempo." It later became more universally known as "karate." The characters used to write the word meant "Chinese hand." In 1905 Hanashiro Chomo wrote a book called "Karate Kumite" and was the first person to use the characters for karate meaning "empty hand." As the Okinawans began to teach in Japan, they used the characters meaning "empty hand" to get the Japanese public to accept the art. (The Japanese hated all things Chinese.) In 1930, Chojun Miyagi registered his style, Goju-Ryu, the first official style of karate with the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai - the governing body for martial arts in Japan.

Answer 2

Kung fu is almost as old as civilization itself , recently Chinese archaeologists have discovered kung fu style swords made out of bone that are around 7000 years old! Many popular combat sports such as boxing and Wrestling are techniqally very simple early forms of kung fu. The oldest form of kung fu that is sophisticated is propably shaolin , more specifically lohan style kung fu.

Sources: THE ART OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU by Wong Kiew Kit

Answer 3

Depends on whether or not you use official historical or traditional sources. The official history says Karate was invented by Sokkon Matsumura an Okinawan, and a shipwrecked Chinese sailor, a Fujian Crane stylist named Kwang Chang Fu, in the early 1800's.

Answer 4

Karate is a very old martial art. It originated in Okinawa in medieval times. It was brought to Japan in 20th century. From there the sporty nature of Karate was popularized.

Answer 5

Ever since 1372

Answer 6

Lots of years.