Hundreds of years

Martial Arts History

Traditional Okinawan martial arts are influenced by an underlying code of ethics influenced by Zen philosophy. This code of ethics was introduced into the Okinawan arts systems by various masters possibly to protect the martial art from becoming nothing more than a brutal form of street fighting, or degenerating into sport. To understand martial arts ethics and the influence of certain zen philosophies, one must step back in history to examine the evolution of karate through history.

The system of martial arts we know today as karate is believed to have originated centuries ago from India. The Buddhist scripture Lotus Sutra, provides written evidence of bare-handed fighting arts indigenous to India prior to any evidence of Ch’uan-fa.

Tradition suggests that the progenitor of karate was introduced at the Shaolin Temple in the Honan Province of northern China in 520 A.D. by an Indian monk named Bodhidharma. According to legend, Bodhidharma traveled from India and entered the temple to teach the Shaolin monks Zen philosophy, but early in his instruction he found the monks to be inattentive and physically unfit. As a result, he introduced physical training known as ‘shih pa lo han sho’ or the 'eighteen hands of Lo-Han', reputed as the basis of Shaolin ch'uan fa.