Literally translated karate is Japanese for Empty Hand, indicating that it is a martial arts that does not require the use of any weapon other than the parts of the body, but, it also means that the karate ka should strive to empty his/her mind of any aggression or anger.
Karate Do is a Japanese art of self defense which originated from china, practiced in Okinawa and was later on developed in mainland Japan.
During the early times, the Kanji character used for Karate was 唐手 read as way of the China hands (can also be read as T'ang Soo in some Okinawan dialects and also the Korean language). Okinawan high school students led by their karate teacher, Ginchin Funakoshi, demonstrated karate in front of the Emperor during one of his visits in Okinawa. It was said that the Emperor was so amazed by the beauty of karate that the Japanese Ministry of Education and Sports requested Okinawa high school sports association to do a demonstration of karate at the all Japan martial arts festival that will be held in mainland Japan. Mr. Funakoshi was then sent to introduce this art to the mainland Japanese. Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, requested that Mr. Funakoshi should extend his stay in mainland Japan to do further demonstration and also to teach karate in some Universities and Japanese martial arts school as well. During those times, Japanese people are very nationalistic and will not accept anything foreign especially Chinese, So master Funakoshi changed the old kara (唐)to a kara(空) character which means empty, to disassociate it with china. Thus the word "Empty Hand" began.
Karate Do is a Japanese art of self defense which originated from china, practiced in Okinawa and was later on developed in mainland Japan.
During the early times, the Kanji character used for Karate was 唐手 read as way of the China hands (can also be read as T'ang Soo in some Okinawan dialects and also the Korean language). Okinawan high school students led by their karate teacher, Ginchin Funakoshi, demonstrated karate in front of the Emperor during one of his visits in Okinawa. It was said that the Emperor was so amazed by the beauty of karate that the Japanese Ministry of Education and Sports requested Okinawa high school sports association to do a demonstration of karate at the all Japan martial arts festival that will be held in mainland Japan. Mr. Funakoshi was then sent to introduce this art to the mainland Japanese. Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, requested that Mr. Funakoshi should extend his stay in mainland Japan to do further demonstration and also to teach karate in some Universities and Japanese martial arts school as well. During those times, Japanese people are very nationalistic and will not accept anything foreign especially Chinese, So master Funakoshi changed the old kara (唐)to a kara(空) character which means empty, to disassociate it with china. Thus the word "Empty Hand" began.