In the broadest sense of the word, Karate—as with all forms of unarmed combat—must have arisen alongside humanity itself, for even our earliest ancestors were constantly engaged in battles with one another and with the animals that surrounded them. However, Karate as an organized martial art or sport did not emerge until people began living in communities. During this period of human expansion, groups around the world developed various fighting techniques that bear a resemblance to what we now recognize as Karate. Consequently, it would be misleading to assert that Karate originated solely in the East, even though the form of Karate familiar to us today is undoubtedly Eastern.
Over the course of history, we continually discover myriad forms of unarmed combat that can be traced back to a primitive form of Karate. The modern incarnation of Karate is traditionally attributed to an Indian Buddhist priest named Daruma, who is said to have traveled from India to China around 500 BCE to teach what he believed was the true form of Buddhism. After enduring a journey fraught with hardships, he arrived in Chin-Lung, the capital of the Ling Empire—one of the many kingdoms into which present-day China was divided at that time. The emperor of Ling, a devout Buddhist known as Wu, initially welcomed him. However, over time, their differing interpretations of certain Buddhist doctrines led Emperor Wu to expel Daruma from his realm.
Undeterred, Daruma journeyed north to the Kingdom of Wei, where he took refuge in the Shaolin-ssu monastery. One of the core teachings of Buddhism is that the body and mind are inseparable, and that one only becomes a true Buddhist when they are fully unified—a unity achievable only by subjecting the body to strict discipline. If the body is weak, the mind inevitably suffers, and Daruma believed that many of the monastery’s disciples fell short in this regard.
To strengthen the body, Daruma instituted a rigorous training regimen that included a method of unarmed combat described in a book called the I-shin-shing, which he had brought from India. This fighting technique, when combined with traditional Chinese methods, evolved into the Shao-lin-ssu fighting style—the precursor to the later Chinese form of Karate.
Language: Dutch
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