空手道

Origin There are several theories regarding the origins of karate, but the main ones are as follows. Theory of development from mēkata In Okinawa there was an ancient martial dance called mēkata ( 舞方 ). The dancers danced to the accompaniment of songs and sanshin music, similar to karate kata. In the Okinawan countryside, mēkata remained until the early 20th century. There is a theory that from this mēkata with martial elements, te (Okinawan: tī , hand) was born and developed into karate. This theory is advocated by Ankō Asato and his student Gichin Funakoshi.