 What is karate? Well, it's not an individual art, but rather a category of arts that typically balance between kicks, punches, and standing grappling. It originated in Okinawa during the 19th century when it was called the Ryukyu Kingdom. Now, this was a major trading hub in the Pacific, especially with China. Local fighting systems called Teh, or Hand, began to develop and the three largest cities, Naha, Shuri, and Tomari, emerged as the most influential. Mixing with Chinese influences, these systems formed the basis of Okinawa karate. But soon it began to spread globally. Kichi Funakoshi brought a version of Shuri Teh to Japan in 1917, and this established Shodokan as a more regimented Japanese karate style. Now, karate originally meant tang hand, but with the strained relations to China, Funakoshi changed the kanji to translate to empty hand instead. Karate's influence continued to spread, including to Korea, and becoming the basis for Taekwondo and Tonksudo, and to America, serving as the foundation for the contemporary systems we see today.