Where it all began...

[KataChic]

Did you know that Karate was originally from INDIA??? I didn't.. but it is, Karate was brought to China from India back in the B.C era by the Shaolin monks, and later traveled to Japan.

source: my Shihan

[Wa-No-Michi]

Did you know that Karate was originally from INDIA??? I didn't.. but it is, Karate was brought to China from India back in the B.C era by the Shaolin monks, and later traveled to Japan.

source: my Shihan

Some argue that the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, was in some part responsible for the introduction of a "codified" fighting system into India after his troops conquered northern India c. 325 bc.

So The India thing could have been preceded by ancient Greece in theory at least.

Either way, I think it is important to bear in mind that most civilization had a fully developed "indigenous" system of fighting.

WNM

[The BB of C]

Yes. That's actually pretty common knowledge. Bohdi Darma (please excuse my atrocious spelling) is said to have known the Indian style, Kalepatteparu (again with the bad spelling). When he went to the Shaolin temple in China, the monks there did not have the physical capacity to do high level meditations. So he began training them to condition their bodies to be able to handle the meditation. Later on, as the temple started being attacked by whatever history has thrown at it, the monks developed their own fighting style even more and learned how to turn anything into a weapon. Then history went on and Shaolin became a few different Chinese styles. One of the Shaolin monks went to Japan and taught his theories to the Japanese which became known as Shorin-ryu.

But at the end of the day - it all comes down to that martial arts themselves don't have a real origin. You'll find that any civilization in history has needed to defend itself and thus has developed it's own martial art.

[Killer Miller]

That is kind of my understanding as well, except it wasn't Karate - it was more of a form of wrestling or judo. It is my understanding that Karate was a hybrid of the indian wrestling type of style for it's solid base of stances, and incorporated into Juijitsu with it's open hand technique and high stances. Together forming Karate with a stronger base to increase both mobility, power and stability into one art - Karate.

There is no true documentation on this, and it's like talking religion where nobody will agree one way or the other, but this is how Funikoshi and Nishiyama described it...

- Killer -

Did you know that Karate was originally from INDIA??? I didn't.. but it is, Karate was brought to China from India back in the B.C era by the Shaolin monks, and later traveled to Japan.

source: my Shihan

[bushido_man96]

Did you know that Karate was originally from INDIA??? I didn't.. but it is, Karate was brought to China from India back in the B.C era by the Shaolin monks, and later traveled to Japan.

source: my Shihan

Some argue that the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, was in some part responsible for the introduction of a "codified" fighting system into India after his troops conquered northern India c. 325 bc.

So The India thing could have been preceded by ancient Greece in theory at least.

Either way, I think it is important to bear in mind that most civilization had a fully developed "indigenous" system of fighting.

WNM

I have heard this proposal as well. I think that this one has more merit than the Bodhidarma myth does. There hasn't been any proof that Bodhidarma actually even practiced a Martial Art. There was also a time when Kalarpyattu was being touted as the "Mother of the Martial Arts," but there isn't enough evidence out there to confirm that, either. I believe it was documented as one of several combat arts being utilized at that time period.

I think that the reality is that most cultures have had to fight during their histories, and therefore, would have developed some form of fighting to defend themselves with. The idea that different concepts could cross into other cultures is very feasible. But I wouldn't be ready to throw in the whole lot of the MAs with the Bodhidarma theory.