The birthplace of Karate (Kara-te: empty hand) comes from a small island called Okinawa, in current-day Japan. Okinawa belongs to what is called the RyuKyu islands. Through trading with China and other countries, these merchants returned with pieces of martial training. Many of these people taught others who developed them into styles, frequently naming them after originating towns, specific individuals, or defining characteristics of the style. More common Okinawan styles include Shito Ryu, Shotokan, Goju Ryu, Wado Ryu, Shorin Ryu, and Kyokushin.

How is traditional karate different from other fighting styles?

However, because modern-day use of the term "karate" has become synonymous with the term "martial art," it is important to distinguish to non-practitioners that they are distinct in function and in history, because vast amounts of countries have a martial background with their own unique style of combat. The truncated history above, is what traditional karate refers to. We practice at our school what our karate forefathers practiced.

Contemporary styles usually have a difficult time tracing lineage and have a tendency to run a business first, rather than a dojo or training area. The business-first approach usually is a franchise, pumping out low-quality students while making a great deal of profit advertising from them. Since the common public doesn't know any different, many subscribe to these schools with the thought, "if they flourish in business, they must be good."

Traditional karate will put training quality and the lives of students first, even if that means turning other late-comer students away for the time being. We do our utmost to avoid permanent or major injury and work to support the body within self-defense training parameters. As such, sincere practitioners end up as a higher quality of black belt, with effective self-defense training.