The art of Karate can be traced back to the fighting method known as Shao-lin- tssu which was originally brought to China by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma around 5th or 6th century. Bodhidharma, the 26th patriarch of Buddhism, believed that an individual who achieved harmony between the body and the spirit could achieve enlightenment. While he was in China he taught the monks a specialized system of combat (developed in India) and combined it with rigorous meditation techniques to help them progress towards enlightenment.
Over many years this system of combat evolved with the influence of Chinese culture and eventually became known as Kempo (Chinese fist). As a result, the Buddhist monks that later travelled to Korea and Japan to spread Buddhism also taught this Martial Art. As each country would integrate it's own culture with Buddhism a new and unique evolution of the original fighting system occurred. Buddhism and this Martial Art eventually landed in Okinawa where the system evolved to into something that resembles the Japanese styles of Karate today.
