Karate is the ultimate of the unarmed Martial Arts.  The word Karate means empty hands; Kara - empty, te (pronounced tay) - hands; therefore empty hands, or without a weapon. Actually the hands, elbows, feet, and other parts of the human anatomy are the Karate Ka's (person's) weapons.  Karate specializes in striking blows, such as kicking, punching, chopping, slashing, clawing, stabbing, and gouging techniques, along with a few locking, breaking, throwing, and choking techniques which are used in special instances where it is more practical to throw, lock, break, or choke than to deliver a strike or blow.

    Karate can trace its origin back to the Greeks who practiced the sport of Pankration (combination of punching, kicking, and grappling) which entered the ancient Olympics in 648 B.C.  This self-defense art was carried by Alexander The Great's troops to India, where is was picked up by the Buddhist Monks living in the region.  Approximately in 525 A.D., a Monk named Daruma, crossed the Himalayas from India to China on foot, a task that required tremendous physical and mental prowess in itself.  He came to China  to enlighten and teach the monarchs and monks of the Liang dynasty in the ways of Buddha.  Daruma found the Chinese monks lacking in physical culture more so than intellectual or philosophical knowledge.  He therefore incorporated a physical fitness program into his teachings but rather than have the monks practice monotonous calisthenics, Daruma based the exercise based on certain self-defense movements he had learned.  Soon the Monks of the Shaolin Temple (Shorin in the Okinawan or Japanese language) becamed famed for their physical endurance and fighting ability.

    Sholin Temple Tsu (method) was carried to Okinawa where it was developed to its highest perfection.  The Okinawans also developed the system of conditioning or hardening the hands and feet to a point where objects, such as bricks, roof tiles, boards, etc., can be broken with them.

    Tamise Wara, the breaking of hard objects, is however only a small part portion of True Karate.  It is practiced mainly by instructors and advanced students.  Hand and feet conditioning is advocated and taught although it is not required nor is it necessary to have hard or conditioned weapons to posses strong Karate technique.  Even a small women, without any hand conditioning whatsoever, could kill the strongest man if she had proper ability in Karate technique.  It is the technique that is most important.  Hard or calloused weapons are an added asset, not a necessity.

    The "Empty Hands" themselves coupled with the knowledge gained from proper teaching and the ability developed from hard training are the weapons of Karate.