A Brief History of the Martial Arts 
compiled by Grandmaster Larry Sullivan
10th Degree Black Belt

To the best of historian’s accounts the martial arts have been around for thousands of years, perhaps Cain and Able were the first to show us. Since then mankind has waged war. With each war and conflict, new form’s of weapons, tactics, and defenses were created or modified to fit the needs of the conflict.

It is in my opinion that every race and nation through time has helped to evolve the martial arts. They did so by way of their armies. Each part of their army had master instructors who categorized and taught the art of their particular expertise. We know the Roman Empire had such instructors. We also know that they were around about 600 years before Bodhidharma introduced it to the Shao-lin monks.

The Shao-lin monks are the first who are accredited with categorizing martial arts moves for the sake of non-aggression and physical fitness, with the intention to be taught to and by religious monks, not armies. Most historians agree that the martial art movements were introduced to the monks in 600ad by a visiting monk from India named Bodhidharma.

 Upon his visit, he found the monks very weak in body.  All their time was spent in meditation, which not only left them physically weak, but also opened them up to becoming easy prey for those who choose to rob them. It is because of this, he introduced them to basic movement, and exercise, which helped complete their journey to enlightenment of, mind, body, and spirit.

The Shao-lin arts were called ch’uan-fa, which meant Chinese boxing, or Kempo, Fist Law, or way of the fist. As time went on the monks became infamous for their fighting skills and were sought out by others. It was also a part of their lives to leave the temple and wander the earth passing on to others their knowledge. It didn’t take long for these teachings of the martial arts to find their way into Okinawa, Korea, and Japan.

As each country, and subsequent master learned the art of kempo, they adapted the movements to fit their needs and beliefs. We know Okinawa, had the art of Kobudo as far back as the 1400’s, but we have no written accounts until the early 1600’s when the Japanese had successfully occupied Okinawa. It was the Japanese who started documenting the martial art skills of the Okinawa people. A Shogun was particularly impressed by a raid of Okinawa peasants armed only with farm tools who defeated a division of elite samurai warriors who were drinking Saeki on a beach.

It is because of these occupations that karate had to be taught in secret.  It was karate that gave people a fighting chance against these invaders.  Practitioners who were discovered were usually severely punished or even killed.  This is why these techniques were taught in secret and passed on by actual teaching rather than writing down the information.  It is also where the tradition of referring a student came from, they were usually referred to the father by the son. Thus setting up the family structure.               

Eventually, due to immigration and war, the martial arts found their way to the America’s.  In 1849, the Chinese were coming to America because of the gold rush.  With them they brought their kempo and secret society of the Tongs. The Tongs were organized crime that had wars over gambling, drugs, and prostitution until the 1930’s. They used hatchet men, who received that name, because they used meat cleavers, and hatchets as weapons. The Chinese kept their martial art to themselves until the 1960’s when Bruce Lee opened up one of the first schools that accepted non-Asians.

At the turn of the century we had Jigoro Kano teaching judo in the America’s.  He had first done a demonstration for President Grant in 1879.  By the 1900’s, it was introduced through political connections into universities and to the Naval Academy.  Eventually police departments were also starting to learn some of the fundamentals of judo and jujitsu for the locking and submissive techniques it had to offer.                                          

After World War II, we began to see the introduction of many types of martial arts. Most of which were coming through the island of Hawaii.  In the 1920’s and 30's, we saw Okinawan, Japanese, and Chinese martial arts on the islands, with actual schools opening around the mid 1930's.  Prior to that, training was done privately.  In the 1953, James Mitose came to the mainland, and in 1954 Ed Parker started teaching kempo at Brigham Young University.

The Korean War brought the art of tae kwon do back to America through Jhoon Rhee, who entered the U.S. in 1956.  Despite all the different types of martial arts that were being introduced to America, none were really catching on.

It wasn’t until the 1960’s that we started to see a martial arts exposition.  This exposition can be contributed to many different factors.  1) The free enterprise system of the U.S. that allowed martial arts pioneers to market their skills and services; and 2) The power of movies and TV that helped launch such greats as Bruce Lee, who captured the imagination of an entire generation and nation.

Because of the media's ability to reach such large audiences, the theory of supply and demand was soon put into effect.  Karate schools began popping up everywhere.  Most of these schools had good black belts, but bad teachers.  They spent most of their time training themselves making most of their students their personal sparring partners. It didn’t take long for karate to get a bad name, hurting business and schools that were good.

After a few years of this, the schools that where still standing had begun a change.  This change came about because many instructors realized they have left out the harmony part of "body, mind, and spirit" that the martial arts had been based on.  They also realized they had no students, or money to pay the rent. Thus the professional karate school was born, and with it the birth of the karate school chain.  The only karate chain of schools before this time was the Emperado chain of kajukenbo schools in 1950, located in Hawaii.  The schools were now more focused on the original teaching of the Shao-lin monks - the development of body, mind, and spirit through the teachings of the martial arts.

In the 1980’s we saw these chains of schools open everywhere. It was the largest growing business in the U.S. Unfortunately, it also had the highest failure rate. Because of this, schools now began to realize the importance of business management.  With this, karate takes another turn into the future and continues today.

We at USA KARATE have been through many of these stages, and that’s why we believe in "Constant and Never Ending Improvement" in all aspects of our lives and business. If you cannot change with the times, then the times will surely change you. With each change we learn to grow and sometimes that means we have to let go in order to promote growth. 

We are here to help our students become the best they can be while keeping in focus the balance of body, mind, and spirit, personal growth, and good, sound business practices.

Welcome to your journey with USA KARATE.

Hanshi Larry Sullivan
10th Degree Black Belt
Founder, USA Karate