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		Karate or karate-do,loosely translated means empty hand (kara) means empty and te means hand), and this art is indeed predominantly concerned with figthing with bare hands and feet. The basic principle is to turn the body into an effective weapon to defend and attack when and where it is appropiate.
		Karate can be regarded as both a sport as well as a self defence art, depending on the emphasis of the club or association that is followed. Some instructors or coaches of karate place great emphasis on classical teachings, which incorporate traditional movements (such as kata) and philosophy, while others focus more on cometition training. Some instuctors teach all aspects of the art. Karate is also an effective system of selfdefence, which originally evolved on the Japanese island of Okinawa, where the carrying of weapons was forbidden, and the inhabitnats had to learn surreptitounsly to protect themselvs by other means.
		Karate is the most widely practised of the oriental martial arts. It evolved during of the Japanese occupations of the island of Okinawa, part of the Ryukuy chain of islands, in the 15th century. Its roots, however, can be traced back much further than this - all the way back to ancient India and China. Many people hold the view that what we today regard as the oriental martial arts have their roots in India. Indeed, when we look art such disciplines as yoga and the breathing techniques that originated in India, there does seem to be a great similarity between those and many of the modern martial arts systems.
	It's belived that Zen Buddhist monks took the Indian fighting techniques to China from as early as the 5th and 6th centuries BC. Bodidharmi, the most famous of these monks, travelled at the end of the 5th century AD from India to China, where he became an instructor at the Shaolin monastery. He taught a combination of empthy - hand systems and yoga, and this became the well - known Shaolin kung fu - the system on which many Chinese martial arts system are based.
	In 1470, the Japanese had occupied the island of Okinawa. The law of the land dictated that anybody found carrying weapons would be put to death. In order to protect themselvs from local bandits, who largely ignored the prohibition on weapons, Zen Buddist monks developed the empthy - hand system known as te (hand), importing new techniques from China. Eventully the new art was translated as t`ang (China hand), but  was familiarly known as Okinawa-te (Okinawa hand). It was not until the 20th century that t`ang became known as karate-do (empty hand). The suffix do was added by Gichin Funakoshi's son Yoshitaka Funakoshi, in friendly opposition to his father's Okinawa-te style. Practice and demonstrations until that time had been extremely violent. Punches were not pulled and full contact was an intergral part of the Okinawa-te style. Yoshitaka Funakoshi transformed the techniques of Okinawa-te into a gentler system, seeking not deliver blows fully, but to focus; strikes as skin level. The do suffix express the move away from the aim of the warrior and towards physical and spiritual development.