The Chinese Roots of Karate: Evidence, Legend and the Dojo

Chinese fighting arts did not reach Japan in one event but in waves over centuries, through monks, traders and embassies. One often-quoted account has the Japanese monk Daichi travelling to the Shaolin Temple in 1312 and the monk Shogen staying there in the 1330s. I mention it because it is quoted so often, but it has to be said clearly: historians have not settled it, and it should not be read as verified fact.

The other name always raised is Chen Yuanyun (陳元贇), a Ming scholar who settled in Japan in the early 17th century and is named on a later stone associated with Kito-ryu kenpo. Some use that stone as proof that Japanese jujutsu has Chinese roots; other historians hold that jujutsu had developed from Japanese arts well before. So I present it as a dispute, not a conclusion, and I never tell students that judo came from Shaolin.

The Okinawan side leaves clearer traces. The art there was once called tode (唐手), literally the hand of the Tang, which at the time meant something Chinese, and several Okinawan school names still carry characters tied to Shaolin: Shorin-ryu (少林流) and Shorinji-ryu (少林寺流); Matsubayashi-ryu (松林流) can also be read Shorin-ryu, but it is written with different characters. Okinawa Prefecture itself presents the island as the birthplace of karate and describes the Chinese influence on its official site. That is evidence you can cite, unlike the monastic stories above.

The most interesting turn is the change of characters. Both are read karate, but 唐手 means the hand of the Tang and 空手 means empty hand. The change came as karate moved from Okinawa to mainland Japan in the early 20th century, in years of rising nationalism and worsening relations with China. A name that pointed at China had become a difficult name to keep.

What did not change was the technique. Stances and breathing still do the same work, and some Okinawan lines keep the custom of paying respect to Bodhidharma as the legendary patriarch of Shaolin. To be honest about it: the story that Bodhidharma taught fighting arts to the Shaolin monks is legend, not verified history. But the survival of the custom says a great deal about how those lines see their own roots.

Read next · Shinkyokushin KarateWhat Is Karate? How Many Styles, How the Belt Ranks Work, and the Basic TechniquesWhat karate is, and how 唐手 became 空手

If you want the clearest bridge between the Chinese arts and Kyokushin karate, it is Kenichi Sawai (澤井健一, 1903–1988). He lived in China and trained Yiquan (意拳 — the boxing of intent, which stresses standing still to build force from within) under Wang Xiangzhai. Back in Japan he founded his own line, Taikiken (太気拳), and was close to Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin, with whom he trained over several years.

That makes my own path look unremarkable: people crossed from the Chinese arts into karate nearly a century before I did. What I will not quote is a number of Chinese-martial-arts practitioners in Japan — the Japan Wushu Taijiquan Federation publishes no such figure on its site. What can be said is that a national federation exists and that the Chinese arts never vanished from Japanese life.

At our dojo that path is the normal one. Every instructor has trained in the Shaolin arts. TCM Doctor Rain, Khru Ryu and Khru Michelle came through Shotokan karate, and Khru Ken through Goju-ryu. In taiji, Khru Michelle trains the Yang style and has taken a gold medal in competition, while TCM Doctor Rain trains both Yang and Chen styles and has medalled in Thailand and at provincial level in China. In judo, all four judo instructors have competed in every competition held in Thailand: Khru Ryu and TCM Doctor Rain hold 2nd Dan, Khru Ken and Khru Michelle 1st Dan, with Khru Ken's grade also certified by the Kodokan in Japan, and TCM Doctor Rain has competed in judo in Nanjing, China.

Basic Stances Compared: Karate and the Chinese Arts

Knowing the root really does change how I teach. Once you understand that each stance has a job rather than a look, you stop letting students skip the basics — standing, breathing, balance. Everything rests on them. If the base tilts, no amount of kicking power makes it stable.

What I tell parents is that karate here is not about violence; correct form comes first and intensity follows level. Our Shinkyokushin Karate course accepts students aged 7 to 60, because this foundation can be trained at any age. Details are on the Shinkyokushin Karate course page.

The other thing I want students to understand is that martial arts are less separate than people assume — but claiming that one art came from another needs care, because several of those links are still disputed. IMAC Dojo does not teach Chinese martial arts or taiji as public courses; this history is here to explain why some movements look familiar, not to claim we teach Chinese arts.

Training both sides leaves you with one impression: the roots sit close together. What differs is the name, the uniform and the culture wrapped around them. Learning a martial art is not choosing a side — and knowing which parts are evidence and which are legend is part of respecting the art too.

I believe understanding the root makes people value the basics more. A stance that looks plain has been refined over centuries across two cultures, and once you know that, repeating it stops being boring — whether you are a child, an office worker who sits all day, or an older adult who wants to look after their body again.

Karate's Chinese root is real and traceable in the name of the art, in school names and in the stances. The Shaolin monks and Chen Yuanyun remain disputed, and should be told that way. Knowing the root takes nothing away from karate; it explains why the old teachers were so strict about fundamentals. If you are looking for a place to train Shinkyokushin Karate that takes those fundamentals and safety seriously, the IMAC Dojo instructors and I will be glad to welcome you.

Read next: Southern Fist, Northern Kick: 南拳北腿, Shaolin Split Into Two Lineages — Was Either Truly Supreme?

For the documentary trail of how southern boxing from Fujian reached Okinawa, with official sources from both Japan and China, see How Many Southern Chinese Kung Fu Styles Are There?.