by Joe Sayles, Jr.

Happy New Year! The new year seems to have begun a long time ago now. But I am still writing 2010 for the date once in a while. Anyway, I have been silent on this blog for far too long, so here is our first post of 2011.

I have been involved in several conversations recently with both martial artists and non-martial artists.  I have noticed several things about these conversations.  When I speak with a non-martial artist, the conversations always end up about Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, or the latest MMA winner. When I speak with other martial artists, another theme arises.

When I speak with other martial artists from different styles, the conversation often ends in a discussion (or dare I say a “pissing contest”) about our/their instructor’s accomplishments. It gives us martial artists something to discuss that we have in common, and the “pissing” part is  because everyone wants to believe that they made the best choice and selected the best school, instructor, or style.

Another common direction that conversations with other martial artists takes is that the discussions sometimes turn into a history lesson of a pratitioner’s own style of martial art.  As a taekwon-doist who has gone down this discussion path myself, I have shared a solid understanding of the rich history of my martial art.  But many martial artists who are new to martial arts training do not know the history of their chosen style. 

Because of this, I wanted to take a moment to share with our friends, a history of karate that I found online. Because many of the martial arts
were founded in regions of asia, we find many styles claiming to be the original martial art from one asian region or another.  So, if you don’t know the history of your art, and your are is karate, then here is a viewpoint of the history of karate that you might be interested in reading.  To read more on the history of karate click here.

Well, these were just random thoughts this evening as I was checking the latest news on  martial arts. Read the karate history post and enjoy!

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