Karate is a martial art, developed in Loochoo (the old name of Okinawan Islands) since ancient times. The inhabitants of these islands had peculiar bare hand striking and bare feet kicking techniques which constitute special features of Karate. They called it 'Tei' which means hand.

During the Tang dynasty of China, a special method of Kenpo (boxing) was introduced to the islands together with the culture of the dynasty, and contributed so much to the developement of the native way of boxing 'Tei' that the inhabitants named this superior foreign way of boxing 'To-dei' which literally means 'Tang Hand' and had a special regard for the new form of boxing.

In 1406, the King of the Loochoo Islands proclaimed the establishment of a peaceful country and forbade inhabitants to hold or carry weapons. This prohibition is said to have made 'To-dei' more popular. However some warriors were allowed to rearm themselves later to protect their island from possible invasion. In fact in 1609, Ryukyu (as Loochoo was subsequently renamed) was conquered by the Japanese Shimazu Daimyo of Satsuma and made a dominion of the clan, the conquerors confiscated all the weapons of Ryukyuan in order to rule the islands with greater ease, and were prohibited to practice any martial arts. The Ryukyuan warriors who fought against the soldiers of the Shimazu clan were renowned for their bravery and fighting skills, consequently this lead to them (most were members of Shizoku [Samurai] class) practising the art of weaponless defence To-dei clandestinely. This art of Okinawan unarmed combat was introduced to the public of Japan proper for the first time in the Spring of 1922, as Okinawa Kenpo of To-dei or Ryukyu Karate-Jutsu. Japanese Martial Arts master Mr. Hironori Otsuka studied the Karate-Jutsu with great interest and later combined the art with techniques from an ancient form of Japanese unarmed combat, Jujitsu, to produce an advanced fighting art Wado-Ryu Karate-do in 1934.

Wado-Ryu Karate-do is now one of the most popular styles of Karate in the world. (Wado means 'the way of peace and harmony', Ryu means style, Karate-do means 'the way of the empty hand, meaning without weapons).