AboutShotokan

Due to the lack of documented records, it is very difficult to provide "actual" dates for the history of Shotokan Karate-
Do. We do know that the history of Karate was greatly influenced by the Chinese fighting arts & that the Indian
Buddhist monk (Bodhidharma) was a key contributor.

In 520 AD (approximately), the Indian Buddhist monk (Bodhidharma or Daruma Taishi) left western India and traveled
to China to spread the word of Chan (Zen Buddhism). Once Daruma arrived in China, he began to lecture the monks
of the Shao-lin Temple (Hunan Province)

On the teachings of Chan (Zen Buddhism). Due to the physically demanding challenges of his training regimen, it
was very difficult for the monks to withstand the training, so Bodhidharma began teaching them a systematic set
exercises based on a method to develop the "mind and body". It was this system that later became the basis for
most of the Chinese fighting martial arts. Eventually, the Shao-lin monks became some of the best fighters in China.
This style of Chinese fighting martial arts later became known as (Shorin-Ji Kempo or Shao-lin Temple Boxing).

In the late 12th century, Zen was introduced to Japan and readily became the religion of the

Samurai class. As such, it would influence all of Japan's traditional martial art systems.

It was this method that eventually reached the Ryu-Kyu Islands and developed into Okinawa-Te.

If Shorin-Ji Kempo was introduced with Zen, as seems likely, it may also have had some influence on the traditional
fighting methods of Japan.