Is there really a martial arts called "karate"?

[iseeu]

I heard that karate was Taek Won Do but since it was hard for native people [not koreans] to say so they made it Karate for other countries.

[callsignfuzzy]

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

No, that's not the case. So wrong. Not blaming you, you just got some of the worst information on the planet.

"Karate" is a Japanese/Okinawan term that originally meant "China Hand", as most of the systems had some degree of Chinese martial arts influence in their origins. The spelling was changed to a homonym (like-sounding word) meaning "Empty Hand" in order to gain acceptance in Japan, which at the time was extremely nationalistic (still is, but not quite as much). Many early TKD (Tae Kwon Do) instructors actually trained in Japan in karate. Tae Kwon Do, as a system, is actually roughly 60 years old, and takes many of its traditions from karate.

[JimR]

Karate is Japanese and is descended from Okinawa-te, and is related to TKD which is Korean. This is oversimplification, but suffice it to say that karate is a very real martial art.
J

[Guthwulf]

Karate is from Japan, Tae Kwon Do, was actually made to be better than karate, as is the way with all martial arts made after older ones, but Tae Kwon Do was made in Korea

[eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

I think if anything, you have the stories backwards (But what you're saying is wrong anyway lol).

Tae Kwon Do ("The way of the hand and foot) and Karate ("The way of the open hand") are similar depending on a number of things, but they come from different regions, and have different influences. If you think about them in regards with the terms translate to, then you could be technically right since "The way of the open hand" is any martial art without a weapon lol, but there are actual translations of the arts in different languages. Kong Soo Do and Tang Soo Do are examples of this.

[SenseiScandal]

Your source of information is totally wrong.

I guess you must have heard this from a Korean.

[pugpaws2]

You have your facts mixed up. Karate was developed in Okinawa. It was spread to Japan. Now there are many styles of Okinawan and Japanese karate. The Koreans had fighitng arts of their own. Tae Kwon do was developed by General Choi. He used Korean techniques but borrowed the teaching methods, rank system, and uniforms the Japanese used. Tae Kwon do is not Karate. Neither is karate Tae Kwon Do. Many commercial Tae Kwon do school incorrectly use the term Karate. Since the term karate is Japanese or Okinawan it is not correct to us it to describe Korean arts.

NOTE: many people say that Tae Kwon Do is karate or came from karate. As I explained above it was not made from karate. It only borrowed/ copied the uniforms, rank system, and teaching methods of karate. Tae Kwon Do has no karate techniques in it.

[nikitamail2]

Indeed there is... Many people take it and if you like you can too! just Google it. It is a martial art developed by the ryukyu islands from fighting and chinese kenpo. It uses punching, kicking, elbow, and open-handed techniques. You can read more-

[InTheStillofTheNight]

yes everyone knows about karate!

[daleschmalz]

karate in japan means empty hand and tae won do in korea means hand and foot