Karate

Karate do (空手道) is a Japanese martial art. In Japanese, Kara means empty; Te means hands; Do means the way, thus Karate means "the way of the empty hand". Karate was created by monks in response the disarming of the Japanese population. Being no longer permitted to hold weapons, they turned their empty hands into weapons, hence the name karate = empty hand.

Karate is a hard martial art and emphasises striking techniques (i.e. punching and kicking) over grappling. Movements are studied by learning fixed sequences of moves called katas.