Hello kids (and parents)!
You are interested in learning karate, right? But wait, what is karate?? Right?
What is different between karate and martial arts?
Or karate and kung fu??
"Martial arts" is general term for fighting arts, such as
Karate,
Kung Fu,
Judo,
Kendo,
Tae Kon Do, etc.
Karate is one of them.
Karate is Japanese traditional martial art.
It began... it is hard to say, but "Karate" is developed more than 100 years ago. (Almost 150 years ago!)
We have different styles of Karate.
I am practicing Ryuei-ryu.
You can read about the history of Ryuei-ryu here.
http://karate.ucsd.edu/?page_id=6
Anyway, karate is
1. Japanese traditional Martial Art
2. Developed by Chinese and Okinawan (South part of Japan) Martial Artists
What else?
Karate in Chinese character is 空手.
空(kara) means "empty".
手(te) means "hand".
We don't use any weapons in Karate.
Yes, when you learn more, we learn some weapons as well. But it is called "Kobudo" which means "Old Martial Art".
No worry about it for now. ;p I will get you there.
Let's practice this beautiful Japanese art together!!