0_Wizard
I knew a little Karate growing up.  I can't believe it's been around since the early 20th century, by Ryukyuans from Okinawa.
Karate was brought to Japan in the early 20th century during a time of migration as Ryukyuans, especially from Okinawa, looked for work in Japan.
chosen_Karate_0
Karate
chosen_topic_0_Karate
Ryukyuan people
The ; also Lewchewan or ) are the indigenous peoples of the Ryukyu Islands between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Politically, they live in either Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. Their languages make up the Ryukyuan language family, considered to be one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other being Japanese and its dialects. Ryukyuans are not a recognized minority group in Japan, as Japanese authorities consider them just a subgroup of the Japanese people, akin to the Yamato people and Ainu. Although unrecognized, Ryukyuans constitute the largest ethnolinguistic minority group in Japan, with 1.3 million living in Okinawa Prefecture alone.
Karate
The Ryukyu Kingdom was annexed by Japan in 1879. Karate was brought to Japan in the early 20th century during a time of migration as Ryukyuans, especially from Okinawa, looked for work in Japan. It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taishō era. In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration. In 1924 Keio University established the first university karate club in mainland Japan and by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs. In this era of escalating Japanese militarism, the name was changed from ("Chinese hand" or "Tang hand") to ("empty hand") – both of which are pronounced "karate" in Japanese – to indicate that the Japanese wished to develop the combat form in Japanese style.
Æternity
æternity is a public, open-source, blockchain-based distributed computing and digital-asset platform that builds upon decentralized cryptographic P2P technology. Real-world data can interface with smart contracts through decentralized "oracles". Scalability and trustless Turing-complete state channels set æternity apart from other Blockchain 2.0 projects. æternity provides a virtual machine which can execute scripts using an decentralized global network of public nodes maintaining the blockchain. State channels enable smart contracts to remain private and scalable as long as there is no disagreement between the counterparties.
Ryukyu Islands
The , more commonly known in Japanese as the and also known as the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the southernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa. The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa") in the north to tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) in the south. Precipitation is very high, and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons.
History of the Ryukyu Islands
This article is about the history of the Ryukyu Islands southwest of the main islands of Japan. The name "Ryūkyū" originates from Chinese writings. The earliest references to "Ryūkyū" write the name as 琉虬 and 流求 () in the Chinese history "Book of Sui" in 607. It is a descriptive name, meaning "glazed horn-dragon". The origin of the term "Okinawa" remains unclear, although "Okinawa" (Okinawan: Uchinaa) as a term was used in Okinawa. There was also a divine woman named "Uchinaa" in the book "Omoro Sōshi", a compilation of ancient poems and songs from Okinawa Island. This suggests the presence of a divine place named Okinawa.
Ethnic issues in Japan
According to census statistics, 98.5% of the population of Japan are Japanese, with the remainder being foreign nationals residing in Japan. However, these statistics measure citizenship, not ethnicity, with all domestic minorities such as the Ainu, Ryukyuans, Burakumin, and naturalized immigrants being counted as simply "Japanese." The Japanese government refuses to collect data on the ethnic identities of its citizens, claiming that there are no issues of race relations among Japanese citizens as they are all of the same race. About 1.6% of Japan's total legal resident population are foreign citizens.
Ryukyu independence movement
The or Republic of the Ryukyus (Japanese: , Kyūjitai: , Hepburn: "Ryūkyū Kyōwakoku") is a political movement for the independence of Ryukyu Islands (commonly referred to as Okinawa after the largest island ) from Japan. The current political manifestation of the movement emerged in 1945, after the end of the Pacific War. Some Ryukyuan people felt, as the Allied Occupation (USMGRI 1945–1950) began, that the Ryukyus should eventually become an independent state, instead of being returned to Japan. From the 1950s through to 1972, the majority, however, pushed for reunification with the mainland, hoping that this would hasten the end of the U.S. occupation (USCAR 1950–1972) there.