Vovinam Lộc (1912 – 1960) in 1938, with the intent of providing practitioners with an efficient method of self-defense after a short period of study. Nguyễn believed martial arts would contribute to freeing Vietnam, which had been ruled by France since 1859, from outside domination. Vovinam, which Nguyễn synthesized from Chinese styles of kung fu, his own knowledge of traditional Vietnamese martial arts, and elements of Japanese and Korean systems, was thus created partially as a response to the French occupation, meant to promote a sense of national identity for the Vietnamese people. Vovinam thus has anticolonial origins. After being invited
Japanese martial arts in other schools it is practiced as a sport. literally means "empty hand". It is also sometimes called . Karate originated in and, is technically, Okinawan, formerly known as the Ryūkyū Kingdom, but now a part of present-day Japan. Karate is a fusion of pre-existing Okinawan martial arts, called ""te"", and Chinese martial arts. It is an art that has been adopted and developed by practitioners on the Japanese main island of Honshu. Karate's route to Honshu began with Gichin Funakoshi (船越 義珍 "Funakoshi Gichin", 1868–1957), who is called the father of karate, and is the founder of Shotokan karate.