Culture of Asia Xia Dynasty of ancient China from over 4000 years ago. Some of the best known styles of martial arts in the world were developed in East Asia, such as karate and judo from Japan, taekwondo from Korea and the various styles of Chinese martial arts known collectively as kung fu. Many other styles of martial arts originated in Southeast Asia, including muay Thai from Thailand, Vovinam from Vietnam, Arnis from the Philippines, and Pencak Silat from Indonesia. In addition, popular styles of wrestling have originated in Turkey and Mongolia. Development of Asian martial arts continues today as newer styles are
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.