The Shaolin temple, built in 495 AD was the birthplace of the the martial arts and is widely accepted as having the greatest influence on all martial arts being practiced today. The holy man considered by most modern sources to be the "father of the martial arts" is Bodhidharma, the twenty-eighth Indian patriarch monk. Around 530 AD, Bodhidharma traveled to China from India to instruct at the Shaolin monastery. There he taught the monks a combination of breathing exercises and Indian fist-fighting based on the movements of the five animals that became the kung-fu system of Shaolin. This early form of movement became known as Shaolin-temple boxing or Ch'uan fa, law of the fist. Ch'uan fa translates into the word Kempo.

In the early 1600's, the Manchurians from Mongolia invaded China to conquer it and set up the Ching Court. The story tells of 108 Shaolin monks who met and defeated the Manchurians and drove the Manchus back to Mongolia. By royal order, only The Chinese Emperor and Shaolin temple priests could posses complete martial arts' systems. Shaolin Ch'una fa flourished due to the efforts of the revolutionaries, bandits and village fighters who resisted the Manchus and often sought asylum in Shaolin monasteries. In the past, Shaolin monks had rarely taught their martial arts to civilians or outsiders, but after the Ching government burned down their Buddhists temples the monks who survived sought refuge with those opposed the Manchu dynasty.

The monks trained very hard and spent an average of 10 years behind the temple walls in a strict regimen of conditioning, meditation and study. Graduation from the temple consisted of three tests. The first was an oral examination of Chinese history, martial arts theory and Buddhists beliefs. The second test was for the individual to demonstrate their ability to defend themselves and free spar with Kung-Fu masters. The third and final test was the infamous "Lohan Hall." Upon entering the Lohan Hall the student encountered 108 mechanical wooden dummies armed with knives and spears, which were triggered by the student's body movements. It was at this point that many perished and failed.

If the student survived, he had to make his way through an opening blocked by a 400 LB metal urn containing red-hot coals. The student needed to move the urn from its pedestal in order to clear his passage from this final room. He would then grip the urn with his forearms, which would have a tiger imprint on one side and a dragon on the other. The intense heat would brand the symbols into his arms. These images would forever mark him as a Shaolin Master.

The fighting techniques of China were subsequently carried to the offshore islands, most notably Okinawa, by waves of immigrants, refugees, and priests. Weaponless combat, called Te or hand, had already existed on Okinawa; with the ban against carrying arms issued by the Japanese occupation in 1470, these empty-hand techniques thrived. Later, with the aid of the Chinese Shaolin masters who fled from China during the revolutions, Te developed into a crude form of what we today call Karate.

The system of Shaolin employs both linear and circular movments. It has the recogonition of being very versatile for all styles of its practitioners. When a student is practicing, they try to adhere to the principals of using smooth, flowing motions. The emphasis of karate is to use strong, powerful and quick techniques to render an attack ineffective. The power generated within a punch, kick or block comes from the whole body working as one unit. The concept of the system is to always have a plan of attack utilizing multiple striking or kicking techniques. The uniqueness of the system is that no matter what the distance of the attacker, the student will always have a strategy or plan to defeat him. In most circumstances, the student will try to use the opponent's own strength to defeat himself, thus, using less of their own energy and more of the attackers.