In Japanese, “kara” means empty, while “te” means hand. Karate-do is the way of the empty hand. Karate is an unarmed martial art that originated in China and later came to Okinawa and then mainland Japan. Karate is many things to many people as people study karate for many different reasons.
Karate is a form of physical exercise that works on building a strong core and improves your eye-limb coordination and balance. It involves both aerobic and anaerobic, isometric and explosive exercises. Karate is great activity to add to your repertoire for fitness as it engages muscles not commonly used.
Mental readiness is another great benefit from karate training. There are many aspects of karate training that may put you outside of your comfort zone. Karate training improves your emotional intelligence by letting you face stressful situations in a controlled environment.
Karate can also be taken as a sport. There are a variety of tournaments that are held at local, state, national and international levels. The 2020 Olympics hosted in Tokyo featured karate as an event for the first time ever. Sport karate tournaments vary but usually have both kumite (sparring) and kata (forms) events.
As a martial art for self-defense, karate can be quite effective. Countless hours, days and years of practice and study are needed to effectively understand and use karate as such.