Which came first? Karate or Kung FU?

I am not interested in the other styles or arts, just these two, which one came first and why? this is not an origins of Martial arts questions, this is which was before the other.

Which came first? Karate or Kung FU?
Kung Fu came to Okinawa from Chinese fisherman, they then adopted that Kung fu and kenpo into okinawan Te. This was developed by the Okinawans to defend themselves from the Japanese and Samurai that invaded and counqoured Okinawa. They disarmed all the locals and all they had to fignt with was the ir hands, (TE) or farm weapons like Nunchuku first used to plant rice into the ground, or the sai first used to move bails of rice.





the Okinawans were great at adapting and changing what they learned and they took Chinese arts and developed Te, which later became named Karate or empy hand. Te means Hand literaly in Japanese.





Hope that helps.
Reply:Both Kung fu and karate came from south indian martial art, (Discovery channel notes that Kalarippayattu may be one of the oldest martial arts in existence), Bodhidharma, the legendary founder of Chan Buddhism are from Tamil Nadu, in 522 A.D Report It

Reply:search well before answer%26gt; Report It

Reply:Kung Fu by a few hundred years. And Kung Fu came from monistic traditions brought from India.
Reply:think kung fu
Reply:Well, seeing that the earliest forms of Martial Arts aka Kung Fu were introduced in China around 2698 BC, and Karate was not thought of until 1933, I%26#039;d say Kung Fu.
Reply:being a martial arts enthusiast kung fu was first. kung fu was and still is the art of grounding your opponent and escaping. hopefully unscaved. later karate was introduced tai kwon do. where it was used to fight face to face. lots of kicks for a more far away approach. the indians came up with a mixed version of both called vada-kempo..hope this was help full
Reply:It%26#039;s hard to just say %26quot;Kung Fu is older,%26quot; even though it is. So, what we collectively call Kung Fu predates what we call Karate by at least several hundred years. As has been ably pointed out by others already, the beautifully capable Japanese systems all have their roots in imported styles; including Shorin-Ryu and Aikido. It%26#039;s the same way with Korea%26#039;s Taekwon Do, Moo Duk Kwan, and most other Asian systems. There is even considerable discussion about whether Taijii Quan is not a Kung Fu derived set of systems, and that%26#039;s Chinese! What%26#039;s more interesting is that perhaps these all started in the Vedic culture of pre-Hindu India. Ponder that one!


Remember that what we refer to as China is a relatively new identity in the greater history of that region of Asia, so the roots of today%26#039;s %26#039;traditional%26#039; martial arts even predate that name. Don%26#039;t get caught up in where these things come from, or let your ego trip you up. As Grandmaster David Chin said recently, %26quot;Where are these old masters now? Dig them up! What can their bones teach you?%26quot;
Reply:Kung-fu is older than modern karate.


But please keep in mind that Okinawan had martial arts that pre-dated karate.


The histories are rather complicated and shrouded by opinion.
Reply:It is a question of origins. Kung-Fu, or %26quot;hard work%26quot; was introduced to the Chinese monks by Bodhidharma. From that everything was taken, including karate.
Reply:Kung Fu. Karate was founded in 1937 by Master Funakoshi
Reply:%26quot;kung fu%26quot; is technically a term that describes karate as well- your question doesn%26#039;t make any sense.





however CMA (chinese martial arts) came first as the chinese culture came first thus the martial arts invented by them and fighting skills were taken over to japan which was based on chinese culture (originally).





Today however they both want to be based on american %26quot;culture%26quot;.
Reply:Karate,since Kung-fu is not really a style it is a phrase of proper fighting.
Reply:Kung Fu signifies Great Achievement in Chinese. Wu Shu means Martial Arts. Japanese and Korean styles are derived from earlier Chinese styles. Bhodidharma, a Buddhist holy man from India, came to China in the 6th Century to check on his religion there. He taught the monks at the Shao Lin (Small Forest) Temple martial arts derived from movements of animals. As you should see, India gave birth to martial arts, and they spread from China into Okinawa, Japan and Korea.
Reply:i would guess that kung fu is older but do not have anyway to prove it and my lunch is waiting.
Reply:I think Kung Fu then Karate.
Reply:Kung fu cause i said so
Reply:Chinese empty hand Martial Arts date back at least 1500 years. In Japan, they only go back 150 years.
Reply:who came first: bruce lee or chuck norris? karate came first i believe and kung fu is an offshoot of it!!