Okinawa’s Claim to Fame

Okinawa, Japan is known for being the birthplace for the popular martial art, karate. This year specifically, karate has been a big deal in the world as it was featured in the Tokyo Olympics! Popularized after World War II, karate has become common in countries other than Japan, specifically in the United States where you can find a dojo in about every mall. The 1980 movie, The Karate Kid, was another catalyst for making karate as popular in the western world as it is today. In The Karate Kid, the wise mentor, Mr. Miyagi, was a fictional character that became a hero to many and an icon in the world of martial arts. The character of Mr. Miyagi is from Okinawa, further enforcing the importance of karate in Okinawa’s history. Mr. Miyagi is honored and credited in the Netflix show Cobra Kai, with mentions of the sensei to come in the recently announced season four. Watch the season four trailer Here .

This importance is reemerged again in 2021 due to the Tokyo Olympics. Ryo Kiyuna of Japan has succeeded in winning the gold medal in the karate tournament of the Tokyo Olympics-an event that will be forever remembered in martial art history. Similarly to the fictional Mr. Miyagi, Ryo Kiyuna is also from Okinawa, being the first athlete from Okinawa to win an Olympic gold medal.

Okinawa is the place that has formed and popularized karate into the phenomenon it is today across the globe. Although the 2024 Paris Olympics do not currently have karate on their roster, hopefully the popularity of this martial art will continue to grow.

AP News

This isn’t Cobra Kai: Karate finally makes Olympic debut TOKYO (AP) — The history of karate’s journey to the Olympics would make a pretty good backstory for a martial arts movie.