Karate in the United States

Karate was first introduced to American service men after World War II by Japanese karate masters.

With the new found skills many of these US servicemen took these skills to the United States and established their own dojos. Many Japanese karate instructors also sent instructors to popularize the martial art in the United States.Robert Trias was the first American to open a karate dojo in the United States.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was the official organization responsible for the running of all amateur sports in the United States, established in 1888. The AAU was officially charged with the organization and operation of many sports in the US. During this time, karate was one of the committees in the organization and was not an independent governing body.

The Amateur Sports Act of 1978 enabled the governance of sports in the US by organizations other than the AAU. This act made each sport set up its own National governing body (NGB). Each of these governing bodies would be part of the United States Olympic Committee, but would not be run by the Committee. Thus, USA National Karate-do Federation was born in 1996.

America is not a traditonal world power in Sport Karate.

Karate experienced a growth of popularity in the 1970s and 1980s due to movies such as the Karate Kid.

One of the major criticism of martial arts teaching in the United states is an American Karate where teaching for profit at the expense of good quality self-defense instruction.