Birthplace of Karate

Easy answer, right? Gonna all say, Okinawa, right? But, is it?

If we look strictly at the renaming from China-hand to Empty-hand then karate was born, sorta, in Japan proper.

If we look to it’s origins and assume it’s “Ti” as “hand” as referenced somewhat historically speaking, also as to its naming the Okinawa is spot on. 

Let’s say this, theoretically speaking, if the changes within the system speak to its origins then today’s karate wasn’t born on Okinawa. 

If we are to assume that the birthplace is, say, it’s moment of conception then do we not have to follow its lineage all the way back to when humans first used the human body in protection from violence? Isn’t that traceable back to India’s Bodhidharma?

Can anyone, master to deshi, really define karate, either then or now, so as to trace it back, definitively, to its actual birth?

Even the Okinawan history gives “Ti” lip service in the documents, also questionable as factual, as to its origins and use on the island 🏝, yes?

I feel, “We all assume” as its birthplace to be Okinawa because that is what those who came before passed down to us and taught us as to its birth and birthplace.

It has been passed down that in its formative years it was simply referred to as “Ti” (hand in English). It is also understood it was renamed to the three primary village names where three known experts, masters if you will, labeled their concept and version for what ever reasons, i.e., Naha, Shuri and Tomari “Ti”. 

Isn’t it possible that the birthplace is Okinawa because it is the offspring of Okinawa’s indigenous system of “Ti” and its marriage to China’s Chuan-fa or boxing giving birth to its child first called, “China-hand,” being the first born so named in honor of its father Chuan-fa?

As things evolved it required a name change because it would be influenced when “China-hand” was adopted by Japanese martial ways resulting in a given name at birth, if you will, of “Empty Hand?”

I’m not convinced that karate is a offspring of Okinawa but I’m not convinced it isn’t either. 

In sort I would ask:

1. What system of unarmed physical protection is considered the father of Ti?
2. What system of unarmed physical protection is considered the mother of Ti?

I would then, if those parents were from the same origin(s), that would be the birthplace assuming they were combined to give birth to karate on the island of Okinawa.

What are your thoughts as to the information that would validate karate’s birthplace being Okinawa? China? India? And how far back could you go to see where its lineage goes?