Yes, it is true, the martial art of Karate was, in fact, created by a young woman.
A couple of hundred years ago, a young woman, named Fung Qiniang, lived in Fujian province in China. She was a brilliant girl and learned Southern Shaolin Kung Fu from her father.
We’re not entirely sure what southern Shaolin dad style you knew, and we should probably consider the various Shaolin bloodlines for a moment.
The five main schools are tiger, crane, snake, leopard, and dragon. A sixth martial school would be that of the monkey.
While these five schools claim that Shaolin is their point of origin, and it is probably true, there are many styles with similar names that grew independently of the Shaolin temple.
So if Fung Qiniang was educated in boxing in the original temple, we don’t know, but there is a high probability that Dad knew something about boxing in the original temple.
In any case, one day Fung was doing her chores when a crane landed near her. He tried to chase it away by waving a stick, but the crane just jumped up and flapped its wings. From these simple movements, Fung developed his particular style of kung fu.
If you examine the style of the whooping crane, you will see that this makes sense. The wing movement could easily be a block, the pecking of the beak makes for a powerful attack, and so on.
The problem is in the Karate translation.
Karate is defending your position, attacking in a line, never saying die, in your face … you understand.
Whereas the White Crane theory indicates that the art is smooth (created by one of those female creatures) and … like a crane.
So where is the disconnect?
The disconnect is probably in the fact that men take over art. When Kung Fu was brought from China to Okinawa, it was done by men.
From a body swaying with angular blocks to standing firm and bruising your knuckles.
It’s easier to get these male Neanderthals to practice crunching things than to use gentle rocking motions.
But really, in the end, what does it matter?
Both arts have benefits, and the wise martial artist would study both, search the roots, and learn from both.
With that said, when someone promotes karate as a prime example of bare knuckles, earn yourself the art of bruising … remember that Karate was invented by a woman with probably Shaolin Kung Fu roots.