The United States
Prior to World War II, the only martial arts that had been introduced in the mainland USA were judo and jujitsu. In Hawaii, Okinawan karate and Chinese ch'uan fa were being introduced on a small scale.
Prior to this, ch'uan fa had been taught in the USA, but only in Chinese communities such as China Town in San Francisco. In 1942 a form of Shorinji Kenpo (Shaolin ch'uan fa), originally Chinese but modified in Okinawa and Japan, was introduced to Hawaii. This system was further modified and eventually introduced to the mainland in the mid 50's as "Kenpo karate." This was one of the first known school of "karate" on the mainland and was quickly followed by Japanese Shotokan and other schools in the mid 1950's.
Due to the rapid growth of interest in martial arts by U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan and Okinawa after 1945, there began to be a great influx of martial arts into the U.S.. Also by the mid 50's there were a few high ranking Japanese martial artists beginning to immi�grate to the U.S.. Servicemen stationed in Taiwan and Korea brought back ch'uan fa and Tae Kwon Do, which was also followed by the immigration of higher ranking Asians.
In the 1960's, second and third generation Chinese Americans began to teach various styles of ch'uan fa (kung-fu) to non Chinese, which had previously been discouraged by the Chinese. By the late 1960's and early 1970's an explosion of interest in Asian martial arts was reflected on television and in movies and by the large number of martial arts schools that opened. Much of the traditional Asian emphasis on the meditative, spiritual and ethical aspects of the art were replaced with an emphasis on commercialism, rank and personal achievement, and on the newest aspect of the arts, tournament competition.
Political rivalries were common, which was partly inherited from earlier rivalries and conflicts which had long existed in the Orient between styles and countries.
More recently, since the "boom" has passed, there has been a tendency to restore the emphasis on the traditional values, but the technical aspects of the arts in the U.S. have progressed a great deal as a result of competition, experimentation, and blending of styles. This in not unlike such periods of development in the past, only on a larger scale.
