Shaolin Kempo is a chinese martial art that most resembles Japanese 'Karate' in its morphology. The Chinese 'kem-puo' means 'the strong hand' which is -not accidentally- very similar to Japanese 'Kara-te' meaning 'the empty hand'. It was invented in Early Historic China (around the time -aledgedly- when Europe was entering the dark midle ages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, about 500 AD) by Shaolin monks, to fight off robbers and thugs when attacked on the roads or even threatened in their monasteries. It was exported first to Japan, but to the west only in the third part of the 20th century AD,
and has a growing number of practitioners. I am happy to be one of them. Find out more about Shaolin Kempo here
refering to the famous Shaolin Budhist Monastery in China Honan Province