Vincent Bechtel, age 11, of Des Moines, Iowa, for his question:

HOW DID KARATE ORIGINATE?

There are two kinds of karate contests: free fighting and form competition. In form competition, each contestant must demonstrate various forms to a panel of five judges. In free fighting, the contestants fight without prearranged techniques. A contestant scores when he delivers a blow that a majority of the judges feel is effective.

Karate is a type of unarmed combat in which each person strikes or kicks with his hands, feet, knees or elbows. The Japanese name means "empty hands."

Using karate as a weapon, a person will aim his blow at parts of the body that are easily injured, such as the stomach and throat. Karate blows can cripple or even kill, so they must be used with great caution. In competition, rules forbid hitting certain areas of the body and using the most dangerous karate blows.

Buddhist monks in India as early as 400 B.C. used a form of karate to defend themselves against wild animals. Then during the 500s A.D. a group called the Hwarang do practiced the competitive art in the country of Silla, which later became Korea. The Hwarang do were young men picked for training as military leaders.

Karate made further developments during the 1600s on the island of Okinawa. There a Japanese clan conquered the island and passed strict laws against owning weapons. The Okinawans developed many of the unarmed fighting techniques of modern karate.

The art of karate spread from Okinawa to Japan after the island became a Japanese province in 1879. After World War II ended in 1945, many of the servicemen returning to the United States from the Far East brought the skill with them. More Americans learned karate in the Far East during the Korean war and during the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war from 1957 to 1973.

American karate today consists of a combination of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Okinawan features. This mixed style developed because many Americans learned more than one type of karate.

Karate is taught today in colleges, clubs, military and police training schools as well as in some women's liberation organizations. It is estimated that more than 300,000 persons in the United States have studied karate.

Karate students advance through various ranks of achievement, each of which is designated by a belt of a different color. Beginners wear white belts and experts wear black ones. Schools award different colors including brown, green and purple for intermediate ranks. Students advance by demonstrating to a licensed examiner or a group of licensed examiners that they know the techniques required for the next rank.