Naha-Te is part of the three most notable Okinawan martial arts in the 18th century. Along with Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te, Naha-Te served as the foundation of the development of modern karate. Due to consistent violence in the Ryukyu islands now known as Okinawa, a ban of weapons was decreed. This led the people to make use with whatever tools they had to cope with the continuous violence. Others chose to rely on improving hand-to-hand combat. As time went on, Okinawan martial arts were then referred to as "te" or "hand".

Naha-Te was primarily based on Chinese martial arts such as the White Crane system. Each village with their own influences, was able to develop a style unique from one another. To refer to these styles properly, their names were derived from the village from where they originated. The style from Naha was then referred to as Naha-Te and subsequently, Shuri's was Shuri-te and Tomari's was Tomari-te.

Naha-Te continued to progress, developing into other branches where notably included among others are:

• Gōjū-ryū
• Tōon-ryū
• Kogusuku-ryū