The History of Karate
According to legend, the evolution of Karate began over a thousand years
ago, possibly as early as the 5th century B.C. when Bodhidharma, a
Buddhist Monk arrived in Shaolin-si, China from India and taught
Zen Buddhism. He also introduced a set of exercises designed to
strengthen the mind and body. Bodhidharma's teachings later became
the basis for the majority of Chinese martial arts. In truth, the origins of
Karate appear to be somewhat obscure and little is known about the
early development of Karate until it appeared in Okinawa. Sometime
between the years 1784 and 1903, the term karate replaced that of Te.
This new name reflected the synthesis of the native Okinawan martial
arts of Te with the influence of the Chinese Martial Arts the
Okinawans had been exposed to.
Karate-do
Karate-do was modified and transformed into a way of life by Master
Gichin Funakoshi in 1905. Before this, it was just a group of techniques
that permitted self-defense without weapons. Weapons bans, imposed
on the Okinawans at various points thoughout their history, encouraged
the refinement of empty-hand techniques and, for this reason, was trained
in secret until modern times. Further refinement came with the influence
of other martial arts brought by nobles and trade merchants to the island.
Born in 1868, Funakoshi began to study karate at the age of 11, and was
a student of the two greatest masters of the time, Yasutsune Itosu
and Yasutsune Azato.
The first public demonstration of karate in Japan was in 1917 by Funakoshi,
at the Butoku-den in Kyoto. This, and subsequent demonstrations, greatly
impressed many Japanese, including the Crown-Prince Hirohito, who was
very enthusiastic about the Okinawan art. In 1922, having mastered two
major styles of Karate, Funakoshi, then President of the Okinawa
association of the Spirit of Martial Arts, was chosen to demonstrate
Karate at the first National Athletic Exhibition in Tokyo. This led to the
introduction of the ancient martial art to the rest of Japan.
Other masters then helped spread Karate throughout the country
and the rest of the world. A general Federation of Karate Organizations
was established in 1964 after Karate achieved a following abroad. This
federation's main concern has been to establish unified forms, rankings,
and rules of competition, and to keep contact with overseas Karate
associations. Over the years, numerous schools and styles have
emerged, some emphasizing the strengthening of the body, while others
focused on quick movement.
History of Shito-Ryu and Kenwa Mabuni -
The Founder of Shito-Ryu Karate
HISTORY OF SHITORYU KARATEDO OKINAWA KARATE,
FROM IT'S DAWN TO SHOWA ERA 6-7C
Ryukyu (ancient name of Okinawa) appears in "Nihon Shogi" the
oldest Japanese historical and legendary record book, and "Sui Shu"
a record of Sui Dynasty, of ancient China. 14C The kingdom of Ryukyu
consists of three kingdoms, Northern, Central, and Southern Okinawa
and constantly fights each other. 1372 Central kingdom of Ryukyu
(King Shoho) begins trade with China (Ming Dynasty). Chinese culture
and products are imported. Also flourishing trade with southeast Asia
and Eastern Asia is opened 1392 Fukken (Fuchu province) China, settled
down in Kume village, Central district of Naha, and Chinese Kenpo
(martial arts) influenced by *Nampa Taiso-ken was probably introduced.
*Nampa Taiso-ken is invented by Sho Koku In (926-976AD) who is the
founder of So Dynasty. And the art was spread to southern part of China.
Developed in Fuchu Province especially. 1429 The constantly warring
three kingdoms of Okinawa were unified under Sho Hashi, the founder
of Sho Dynasty. 1458 At the Asawari (a king of Katsuren castle) war, heroic
samurai of Oni-ow-gusuku, made a great victory, who is an ancestor of
Mabuni family. 1477 During the reign of Kng Sho Shin, the private
ownership of weapons is banned for the first time. In that Ryukyu had
been in close contact with China for centuries, referred to the many martial
art forms based on Chinese models that were practiced on the island.
Ryukyu learned various forms of boxing during their trading trips to
china, and immigrant Chinese Kempo (ch'uan fu) masters taught on
the island itself. In addition to imported Chinese boxing, more indigenous
martial art forms were apparently formulated over the centuries by the
upper-classes Okinawan. 1609 The Shimazu clan which locates in the
southernmost island of mainland Japan control over Ryukyu. The kingdom
of Ryukyu is organized into Tokugawa Shogunate feudal state. The
second banning on the private ownership of weapon is reinforced.
1830 Ss Ankoh Itosu, born in Shuri. [*Ss=abbreviation of Sensei]
1852 Ss Kanryo Higaonna, born in Naha. 1867 People of Kume village,
descendants of Fuchu people, demonstrated Karate at celebration for
King Shotai, which was probably introduced from their home town.
1872 Ss K Higaonna visited China, learned arts from two masters, Sui
and Ryu Ryu Koh. 1879 Ryukyu became Okinawa prefecture upon the
Meiji reforms of mainland Japan Modernization policies of the new Meiji
government of Japan started in 1868. 1888 Ss Chojun Miyagi, born in
Naha. 1889 Ss Kenwa Mabuni, born in Shuri. He is the 17th descendant
of the heroic Oni-ow-gusuku. As he was born weak, he was eager
to be stronger and was greatly influenced by heroic stories of his brave
ancestor Oni-ow-gusuku. In Okinawa, martial artists were called "bushi",
or warriors. There were several karate masters in Shuri, Naha, and Tomari.
However, Okinawa martial arts were in strict secrecy to avoid the scrutiny
of both overloads and rival schools. Martial techniques were considered
family heirlooms, and guarded zealously from generation to
generation. {Ss Ken-ei said}
There were in fact no dojo in Okinawa in old days - karate keeping
with the tradition is not openly practiced. Karate practitioners usually
went to a teacher to learn his techniques and they concentrated on the
training of only a few katas, not many for their lives long. In a scarce
case, the few, with allowance, went to another teacher to get
more different skills.
Karate was mainly studied through kata practices in Okinawa, but almost
nothing was written down, no records kept and no teachers left their
names. Therefore today katas have as many as the number of schools.
Katas in old days, have names like "xxx of Pattsai", "xxx of Goju-shiho",
etc., relating to the places and the masters' names. 1901 Karate became
popular and was taken up as a curriculum in a teachers' school as
physical education. Ss Itosu organized traditional katas and remodeled
them to "Nai-fan-chin", and "Hei-an" to be used in schools. He left
great steps to modernize karate. 1902 At age of thirteen, Ss Mabuni
went to Ss Itosu. He studied very hard without taking a day off. Ss Itosu
had to stop him practicing on a day like tyhoon. "Stay home !" Ss Itodu
had to scold him. {Ss Kenwa said} Ss Itosu practiced every morning
at the same time. Punching "makiwara" several hundreds times made
his fist like a black stone. The training session took place at home,
mainly in his garden. In general, masters of those days never had dojo
to teach students. {Ss Ken-ei said} 1905 Ss Chomo Hana-gusuku, one
of the senior students of Ss Itosu, suggested to use letter Kara-empty
(in spite of Tong Dynasty), and Te=hand. 1909 When Ss Kenwa was
twenty, he knocked the door of Ss Higaonna to be enrolled by introduction
of Ss C Miyagi. Ss Higaonna was the representative master of "Naha-te",
which was arranged from Fukken kempo, China. At the time, kumite was not
openly practiced as we do today. Kumite session took place, with the agreement
of both sides, at some street corners or a garden. Usually witnesses from
both sides watched the fighting, and sometimes in the dark, lighting their
feet with lanterns. When it became the right time, they stopped playing and
evaluated them, giving them advices and judgments. Ss Kenwa joined these
sessions too and became a witness several times. {Ss Ken-ei said}
When it's dark, he practiced under the lamps hung from trees at garden. Trainees
were usually naked to the waists and practiced their fists or feet using
"makiwara", also using sand bags, they trained their elbows and arms. Kuba
(a kind of leaves) kasa-keri is kicking training using a broad-brimmed hat with
"kuba" leaves. Sessions are generally trained individually and consist of sequences
that include basic and advanced punches, kicks, blocks, and evasive moments.
Ss Kenwa continued to keep up training throughout his life. And his passion
for karate never set aside even in a moment. {Ss Ken-ei said} 1913 As matured
his military service, was appointed to a police detective. Taking opportunities
as a police, he walked around the whole island seeking distinguished
senseis. He practiced Judo, Kendo & arrest technique which were compulsory
for policemen. In addition, he learnt the arts of ancient Ryukyu Budo like
"bo-jutsu (sticking arts)" from Ss Aragaki. "Sai-jutsu" from Ss Watada, and
"bo-jutsu in Ss Sueishi style" by Ss Sueishi. 1914 Ss a Itosu, died.
1915 Ss K Higaonna, died. 1917 Since two giant stars in the dawn of karate
in Okinawa died, Ss Mabuni had been the most prominent leader among
young aggressive karate-kas. Thus, as a young leader, Ss Kenwa organized
"Karate study club" which was the first karate study group in Okinawa.
Many promising practitioners gathered there and followed Ss Kenwa's
character. Main members were Ss Miyagi, Ss G Funakoshi, Ss Chomo
Hana-gusuku, Ss Tsuken Yabu, Ss S Tokumrua, Ss H Ishikawa,
Ss C Oh-Shiro, Ss A Tokuda, Ss S Shiroma, etc. 1918 Ss Kenwa had the honour
to demonstrate in front of Imperial Prince Kuninomiya. Ss Ken-ei, born in
February 13 in Shuri. 1922 Owing to the great efforts made by
both Ss Kenwa and Ss Miyagi, karate became more popular and
its theory was propelled systematically. Ss Funakoshi introduced karate
first to mainland Japan. 1924 Had the honor to demonstrate karate in front
of Imperial Prince Chichibu. Ss Kenwa was appointed as professor at a
marine college and a teachers' school. Ss Funakoshi performed with
Ss Otsuka at Imperial dojo in Tokyo. 1925 Ss Kenwa established a
school named "Okinawa Karate Kenkyu Club", that was his dearest wish.
And the dojo was for the first time in Okinawa taking students. Senior
instructors were Ss Juhatsu Kyoda, Ss Chohatsu Motobu, Ss Chomo
Hanagusuku, Ss Chojo Oshiro, Ss Tomonobu Chibana and Ss Go Ken Ki etc.
The dojo was located at the back of my house. Many sub-training tools
were installed, "makiwara", "sage-makiwara (hanging makiwara)",
"yokobo" (to strengthen waist) and "makiage (grip training)", "iron shoes",
"sai", "bottle with full sans". The dojo was perfect and ideal for all kinds
of trainings. {Ss Kenei said ¡}
The most important training in those time was to build up physical strength
and then practiced kumite to study techniques secondary. When students
asked a teacher about waza or technique, he would show by actions and
simply said "Come on !". He would let students attack him freely, guarding
and averting the "tsuki" and "geri" of the students, he taught "How to".
He would say "Did you get it ?". But the actions were too quick that the
students could never get it by just once or twice. {Ss Kenei said ¡}
About kata, performances of famous masters characterized their personal
waza. They were practical and based on actual fighting. Katas were named
from famous places and masters, like "Bassai". {Ss Kenei said ¡} 1927 Ss Kenwa
performed karate with Ss C Miyagi for two days in front of Jigoro Kano, Judo
founder when he visited Okinawa in that January. Ss Kano was greatly
impressed and said "karate-do is perfect 'budo' on self-defence and should
be introduced widely throughout the country." 1928 Ss Kenwa Mabuni
moved to Tokyo, next year to Osaka. In Osaka, away from his native country
Okinawa, Ss Kenwa had to face the barrier of misunderstanding of karate.
Then Ss Kenwa tried to publicise karate mainly at the police stations. The
general public would not understand so easily. It was described as a kind
of "fist dance". Ss Kenwa, while embarrassed by the lack of understanding,
toiled day and night to think of effective ways to promote karate. In spite of
these difficulties, Ss Kenwa stayed true to his belief. 1929 Ss Funagoshi
altered the letter of Karate from kara (Tong) to kara (empty). 1930 Ss Chojun
Miyagi systematized his techniques and when he was asked of his style, he
named it "Gojyu-ryu" at the Butoku-sai (Budo festival) in Kyoto. 1930 Ss Kenwa,
after the enormous efforts, organized Dai Nihon Karatedo kai (later, Nihon
Karatedo kai) at last and opened "Yoshu kan" dojo at Nishinari word of
Osaka. In the beginning of Showa era, Ss Genwa Nakasone wrote in his
book that although Ss Kenwa belonged to Gojyuryu with Ss Miyagi as
two bing bones in the Higaonna school, Ss Kenwa had different stance.
That was that all the people concerned, admired him as a true
successor of Itosu style. He adopted teaching methods
of Itosu and Higaonna and made Shitoryu taking a head character from each
name. The book also says at present, there exist only two main streams
and other streams, evn if existed, are not recognized as stream then, he explains
in his book. 1933 Ss Kenwa appointed to Shihan at Kansai University.
1934 Ss Kenwa publishes "Kobo-jizai Goshinjutsu Karate Kanpo" from
Karate Kenkyusha. Publishes also "Sei-pai no Kenkyu" (study of Seipai).
Karate was organized in Dai-Nihon Butoku-kai (Great Japan Federation of
martial arts), as karate-jutsu (technology) of Judo category. 1936 Tokyo Univ.
used Kara (Tong Dynasty) - te (hand) to Kara (empty or sky) - te. 1938
Publishes "Karate-do Nyumon (for beginners)" with Ss. Genwa Nakasone.
1939 Dai-Nihon Butoku-kai officially registered Karate-do as one of independent
martial arts. Ss Kenwa was awarded a title of "Renshi" by Dai Nihon Butoku-kai.
Ss Funagoshi named his school as "Shotokan-ryu". 1942 Appointed to
Shihan at Toyo University And since then, Ss Kenwa is appointed Shihan
one after another at Osaka Industrial College, Kansei Gakuin Univ., Kinki
Univ., Osaka Municipal Univ., etc. and came step by step to found its basic
for collegate league in Japan as they are massive today. 1952 Passed away
(May 23), the age of 73. Ss. Ken-ei recalled his father as a great karate
pursuit, "He loved Karate and loved training". He also loved to make
poems of budo. The following is his representative poem on discipline
expressing the joy of dedicated training:
"Forgetting mundane things, When striving for the martial
isle, Padding is joy" This poem is the most likely to describe my father
on his training attitude. {Ss Ken-ei said ¡}
In reference to the books by Ss Kenwa, and a talk by Ss Ken-ei,
this history were written.
http://www.hkshitoryu.org