History of Shorin Kempo Karate - Part 2
The beginnings of karate is believed to have its origins
in India with a man named Bodhiharma. Fourteen hundred years
ago he traveled to the Shaolin Temple, in China, to give
a lecture on his religion to the monks. Many of the monks
fell from exhaustion due to his vigorous training regime.
It is said that the next day he gave the monks exercises
to learn and practice so that they would strengthen themselves
physically. These exercises and this level of training would
better prepare Bodiharma's followers to learn their religion.
Bodhiharma felt the soul and body were inseparable. Thus,
the need for good physical conditioning. Later these very
exercises were spread to many other places and became known
as Shorinji Kempo.
Many events and places contributed to the
development of karate as we know it today. The island of
Okinawa became a common port for travel and communication
for centuries. By the 7th century many people were traveling
between the China mainland and Japan. Karate may have been
introduced to Okinawa from these travels. At the same time
of these influences, there was also an indigenous fighting
style in Okinawa called "te" or "tode"
in 1372, Okinawa was a Chinese satellite country. More cultural
exchanges resulted in Kung-Fu mixing with Okinawan fist-fighting.
The developing art of karate spread further when the Chinese
emperor Hung Wu-Ti sent a large mission of Chinese officials
to Okinawa. in 1392 a group of 36 families moved from Fukien
Province, China, to Kume-Mura, a suburb of Okinawa. The
community established was called ('thirty-six families."
Here, Chinese boxing was taught to the Okinawans. Then in
1477, King Sho Shin re-imposed the Okinawan weapons ban,
thus increasing the emphasis of weaponless fighting.
In 1609, Japan conquered Okinawa, and again
weapons were denied the Okinawans. Therefore, in the fights
between the dominating Japanese versus the Okinawans, the
Okinawans used only their hands and feet. Thus, the Okinawans
had a great incentive to train hard in their art of weaponless
warfare. They had to study and practice in secret, usually
at night and at remote locations. The Okinawan martial artists
did not share their knowledge, and often fought each other.
Different strategies and techniques were tried and tested
on the real battlefield -- the loser usually died. Thus,
the surviving warrior's techniques were kept, and the loser's
techniques were discarded. Okinawan karate improved at the
expense of human life. Finally in 1629, the Okinawans stopped
the unproductive fighting with each other. The fighting
style that they had developed was a mixture of Okinawa-Te
and Chinese Ch'uan Fa.
Also during this time, many Okinawans were
secretly sent to China to learn other fighting styles. They
learned from famous Chinese masters such forms as: Saifa,
Sejunchin, Ason, Waishinzan, Ananku, Chinto and Kusanku.
The Chinese lion and tiger styles of boxing were brought
to Okinawa in 1692 probably by a shipwrecked Chinese boxer,
Ko Sokun.
Before the 18th century, there were three
main styles of Okinawan unarmed fighting: Naha-te, Shun-te,
and Tomari-te each named after the main cities from which
they were practiced. By this century, Okinawan karate was
developing into its current form. The basic differences
between these two styles is that Naha-te relies more on
flexibility in movement, while Shuri-te relies more on speed.
Karate historians agree that the secrecy of karate lasted
until either 1875 when Okinawan occupation ended, or until
1903. From about 1915 to 1940, Okinawan karate grew in popularity.
In this time frame, almost all major karate styles were
established.
Shorin-Ryu is a popular karate style in Okinawa
and has historical links through distinguished Chinese fighting
systems. The two ancient Chinese masters of Shorin-Ryu were
Iwah and Wai Shin-Zan. Sokon Matsumura was a student of
these masters. Another influential master was Kusanku who
learned the Chinese art of Ch'uan Fa from a Shaolin monk.
In 1761 he was sent to Okinawa to teach this martial art.
"Tode" Sakugawa was a student of Takahara, but
then studied under Kusanku. He combined Ch'uan Fa and Tode,
resulting in Okinawa-Te. After Sakugawa, there were three
other masters before the founder of Shuri-Te karate, Sokon
Matsumura. A political leader in Okinawa became friends
with Sakugawa. The political leader died in 1799, but had
asked Sakugawa to raise his three year old son, Sokon Matsumura.
Matsumura learned karate from Sakugawa and is credited with
creating all of the Shuri-te katas which include: Seisan,
Nalhanchin, Ananku, Wanshu, Gojushiho, Chinto, Passal and
Kusanku. In 1884, Sokon Matsumura died. However, he left
many students, the most notable being Yasutsune Itosu and
Yasutsune Azato.
Yasutsune Itosu (1830-1915) created the Pinan
katas and the Naihanchi kata. Itosu was also nicknamed "Iron
Horse" due to his strong stances. After Itosu's death
his senior student, Kentsu Yabu took over. Yabu soon retired,
and Itosu's second ranking student became the leader. However,
many of his students thought they should be the number one
leader. These disgruntled students formed their own separate
schools, thus, several different types of Shorin-Ryu styles
were established. Yabu's successor was Chosbin Chibana (1887-1969).
Chibana was a very well respected karate grand master, and
was first to name his style Shorin-Ryu in 1928. At Chibana's
death, again there was a disagreement between two of his
students over who should take over as leader. Currently,
Katsuya Miyahira leads the Kobayshi Shorin-Ryu (small forest
Shorin style) and Shugoro Nakazato leads the Kobayashi Shorin
Kan Shuwakai (small forest Shorin school of all Shugoro's
students.) The present head of Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu (pine
forest Shorin style) is Shoshin Nagamine. Nagamine studied
with Chotoku Kyan. His style emphasizes a faster, lighter
movement while the Kobayashi styles use more power and less
mobility.
Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945) was a great karate
master. He studied Shuri-Te from Sokon Matsumura and Master
Itosu. He studied Tomari-Te from Peichin Gyadamari, Peichin
Maeda and Kosaku Matsumora. The Shorin-Ryu style that he
passed on to his students combined Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te.
His style was known as the Sukunaihayashi style of Shorin-Ryu
karate.
Zenryo Shimabukuro was one of Kyan's best
students. He first called his style Shorinj-Ryu after the
Shaolin Temple. Later, however, he changed the name of this
style to Seibukan. His style taught the full combative techniques.
His son, Zenpo, is Zenryo's successor. His style is also
known as Seibukan.
By 1880, the term karate had replaced the
word," te" (hand) in Okinawa. In 1905, Chomo Hanashiro
used this new karate character meaning "empty hand."
Later, Gichin Funakoshi also used this karate character.
Funakoshi was one of the most well known Okinawan karate
masters. He was the first to formally introduce Okinawa
karate to Japan in 1922. He was born to a government official
in the year 1868. His father was a member of a privileged
dass in society called "Shizoku." He was quite
small and in poor health as a child so his father thought
he would benefit by training in karate. He began training
in his primary years with Master Azato, who trained under
Matsumura, Sokon. Azato encouraged him to train with other
masters and introduces him to Anko Itosu.
Funakoshi was invited to Japan in 1902 to
perform his technique to the commissioner of schools. As
a result of this demonstration, karate was installed as
a part of the physical education program at the Dai Chi
Middle School and the Men's Normal School in Shuri. In 1913,
Funakoshi formed a team of karate masters to demonstrate
publicly in Japan. The first demonstration of karate ever
given outside of Okinawa was in 1917 at the Butokuden, the
center for Japanese martial arts. In 1921, he gave another
demonstration at Shuri Castle for the Crown Prince Hirohito.
Hirohito was so impressed, he mentioned it in his report.
Shortly after this demonstration, Funakoshi was persuaded
to stay in Japan giving lectures and doing demonstrations.
He never returned to Okinawa and by 1936 established a permanent
Dojo in Tokyo known as Shotokan; Shoto after his pen name
meaning pine waves and Kan meaning house. Through his writings,
the meaning of karate changed from "Chinese hands"
to "empty hands." This served two purposes.
The Japanese and the Chinese had extreme political
tensions and were at war by 1937, so this served to disassociate
the art from its Chinese origins. Plus, Funakoshi, who did
not like Kumite and the use of force as he thought it degraded
the art, wanted the meaning of empty hand and it implied
not using weapons and more of a defensive sport instead
of offensive. Funakoshi is also responsible for developing
the Hejan Katas 1 through 5 which were derived from the
Pinan Kata 1 through 5, developed by Master Itosu. Okinawan
karate clubs began to form in 1927. Today there are about
200 karate schools in Okinawa.
