Karate General History
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 Bodiharmas followers to learn their religion.
Bodhiharma felt the soul and body were inseparable.
Thus, the need for good physical conditioning. Later there
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 the centuries.
By the 7th century many people were traveling
between the China mainland and Japan. Karate may have been
introduces to Okinawa from these travels, especially from
Fuchow, China. 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."
One of those styles introduced was Shi Pa Sho Kempo or 18
postures boxing. Here, Chinese boxing was taught to the
Okinawans. It was common for Okinawans to travel to Fuchow
and train as well. 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 warriors techniques were kept, and the losing
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 mix of Okinawa-Te and Chinese
Chuan 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, Seiunchin,
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, Shuri-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.
One famous family that shared information
with the Okinwans at Fuchow, was the Huo family. In the
late 1800's Matsuda went to China and later took his art
to Hawaii under the name Kojo-te or Kojo-shou. 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 Shun-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, Naihanchin,
Ananku, Wanshu Gojushiho, Chinto, Passai and Kusanku.
In 1884, Sokon Mataumura 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. ltosu 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 Choshin 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
Oyadamari, Peichin Maeda and Kosaku Matsumora. The Shorin-Ryu
style that he passed onto 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 1968. His father was a member of a privileged
class 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 19~3, Funakoshi formed a team of karate
masters to demonstrate publicly in Japan. The first demonstration
of karate ever given outside of Okinawa was in 1~7 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 having 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. 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 Heian 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.
