THE HISTORY OF KARATEORIGINS

Karate originated in Okinawa, an island which lies between Japan and mainland China. This form of karate was a mix of Okinawan and Chinese martial arts, it is thought that the Chinese forms of fighting were white crane kung fu and monk fist boxing.

Karate as we know it now did not exist, there was no uniform or belt system and until the 1920s practitioners trained in shorts and were bare-chested. Upper-class men from Okinawa would be sent to the Chinese region of Fouzhu to learn the finer things in life, while they were there, they were taught the Chinese fighting styles. These styles were then brought back to Okinawa and mixed with Okinawan fighting styles; an example of this was a diplomatic envoy called Kushanku. In 1761, he gave one of the first public demonstrations of the Chinese arts and it is thought that the kata that we practice today comes from his teachings. Kanryo Higaonna also travelled to China and taught what he learned to small groups of students on his return. Some of these students would go on to develop the styles that we know today.

Karate was originally called ‘Chinese hand’, but due to anti-Chinese sentiment in Japan this name was changed to Karate (empty hand). Because there was no ranking or standardized training, the art was seen as barbaric and un-Japanese. It was therefore practiced in secret by the rich and powerful as the common people had neither the spare time or money for training.

A prospective student would be recommended to a teacher and would have to introduce themselves by letter, if the introduction letter was accepted the student would be invited to train at the dojo in secret either alone or with one or two other students. To begin with the student would only be taught the basics and would be required to do jobs around the dojo. Karate was not just seen as a fighting style, it was seen as a complete system to be become a fully rounded member of society, students would be expected to study the finer things in life such as poetry, calligraphy, medicine and philosophy and any students who displayed violent tendencies or showed disrespect to the teachings would be asked to leave the dojo or only taught the basics, this ensured that only the hardest working and most respectful students progressed.

The most widely accepted martial art in Japan at the time was judo. This martial art had a Gi (uniform), this was based on the traditional kimono, ranking system, coloured belts and standardized training method, this had been put in place in the 1800s by Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo. If karate was to be accepted and survive, then it would have to adopt similar standards.

The Karate that we know today has a Gi a syllabus and a belt system like Judo beginning at white belt (8th kyu), through different levels to 1st kyu and then on to black belt(1st dan). This was not brought into karate in Japan until the 1930s, (Okinawa adopted this practice some time later). The student is graded on their knowledge of each level and must reach the required standard to progress to the next. Many people think that 1st dan black belt is the highest level but there are in fact 10 dan levels, 10th dan being the highest. The criteria for reaching each dan grade is different from club to club but the time spent achieving each level must be met, 2 years at 1st dan to qualify for 2nd dan, 3 years at 2nd dan to qualify for 3rd dan and so on up to 10 dan this means that to achieve 10th dan would take about 50 years of hard work and dedication.

Karate is taught in different sections Basics, Combinations, kumite and Kata. Basics gives the student an understanding of stances, punches, kicks and blocks. Combinations is a way of putting together different basic moves to show movement. Kumite is free fighting in a controlled situation to get used to the unpredictability of a real fight situation.

Kata has been practiced throughout the centuries and each style has its own kata, kata are a series of attacks, counter attacks and finishing moves put together in a sequence. These kata are practiced over and over again as a form of formal exercise, over time the student hones the techniques until they become powerful and can be done without thinking. Kata are a martial exercise and should be practiced as if you are facing a real opponent.

The 1st series of kata we learn in karate are the Pinan or Heian katas, both Pinan and Heian mean peaceful and safe. The idea is that if you have mastered all of the pinan/ heian katas then you would have a solution to any confrontation you find yourself in hence you can go about your business without fear (peaceful and safe).

Karate became available to the public at the start of the 20th century when it was included in the school physical education system, this had military reasons as the government realized that if they could train their young men to be strong and loyal to their country with a martial spirit they would have an excellent supply for the armed forces if needed.

st YLES

In the beginning there were no styles in karate, masters in different regions taught karate differently, early on in the 20th century training in secrecy was relaxed and different masters named their karate after the city that they were In so in instead of using the term Chinese hand they would call it Naha-te, Shuri-te or Tomari-te (te meaning hand in Okinawan) they also mixed their ideas with each other, this gave the impression that there were different styles. To appear more organized in line with the Japanese way and to be accepted styles would eventually be developed and registered, the regional names were dropped and replaced with the term Karate.(empty hand)Today there are many different styles of karate, below are the 4 main ones.

SHOTOKAN

Shotokan is one of the most recognized styles practiced today, it was developed by Gichin Funakoshi (1868-1957). He was the one responsible for introducing Okinawan karate to Japan. In 1922 he had the opportunity the travel to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration, Okinawan karate was seen as primitive at the time and Funakoshi realized that if karate was to grow in Japan then he would have to stay there and teach it. To begin with he had very few students and struggled to make a living however he kept at it and gradually gained more and more students until after 20 years of hard work he established Shotokan as an official Japanese martial art. The characteristics of Shotokan are long deep stances and fast powerful strikes. This style also includes throws, joint locks, sweeps, throws and grappling.

GOJU-RYU

Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953) began studying karate at the age of 14 as a direct student of Kanryo Higaonna, he eventually took over as the teacher after the death of his master, Miyagi went to China to study the martial arts then returned to teach and refine his own style. In 1930 he decided to call his style Goju-Ryu, this literally means the hard/soft style which refers to the closed fist strikes and open hand circular motions that characterize it.

WADO-RYU

Hironori Ohtsuka (1892-1982) began studying Jujitsu at the age of 6, he began studying karate under Gichin Funakoshi at the age of 30 and developed the style of Wado-Ryu in 1939.

In 1939 he organized The All Japan Karate Do Federation, Wado Ki, The Worldwide Headquarters for the Wado Ryu system. In 1967 he was the first practitioner of karate (karateka) to be awarded the 5th order of merit of the sacred treasure of the emperor of Japan, following his death in 1982 his son Jiro took over as the head of the Wado Ryu organization.

Wado Ryu translates as the peaceful way and practitioners strive to better themselves by developing their discipline, respect and understanding of mental and physical well being, importance is paid to fast efficient moves and unnecessarily large moves are kept to a minimum.

SHITO-RYU

Shito- Ryu is a hard/soft style of karate and was founded by Kenwa Mabuni (1889-1952) in 1934, a the age of 13 he trained under Itosu Anko (1831-1915), his good friend Chojun Miyagi introduced him to Kanryo Higaonna and under him he continued to study karate, the two masters had different styles, Itosu used straight powerful techniques while Higaonna practiced circular motions and a shorter fighting method. The name Shito-Ryu is in honour of the two masters, shi and lo are the 1st two characters of their names put together and Ryu means style.Shito Ryu like Goju Ryu is defined by shorter upright stances and favours short to mid range techniques.

MODERN KARATE

Karate originally had no sporting element as it it was more about self progression, but as it became more widely accepted in Japan there was a call for competitions to bring it in line with Judo, this meant that over time some of the more dangerous and deadly moves in traditional Okinawan karate were practiced less and lost in time. Today karate is practiced in 150 countries by more than 50 million people and has gained acceptance into the 2020 Olympic Games, it has come a long way since being practiced in secret just over 100 yeas ago.

References

The History of Karate and the Masters who made it.(Mark l. Cramer) http://www.shitoryu.co.uk/ https://en.wikipedia.org/