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Karate-Do: Way of the Empty
Hand
A small string of islands
linking the main islands of southern Japan to the Chinese
offshore island of Taiwan can
be accredited as the birthplace of
Karate. The Japanese call these islands the Ryukyu islands. The
largest island
of the chain is Okinawa, which is
also the capital.
The Story of Okinawa
It is thought that the
earliest inhabitants of Okinawa came not only from China, but
from the northern
Japanese islands and from South Asia. Archaeology has shown that
cultural penetration of China has
continued since at least 300 BC.
In these times, the people
of Okinawa lived a simple life supported mainly by a crude
agriculture,
sea-fishing and the gathering of shellfish. However, successive
military invasions by the Japanese
from the sixth to the ninth centuries AD evidently stimulated
the native people to organize themselves
into village groupings presided over by chieftains.
Okinawa had become divided
into 3 rival kingdoms by 1340,
and a
decade later the largest of these kingdoms entered into
a formal,
tributary relationship with China, which was confirmed by the Chinese
Emperor in 1372. Under the terms of this
relationship,
the Okinawan's,
like almost all of China's neighbors except for
Japan, sent annual delegations
to the mainland bearing tribute
for the Emperor. A few nobles from these
delegations were
permitted to travel on from the coast to the Imperial
Court.
Some younger princes even enrolled in the schools set up for foreigners
in
Peking, where they would study Chinese culture, arts and
sciences before
returning home. In this way, many important Okinawan's became familiar
with the city and court life of
China, as well as its traditions and learning.
By 1429, after some
internal skirmishing, Okinawa was united under one king
and
the
first (Sho) dynasty was established. This set the stage for the
golden
era of
Okinawan history. The people took to trading, and
steadily established
a network
of trade links that stretched not
only to Japan and China, but as far
a field as
Indo-China,
Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Okinawa
became a Venice or Genoa of the East, a great miles for
the distribution
of rare woods,
spices, incense, rhinoceros
horn, ivory, tin and sugar from the
south of Asia. These were
exchanged for the fine ceramics, textiles, medicinal
herbs and
precious metals of Japan, Korea and China. Okinawan sailors and
merchants visited not just China and Japan,
but
all the great
ports of East Asia, a factor that Okinawan's of today consider highly important in the
history of their
martial arts.
The Banning of
Weapons
Something else of crucial
importance also took place about this time. Around 1470, the
collapse of the Sho Dynasty
gave rise
to a period of political turbulence that
was ended only by the establishment of a
new (also Sho) dynasty in
1477. The new king,
Sho Shin, had to
deal with the rebellious war lords who were firmly entrenched in their castles
throughout the island. One of
his
first moves was to ban the carrying of swords by anyone, noble or peasant. His next
move was to order
the collection of all
weapons, which were to be placed under royal control at his castle in Shuri.
Finally, he charged that all nobles, now unarmed,
should come and live next to him in the royal capital.
It is interesting to note
that this policy of first disarming, then 'de-casting',
rebellious lords in Okinawa predates the
same
actions on mainland Japan. These were carried
out in the sword edicts of Toyotomi in 1586 and in the Tokugawa
Shogun's
orders for the daimios or warlords
to assemble in his capital in 1634.
It is typical of the
convoluted nature of relations between China and Japan that the
Shogun did not, however, force
the
Okinawan's to give up their tributary
relationship with the Chinese. On the contrary, he forced the Okinawan's to
maintain a
facade of loyalty to the
Chinese. Whenever diplomats came from the mainland, the Japanese rulers hid
themselves and
anything
that would betray their presence. Indirect contacts with China, which the Japanese both
wanted and
needed, were maintained
through Okinawa, but the Okinawan's' economic wealth and political
independence
were really annexed to Japan in 1609.
Of vital importance to the
following discussion was the fact that after 1609 the Japanese
maintained the ban on the
carrying
of weapons and kept the nobility bottled
up in Shuri city. Japanese samurai were, however, allowed to carry
their weapons there.
The ban on the
natives' carrying of weapons evidently remained in force throughout Okinawa's
subsequent history;
Napoleon, in
1816, on hearing of a small nation state called Okinawa where people carried no weapons
remarked:
"I cannot understand a people
not interested in war". In Okinawa today, most
Karate masters
believe that the banning of weapons by one of
their first kings
was an act of sublime wisdom, not one of oppression.
The Art of the Hand
This brief historical
sketch sets the scene for a discussion of the great Okinawan
tradition of te, the martial art of
the hand, in
which the human body is trained to become all
the weapons a man or woman may need for
self defense.
Karate, or Karate-do (the
art itself) as we know it today, is largely the product of a
synthesis that took place in the
eighteenth
century between the native Okinawan art of te
and the Chinese arts of Shaolin Temple boxing, and other
southern styles that were practiced at that
time in Fukien Province. In the last 70 years, Japanese martial arts have
influenced Karate as is practiced
there,
although little of this influence has filtered back to Okinawa.
Te is thought to be at
least 1000 years old. The Okinawan's of 1000 years ago were not
rich, and weapons were in
short supply.
The land was not unified, and a knowledge
of self-defense must have been an important asset and
would have provided the
necessary impetus to the
emergence of an indigenous martial art. Later, in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries when the Okinawan's
began to travel extensively, they were sure to have encountered many
of the great fighting systems of South
Asia and these would
have influenced their indigenous art. Certain techniques
in today's karate seem
to have originated from that part of the world. Okinawa's own style however is unique, and
foreign influences
have always been modified to conform with the Okinawan fighting
principles. Chief among them is
the use of the
hand (te), and especially the closed fist.
The Divergence of the
Okinawan Arts
When the king, Sho Shin,
disarmed the nobles and gathered them into Shuri city, is
believed that 2
movements were born in Okinawa. On the one hand, the nobles
sought out, learned and developed the unarmed
combat art of te. On the other hand, farmers and fishermen began
to develop weapons systems based on the
combative use of tools and agricultural implements. Flails (hand
threshing tools), grindstone handles, sickles,
horse bridles and even boat paddles became lethal weapons.
Both the unarmed and armed
traditions were practices in utmost secrecy, and largely
confined to their respective
social classes. Te was practiced by the nobles of the Royal
court and Ryukyu Bujutsu (Ryukyu weapon arts)
grew up among the people. Even in the twentieth century, several
of the greatest karate masters, notably
Chotoku Kyan, were and are descendants of the royal and noble
families of the city of Shuri.
The first recorded
performance of Chinese martial arts in Okinawa took place in
1761. There are also several
personal histories of the masters of te at that time. Some of
these masters, including Chatan Yara, are known
to have traveled to Fukien Province in China and studied there.
One great Chinese master, Kusanku, spent 6
years in Okinawa. During the nineteenth century the Okinawan art
began to be known by the name of Tang-te
or 'Chinese hand'.
Even though the art was
practiced in great secrecy, in remote places, and largely at
night or before dawn, 3
separate styles began to emerge from the 3 urban miles around
the capital. Shuri-te, the art that developed in
Shuri, was practiced by the Samurai of the court, while in the
nearby port town of Naha, and in Tomari, the
gate-town of Shuri, the people developed their own independent
styles of te.
The differences between
them probably arise from their having
been
influenced
by
different Chinese traditions. There is some
evidence to
suggest
that Shuri-te
derives from Shaolin Temple
boxing, while Naha-te
incorporates more of the soft,
Taoist
techniques,
involving breathing and
the control of Ki, the life
force, called chi in Chinese. Tomari-te evidently
drew
from both
traditions. It is important to note,
however, that the towns of Shuri,
Naha and Tomari
are
only a few
miles apart, and that the differences
between their arts were
essentially
ones of
emphasis and not of kind.
Beneath these surface differences,
both the methods
and aims of all
Okinawan karate are one and the same.
By the end of the
nineteenth century, the names of the styles had
changed
again.
The arts of Shuri and Tomari were subsumed under
one name, Shorin-ryu,
meaning the
'flexible pine school'. Naha-te
became known as Goju-ryu, the
(GO=hard and JU=soft),
and it was
developed by the
great master Higaonna,
Kanryo. Shorin-ryu is
subdivided into
several slightly different styles, but Goju-ryu
has
remained largely unified stylistically. There has also
grown
up a tradition in
Okinawa and Japan where both styles are fused
together and taught as one. The largest
school which does this
is the Japanese Shito-ryu (The tradition of SH=Itosu &
ITO=Higaonna), headed by Mabuni.
Traditionally, it is said
that the Shorin-ryu style is lighter and faster than Goju-ryu,
and that the stances are
generally higher. The Kata of the 2 styles are slightly
different: in Goju-ryu the arm and leg motions are more bent
and circular, and greater emphasis is laid on breathing.
In 1935, a multi-style
committee of masters sat down together to decide on a single
name for their art. They called
it karate,
which
means
'empty-handed' or 'weaponless' defense art. Some masters feel
that the Japanese appendage
of -do, 'the way',
should
also be added to the name.
Today, karate still
flourishes in Okinawa. The destruction of the island's historic
buildings, archives and much of
its unique
heritage during the
horrifying battle between the Japanese and the United States'
allies in 1945, has led the
people to prize
even more highly their immaterial cultural assets in the form of dance, music and
karate. Following ancient
precedents, karate
masters are amongst the most honored dignitaries of Okinawan society, and dojo's or training-halls
abound in the built-up areas
of
Naha and Shuri. Even though there are no overall masters of each
style, there is much
friendship and little competition between
today's leaders of the art.
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