Introduction of karate(part3) - Origin and history

This time I'll show you about origin and history of karate.

Karate is the martal art which was bagan in Ryukyu kingdom(it was in OKinawa).

Contents

 1.Origin

 2.The age of Ryukyu kingdom

 3.Crisis of Karate

 4.Development in the mainland of Japan

 5.Movement after WW2

1.Origin

 It is said that the origin of Karate is Ryukyu dancing,called 舞方（Mekata).

And the Mekata was often done by the person who leaded dancing procession. 

Then the Mekata developed to be 手(Ti ティー).

 http://ajima.ti-da.net/e3042560.html

2.The age of Ryukyu kingdom

 Ti was born for self defense because Ryukyu kingdom was easily attacked by foreign enemy in terms of geography.In 16th century,the 禁武政策(kinbuseisaku,'Policy of Banning Weapons) was enforced by 向真王(Shoushinou),and in 17th century,the Satsuma clan invaded Ryukyu kingdom and  put 'Policy of Banning Weapons, in force too.It is said that these events promoted the development of Ti becauseOkinawan people needed to defense themselves with out weapons(so they developed not only Tee but also the way of using things around them such as scythe and stick). 

  In early 19th century,佐久川寛賀(Sakugawa Kanga) mixed Ti and kung fu ,which he had trained inChina,and create 唐手(トーディー,Tudi).In that time,Tudi could be categorized 3 types in a viewpoint of the places where Tudi was practiced by a lot of people.Syurite(首里手),Tomarite(泊手)and Nahate(那覇手).

　　佐久川寛賀(Sakugawa Kanga) http://www.okinawabbtv.com/culture/karate/person/j_person001.html

  
And many of players of Tudi later contributed to develop karate by bringing karate to main land of Japan or by originating new schools(refer to part 5)

  

・Syurite（首里手)... Syurite was practiced by nobility in capital of Ryukyu kingdom.It emphasize speed ,flexibility,and attack by long distance.Sakugawa,Itosu Ankou(糸洲 安恒）,Motobu choki(本部 朝基),Funakoshi Gichin(冨名腰 義珍) and Mabuni Kenwa(摩文仁 賢和) are popular player of Syurite.

・Tomarite(泊手)  ... Tomarite was born near the Tomari port but is similar to Syurite. Most of Tomarite players wereSyurite player.

・Nahate(那覇手)  ... Not like Syurite and Tomarite,Nahate emphasaized power and attack by short distance. Popular player of Nahate was Miyabe Chojun(宮部 長順).

 In addition,Tudi was secretly taught from parents only to their children of Tudi players.

3.Crisis of Karate

 In 1871,Meiji government acted 廃藩置県(Haihanchiken,the abolition of feudal domains and the establishment of prefectures).As a result,in 1879,Ryukyu kingdom was fell and nobilities or worriers of Ryukyu who supported tudi were ruined.Tudi was at a point of crisis but Itosu Anko made effort to continue tudi.In 1901～1905,he started to taught Tudi at school in Okinawa.Tudi became one subject of PE and the way of reading 唐手 was changed from Tudi to Karate.Karate came to be taught openly and can survive.

4.Development in the mainland of Japan

  Karate was introduced a little before Meiji era but it is after Taisho era that karate came to be known well. In 1922,Funakoshi gichin(冨名腰 義珍) was invited to Kodokan(講道館)by Kano Jigoro(嘉納 治五郎) and demonstrated karate in front of about 200 judo players who has black belt.He stayed Tokyo and taught karete there.On the other hand,in Kyoto, Motobu Choki(本部 朝基) joined the match in which boxing player and judo player fought from the outside and defeat the foreign boxing player at one blow.Because this event was featured by a popular magazine,he and karate came to be known much better.

  After these events,karate experienced some changes.In 1929,the kanji of karate was changed from 唐手 to 空手.And in 1939,karate was formally admitted as one of Japanese Budo by 大日本武徳会(Dainihon-butokukai),which generalized Japanese Budos such as kendo and judo and standardize martial disciplines and systems throughout Japan.With this admittance,some aspects of judo in karate was removed and  karate was specialized in attack with blow.

  In this development, 四大流派(yondai-ryuuha,the big four traditional schools)and 沖縄三大流派(okinawa sandai ryuha,The Okinawan big three schools) were originated.(see part5)

　　

(Left)Motobu Choki(本部 朝基),(Right)Funakoshi gichin(冨名腰 義珍) 

5.Movement after WW2

 After WW2,GHQ ordered the Ministry of Education to prohibit Budo like Judo and Kendo and GHQ broke Dainihon-butokukai up.But students who came back from war made efforts to revive karate. In 1950s,many competitions were held by organizations of karate such as 韓武館Kanbukan (present　全日本空手道連盟錬武会 Renbukai)and 日本空手協会(Japan Karate Association).

 In 1964, 全日本空手道連盟(Japan Karate Federation,JKF) was established and it held a large competition by 寸止め(Sundome,soft attack)rule. At the same time,Oyama Masutatsu(大山 倍達) originated 極真会館(Kyokushin kaikan)which emphasized full-contact attack(hard attack) because he doubted Sundome style of karate. 

 On the other hand,some Okinawan karate schools have been displeased with JKF because 

they wanted to join JKF but JKF told them to be examined for joining by the stranded and because they protested that it meant Okinawan karate would be ruled by karate in mainland.     

 Then Schools of karate was diversified and many styles of karate exist today.

I think you didn't understand some words about karate... :-/  

So,I'll explain later and next time I'll show you the philosophy of karate!

<Reference>

http://budoukarate.ninja-mania.jp/index.html　空手入門

http://www.geocities.co.jp/Athlete-Athene/9993/　空手の歴史

http://www.kyokushinkan-jyonan.com/History.htm　空手の歴史を求めて

http://bit.ly/zDmwoz wikipedia 空手道