Author Archive
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Shotokan katas (Wankan)
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Shotokan katas (Chinte)
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
The animal techniques of Uechi ryu (1)
| Uechi Kanbun, an icon in Okinawan karate history, introduced Uechi-ryu karate to Okinawa. The Okinawan Prefectural Government recognizes Uechi-ryu as one of the three major roots of all Okinawan karate along with Shuri-te and Naha-te. Uechi Kanbun spent thirteen years in China mastering a quanfa style called Pangainoon (half-hard, half-soft). He taught the style, later called Uechi-ryu, in China, Japan, and Okinawa. Some believe Chinese health exercises and fighting forms were developed by observing animals. At that time, the general health of the Chinese people was poor. Scholars believed diseases were caused by inactivity. They observed that animals were very fit and began watching their living habits.
The next step in this comparative development was to determine how animals fought one another and who most often survived. Fighting moves emulating animals, such as the tiger, snake, monkey, dragon, and birds native to China, is one source of origin attributed to their fighting systems. Uechi Kanbun favored the more difficult and effective of these striking techniques: shoken (one knuckle punch), sokusen (big toe kick), and nukite (finger-tip strike). These strikes are symbolically referred to as the tiger’s teeth and the crane’s beak. Closed hand techniques predominate in many martial arts styles and are called heishu. There are three types of closed hand strikes in Uechi-ryu karate. They are tsuki, uchi, and ate. Tsuki means thrust and applies to all forward thrusting actions, such as a straight punch. The Romaji spelling of tsuki changes to zuki when used with another word, as in seiken zuki (two-knuckle strike). Uchi strikes are roundhouse or swinging strikes. Ate (pronounced autay) is used to describe strikes with larger surface weapons like the knee and elbow. Open hand strikes, used extensively by Chinese and Okinawan styles, are called kaishu. There are three types of open-hand strikes used in Uechi-ryu karate: nuki, uchi, and tsuki. Nuki means attacking with a smaller weapon in a poking motion. Uchi (circular) and tsuki (straight) striking methods are the same as with closed-hand techniques, however, many parts of the hand can be used.
PUNCHING TECHINQUES There are no seiken punches in Sanchin, Seisan, or Sanseryu, the original three kata of Uechi-ryu karate. The Chinese origins of this system emphasized many other striking techniques delivered to precise targets or pressure points (kyusho). Kanshiwa kata, created by Uechi Kanei, is the only Uechi-ryu kata that contains seiken punches. The literal translation of shoken is “small knuckle.” This refers to the second knuckle of the index finger, the proximal joint. A shoken fist is made very similar to a seiken fist except that the forefinger is brought forward and locked against the thumb. It is chambered and delivered in the same manner as seiken zuki. Shoken is a dominate weapon of the Uechi-ryu system and is found in supplementary exercises (hojo undo) and all katas except Sanchin. Shoken is used only to attack soft spots and pressure points, such as the throat, neck, solar plexus, armpit, ribcage, arms, and legs. Shoken is called the tiger’s tooth. This punch is compared to being bitten by a tiger. The tissue damage caused by a shoken punch is more intense than the blunt result of a seiken punch. It delivers more destructive power than any other hand strike because the force of the punch is focused into a very small area. The impact penetrates deep into the body. |
The word ken means knuckle. Ken has been expanded in the martial arts to mean fist and encompasses many fist or hand strikes. Seiken (left), a fundamental two-knuckle fist, is the most popular hand weapon in karate. It is the least difficult fist to for m and the safest to use, therefore, it is good for beginners. The shoken (right), one-knuckle fist, is more difficult to form and condition, therefore, it is a more advanced technique.
Uechi-ryu’s shoken fist symbolizes a tiger’s teeth. Notice how the thumb overlaps or wraps around the index finger to give it maximum support.
|
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (1)
LETTER 1. – Kata & bunkai
In response to some of the post on bogus bunkai and some Okinawan instructors and dojo not having bunkai that seem to be anything but block/punch.
I would agree that there are dojo on Okinawa that fall into the above category. Please remember that we are discussing human beings and the frailties and shortcomings are the same whether you live in Okinawa, Japan or the USA. I believe that Goshiki (sp) is right in relating other’s observations to him that their is a lack of bunkai understanding in Okinawa. But there is some very good reasons behind the lack of the focus on bunkai training.
I believe the most important factor was the dissemination of karate to Japan. The entire method of training was changed to cater to the teaching karate as physical exercise in the public schools. The next factor was the rapid development of karate styles in Japan. It is hard to imagine that from 1922 to 1937 there was no less than a dozen different styles developed by Japanese on the mainland. So, in 15 years you had this many people move up to the position of leading their own school. Why there are countless of us in the USA and Okinawa that have been with the same teachers for thirty years and if we started our own group we would be soundly criticized. How did this effect the bunkai of the kata ? They did not stay with the Okinawans long enough to learn and the karate that was taught in the beginning was kihon only. The Japanese had a strong desire to use what they were learning and they developed the jiyu kumite as a supplement for not knowing the bunkai. The sparring matches became their method of measuring their karate skills whereas the Okinawans had only used the measurement of being able to defend themselves and live long lives.
The Okinawans became victim to this same thought process after the war. Why ? Because only a handful of the older teachers were left and many of the teachers who began teaching after the war were trained in school karate where the emphasis was on body and spirit development. The method of training on Okinawa followed the Japanese for many years with the emphasis on bogu jiyu kumite. The training methods were changed or adapted in many dojo to improve the ability to free spar vs. actual combat.
I am not saying that all Okinawan schools followed this way but many of them did. I believe most of all the senior teachers had the knowledge of what karate had been but due to the changing times they designed their instruction to meet the perceived needs of the day.
I have observed over the last nine years in Okinawa a resurgence of traditional Okinawan karate. A symposium was held in August of 1990 after the Uchinanchu demonstrations to establish the direction of Okinawan karate. I was fortunate to attend this symposium and witnessed the senior teachers calling for a return to traditional Okinawan karate and kobudo. Since that time much effort and expense has been expended to but the emphasis on re-establishing Okinawan karate as it should be. I have been to Okinawa 14 times in the last nine years and have seen a dramatic change on the emphasis being placed on training methods.
In the late 60’s when I lived on Okinawa more emphasis was put on kihon, kata and jiyu kumite. One of the reasons was that is what Americans liked and enjoyed. Many of the Okinawan teachers made their livings teaching servicemen. Most of these men were only on Okinawa for 18 months so the training was geared to having them experience the Okinawan karate and enjoy their time on Okinawa. Yes, I know that most of the servicemen who were there on Okinawa during this time will say that they learned more than just kihon, kata and jiyu kumite and perhaps some did but those that will be honest with themselves should answer just as the Japanese should have from what they learned from the Okinawans and that is they did not even hear the word bunkai from the Okinawans. The word bunkai is not even Unchinanguchi. The Okinawans that I trained with used the term ti chi ki, which I was told meant showing what the hand is doing.
I have rambled on enough about all of this so please forgive me. The point is that the Okinawans knew and still know the bunkai of the kata. They were just emphasizing something different.
I have an acquaintenance that I have known for about thirty years. He is an 8th dan now and several years ago I had the opportunity to train in his dojo frequently over a period of a year while on business trips. He would ask me questions concerning bunkai of kata and I would give him answers thinking all along that he was just pulling my leg when he would say he had never seen the explanations of the kata like that. He asked me how did I get this information. I told him that my teacher’s father would show me during our morning classes. After a couple of months had gone by he said he thought that I must be making these applications up. He said they made sense but he knew that if his sensei (different than mine and very highly thought of on Okinawa) knew these applications he would have taught him. Sometime after this he and I went to Okinawa together and he asked his teacher in front of me some kata bunkai questions. His teacher readily gave him similar answers that I had provided even though we are from a different school. He said why haven’t you taught me this before ? The reply was that you never asked me and I thought you were satisfied with what you were getting. I believe the point to this story is that the Okinawans were giving the Japanese and Americans what they thought they wanted. Surely this must have been easy to think because neither the Japanese or Americans ever went back to Okinawa for much training after their initial introduction to Okinawan karate. How many Japanese that created these various schools ever went to Okinawa and trained for any length of time ?
What do most of the students who come into your dojo want ? What are you giving them ? How many times as we as teacher wanted our students to want more and we were willing to give it to them but they demonstrated by their actions that they were satisfied with kick/punch.
I will close for now and hope that I have not dragged this out to much. One thing I did not discuss was the thought put forth by some that there are no blocks in karate bunkai. I would like to discuss this at a later date if anyone has an interest.
Thanks for reading all of this if you did and I apologize if I took to much bandwidth.
Oh, a question for the members who attended the Okinawan Rengokai seminars.
Did you see any bunkai applications of the kata ?
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (2)
LETTER 2. – Kata & bunkai
I certainly did not mean in my post to give the indication that all Okinawan schools did not continue to practice bunkai as an integral part of their training. I wrote that there are schools in Okinawa just as any other place in the world that do not have the full curriculum that other schools have. I certainly would not mention those that I think do or don’t. I know Iha sensei’s background as well as his teachers are and were well grounded on bunkai of the kata.
My comment was one of a general nature only depicting that there are bogus people all over the world. No one country or race has a monopoly on ignorance or charlatism. It just appears that the USA has more than our fair share.
Concerning the Japanese not understanding the bunkai from the Okinawans. I think I can fairly state that bunkai from the Okinawans perception was not part of their curriculum. They took the parts of the Okinawan karate that they wanted for their purposes and developed that part to a high degree. You cannot deny that the gymnastic, athletic movements of the Japanese styles is not better developed than the Okinawans.
Someone mentioned in a post yesterday that the way the Japanese had changed karate or taken the Okinawans “school” karate and spread it world wide and would we rather have karate spread out for everyone to enjoy or have kept it like the Okinawans developed it. My response is that I would rather have the “school” karate spread through out the world if that is what it takes to build the karate-do spirit and body for so many people to have gotten benefit from. Perhaps Itosu sensei knew that the real Okinawan karate was just for the few and school karate was for the populace. I am teaching school karate to the all of the young people that come into my schools with hopes that they will develop the body they need to grow to an adult and then began learning karate. I hopefully will retire from my business career in a couple of more years and then I would like to teach in the middle and high schools along with the colleges in my area. I have been thinking for sometime what I would teach given the opportunity to teach hundreds of people in that environment. I keep coming up with the same concept that Itosu used.
Modern karate as developed by the Japanese with a kick start from Itosu and Funakoshi is for the masses and there has been and continues to be a great benefit from this training. The traditional Okinawan karate is not for the masses and it was never intended to be that way.
I had the opportunity when I lived on Okinawa to train in both methods at the same time and in the same school. I trained in the morning with Zenryo Shimabukuro sensei and at night with Zenpo Shimabukuro sensei. The morning class was dramatically different. Zenryo sensei never had us line up to begin a class. The people who attended this morning class came at various times. Began training on their own in whatever part of the dojo they could find to practice by themselves. Zenryo sensei would observe us practicing kata, give corrections, instructions on how to perform the movements and demonstrate to us individually what the kata movements where. The night time training was heavily geared toward kihon practice, kata and sparring. We did weight training and ippon kumites, which were extracted bunkai movements from the kata, and we ran. The training was geared to developing the body and the tools of karate. After training at night many seniors would stay late and practice the kata bunkai that Zenryo sensei was teaching in the morning.
I share the above with you about my own training to show you how someone could have come only to the night training and developed only the kihon because they were training in large group classes. They did not make themselves available for the in depth training. This happens in our classes today all over the world. Just as I mentioned yesterday tha people get what they want from the training. The teacher may have much more to give but the student is satisfied with less. Sometimes because that is all they want or do not realize their is more.
I hope that this clarifies that on Okinawa there is much to learn and you have to put the time in to enable the learning process. Many Japanese and Americans stopped short due to time constraints and being satisfied with what they had so they did not learn the in depth meanings of the kata.
Gumbatte
Dan Smith
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (3)
LETTER 3. – Are there blocks in Okinawan kata?
I remember when this no block question in karate began in the mid 1980’s. As I recall it came about when people started being exposed to the Okinawan kata bunkai and finding out that not all blocks were for just blocking. It is my belief that this line of thinking got completely out of control as people started trying to understand each movement of the kata and making it some exotic explanation to further their position in the world of how much they knew about the kata. Many of these people following this line of thinking were those that stated that the Okinawans were hiding all the deadly techniques from westerners and even the Japanese. Some even went as far as saying that the Okinawan senior teachers got together after World War Two and decided not to teach the deadly art of Uchinandi again.
Are there blocks in Okinawan karate kata ? Certainly and the number of blocking techniques that are used for protecting you against attack are far greater than those that are used for release from a grab.
The basic teaching of all Okinawa kata is the same regardless of style. The following three principles are taught in the same order by each teacher and is developed through the understanding of the kata. The words that I use to describe these three principles may not be the same but the actions are.
- Get out of the way – tai sabaki. This is accomplished in varying ways depending on the teacher but it is all the same. If someone attacks you thefirst thing you want to do is get out of the way. (This helps disrupt the kuzushi of the opponent)
- Protect your vital areas as you move out of the way of the attack. You do this with blocking. You may not actually block (whatever that is) the attack but you certainly want to protect your vital areas while you are getting out of the way. Addtionally by making contact with the opponents attack with a block (no matter what type of block it is) you give the opponent the feedback that they are looking for. They have made contact. (This helps disrupt the kuzushi of the opponent)
- Attack the opponents vital areas that have been exposed by their attack, your evasion and blocking. The Okinawan concept is to do this as one movement if possible (ikkyo). If you use these three principles in concert you should accomplish ikken haistsu.
The Okinawans spend many hours developing the blocking movements so that they can apply them as I have outlined above. It is just as important to learn how to move and block as it does to attack and is more vital to your safety.
What happens when the scenario above does not work is where in the kata the techniques of escaping a grasp or your own counter attack being blocked is where the confusion can come from understanding whether a technique was a block as described above or not.
In my opinion I have answered several questions posed on the CD over the last few days. What is kuzushi ? How is Kuzushi applied from the kata ? Are their blocks in Okinawan kata ? Is there just bunkai from Okinawa that has only block/punch applications ? Is there use of blocking and striking simultaneous in Okinawa karate ?
IMHO all of these questions are answered in the three principles. Of course there is much more to be found in the section of what techniques are used when these three principles cannot be applied. I believe that most people want to find this answer before understanding the first three principles.
Once you can apply the above principles it makes understanding the ti techniques that are woven into the kata.
I hope that this was helpful to those that are asking the questions and I hope it will interject thinking about the kata from a different perspective.
Everything starts with the footwork.
Gumbatte
Dan Smith
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (4)
LETTER 4. – About Hakutsuru kata.
Michael , you are right about Matayoshi teaching a Hakutsuru kata. The name is Kakuken. Even though he reserved the kata for some of his senior kobudo students in that he did not teach karate at all in his dojo. His comments still stand, ” the crane is for your health and not for killing like Okinawan karate “. Whenever you and Rand come down to Atlanta for a visit I will get the taped interview out and show it to you and let you make your own interpretations as to what he is meaning. Since I have known Matayoshi for many years I think I know when he is serious and joking. He was not joking.
Second, the reason for my question to him about the Kakuken was that I knew that he had not taught it to many people and that the popularity of the “crane” was growing in the USA. I asked him why so many people were now coming out with crane kata. He said ” everyone trying to be somebody. If crane was so good for fighting then Okinawans would have kept. Not made Uchinandi.” He then proceeded to demonstrate on the tape the crane movements and the bunkai that I asked him about.
Third, I did not learn the Kakuken from Matayoshi sensei. I learned this kata in 1969 from a gentleman by the name of Tomagusku. He had no students and practiced on his own. He lived in the same village that I did and knew that I was a serious karate person. He knew my teacher and respected him. After watching me for sometime without my knowledge while I practiced at home on my makiwara he volunteered to teach me his kata. He informed me that the kata came from Go Ken Ki and that he had studied it before the war. I learned the kata and kept it all these years. I left Okinawa in 1971 and returned in 1975 and could not find Tomagusku or his niece who had been our maid. They had moved from the area and with my limited language skills at the time I could not find them. Over the ensuing years I have demonstrated this kata to many Okinawans and have gotten no response from them as to it’s authenticity until I demonstrated to Matayoshi sensei. He proclaimed to me that the kata came from Go Ken Ki. Until many years after I learned the kata I had no idea who Go Ken Ki was. After Matayoshi sensei verified that the kata was bonafied I then began in earnest to research the history. I found that Go Ken Ki only had one kata. I also found out that if Matsumura had a white crane kata it would have been similar to the one Go Ken Ki had. I also found that Go Ken Ki taught at the Okinawan Kenkyu and that he did not teach the entire kata but the concepts of the kata. Many Okinawans that trained at that time on a limited basis picked up bits and pieces and apparently have created many forms with a crane flavor.
Yes, some of the Shorin Ryu kata have a crane flavor to them such as; Passai, Gojushiho and Kusanku but they do not have the crane power. The Okinawans developed their own power for these kata. Personally I find the crane power contradictory to the Okinawans method of making power. I find just as Matayoshi sensei said, “crane is for health and Okinawan karate is for killing.” Sorry for the long winded response. I never thought thirty years ago that any of this would have any value. I kept the kata because it makes me feel good and is good to warm up with. I am amazed at the interest in something that the Okinawans do not consider important. Maybe we have missed something. I am glad I kept the kata.
Dan
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (5)
LETTER 5. - About kata practice.
It is hard to disagree with most of what has been written about this subject but I have a few comments that I hope will be helpful.
I agree with Shogiki’s comment about having “faith” in practicing the kata. Faith is defined as hope in what is not seen. All of us that practice the kata without knowing the complete meaning of kata are practicing faithfully with the hope that what we are practicing will produce the results that we have predisposed in our mind. I think that this will satisfy as a definition of kata.
There are so many levels of understanding kata that you cannot limit yourself to one meaning or one by product of your effort. Again that faith word is important. All of us who have trained for some time without having to actually use some of the movements that we envision that will work are going forward on faith that the techniques will be there to provide us safety, health and well being not only form physical attack but from ourselves.
Perhaps this is what kata was designed to do.
The concept of kata is an enigma as to it’s origin and original purpose. Many followers of the practice of kata have continually preached it’s importance but only have faith that the kata practice produces what we are looking for.
So why was kata created ? The preservation of techniques, a method of teaching techniques in an orderly fashion, a method to develop the body equally or a method of teaching the body to move instinctively ? I think it is all of these but the latter is the end result.
Based on 39 years of kata training, which over half of that was on faith alone , I have found that the purpose for me is training the body to move instinctively. To achieve this instinctive movement does not necessarily require that you have the understanding of the bunkai or principles of movement but the more you mentally become aware of the purpose and methods the more effective the results are.
Does a beginner need to know the bunkai and principles of movement ? I have taught both ways. At first when I returned from Okinawa in 1971 I was so full of all the bunkai knowledge that is all I wanted to share with my students due to when I trained before going to Okinawa I had no clue of what bunkai was. After some months of trying to insure that “the” bunkai was taught as the kata was learned I found that the students would alter the movements of the kata to cause the effect of the bunkai and that is when I remembered my teacher stressing that there were many bunkai and not to change the kata movement to accommodate the bunkai movement.
Each kata movement has a purpose outside of the obvious and these movements are what teach the instinctive ness. If you have one bunkai in mind and do not concentrate on the perfection of movement then you will not develop the instinctive mind.
The focus should be on the perfection of the movement and the applications flow from the movement and creativity of the mind or the spontaneity of the situation.
“Faith without works is dead”.
Gumbatte Kudasai
Dan
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Kata, bunkai, tegumi… (6)
LETTER 6. – About Tegumi.
I think that many people are off on a tangent concerning grappling, Te Gumi, Toide, etc., etc. etc. when analyzing Okinawa karate. I understand the need some people have when they consider having to grapple with someone and the Okinawan kata takes provides for this but not in the way that is being represented. Okinawan karate focuses on the basic understanding o
- Get out of the way of an attack. Even if you are grasped you use movement to escape not grappling.
- Parry the attack as you move to give yourself the added protection from the attack and to create an opening to counter attack.
- Attack the vulnerable points on the body as the openings are created through movement.
Yes, there are a few techniques in Okinawa kata that teach you how to block and grab as you apply a strike to the opponent. There are techniques in the kata that teach you how to react if your attack has been blocked and grabbed and techniques that teach you how to react when seized by the opponent but these are minimal when considering the vast number of techniques that are describe in 1 to 3 above.
My teacher on Okinawa taught four techniques against being grabbed. He stated that he only thought he would be grabbed in four ways. I thought about the many ways someone could grab you but the teacher said he only needed four because he believed that he would prepare himself to be only grabbed in the four methods that he could not guard against. Go through the kata and list how many ways someone can seize you. It is not many than four. You only have an arm, upper front body, upper back body and shoulders to defend. If someone tries an tackle you the kata of Okinawa gives you two choices or three if you count the one move in Uechi Ryu out of Seisan.
My point is that much is being made about a small number of techniques. It is true what someone said on the CD, if you are someone who practices atemi waza then kensetsu waza is something special and if you practice grappling then atemi waza is special.
IMHO the Okinawans specialized on 1 to 3 above.
And while I am espousing stuff that probably causes concern. Ikken haitsu is not an Okinawan concept. It comes straight from kenjutsu. The Okinawans simply say fight until there is no fight.
Gumbatte
Dan Smith
Posted on December 26, 2008 - by tokugawa
Gichin Funakoshi
Gichen Funakoshi And The Beginning Of Modern Karate-doBy Tom Ross Few martial arts enthusiasts could argue that if there was one Karate-ka (karate practitioner) known world wide that man would be Gichen Funakoshi. Believed to be in need of constant attention due to his health, young Gichen was given to his maternal grandparents in whose care he soon flourished. This action set about a chain of events which forever altered his life and literally thousands whom he in turn affected both directly and indirectly. While living with his grandparents, Gichen began attending primary school and in doing so befriended It is probably due to the close friendship between Azato and Anko Shishu (read in Japanese as Yasutsune Itosu, but commonly called Anko Itosu) that Funakoshi met and was accepted as a student by Itosu. Itosu was a legend in his own right, and is considered by many to be the “Father of Modern Karate-do,” for it was he who first systematized and organized Karate with the purpose and intent of mass instruction. Making a Choice By 1888 Funakoshi had already decided to make the study of Karate his way of life, and it was in this year that he embarked on a respectable career in teaching. (2) This profession allowed him to remain close to his two teachers while providing at least some source of income to his family.
Around the turn of the century Itosu organized a demonstration for the benefit of Shintaro Ogawa, as this commissioner of schools had jurisdiction over Okinawa. Ogawa, suitably impressed, wrote favorably to the ministry of education and permission was granted for the regular instruction of students in public schools. In August of 1905 Chomo Hanashiro (also a disciple of Itosu and who had assisted Itosu in teaching in the school system) published his book “Karate Shoshu Hen,” which was the first recorded use of the alternate rendering of the characters for karate which read “EMPTY HAND.” Up to this time characters for karate had been read as “Chinese Hand” (the “Kara,” in karate, also being the pronunciation for a different character meaning “Chinese,”and “te” meaning hand). Thus the wheels of change were in motion. In October of 1908 Itosu wrote his “Tode Jukun,” or Ten Precepts of Tode (the “To” in Tode being another pronunciation of the same character meaning “Chinese” and “de” meaning another pronunciation for “te,” or “hand”), thus drawing further attention from the ministry of education and the ministry of war. It was perhaps in response to these events that in 1912 the first imperial fleet under the command of Admiral Dewa set anchor in Nakugushiku Bay. Impressed by the demonstration they witnessed, a detachment of officers remained for a week to receive instruction in the unique martial art at the Dai Ichi middle school. One cannot help but feel Funakoshi’s intense pride as he watched his primary school students perform for the visiting sailors. It is further interesting to note that in his book “Tales of Okinawa’s Great Masters,” Shoshin Nagamine recounts that when he was a student in the third grade (1916) Funakoshi Sensei was the teacher responsible for teaching the Naihanchi Kata and Pinan series other third grade students (5). This account would seem to put to rest the speculation by some karate historians that Funakoshi learned the Pinan Kata from Kenwa Mabuni (the founder of Shito Ryu Karate who had studied with Itosu) in 1919 or 1920. Picking Up The Torch Itosu had lit the torch of modern Karate-do lighting the path for others, but he was growing old and the wheels of bureaucracy turned ever so slowly. Anko Itosu died on January 26, 1915.
Funakoshi took a small group of students and Shinko Matayoshi, who would demonstrate Okinawan Kobudo (Okinawan weapons). Upon returning home the group toured Okinawa and gave further demonstrations. On March 6, 1921 (6) Crown Prince Hirohito, en route to Europe, stopped at Nakagushiku Bay and viewed karate demonstrations at the great hall of Shuri Castle. The demonstrators wore white headbands, white tee shirts and traditional pleated pants while Funakoshi wore a white jacket styled after the standard judo uniform top.
Before one hundred spectators at the Kodokan, Gichen Funakoshi performed his favorite Kata Kusanku Dai (later renamed Kanku in Japan) while his assistant Makoto “Shinken” Gima performed Naihanchi (8). Gima had trained in Okinawa with Kentsu Yabu (a student of Itosu and teacher of the famous karate expert Shigeru Nakamura who later founded Okinawan Kempo) prior to coming to Kano soon asked Funakoshi to set up a karate branch of the Kodokan, but to his credit Funakoshi politely declined the offer, perhaps fearing a loss of creative control over the future development of the art. (It is interesting to note that Karate was first recognized by the Butokukai as being a branch of the Judo Division). Funakoshi remained in Japan, determined to succeed in the popularization of Karate-do on mainland Japan, a dream his dear teacher Itosu had never lived to see. Securing lodging in a dormitory for Okinawan students (the Mesei Juku), he earned his lodging by gardening and performing odd jobs and handy work.
These changes soon paid off, and his classes steadily grew. Calling upon such talented Okinawan Karate-ka as Tsuyoshi Chitose (who had been studying at medical school in Tokyo), Funakoshi had someone to teach for him when he was otherwise unavailable. He soon developed a base of talented Japanese Karate-ka, and on April 12, 1924, Gichen Funakoshi awarded the first Dan rank in the martial art of Karate-do to his assistant Gima. This move is important and can be seen as acquiescence to Dai Nippon Butokukai standards which promoted the adoption of common ranks, belts and uniforms for martial arts in Japan, elements lacking in karate as previously practiced in Okinawa. Gima’s cousin Tokuda Anbun, already a highly talented Karate-ka in Okinawa, was awarded Nidan with five other first Dan diploma’s being awarded to Otsuka, Kasuya, Akiba, Shimizu Although by 1934 the highly talented Otsuka went his own way (forming the Wado ryu style which was officially recognized in 1939), his void was temporarily filled by Takeshi Shimoda. Shimoda was Funakoshi’s most talented student (12) (a fact referred to by Shigeru Egami, a senior student of Funakoshi), but during the course of traveling and demonstrating, he became ill and died rather abruptly ending what would have been a most promising future. Enter Waka Sensei
According to Egami (14), of the original 19 kata of the Shotokan designated for study, the three Taikyoku Kata as well as the Ten no Kata (Omote and Ura) were all created by Gigo. Tragically Gigo’s role was cut short when in November of 1945 he succumbed to tuberculosis. This was truly a heartbreaking blow to Funakoshi, who in March of that very year had seen the Dojo of his dreams utterly destroyed by allied bombing. The War Ends Upon the conclusion of the war, devastation prevailed, and Funakoshi’s Okinawan home land paid a heavy price in the fighting. The practice of the martial arts was banned by the The year 1948 saw the lifting of the ban on practicing the martial ways, and two former students of Funakoshi, Masatoshi Nakayama and Isao Obata, formed a new organization “As a result of the social disorder that followed the end of World War II, the karate world was dispersed, as were many other things. Quite apart from a decline in the level of technique during these times, I cannot deny that there were moments at which I came to be painfully aware of the almost unrecognizable spiritual state to which the karate world had come from that had prevailed at the time I had first introduced and begun teaching of karate. Although one might claim that such changes are only the natural result of expansion of Karate-do, it is not evident that one should view such a result with rejoicing rather than with some misgiving.” Gichen Funakoshi Footnotes: (2) (4) (8) (9) (10) (11) (14) References: “Karatedo My Way Of Life” by Gichin Funakoshi, Kodansha 1981. “The Heart of Karatedo” by Shigeru Egami Revised edition, Kodansha 2000. “Karatedo Nyumon” by Gichin Funakoshi, Kodansha 1994. “Karatedo Kyohan” by Gichin Funakoshi, Kodansha. “Tales Of The Great Okinawan Masters” by Shoshin Nagamine, translated by Patrick McCarthy, Tuttle 1999. “Unante – The Secrets Of Karate” by John Sells, Hawley 1996. Photos: Funakoshi photos were reproduced from his 1935 book, Karatedo Kyohan. The group portrait of Funakoshi dan ranking students was provided courtesy of Masters Publications. The Itosu drawing was contributed by Kyoshi Frank Hargrove from his book, The 100 Year History of Shorin-Ryu Karate. Since there are no known photos of Itosu, the drawing was a composite done in Okinawa based on available descriptions. |
Our pics
Borilacki klub on Facebook