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| Karate History - Part 1 | ||
| The history of Karate is a long and meandering path of development, across seas from Japan and Okinawa, through the heart of long-ago China and over the mountains into ancient India. | ||
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Part One The history of Karate is a long and meandering path of development, across seas from Japan and Okinawa, through the heart of long-ago China and over the mountains into ancient India. For many karateka training in a traditional, style, there is a certain satisfaction in making a connection to the past through training as their predecessors trained (or close to it) and, by observing tradition, carrying on values and practices still considered useful and important. But what is traditional? Through the ages, martial arts undergo many changes: they adapt to new circumstances, they branch-off and are altered, they are lead by new people. Others die with their inheritors. In the end, what we have may be likened to the message in a game of Chinese whispers; altered from its origins by so many people that any obvious links to its beginnings may be hard to find. The many stories that make up karate's history have not escaped the Chinese-whisper syndrome. Modern karate's origins have been the subject of research and debate for so long that the history of karare now has its own history! This is partly because unearthing karate's earliest predecessors requires mapping the entire history of the martial arts in the East. Many know Okinawa, an island 550 kilometres south of the Japanese mainland, as the birthplace of karate. But let's look first to Japan, considered home to most karate systems existing today. Karate is now practised in an estimated 120 countries and takes many forms. Of these, some of the most famous were founded in Japan after World War II, prominent examples being Mas Oyama's Kyokushin and Choiro Tani's Shukokai. At the same time in Okinawa, the dominant schools (Ryu) were Shorin-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, Uechi-Ryu and Matsubayashi-Ryu. Although there had been karate demonstrations outside Japan in the late 1920s and '30s, it was in the post-war years that karate arrived in European and Western countries like Australia. The Japan Karate Association, formed in 1948, assisted in spreading karate world-wide. The many styles that developed inside Japan all grew from various Okinawan karate systems introduced to Japan early in the 20th century. Around 1902, karate was added to Okinawan schools' physical education programs and the secrecy that had surrounded the art lessened. However, some changes were made to kata for the purpose of teaching children and giving public demonstrations, and it is said this contributed to the loss of some knowledge concerning kata bunkai (applications) and thus the hiding of some of karate's deadliest defences. Shuri-te karate master Anko Itosu (1830-1915) pioneered this development and, though not alone, his student Funakoshi Gichin is the Okinawan most often credited with the establishment of karate in Japan. In the early '20s, Funakoshi impressed Japan's Crown Prince with a karate demonstration and his art was later given support by Judo's famous founder, Jigaro Kano, securing karate's acceptance by the Japanese. (To be continued) 
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Posted on Jun 03, 2009 22:44pm by (Return to Articles) |
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