THE HISTORY OF OKINAWAN KARATE
Compiled by Sensei Jeff Brooks and the Northampton
Karate Dojo
The origins of Okinawan karate are difficult to trace. There are several theories concerning the development of karate on this
small group of islands.
Records of contact between China and Okinawa are mentioned in the court history of the Chinese Sui Dynasty,
which ended in 618 AD. Some cultural exchange
occurred, probably including the exchange of martial skills. From that time until the 14th century, however, no written record of martial arts exchange exists. Oral traditions
maintain that this was a time when there was a great deal of information about martial practices flowing between China and Okinawa. Legend has it that the indigenous
Okinawan fighting style called "tode" was mingled with Chinese and other South
East Asian influences. Traditionally the Chinese characters pronounced "karate" were the
ones that translate as "T'ang hand." T'ang was the name of the ruling Chinese
dynasty during much of this period. This suggests that there was some connection
between the art of karate and its Chinese antecedents.
It is known that in 1392 a Chinese cultural and trade mission to the Ryukyuan Kingdom known as the "36 families" settled in Kumemura village on Okinawa. Among this
group were some individuals trained in martial arts. It is guessed that some of them taught the Okinawans. During this period the Okinawan port of Naha became a busy
crossroads for trade. Among the many cultural and economic benefits of this trend was the Okinawans' newfound access to the martial arts of travelers, traders, and
sailors from other Asian countries. Speculation that kicking techniques were imported from Indonesia is based on material recorded in the Okinawan National Archive
destroyed in the bombing in World War II. Those records stated that at this time there were official embassies from 44 countries, including representatives from areas that
are now Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Java, and Korea.
Okinawa served as a transshipment and warehousing point for goods from all over East Asia. Okinawan sailors were often hired by traders from other countries to
transport their goods. The Okinawans had a reputation for being the most experienced and most skilled sailors of the stormy and treacherous waters of the western
Pacific. The name Okinawa means a "rope in the water." For sailors caught at sea in typhoons the Ryukyu chain -- of which the island of Okinawa is the largest island --
often provided the nearest haven. The Ryukyuan archipelago arcs like a rope thrown across the water from southern Kyushu in Japan, towards Taiwan and mainland
China.
Chinese court records of this period noted two extraordinary qualities of the Okinawan people. Both of these are reflected in Okinawan karate. One of these two qualities
was the Okinawans highly refined sense of "propriety." Propriety was one of the chief virtues of Confucian philosophy, the philosophy that guided the Chinese culture for
millennia.
This remarkable propriety referred partly to the Okinawans perfect performance of the elaborate court rituals. These formal functions were the most important obligation
of most small Chinese tributary states. But a further mark of the "propriety" of the Okinawans noted by the Chinese is one of which court records make special note: the
Okinawans were the most scrupulously honest of all China's trading partners. They were never known to cheat on transactions. They always delivered what they
promised, the amount of goods arriving at port always matching the bill of lading, and they never tried to extract more than fair payment.
The fact that the Chinese praised the Okinawans so highly for their propriety was a source of tremendous pride to the Okinawan people. The "Shuri No Mon" or Shuri
Gate, the only structure in the Shuri Castle precincts to survive the bombing during the Battle
of Okinawa in the final days of World War II, carries a plaque originally
presented by the Emperor of China. It reads "Shu Rei Do," or Land Of Propriety, the Chinese name for Okinawa.
The other quality the Chinese annals mention is one that may be seen as a further extension of the Okinawans' characteristic sense of propriety and fairness. They were
absolutely relentless in defense of their ships and possessions. The Okinawans are peaceful and gracious people. But it was known that pirates, one of the chief perils of
sea travel, would go out of their way to avoid ships flying the Okinawan flag. The few cases in which pirates attempted to raid an Okinawan ship ended with the pirates
killed or captured. It is not hard to understand why the Okinawans took self defense so seriously:
Ocean commerce and the biannual trade mission to China provided the majority of the
Ryukyuan Kingdom's income. If the ships and their cargoes were lost the people of the island would be reduced to poverty.
As the prosperity of the island increased, strife between neighboring feudal lords on Okinawa became a severe drain on the country's resources. To end it, and unite the
country under his rule, King Sho Hashi banned the ownership of weapons on Okinawa in 1429. The ban was reinforced by his grandson, King Sho Shin, in 1477. It is an
interesting side note that this policy, and the requirement that rural nobles spend a considerable part of the year in residence at the capital in Shuri, were two policies that
were previously unheard of and quite effective in centralized rule and quelling civil strife. Both were copied exactly by the Shoguns in Japan two centuries later, to great
and lasting effect.
King Sho Shin also promulgated a caste structure among the gentry, establishing as one of many social divisions, the pechin class. The pechin had an upper and lower
division -- for gentry and commoners -- and was further stratified based on seniority. The pechin class was charged with enforcing the law and providing military defense
to the nation. The pechin class was also responsible for the development of and training in the martial arts. Especially important to them were unarmed self-defense
techniques.
For these reasons the empty-hand martial arts developed on the island of Okinawa under great pressure of practical need. Unlike the large imperial nations of Japan and
China, which had large, armed, standing armies, the Okinawans needed to be able to use their hands in self defense. Of necessity they refined unarmed martial arts to a
degree that may have been unmatched anywhere else in the world.
In 1609 a Japanese invasion ended Ryukyuan independence in all but name. The ban on the ownership of weapons was extended to include the Okinawan military.
Legend has it that the Okinawans from that time on trained secretly, in the vast network of limestone caves that underlie the island, in secluded pine forests, and on the
long, isolated stretches of beach, where the sound of the waves hid the sounds of training from the occupying patrols.
There was some localized resistance to the Japanese occupation but it was unsuccessful. In 1629 the various Okinawan martial societies united. The new fighting style
developing at this time was called, simply, "te," which means "hands." The aim of these arts was far removed from sports or fitness. The need of the Okinawan people at this
time was, every day, a matter of life and death: to protect their homes, families, and towns from robbery, rape, and murder.
There were some Okinawans who traveled to China to study martial arts. Sometimes they went as members of embassies. In some cases they were selected to be
members of an elite group of students chosen to study in the Chinese capital as a prelude to a career in the Ryukyuan ruling elite. The martial arts exchange worked in both directions. The names of some famous Chinese martial artists who visited Okinawa and were influential in the development of
Okinawan karate include Saifa, Seiunchin, Ason, Waishinzan, Ananaku, Chinto, and
Kusanku.
Three groupings of styles emerged on Okinawa, and each has its own emphasis and characteristics. Each is named for the area in which it was practiced.
Shuri-te, practiced by the royal family and their guards; Naha-te, practiced in the port district; and Tomari-te, practiced outside the capital area. Shorin-Ryu,
which emphasizes
speed and accuracy as well as natural breathing, descends from the Shuri-te style. The Naha-te descendants tend to emphasize power and rootedness as well as controlled
breathing. The Naihanchi kata derive from the Naha-te tradition.
In the late 20th century the Shorin-Ryu style branched in a number of directions. Some of the main
postwar branches include Shobayashi Shorin-Ryu (Small Forest
Style), Kobayashi Shorin-Ryu (Young Forest Style), Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu (Pine Forest Style), and Matsumura Seito or Family Style, handed down within the family of
Matsumura Sokon.
All the Shorin styles are named for the Shaolin (pronounced Shorin in Japanese) Monastery in Henan Province, China. This is the legendary birthplace of karate and
Chinese Ch'an meditation (pronounced Zen in Japanese). It was an active Buddhist monastery and fort for much of its 1500-year history. The system of martial arts that
developed at Shaolin spread across China, to Korea and Japan, and to many countries beyond.
In the first decade of the 20th century karate was made available to the public on
Okinawa for the first time ever. This was an era when the Japanese dominated public
life on Okinawa, and when militarization of the culture was government policy. The Japanese officers recruiting young Okinawans for the China campaigns noticed that
some of their Okinawan conscripts were tremendously fit and powerful. When they realized that this was a result of karate practice, the decision was made to make
karate part of the required curriculum for boys in Okinawan schools. Yasutsune Itosu devised a system of kata for public training. He created the Pinan kata, which deleted much of the more difficult, subtle, and deadly content from the
karate techniques, but retained the physical fitness benefits.
In the 1920s karate was first demonstrated outside of Okinawa by Kentsu Yabu on Hawaii and later in Los Angeles. At about the same time Gichin Funakoshi, another
Okinawan Shorin-Ryu practitioner, demonstrated karate on mainland Japan at the annual national martial arts festival. He remained in Japan where the Shorin-Ryu he
taught was renamed Shotokan by his students. It is now strongly influenced in it movements and
mind-set by the Japanese sport of Kendo (fencing with bamboo swords.) In 1936 the term karate, meaning empty hand, was officially applied to the Okinawan bare-handed martial arts. It was changed from the homonymous word meaning T'ang
or Chinese hand. This change was another one made under the influence of the Japanese domination of Okinawan culture.
Karate gained a lot of popularity in the years after World War II during the U.S. occupation of Okinawa and Japan. The U.S. administration banned the practice of judo
and Kendo in Japan. These were the traditional practices of the military forces, and were considered a threat to the return of Japanese society to a peacetime culture. The
practice of karate was permitted. The Japanese did not understand it well and turned it into a sport, using tournaments, points, judges, and so on. This system was exported
from Japan all around the world. It has lately even infiltrated back into Okinawa itself. It was never a part of the traditional practice of karate.
American servicemen,
enthusiastic but unskilled practitioners in many cases, returned to the U.S. and opened karate schools. Some invited their Okinawan teachers to teach in the
United States.
Today there are millions of karate practitioners all around the world. Most continue to practice the diluted and superficial form of karate that was popularized early in the
century, and which was the type offered to the hundreds of thousands of American servicemen in the years following
World War II. A few schools, however, are restoring the
lost aspects of the art -- tuite, nagewaza, kyushojutsu, kiko, etc. -- which were retained in the practice of just a handful of Okinawan masters. Most of these have been
reluctant to share their more profound knowledge with outsiders. A few, fortunately, have.
Because of the effort of many thousands of practitioners known and unknown who have passed the art of Shorin-
Ryu karate to us, we are able to practice, learn, and
develop the profound and practical modern art of karate. As a result we have access to an endless source of strength, clarity, and peace of mind; a means to make our
lives and the lives of the people we know better and better.
THE SHORIN-RYU LINEAGE
Bodhidharma
The recorded history of Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu dates back to the middle of the 18th century. But the roots of the style extend back at least 1500 years. At that time,
according to legend, an Indian Buddhist monk named Bodhidharma traveled to China, settling at the Shaolin Monastery to teach martial arts and meditation. He is
considered the father of the Shaolin stream of Chinese martial arts. He is also the first patriarch of Zen.
Chatan Yara
Soon after the Ryukyuan kingdom entered into formal relations with China in the
1390s Chatan Yara went to China, probably as part of the first embassy. He studied
martial arts while he was there, staying 20 years before returning to Okinawa.
Chinto
Chinto was the name of a Chinese martial artist who, according to legend, was shipwrecked on Okinawa. One of our advanced kata is named for him.
Kusanku
Kusanku was a Chinese military attaché stationed on Okinawa early in the 18th century. He taught several Okinawans his style. The highest kata of our style is named for
him.
Sakugawa
Sakugawa (1733-1815) was a leading student of Kusanku. He also studied with Pechin Takahara, a member of the king's guard. He traveled to the interior of China to
train at the Shaolin temple. He is credited for handing down the Kusanku kata, and for creating one of the most famous Bo kata called Sakugawa no kun. His moral
instructions for martial arts practitioners, the Dojo Kun, are central to the philosophy of Okinawan martial arts.
Bushi Matsumura
Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura (1796-1893) is credited with formulating much the collection of karate kata that make up the curriculum of practice that we follow today.
The kata he passed on to his students include the three Naihanchi kata, as well as Ananku, Wanshu, Passai, and Chinto. All the later
members of our lineage trained under him directly, or with his students.
Anko Itosu
Yasutsune "Anko" Itosu (1830-1915) created the Pinan kata group as a means to train Okinawan high school students in a simplified version of karate. His nickname Anko
means Iron Horse. It derived from his reputation for immense physical power.
Kentsu Yabu
Kentsu Yabu (1863-1937) served in the front lines in the Japanese army's invasion of China. He was known as
"the Sergeant," a relentlessly tough disciplinarian in the
Dojo. He is the only man known to have ever defeated Choki Motobu in kumite. He is also one of the first ever to demonstrate Okinawan karate overseas -- in Hawaii
and Los Angeles, in the 1920s.
Choki Motobu
Choki Motobu (1871-1944) was not entitled to learn his family's style of martial arts because, according to their tradition, only the eldest son was eligible to study. He tried
to watch training through a hole in the fence. When this proved unsuccessful he turned to his own methods -- lifting rocks for strength and punching trees for power. His nickname was "Saru," the monkey. He was a great jumper and could climb trees upside down. He was also known as a troublemaker, inclined to start fights to test
his power.
Eventually karate master Kosaku Matsumura (the second Matsumura for whom Matsubayashi Ryu is named) taught him some kata. He traveled to Japan in 1921 and
while there attended an open boxing match where a professional fighter from Russia challenged anyone who wanted to fight him.
In the presence of thousands of
fans and numerous Japanese newspaper reporters, Motobu knocked the Russian out with one punch. Motobu was 50 years old at the time. Later in life he underwent a change of
heart. He studied formally with other Okinawan masters back home and some years later opened his own Dojo. He pioneered the use of yakusoku kumite as a training
method. This was his chief contribution to the Shorin-Ryu curriculum.
Chomo Hanashiro
Chomo Hanashiro (1869-1945) devised the new kanji for karate, creating the usage "empty hand" as a replacement for "Chinese hand."
Chotoku Kyan
Chotoku Kyan (1870-1945) trained under Bushi Matsumura, Kosaku Matsumura, and Anko Itosu. He was one of the preeminent karatemen of his time. He was
challenged many times but he was never defeated. He trained Shoshin Nagamine and Chosin Chibana, among many others. His school is known as the Shobayashi Ryu.
In his time the countryside and many of the roads in Okinawa were controlled by gangs who would beat and rob passersby. In those days martial artists were often called
on to aid the police in getting rid of these gangs. Stories are told about Kyan's ability to defeat numerous opponents single-handedly, his refusal to back down even in the
face of superior numbers, and his efforts to return orderly civil life to Okinawa. He is remembered as a master of kiko, as he always emphasized the development of the
hara (tanden) in practice.
Chosin Chibana
Chosin Chibana (1887-1969) studied under Anko Itosu for 15 years. He was regarded as one of the two most outstanding karatemen of his generation. He was the
founder of the Kobayashi Ryu branch of Shorin-Ryu.
Chojun Miyagi
Chojun Miyagi (1888-1953) traveled to China to study and practiced on Okinawa under Kenwa Mabuni. He created Fukyugata Ni; and he went on to found his own style.
Ankichi Arakaki
Ankichi Arakaki (1899-1927) studied with Chomo Hanashiro, Chosin Chibana, and Chotoku Kyan. He inspired Shoshin Nagamine in many ways, including his insight into
Okinawa's unique cultural heritage and his understanding of karate. He was a proponent of the toe-tip or spear-foot version of the mae-geri, the primary kicking technique
of our style.
Shoshin Nagamine
Shoshin Nagamine (1907-1997) was the founder of the Matsubayashi Shorin-Ryu style. He trained under Ankichi
Arakaki and Choki Motobu. His primary teacher was
Chotoku Kyan. His approach to karate is detailed in his book, "The Essence Of Okinawan
Karate-Do," which is the textbook of our school.
He was a police officer on Okinawa, and eventually rose to the position of chief
of police. He opened his karate Dojo to the public in 1947 in order to help the young
people of Okinawa during the chaotic and desperate years after World War II. He was a devoted practitioner of Zen meditation. One of his Zen teachers was Sogen
Sakiyama, Roshi, senior Zen priest on Okinawa. Shoshin Nagamine was the head of the Okinawan Karate Federation, the governing body of all Okinawan Karate styles.
He lived by the philosophy "Ken Zen Ichi Nyo" -- Karate and Zen are as one.
Jeffrey Brooks
Jeffrey Brooks, founder and director of the Northampton Karate Dojo, began martial arts training in 1978. After studying several styles he choose Shorin-Ryu for its
practicality and Nagamine Sensei's unique commitment to karate and Zen as one. In 1988 he opened Northampton Karate Dojo. He traveled several times to Okinawa to
study, training with Shoshin Nagamine and with senior people associated with him. H received the
fifth degree Black Belt rank in 1996.
Sensei Brooks' introduction to Zen was by Shoshin Nagamine at his dojo in Naha, Okinawa. He also trained with Nagamine's Zen teacher and fellow karate practitioner
Sakiyama Sogen, Roshi, of Kozenji Temple in Shuri, Okinawa. In 1995 Sensei Brooks formed Northampton Zen Center. In 1998 he was ordained a Zen priest.
In addition to martial arts and Zen practice, Jeffrey Brooks is a screenwriter and speech writer. He attended the State University of New York with a scholarship for
writing from ABC News. He received a fellowship from NYU Film School and completed the Master of Fine Arts program in screenwriting. Since 1986 he and his
collaborators have won the Gold Award at the New York Film Festival 12 times, as well as many other awards.