Okinawa was militarized long before the advent of recorded history and localized war was as common there as anywhere else where competing tribes fought to protect themselves. Mainstream Japanese fighting techniques and philosophies entered the island from the Heian period (794-1185) onwards through visiting aristocrats who brought with them a retinue of bodyguards that were skilled in the use of the halberd, spear and sword, and who could perform archery (the chosen art of the samurai before the sword gained ascendancy) and grapple. This knowledge was absorbed by indigenous warriors exposed to it and put to good use in violent territorial disputes among local warrior chieftains between the seventh and fifteenth centuries.
One such example cited by Patrick McCarthy (though it is disputed by mainstream historians) was the influence of Minamoto Tametomo of the Minamoto clan. According to McCarthy, in his career Tametomo overran Kyushu (the southernmost area of mainland Japan) after being exiled to Oshima Island (in the Izu Island chain) following defeat by the Taira clan and his subsequent escape. From Kyushu Tametomo moved further south to Okinawa. Marrying into the family of a local warlord Tametomo's son, Shunten, went on to become the most powerful warrior chief on the island with his dynasty lasting until 1253, a period in which martial arts from the Japanese mainland became further embedded into the Okinawan way of fighting. This is the story believed by certain residents in Okinawa, but historians argue the events are fictitious and were created at a later date to attempt to legitimize Japanese dominion over the Ryukyu Islands. There is a similar story (also not true) told on Amami Oshima, a major island to the north of Okinawa.
For the next two centuries localized warfare continued between three primary areas until, in 1429, Sho Hashi was able to emerge victorious and form a centralized government. Though 1429 is a significant date in the overall history of Okinawa, a date of more importance to the history of karate is 1507 when Sho Shin-O ratified the 'Act of Eleven Distinctions', one of which prohibited the ownership and stockpiling of private weapons. Suddenly there was no access to weapons as a means of personal self-defense and, at a deeper level, the techniques and martial strategies that had developed under the influence of the armed warriors from mainland Japan had no apparent means of expression. Without a physical sword the technique and strategy of using a blade in combat appear to become redundant. From 1507 onwards then the people of Okinawa turned to the investigation of unarmed combat techniques in lieu of the possibility of making an armed response to an aggressor. These weaponless fighting approaches would, many changes later, one day become various schools of karate.
As important as the date of 1507 is in understanding the historical development of karate, the ban on the ownership of weapons is not a simple watershed. It is not true that prior to 1507 Okinawan warriors exclusively used weapons in combat and after they adopted unarmed systems of combat. The fighting arts that later developed into karate did not appear out of nowhere.
In his book Bible of Karate: Bubishi Patrick McCarthy identifies various streams of Chinese influence on the indigenous te fighting styles. It is in this synthesis that the true origins of karate can be found and this synthesis accelerated after 1507 as warriors sought to become more efficient in their deadly trade sans their weapons.
The earliest recorded contact between Okinawa and China occurred in the early 7th century. Commerce and cultural exchange were slow to develop though and it was not until 1372, shortly after the demise of Mongol dominance in China, that an envoy was sent from China to Okinawa to invite the latter to become a tributary. Under the terms of the alliance trade between the two nations would increase and by the close of the 14th century a Chinese trading mission (known as the 'Thirty-Six Families') had been established in the capital city Naha. For the next five centuries, until the Ryukyu Islands were annexed by Japan in the 1870s, Chinese language and culture, including martial arts, was disseminated through Okinawa and the island chain. Close relations between the two countries also led to outstanding young Okinawan scholars being given the opportunity to travel to China to further their studies, opening the door for Chinese martial arts to be learned at the source and then transmitted back to the island.
Another possible source identified by Patrick McCarthy is the sapposhi, or special envoys and their entourage sent out to the furthest reaches of the Chinese Empire to improve communication. Over the course of 500 years before Japanese annexation twenty such envoys visited Okinawa, usually staying for a period of between 4-6 months. During these diplomatic missions it is possible that Chinese martial arts were further taught to select students.
The Pechin
One class within feudal Okinawan society that did perpetuate the practice of Chinese-influenced combative arts was the pechin. The pechin were middle-ranking warriors, somewhat equivalent to mainland Japanese samurai. Like the other classes, the pechin were created by Sho Shin and served in an official capacity from 1509 to 1879. Unlike the higher ranking classes, the pechin occupied positions and conducted affairs that brought them into direct contact with lower ranking citizens. For example, the pechin could be employed in civil administration or law enforcement. It was members of the pechin class pursuing a career in maintaining a lawful peace who can take more credit that any others for sustaining the practice of unarmed combat under direct Japanese rule.
The Shimazu Invasion of the Ryukyu Islands
The Shimazu clan were firmly entrenched in the Satsuma peninsula approximating modern-day Kagoshima prefecture in the extreme southern area of Kyushu Island. The clan, famous for their strong sword style of Jigen ryu, were suffering after failed campaigns in Korea under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and after defeat at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the final great battle that led to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate. With a high number of samurai retainers and little in the way of spoils of war to repay them Shimazu Yoshihisa, the leader of the Shimazu clan, turned his eyes southwards. The Shogunate was only too happy to bleed the Shimazu further and distract them from any thoughts of rebellion (1). Thus, in 1609, an invasion fleet set sail and swept down the Ryukyuan island chain defeating all opposition at it went and occupying the islands taken.
Victory was swift. The Shimazu samurai were battle-hardened and there was little the Okinawans could do, moreso given that significant portions of the populace had had no access to weapons for 100 years. After three months of fighting Shuri castle was captured and the Shimazu took control of Okinawan political affairs. One result of this was the strict enforcement of a weapons ban, thereby finalizing the policy initially set forth by Sho Shin-O almost one hundred years earlier.
Jigen Ryu Influence on the Development of Karate
Jigen ryu is the battlefield sword art of the Satsuma samurai. As peace was established throughout the Ryukyu islands select pechin traveled to Satsuma peninsula and received training in this art. One such person was "Bushi" Matsumura, an important figure in the historical development of karate. Matsumura synthesized indigenous Okinawan fighting techniques with those of China arts and Jigen ryu. Notable among his students were Itosu Anko and Asato Anko, two men that would play a later crucial role in formalizing and popularizing Shuri te, while also heavily influencing Funakoshi Gichin, a man who would go on to do more than anyone to spread karate around Japan and beyond.
Another interesting historical development occurred much earlier when the second generation headmaster of the Jigen ryu, Togo Bizen no Kami Shigekata, was ordered by the head of the Shimazu clan to teach some rudimentary fighting skills to the farming population of Okinawa in case of an invasion; the peasant population could operate as a militia. This influence has been recorded in a folk dance known as the Jigen ryu Bo Odori.
Finally, it was also under Shimazu rule that kobudo developed. Kobudo is the combative use of common everyday implements such as the eiku (boat oar), the kama (sickle) and the famous nunchaku (rice flail).
Contrary to popular belief then, Shuri te (the forerunner of the Shotokan karate style created by Funakoshi Gichin and which spawned offshoots such as the Wado ryu, Kyokushinkai and Shotokai styles of karate) was not a simple amalgam of Chinese martial arts and Okinawan te. This is in contrast to the Naha te style introduced to Okinawa by Kanryo Higaonna which was most definitely a Chinese martial art (most likely some kind of Crane school) modified to a certain degree on Okinawa but free from the influence of the Jigen ryu. The Shimazu invasion and subsequent exposure to Jigen ryu that some masters had was a vital event in the development of what has become modern day karate do.
The Dawn of Modern Karatedo
Shimazu control of Okinawa ended in 1868 with the Meiji Isshin (the restoration or revolution - depending on who you read - that put the Emperor back in control of Japan curtailing the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate). This event signaled the beginning of the modernization of Japan. Within just a few decades Japan went from a non-industrialized economy with little to no modern accoutrements to a 'wanna be' on the world stage. Industry changed radically along with the political scene; the army and navy were modernized thereby ending the age of the samurai once and for all and two significant wars were fought and won: the first against the Chinese in 1894-95 and the second against the Russians in 1904-05.
With the simultaneous eradication of the samurai class and their warrior ethos and the rise of a modern army trained to use the latest weaponry Japan's traditional martial arts suddenly found themselves irrelevant. The modern army was made up of conscripts who by necessity had to be trained as quickly and efficiently as possible. There was no impetus to developing a warrior from birth. Further, the traditional martial arts - both armed and unarmed - were clearly unable to compare to the devastating effectiveness of rifles and artillery. Not only did it take less time to train a soldier to use a firearm, that firearm was infinitely more efficacious. The traditional fighting arts were set to decline.
Note the use of modern firearms, the bayonet and the uniform of the soldiers.
The days of the samurai were over.
Against this backdrop of modernization the classic arts (bujutsu) reinvented themselves as predominantly a way of life (budo). Kenjutsu became kendo, or the way of the sword, while ju jutsu became judo, or the soft way. While retaining a core of combative techniques, the emphasis was less on practical application in a fight and more on developing the morality of practitioners while fostering a sense of 'Japaneseness' in the face of Westernization.
Japan's Monbusho (Ministry of Education) wholeheartedly supported the spread of various budo (judo, kendo and so on) in the school system and so the (modified) techniques of yesteryear reached a new and wider audience. Training was serious and a sense of shugyo (austerity in practice) prevailed.
Karate Comes to Japan
In its drive towards modernization and in pursuit of a foreign policy that would win it colonial possessions similar to those of the main European powers, Japan introduced a draft requiring male Japanese citizens to serve for a period of time in the military in 1873. This draft now included the Okinawans. While undergoing mandatory medical testing two men in particular stood out as exemplary specimens of fitness: Hanashiro Chomo and Yabu Kentsu. After some investigation it was discovered by the military authorities that these men enjoyed a superior physique and level of endurance through their practice of karate.
Despite positive first impressions though, the Japanese military finally abandoned the idea of introducing the art as a discipline for recruits owing to the apparent lack of organization, impractical training methods and the time commitment needed to develop sufficiently. While not officially endorsed by the military then, karate was from this period taught in schools, possibly with the ulterior motive of conditioning teenagers to be able to better serve their country when drafted, but at the very least to be more productive in Japanese society.
The famous master Itosu Anko led this movement along with other notable characters in the evolution of the Okinawan fighting art. A trade-off was required that would have a lasting impact on the development of the art: for karate to become more widespread and popular the emphasis in training had to be changed. Removing hard core self-defense applications in lieu of teaching children, the new generation of masters introduced the group practice of kata to promote physical well-being. The original bunkai, or combative applications of the kata movements were all but lost until the close of the twentieth century when the 'secrets' began to be revealed and taught once again in conjunction with the kata.
Itosu Anko was a defining force in the formulation of modern day karate. He created and taught the Pinan kata; simplified patterns of movement derived from the longer and more complex traditional kata. These kata were later changed by Funakoshi Gichin to become the Heian kata. Both the Pinan and Heian kata are still taught today and are among the first kata students from around the world will study.
It was this new form of fighting and training that was principally introduced to Japan and made popular by Funakoshi Gichin. His students, upon completion of a later new dojo, named the training room the Shoto Kan - or Shoto's Hall - and thus the first Japanese style was born: Shotokan.
Japanese Karate
Japan of course already had a rich history of martial arts and, as noted above, the traditional arts of kenjutsu and jujutsu had both already morphed into kendo and judo respectively. These arts were organized and well represented. To become popularly accepted karate would have to emulate these arts.
This move towards a level of standardization acceptable to the Butokukai (the National governing body for Japanese martial arts) saw many changes including the establishment of a training uniform (the gi), the use of a standardized curriculum and the use of kyu and dan gradings to reflect a student's progress within that curriculum, and the introduction of a sporting element. One of the biggest changes though was the name itself.
China Hand Becomes Empty Hand
Owing to the increasing level of nationalism in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s especially China and Chinese people in general were denigrated. Originally karate was made up of two ideograms. The second (te) was and would remain read as 'hand'. The first ideogram though (pronounced 'tou' or 'kara') referred to China's Tang dynasty and was taken to mean 'China'. Karate (or toudi depending on who was speaking) meant 'China Hand'.
in 1905 Hanashiro Chomo wrote a book and used, for the first time, a different way of writing karate. The first ideogram was now read as 'empty' (though with the same pronunciation in Japanese). Hanashiro Chomo therefore read the name of the art as Empty Hand.
Later Funakoshi Gichin studied Zen at Engakuji Temple and expanded his understanding of the ideogram 'kara' (empty) and took it back to its Buddhist origins. For Funakoshi the meaning of 'kara' also embraced the Buddhist idea that there was no thing (mu - nothing) in the Universe and by extension no duality. Through Funakoshi in particular the latter reading of karate became popular and this reading has been perpetuated.
The final part of the inscription reads:
Ken Zen Ichi
(The Fist and Zen are One)
This shift in reading wasn't immediately popular in Okinawa and it was sometime later (1936 in Okinawa as opposed to 1933 in Japan) that the new reading was officially ratified. A reading of this article on the history and development of the art reveals clearly that this Okinawan fighting method was much more than a simple inheritance of Chinese martial arts techniques. Up until the 1920s/1930s toudi had been influenced by indigenous fighting arts, skills from Japanese warriors arriving in the Heian period (794-1185), and then later by the Jigen ryu of the Shimazu clan, along with Chinese martial arts. All of this was tested and refined for combat effectiveness in local wars up until the reign of King Sho Hashi who both brought about relative peace and whose ancestor banned, at least legally if not practically, the private ownership of weapons. Then, later, upon adoption by the Police on Okinawa, the art had to tested once again for its pragmatic ability to subdue a criminal. Clearly to have called the art China Hand (and thereby imply that it is solely Chinese in origin) was misleading. The exception to this was the Naha te / Goju ryu strand which most definitely did originate solely from China.
While the ideogram 'kara' was being read in a new way the art also became officially a 'do' as in judo and kendo. 'Do' means a way or a path and carries with it, in my opinion, three meanings. First karate do should be seen as a way of life that will (second) bring the practitioner into contact with the universal, eternal Do (Tao or Dao in Chinese - thereby relating the art also to Taoism) at which point (third) the art becomes a means of expressing that harmony with the universal Do. With the change in name from toudi jutsu to karate do a deeper spiritual meaning to one's training was established.
The Post-War Years
Following defeat in World War Two the Japanese martial arts were for a short time banned completely. Karate didn't suffer such great oppression as it could be described as (and understood by the occupying forces as) a form of boxing. Shorn of all militarism the first non-Japanese students began training (American servicemen) and the JKA (Japan Karate Association) was established teaching Shotokan. The JKA organized an instructor's program and eventually sent out the cream of its cadre around the world to spread the art. Sensei included such luminaries as Nishiyama Hidetaka, Asai Tetsuhiko, Kanazawa Hirokazu and Enoeda Keinosuke. Other teachers of other styles followed this example and the exchange was facilitated when foreign students began traveling directly to Japan to train in the top dojo (the honbu). As these foreign students themselves became accredited teachers the art was able to spread further and nowadays you can find a formal or informal dojo in most populous areas in any first world country. Karate has quickly become a very popular form of self-defense, a sport, a method of keeping fit, an academic subject and a spiritual discipline for millions of people worldwide.
(1) Some historians argue that the Japanese campaigns on the Korean peninsula were pursued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for a similar reason: to either kill off surviving samurai from the civil war period or to otherwise remove them from the mainland if they were victorious. It is also worth noting that it was Saigo Takamori, a major for in Satsuma politics who led a revolt against the Imperial government in 1877. His samurai were firmly defeated by a conscript army utilizing modern weaponry, thereby once and for all ending samurai dominance of the battlefield. Fans of the movie The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe and Koyuki will be interested to note that the events portrayed are heavily influenced these real life events.
