History of karate

Most accounts state China as having the influence on its initial rise of  karate, however, it is clearly Okinawa that spawned what we know today as  karate. Okinawa is one of the 60 small islands south of mainland Japan and owing  to its strategic location, it was often visited by the Japanese, Chinese,  Koreans, and other foreigners. Likewise, many of its natives visited, worked and  studied in these countries. This facilitated the exchange of goods and services  and of course, knowledge. It is unclear whether this exchange of knowledge had a  truly significant influence on the development of the indigenous fighting  system, Okinawa-te. However, there is little doubt that necessity had the  strongest role in Okinawa-te's maturation into what is known today as karate.  Okinawa had always experienced problems between rival kingdoms, but in 1429, the  kingdoms were united and in order to maintain this unity, a decree was issued  which banned possession of all weapons. This seemed to work fairly well for  almost 200 years. However, in 1609, Okinawa was, without much resistence,  conquered by the rulers of the Satsuma Domain of Kyushu. Of course, there was no  incentive for the new rulers to permit the Okinawans to own weapons and they  went even further by forcing them to check out their farming implements (which  could double as weapons) each morning and return them each evenin

Kobudo  (Okinawan weapons

Without weapons to defend themselves and their  families, the Okinawans began to develop the art of empty-handed combat in  earnest. It was taught and trained in secret through the beginning of the  eighteenth century. Much of the training was done at night while the oppressors  of the Okinawan people slept and therefore, the practioners trained in the  sleeping garments (the predecessor to the modern karate "gi"). Over the years  the prohibition against karate training began to diminish and legends began to  develop. Although there are too many to describe in this brief history, the most  notable would definitely include Sokon Matsumura (aka Bushi Matsumura) who  taught many great instructors including Azato and Itosu. These two gentlemen  became the instructors of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan.

Gichin Funakoshi

Gichin Funakoshi was born premature and frail and was given to his  maternal grandparents to raise. While attending primary school, he became  friends with the son of Yasutsune Azato and shortly thereafter, began receiving  karate-do instruction from the greater master. According to Funakoshi, after he had  trained a couple of years, he realized that his health had improved tremendously  and that he was no longer frail. It was at this time, he began to contemplate  making Karate "a way of life". Gichin Funakoshi became a school teacher, but  continued to train at the house of Master Azato and also under a number of other  great instructors. At the time, there were not many formal "schools" of karate  and many karateka sought and received instruction from a number of great  masters. These masters also shared information amongst themselves, often not  seeing themselves in competition with each other, but as kindred spirits with  the same love of martial arts. It is also during the early years of Gichin  Funakoshi that great changes swept through Okinawa and mainland Japan. The  government actively sought to develop a stronger sense of nationalism and  militarism and martial arts was definitely a major player in nationalist mores.  In 1902, Funakoshi performed the first formal recorded demonstration of karate.  As a result of this and other demonstrations throughout mainland Japan, karate  not only earned the approval of the Ministry of Education and introduced into  public school curriculums, but it also became an institution in Japanese youth  organizations, the military, colleges, commercial businesses, and with the  general public. Funakoshi was extensively sought after as an instructor and  found himself permanently relocating to mainland Japan to pursue instruction of  karate to the Japanese people. His students initiated the building of the first  public karate dojo (training hall) which opened in 1939 and which was called the  "Shoto-kan" (using the pen name of Funakoshi - "Shoto" and "kan" for hall).  Although the road was never an easy one for Funakoshi, karate flourished on  mainland Japan and as a result, in 1948, the Japan Karate Association was  established. The establishment of the JKA lead the way to the spread of karate  throughout the world. Masatoshi Nakayama, one of Funakoshi's greatest students,  succeeded him as the head of the JKA. To say that Nakayama played a pivotal role  in the expansion of karate throughout the world would definitely be an  understatement. Subsequently, the International Shotokan Karate Federation was  formed. Karate truly has become a world art, enriching the lives of thousands of  young people and adults in a way that only they can truly understand.

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