Zen Shaolin Karate. Nathan Johnson

reflection of the practitioners themselves. Any art, be it music, painting, dancing, etc., may reflect the culture in which it is practiced. In the West, where competition and achievement are important elements of that culture, it is not surprising that the fighting arts are practiced competitively. Similarly, in Japan, where the warrior spirit was for centuries central to Japanese culture, we find that modern writers have associated karate with bushido, or the way of the warrior.

      It is not my intention to denounce either bushido or martial arts competition, but I do believe that we must recognize these as cultural influences that have been attached to the Shaolin empty-hand arts. They are not central philosophies that govern its practice.

      Okinawan Karate History

      Our search for the origin of modern karate-do takes us from China to Okinawa, the main island of a group known collectively as the Ryukyu Islands. These islands, which were a tributary state and trading partner of China, are situated some four hundred miles east of the Chinese mainland and three hundred miles south of the Japanese islands. The Okinawans had frequent contact with the Chinese mainland, and Fukien Province in particular. It is through this contact that the Okinawans learned Chinese empty-hand forms.

      The three states that originally made up Okinawa were unified by King Sho Hashi in 1492. Soon after taking power, he banned the possession of all weapons. In 1609, Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma clan from Kagoshima, which continued the weapons ban. After the initial Satsuma occupation, peace was soon restored and the garrison left behind was only a nominal one. Some popular legends claim that karate was devised in order to combat the Japanese warriors, either bare-handed or with primitive weapons, but the Satsuma samurai were well-equipped, well-trained, formidable soldiers, and it is highly unlikely that unarmed techniques could prevail against these armed warriors. These popular legends also fail to account for the Chinese names of kata and the Buddhist names of some of the postures that can still be found in Okinawan karate.

      It is much more likely that the Okinawans initially learned the Shaolin empty-hand arts from traveling monks, traders, seafarers, and those fleeing in the wake of the Manchu conquest of China. By blending and synthesizing many styles and techniques, and adding their own ideas, the Okinawans came up with several unique empty-hand schools. These were characterized by three major recorded approaches: Shuri-te, Tomari-te, and Naha-te, each giving rise to their own distinctive ryu, a martial tradition.

       Bronze statue of Chinese wrestlers from the Chou dynasty (1122-221 B.C.)

      Karate, as such, was practiced in Okinawa but its kata are primarily derived from Chinese forms and its methodology originally included t'ui shou (pushing hands). The various schools of karate each used different selections of kata as the basis for their style. It is not surprising, therefore, that the same forms appear in different styles. There was inevitably some crossover. Some kata have been modified and others have been invented fairly recently, but most were practiced for many years in and around the villages of Shuri, Naha, and Tomari. These three villages are all within a few miles of each other and collectively influenced the development of Okinawan karate.

      These three basic approaches to karate were taken to the Japanese mainland during the 1920s. As the worldwide popularity of karate has come about since its transmission to Japan, we will now turn our attention to its development there.

      Japanese Karate History

      The development of karate in Japan is a fairly recent phenomenon. One of the most prominent and enthusiastic early teachers of karate in Japan was an Okinawan named Gichin Funakoshi. Often called the father of modern karate, Funakoshi began to introduce karate to Japanduring 1922. He was not the first Okinawan to do so. It is recorded that Choki Motobu had moved from Okinawa to Osaka in 1921, and was engaged in teaching karate in that area. However, it is quite clear that Gichin Funakoshi exerted the most influence on the development of karate. He transformed Okinawan karate into a Japanese art by infusing it with concepts taken from Japanese budo (literally, martial ways). Funa koshi further changed the names of the kata for reasons of his own and he reorganized karate terms in conformity with kendo, Japanese fencing.

       Gichin Funakoshi

      The provincial art of Okinawan karate soon began to undergo a radical revamping. This took place through the teaching of karate in Japanese colleges and universities, and the tireless efforts of leading enthusiasts of the day. At that time, systematic experimentation with various forms of sparring began. Karate (as taught by Gichin Funakoshi) tended to be centered around the group performance of kata, with little training in application, so his students innovated and spearheaded a new approach that included much more prearranged and free sparring. This took karate in a new and popular direction and led to the formation of large, well-organized groups such as the Japan Karate Association. These groups have pioneered the modern tournament systems, borrowing heavily from the methods used in kendo competitions, and karate has in recent years been promoted as a sport. If, however, we wish to understand and fully utilize the benefits of the ancient kata and the intentions of their creators, then a return to the original source is required. This does not amount to an actual rejection of modern ideas, but if you use a wrench to hammer in screws, do not blame the tool or its manufacturer if you hit your hand or produce poor work. The same applies to the proper study of karate, its underlying purposes, and training methods.

       Choki Motobu

      The Ancient Kata

      A kata is a prearranged sequence of movements that can be practiced alone. Kata have been handed down to us by the masters and teachers of the past as messages in movement. While karate has proliferated into an uncountable number of styles, the ancient kata remain. Unfortunately, changes to the ancient kata have appeared, particularly since the transmission of karate to Japan and the rest of the world. No matter how subtle a change may be, over the years it will make a great deal of difference, just as a one degree error in a compass or map reading will take you farther away from your intended destination the more you travel.

      Because the earliest recorded teachers of karate in the eighteenth century are so remote and shrouded in legend, and because they have left nothing in writing, the only directions we can follow are the ancient kata themselves. It is easy to see the need for a precise knowledge of the intentions of a kata's creator (i.e., what it is for). If the function has been understood and the skill assimilated, there is no need to change the kata. If we accept that the ancient forms were created by those who knew what they were doing, then they are indeed the bedrock upon which the empty-hand arts rest. If modern interpretations do not match them or make any sense, we should look again to the kata, rather than willfully alter them to suit our purposes! One of the major reasons for the changes to some kata that appear in modern karate systems is the lack of understanding of the original meaning and function of the individual movements and general patterns contained in each form.

      Function Dictated Form

      True kata were developed by observing and recording how the human body could successfully respond to direct forces: rolling with, rerouting, and turning that force back on the sender. Continuous contact is an important element, and this accounts for the lack of Western-style ducking and weaving. This hands-on aspect of both the Saam Chin and Nai Fuan Chin kata means that an opponent's arms or legs are continuously monitored by contact, then trapped or neutralized. Neither of these kata make any sense at all as a choreographed fight against multiple opponents and should not be considered as such.

      Although these kata are performed solo, the information that they contain gives rise to practical formulae that dictate, as simply as possible, the science of unarmed combat. Attempts to apply any kata without prior understanding of its essence (if it is a genuine kata it will have one), produce highly individualized applications that bear little resemblance to the original purpose of the form. These individualistic interpretations are so unlimited in scope that a situation arises in which you cannot see the wood for the trees, and collecting more and more kata will not help. Unless you can penetrate to the essence,