Empty Hand. Kenei Mabuni

      1 The Development of Karate

      1.1 Karate as Fighting Technique

      Unarmed Fighting in Ancient Times

      Methods of fighting without arms are mentioned in the ancient records of all peoples and therefore can be considered to be part of the common heritage of mankind. In the oldest Japanese chronicle Kojiki16, a fight between the gods Takemigazuchi no kami and Takeminakata no kami is mentioned which took place on the Inasa beach in the Izumo region. The Nihonshoki annals report about a fight between Nomi no Sukune and Taima no Kehaya. This fight is considered to be the moment when sumō was born.17 But in contrast to present-day sumō it must have been a life-and-death struggle. Although carried out without weapons it was nevertheless a fight without rules, since Sukune broke Kehaya’s hips and then kicked him to death.

      Such techniques of fighting without weapons have existed everywhere in the world since ancient times. It is even reported that in ancient India Buddha has fought against his younger brother for the right to marry a beautiful girl. I saw fights in India that were very similar to sumō. In ancient China there were fist-fighting techniques called kempō in Japanese. In the Spring and Autumn Annals18 they were called “brave fist” (kenyū) or “martial art” (bugei), during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) “punching technique” (gigeki) and in the Han period (202 BC to AD 220) simply “technique” (gikō) or “circular punching” (shubaku).

Shaolin Kempō – the Fighting Techniques of the Warrior Monks

      The Shaolin-Kempō was created in the Chinese Shaolin monastery that was built in 495 (late Wei period) by order of the emperor Xiào Wén (471-499) for the Zen Buddhist priest Ba Tuo, who had come from India. The monastery is placed in the Honan province south of the Yellow River at the foot of the Songshan mountains. That is why it was also named Songshan Shaolin. It became famous because Bodhidharma19 (Japanese: Daruma), who became the founder of Zen Buddhism in China, stayed there and introduced zazen20. This might be the reason why he was – probably by mistake – considered to be the founder of the temple and the father of kempō, too.

      Fighting techniques were developed particularly in the monasteries because they owned rich treasures of art and other property that the monks had to defend in this country that was ceaselessly stricken by unrest and war. The term Shaolin kempō includes all techniques that were invented in the monastery itself or came from the surrounding region. Some of them got lost in the course of time, such as the “smashing fist” (tsūhai ken), the “animated fist” (shin i ken) or the “cosmic fist” (rikugō ken).

      In the Shaolin monasteries the monks were divided into prayer monks who where specialized in religious studies and warrior monks who mainly practiced fighting techniques. Those to become warrior monks had their hair shaved and wore monks’ habit immediately after entering the monastery. They spent their monastic life mostly with martial exercise rather than with Buddhist studies. The present-day Japanese style of Shaolin kempō (called Shōrinji kempō) practiced as a religious exercise is a historically new phenomenon that appeared after World War II. It was founded by Master Sō Dōshin (1911-1980).

      Incidentally, since the Ming period the Shaolin monks were famous rather because of their staff fighting, kompō21 or bōjutsu, than because of their fist-fighting techniques. The Fukien kempō was developed in the Fukien and Kanton provinces in southern China. This martial art, too, is said to originate from a Shaolin monastery – not the Songshan Shaolin but another one built later in the Fukien province.

      The Fukien Shaolin temple does not exist anymore. Possible remains were found at different places. That is why its location could not be determined until today. Because the Songshan Shaolin monastery was located north to the Yangtze River and the Fukien Shaolin monastery south to it, their respective martial arts were also referred to as northern and southern Shaolin or northern and southern kempō.

      As in other countries, there were times when certain religions were supported and times when they were suppressed by the rulers. So the Shaolin temple, too, experienced times of promotion and prosperity and times of suppression and destruction. There might have been monks who practiced in both temples or others who had to flee the Shaolin monasteries and found shelter in other temples were they shared their knowledge and fighting experience with their hosts. It can be supposed that their knowledge and abilities were spread even among the common people. Chinese distinguished between the “monastery or house” kempō of the monks and the “outsiders” kempō of the commoners. The taijiquan is an example of the latter.

      That is how present-day Chinese kempō developed in a long historical process out of different schools and styles of fighting without weapons which influenced each other. But there is no doubt that Chinese heroism in general was inspired by the monks of the two Shaolin monasteries. Like the monks of the Japanese Hieizan monastery at the end of the medieval times they took up arms and intervened in the secular world.

      

      So did Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashi Bō Benkei at the end of the Heian period (794-1185) in Japan. Yoshitsune, who as a child was called Ushiwaka-maru, lived in the Kurama monastery north of the capital Kyōto. He studied esoteric Buddhist teachings (mikkyō)22,and started to practice fighting techniques. He was said to have been taught martial arts by the long-nosed mountain spirit of Kurama called Dai Tengu23. To strengthen his body he walked every day from the Kurama mountains to the center of the capital. Once he encountered the fearsome warrior monk Benkei on the Gojō bridge of Kyōto. In a great fight he achieved a victory over him.24 This episode is widely known in Japan because it is part of a famous kabuki25 theater play.

The Influence of the Chinese Kempō on the Japanese and Okinawan Martial Arts

      According to old chronicles, kempō was first brought to Japan by a Chinese called Chin Gempin26 in the Edo period. He was said to have learned kempō at the Songshan Shaolin temple and was praised to be a true genius. He was profoundly knowledgeable not only about Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism but also about arts like calligraphy, brush painting and poetry, or crafts like pottery, making of sweets and preparation of medicinal herbs, and also about acupuncture or moxibustion27. After his arrival in Nagasaki he traveled on the main island Honshū up to the region of present Nagoya. He is reported to have been received three times by the shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu and to have met many other lords to speak about his knowledge and show his abilities. Fukuno Masakatsu Shichirouemon and Ibaragi Sensai developed the Kitō style of Japanese jūjutsu after having been instructed by Chin Gempin.

      There are other styles of jūjutsu whose roots can be found in China such as the famous Yōshin ryū that was created in Nagasaki by the physician Akiyama Shirōzaemon in the beginning of the Edo period after he had studied kempō during a journey in China. The Yōshin style became the basis for the Tenshin Shinyō style, which together with the Kitō style was the material Kanō Jigorō used to create modern jūdō.

      But this should not lead to the conclusion that the original jūjutsu styles were directly derived from Chinese kempō. Techniques of unarmed fighting had existed in Japan since ancient times. The Takenouchi style, which is considered to be the oldest in Japanese jūjutsu originated from shortsword techniques. These techniques were taught by Takenouchi Hisamori. According to a myth, he had learned them from a hermit with long white hair who appeared while he was praying to the god of Atago to make him a master of martial arts. This happened in the beginning of the feudal wars in the 16th century, 100 years before Chin Gempin came to Japan.

      Of course Chinese kempō had a strong influence on the Japanese jūjutsu. Although it was not its origin, it nourished and inspired its development. However, in jūjutsu highly dangerous blows (atemi) are not used and thus almost not practiced in order to avoid fatal injuries. But throwing and joint-locking techniques are very important. In particular, jūjutsu was aimed for supporting the fight with weapons. Since the beginning of the age of the samurai in the 12th century sword techniques had become crucial, and the fighting techniques with bare hands only played