Okinawa
Karate began as a common fighting system known as
te (Okinawan: ti) among the
Pechin class of the
Ryukyuans. After trade relationships were established with the
Ming dynasty of China by King
Satto of
Chūzan in 1372, some forms of
Chinese martial arts were introduced to the
Ryukyu Islands by the visitors from China, particularly
Fujian Province. A large group of Chinese families moved to Okinawa around 1392 for the purpose of cultural exchange, where they established the community of
Kumemura and shared their knowledge of a wide variety of Chinese arts and sciences, including the Chinese martial arts. The political centralization of Okinawa by King
Shō Hashi in 1429 and the policy of banning weapons, enforced in Okinawa after the
invasion of the
Shimazu clan in 1609, are also factors that furthered the development of unarmed combat techniques in Okinawa.
There were few formal styles of
te, but rather many practitioners with their own methods. One surviving example is the
Motobu-ryū school passed down from the Motobu family by Seikichi Uehara. Early styles of karate are often generalized as
Shuri-te,
Naha-te, and
Tomari-te, named after the three cities from which they emerged. Each area and its teachers had particular kata, techniques, and principles that distinguished their local version of
te from the others.
Members of the Okinawan upper classes were sent to China regularly to study various political and practical disciplines. The incorporation of empty-handed
Chinese Kung Fu into Okinawan martial arts occurred partly because of these exchanges and partly because of growing legal restrictions on the use of weaponry. Traditional karate
kata bear a strong resemblance to the forms found in Fujian martial arts such as
Fujian White Crane,
Five Ancestors, and Gangrou-quan (
Hard Soft Fist; pronounced "Gōjūken" in Japanese). Many Okinawan weapons such as the
sai,
tonfa, and
nunchaku may have originated in and around
Southeast Asia.
Sakukawa Kanga (1782–1838) had studied
pugilism and
staff (
bo) fighting in China (according to one legend, under the guidance of Kosokun, originator of
kusanku kata). In 1806 he started teaching a fighting art in the city of
Shuri that he called "Tudi Sakukawa," which meant "Sakukawa of China Hand." This was the first known recorded reference to the art of "Tudi," written as 唐手. Around the 1820s Sakukawa's most significant student
Matsumura Sōkon (1809–1899) taught a synthesis of
te (Shuri-te and Tomari-te) and
Shaolin (Chinese 少林) styles. Matsumura's style would later become the
Shōrin-ryū style.
Ankō Itosu
Grandfather of Modern Karate
Matsumura taught his art to
Itosu Ankō (1831–1915) among others. Itosu adapted two forms he had learned from Matsumara. These are
kusanku and
chiang nan. He created the
ping'an forms ("
heian" or "
pinan" in Japanese) which are simplified kata for beginning students. In 1901 Itosu helped to get karate introduced into Okinawa's public schools. These forms were taught to children at the elementary school level. Itosu's influence in karate is broad. The forms he created are common across nearly all styles of karate. His students became some of the most well known karate masters, including
Gichin Funakoshi,
Kenwa Mabuni, and
Motobu Chōki. Itosu is sometimes referred to as "the Grandfather of Modern Karate.
In addition to the three early
te styles of karate a fourth Okinawan influence is that of
Kanbun Uechi (1877–1948). At the age of 20 he went to
Fuzhou in Fujian Province, China, to escape Japanese military conscription. While there he studied under Shushiwa. He was a leading figure of Chinese
Nanpa Shorin-ken style at that time. He later developed his own style of
Uechi-ryū karate based on the
Sanchin,
Seisan, and
Sanseiryu kata that he had studied in China.
Masters of karate in Tokyo (c. 1930s)
Kanken Toyama, Hironori Otsuka, Takeshi Shimoda, Gichin Funakoshi, Motobu Chōki, Kenwa Mabuni, Genwa Nakasone, and Shinken Taira (from left to right)
Gichin Funakoshi, founder of
Shotokan karate, is generally credited with having introduced and popularized karate on the main islands of Japan. In addition many Okinawans were actively teaching, and are thus also responsible for the development of karate on the main islands. Funakoshi was a student of both
Asato Ankō and
Itosu Ankō (who had worked to introduce karate to the Okinawa Prefectural School System in 1902). During this time period, prominent teachers who also influenced the spread of karate in Japan included
Kenwa Mabuni,
Chōjun Miyagi,
Motobu Chōki,
Kanken Tōyama, and
Kanbun Uechi. This was a turbulent period in the history of the region. It includes Japan's annexation of the Okinawan island group in 1872, the
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), the
Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), the
annexation of Korea, and the rise of
Japanese militarism (1905–1945).
Japan was
invading China at the time, and Funakoshi knew that the art of
Tang/China hand would not be accepted; thus the change of the art's name to "way of the empty hand." The
dō suffix implies that
karatedō is a path to self-knowledge, not just a study of the technical aspects of fighting. Like most martial arts practiced in Japan, karate made its transition from -
jutsu to -
dō around the beginning of the 20th century. The "
dō" in "karate-dō" sets it apart from karate-
jutsu, as
aikido is distinguished from
aikijutsu,
judo from
jujutsu,
kendo from
kenjutsu and
iaido from
iaijutsu.
Gichin Funakoshi
Founder of Shotokan Karate
Funakoshi changed the names of many kata and the name of the art itself (at least on mainland Japan), doing so to get karate accepted by the Japanese
budō organization
Dai Nippon Butoku Kai. Funakoshi also gave Japanese names to many of the kata. The five
pinan forms became known as
heian, the three
naihanchi forms became known as
tekki,
seisan as
hangetsu,
Chintō as
gankaku,
wanshu as
empi, and so on. These were mostly political changes, rather than changes to the content of the forms, although Funakoshi did introduce some such changes. Funakoshi had trained in two of the popular branches of Okinawan karate of the time, Shorin-ryū and Shōrei-ryū. In Japan he was influenced by kendo, incorporating some ideas about distancing and timing into his style. He always referred to what he taught as simply karate, but in 1936 he built a dojo in Tokyo and the style he left behind is usually called
Shotokan after this dojo.
The modernization and systemization of karate in Japan also included the adoption of the white uniform that consisted of the
kimono and the
dogi or
keikogi—mostly called just
karategi—and colored belt ranks. Both of these innovations were originated and popularized by
Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo and one of the men Funakoshi consulted in his efforts to modernize karate.
A new form of karate called
Kyokushin was formally founded in 1957 by
Masutatsu Oyama (who was born a Korean, Choi Yeong-Eui 최영의). Kyokushin is largely a synthesis of Shotokan and Gōjū-ryū. It teaches a curriculum that emphasizes
aliveness, physical toughness, and
full contactsparring. Because of its emphasis on physical, full-force
sparring, Kyokushin is now often called "
full contact karate", or "
Knockdown karate" (after the name for its competition rules). Many other karate organizations and styles are descended from the Kyokushin curriculum.
The World Union of Karate-do Federations (WUKF) recognizes these styles of karate in its kata list.
Many schools would be affiliated with, or heavily influenced by, one or more of these styles.
