The Origin of Karate
Karate arrived from Okinawa about 150 years ago. It was brought to Japan by Mr. Funakoshi Gichin, who did much to make it popular. But Japan already had a similar art callad Jujutsu which developed from Koppo, Koppo became Yawara, Yawara became Jujutsu. Jujutsu was then subdivided into three broad categories: Judo, Karate and Aikido.
Karate and Aikido: Judo has throwing, strangles and ground holds, and originally was divided into 2 systems. 1) Kodokan Judo, originally in throwing, based in Tokyo, and 2) Butokukai, based in Kyoto and specializing in ground holds. The Butokukai was, however, greatly influenced by the Japanese right party and was consequently disbanded by General McArthur after the Second World War. |
Before the war, the Butokukai and Kodokan held a yearly inter-competition. This was perhaps the best time in Japanese Judo, it grew rapidly and became known overseas.
Karate, in its truest sense, originated with man himself. Primitive men were forced to defend themselves and their homes from wild beasts and from marauding raids from other tribes. To do so, it was essential that they device a method of fighting, and each method, developing individually in different regions, remains in
some form or another even today. Karate's historical significance is profound particularly in connection with the history of China.
From the many fighting methods developed in China's long history, Kempo, a system of unarmed combat, is the one from which Karate sprang. The kempo system most closely related to Karate is the Shao-lin-ssu school, named after a famous Bhuddhist monastery, the Shao-lin-ssu on Mt. Hao on the lower reaches of the Yangtze river. Bodhidharma, the semi-legendary Buddhist priest who brought Zen (Ch`an in Chinese) into China is said to be the founder of the monastery.
Karate, in its truest sense, originated with man himself. Primitive men were forced to defend themselves and their homes from wild beasts and from marauding raids from other tribes. To do so, it was essential that they device a method of fighting, and each method, developing individually in different regions, remains in
some form or another even today. Karate's historical significance is profound particularly in connection with the history of China.
From the many fighting methods developed in China's long history, Kempo, a system of unarmed combat, is the one from which Karate sprang. The kempo system most closely related to Karate is the Shao-lin-ssu school, named after a famous Bhuddhist monastery, the Shao-lin-ssu on Mt. Hao on the lower reaches of the Yangtze river. Bodhidharma, the semi-legendary Buddhist priest who brought Zen (Ch`an in Chinese) into China is said to be the founder of the monastery.
This Bodhidharma, (Daruma Daishi in Japanese) is thought to have traveled from India to China to teach true Bhuddism to the Chinese people. He found support for a while in the court of the scholarly and devout Emperor Wu of the kingdom of Lang. Later, however, the two men's views of Buddhism proved irreconcilable and the Emperor drove Bodhidharma from his kingdom. The Indian priest then moved to the Shao-lin-Ssu monastery where he began the teaching of Zen. To protect the Shao-lin-Ssu monks from the raids of followers of other sects and nonbelievers, Bodhidharma is thought also to have instituted a course of rigid physical training. |
The basis of this training was a system of unarmed combat which Bodhidharma brought from India. This combat method later developed into the famous Chinese Shao-lin-Ssu kempo, which persists in use today. Because Shao-lin-ssu kempo evolved from the instruction of Bodhidharmi in connection with his ZEN
disciplines, we can consider it to have originated in India. Kempo then would seem to be over three thousand years old. We can readily perceive a similarity between Kempo poses and the positions of the figures in some Indian murals and statues of great age, as well as in the statues of the guardian kings in many
Japanese Buddist temples. These kings represent figures of great valor who stand ready to protect from evil spirits. Their positions, based on those of ancient Indian hand to hand combat methods, employ a hand position with all the fingers outstretched and a fist with the thumb on the outside and the little finger tightly curled in. Though both of these positions are somewhat different from those of modern-day Karate, they are very close to hand positions used in Chinese Kempo.
Kempo, spreading over wide temporal and spatial bounds finally entered the Korean peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago, and Mongolia to the north where it became Mongolian wrestling. It also traveled southward to the Ryukyu Islands, where it fused with a native Ryukyu fighting method to become what we know today as Karate, which in turn later came to Japan.
After its introduction to Japan, Karate fused with the spirit of the Japanese martial code to become, in the truest sense, a complete blend of physical and spiritual discipline.
disciplines, we can consider it to have originated in India. Kempo then would seem to be over three thousand years old. We can readily perceive a similarity between Kempo poses and the positions of the figures in some Indian murals and statues of great age, as well as in the statues of the guardian kings in many
Japanese Buddist temples. These kings represent figures of great valor who stand ready to protect from evil spirits. Their positions, based on those of ancient Indian hand to hand combat methods, employ a hand position with all the fingers outstretched and a fist with the thumb on the outside and the little finger tightly curled in. Though both of these positions are somewhat different from those of modern-day Karate, they are very close to hand positions used in Chinese Kempo.
Kempo, spreading over wide temporal and spatial bounds finally entered the Korean peninsula, the Japanese Archipelago, and Mongolia to the north where it became Mongolian wrestling. It also traveled southward to the Ryukyu Islands, where it fused with a native Ryukyu fighting method to become what we know today as Karate, which in turn later came to Japan.
After its introduction to Japan, Karate fused with the spirit of the Japanese martial code to become, in the truest sense, a complete blend of physical and spiritual discipline.