The legend of Ryukyu karate

A training scene of Ryukyu Karate in those days.

The modern Karate was born ａｆｔｅｒ 1935 by the Ｓｅｎｓｅｉ Gichin Funakoshi. The prototype of Karate was martial arts of a limited area which was called “Ryukyu”(present "Okinawa" in Japan).
　There is an anecdote.
゛Ryukyu Karate is martial arts for resistance.　Karate was produced in order that Ryukyuan who had weapons taken up by the Satsuma clan might fight empty―handed.゜

Because,　it is based on the following three reasons.
--Ryukyu Karate is martial arts of only an empty hand.
--In order to hide from the Satsuma clan,　the “Kata” exercise lead was taken.
--Exercise was performed by hiding so that it might not be found in the Satsuma clan.

　But It seems that these depends on a selfish belief of the Japanese. Ryukyuan was conquerd by Japanese of the Satsuma clan.　Thereforｅ,　Japanese feared resistance of the Ryukyuan. To tell the truth, Karate is not martial arts of only an empty hand. The weapons existed with Karate in Ryukyu, and stick arts accomplished remarkable development especially.
　Although it is sometimes written to the primer of Karate that it hid in practice of a dance, it may not be disclosed to a Japanese conqueror that it is practice of martial arts. But This is also the influence of the Chinese Kung-fu.The Chinese Kung-fu was the direct ancestor of Ryukyu Karate. It was actual condition to have not taught in addition to the person who was gained admission into a private school on the Chinese Kung-fu.

　The Ryukyu Karate was roughly divided from the technical system and the area. Ryukyu Karate was classified into three,　“Shuri-te”,“Naha-te”,　and “Tomari-te”. 　“Shuri”,　“Naha”　and “Tomari”,　these are the place names of Ryukyu　(present "Okinawa" in Japan).

　Shuri city was the capital in Ryukyu. “Shuri-te” spread through samurai class. Moreover, Naha city and Tomari city have a trading port, and many Chineses went in and out. The teaching of the Chinese Kung-fu was performed briskly in Naha city and Tomari city. Incidentally,　three sorts of these classifications are classifications of the area and the technical system, and are not “Ryu-ha”(schools). A school appears in the history of Karate, after it becomes in after years more.

The explanation of “Shuri-te”
　“Shuri-te” is the system which produced the Sensei Sokon Matsumura. He was an expert Chinese Kung-fu and stick arts. It is said that “Shuri-te” was deeply influenced of the North group Chinese Kung-fu.
　Sokon Matsumura also studied Japanese fencing Jigen-Ryu of Satsuma. It is told that Sokon Matsumura began the MAKIWARA thrusting of Karate exercise, It was referred to the tree striking of Jigen-Ryu exercise by him. “Shuri-te” produced the two Karate master, Gichin Funakoshi and Hironori Otsuka in addition to Sokon Matsumura later. Gichin Funakoshi is the Shotokan-Ryu Karate style founder. Hironori Otsuka is the Wado-Ryu Karate style founder,　and he was the pupil of Gichin Funakoshi. In brief, the two major schools were generated from “Shuri-te”.

The explanation of “Naha-te”
　It seems that Naha city had many naturalized citizens from China, and Naha city was prosperous as a trading port. Accordingly, the exchange of martial arts was also briskly performed since many Chineses were going back and forth. “Naha-te” developed in response to the fact that the influence of the South group Chinese Kung-fu.
　The Goju-Ryu Karate was created from “Naha-te” by the Sensei Chojun Miyagi. Chojun Miyagi had a book of “Bubishi” which influenced strongly in the style of Gojyu-Ryu ｓｃｈｏｏｌ. As it is, “Bubishi” was textbook of the South group Chinese Kung-fu. Therefore the Goju-Ryu is closely linked to the South group Chinese Kung-fu.

The explanation of “Tomari-te”
　The history of “Tomari-te” is quite ambiguous compared with the “Shuri-te” or “Naha-te”. Although it had left a few “Kata” such as "KUSHANKU of CHATANYARA", there were few tradition persons of “Tomari-te” master pure and simple. For instance, Kosaku Matsumora who is known as typical expert of “Tomari-te”, he was learning in parallel to “Shuri-te”. Accordingly, “Tomari-te” did not spread in mainland of Japan.

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