| SANSHIN KAN KARATE-DO |
| PRACTICAL SELF DEFENSE & EMPTY HAND COMBAT |
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| The Society for the Preservation and Promotion of the Ancient Martial Arts of the Ryukyu Islands |
| RYU-KYU KOBUDO HOZON SHINKO KAI |
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History
Few words of my own:
The Karate full name as it appears at present is Karate-Do. KARA-TE means "empty hand" and DO means "way", way of life. The Art of Karate-Do is expressed in every field in life. It is a way of thinking, a way of behavior and attitude towards your surrounding, relations with people, well spontaneous reaction and of course practical self-defense.
The practice of Karate-Do is the practice in the Art of life. It is a physical challenge as well as mental challenge and it is the way you see, discover and improve your self.
Originally the Karate was looked different then the common Karate of today since the reasons and needs were changed. Today people practice Karate as a sport or to improve their physical fitness, which Karate is very good for, but the primary intention, the real purpose - self-defense is not always the most dominant component - not in practice and not in attitude (which is totally wrong to my approach).
Karate, as I see it, is a Self-Defense and Close Combat, hence it must be first of all practical.
Note:
Since Karate-Do history information is vast and exceeds the aim of this site I will bring a very brief history emphasizing important facts, dates and events while I excluded others that might also be significant. I will be happy to assist more information, if I can do so, to your request.
Karate-Do: Brief History
Originally, "karate" was written as 唐手 ("To-dee" \ "To-te" \ "Tang hand" means Chinese Tang dynasty, "Chinese hand"). This fact reflects the Chinese influence on the style. At this point I would like to state that the "Chinese hand" was developed in parallel to the "Local hand" (Okinawan hand).
In order to officially include "Tode" in the Japanese Martial Arts and since China-Japan Bilateral affairs were escalated, the Dai Nippon Butokukai ("The greater Japan Martial Arts Association") demanded to rename the Art in a Japanese oriented name. In 1937 the name and characters ("kanji") were changed.
First character was replaced by 空 (kara, "empty") and third character was added 道 (Do, "way"), resembles to other Japanese Arts extensions and it has become to the current name: karate-do 空手道 "the way of the empty hand".
The empty-Hand Martial Art known today as "Karate-Do" originally came from Okinawa, the main island of the Ryukyu Island chain.
Okinawa stretches among China, Japan and Taiwan in the East China sea ("The Yellow sea").
Evidences about Okinawan history are dating back around 1000 years but unfortunately the documented information about Karate is insufficient. Although we have lots of legends, stories and information that passed orally from one generation to another, we lack definitive information and records about Karate.
Martial Arts in general and Karate in particular arose from the primordial survival need, especially at the time when weapons possession was banned.
Literally the Ryu Kyu referred to "Te" (hand) before the To-Te (Chinese hand) arrived to Okinawa, but in the "Golden Age" (15th century) the To-Te flourished and had a great influence on the local Te. Only around the 16th century the art has started to get the form as we know it today.
The Okinawan Te was divided to three streams:
Two main streams are:
- Shuri-Te (Shorin-Ryu) - from Shuri.
- Naha-Te (Shorei-Ryu) - from Naha.
And another smaller stream:
- Tomari-Te - from Tomari, which is located geography between Shuri and Naha.
The differences between the two main styles lays in stances, movement, tempo and way of breathing while Tomari-Te is the mixture of the two and tends to Shuri-Te.
For example Shuri-Te adherents more natural stances and a bit speedy tempo, while Naha-te puts emphasize on breathings techniques and steady rooted stances.
Any way, I must stress the point that all schools of both styles do not necessarily share these differences and it is primarily related to the founder and teacher approach.
During the time the military survival was ended although the Self-Defense factor in civil life was still exists.
The Karate first introduced to schools in Okinawa in 1904.
In 1922 two Okinawan Karate experts, Funakoshi Gichin and Motobu Choki traveled to Tokyo and Osaka in mainland Japan and Karate has started to spread in Japan. In 1931 the "Nippon Butoku Kai" recognized the Karate officially in Japan and only in 1936 the name KARATE was officially awarded to the art.
The Karate started to explore in west after World War II. The popularity of the Karate brought to tournaments organization, which is completely a different approach then the original Karate-Do.
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