While waking
today I started thinking of what was happening on Okinawa just a hundred years
ago.
Teaching karate
as an after school activity had not been going on for maybe 2 years. [
unfortunately I do not have access to my library and I have to rely on memory.
]
It came about
because of several suggestions Itosu Sensei had made to the School Board. I
believe part of it was because there was some logic that it would help those
who would have to serve in the Imperial Army, to have some training too.
An observation,
I understood the sense behind that. Even in Pennsylvania a part of High School
Boys Gym Class was instruction in marching. The Gym teacher had been the same
teacher my father had had. [He was also an amateur Gettysburg Battle
Historian.] And I am sure those practices began long ago preparing boys to
serve in the Armed Services. In the 1960s they were still part of the classes.
Okinawa realized
they were very much a part of Japan. For one thing the Japanese controlled the
school system. I recall several recruits with karate training had found their
previous training helped their service. So a link was made for the rationale
behind karate being offered in the schools. Not so much for just fighting, but
being educated enough to know how to follow orders in basic drilling. Prior to
that the Okinawans were more used for services.
So perhaps some
expectations for the karate program were also for that.
Now Okinawans I am
sure were like people everywhere, talking about everyone else, especially if
they were not your group. I imagine there were those who thought it wouldn’t
work.
Back in 1979
when I first started a program through the Boys Club, for young people, many
times senior instructors approached me and asked my why I was doing that, In
their opinion Karate was for adults and there were the serious students to be
found.
I had my logic,
I used to walk around Scranton at lunchtime at the Bank where I worked. What I
saw were a great number of dance schools for young women. Many of them. Parents
found a reason of their own for the young women to take dance. It occurred to
me that karate could have such a purpose. Of course I didn’t believe Karate was
just for young men, and I was the first program to open that Boys Club to young
women too. They ended up half the class.
I tried to point
this out to many instructors, they never believed me. While many taught some
children, few did so exclusively then. I could see tine day most schools would
teach children if they wanted to pay their bills.
Enough memories
back to Okinawa.
Now prior to the
school experiment, if you did not belong to the right group, you did not get
the chance to learn karate.
As they did so
they also proved others could learn karate. Over time many instructors held
school karate classes. And it seems karate gradually opened its doors to other
students.
A greater impact
than many take the time to consider I am sure.
Before long,
Okinawa would choose to show karate to the Crown Prince, there and then a
demonstration in Japan.
Several Okinawans
(among them Funakoshi, Mabuni, Hiagonna, and Motobu) took things a step
further. They believed Karate could be shared with the Japanese, and took the
step to include it in University programs. Which also led the groundwork for
sharing Okinawan karate around the world.
Of course that
led to other changes, A instructor group considering teaching karate to the
Okinawan people as a group activity. Commissioning the development of forms to
be used in such activity.
There were many
changes compounding each other. The Masters meeting in 1936, changing the name,
more uniformity between programs, adopting formal uniforms. And many others.
The war and the
abuse of the Okinawan people stopped many of these activities. But a ground
work of change was made. One that would continue to this day.
And teaching
school students became the first step.
But 100 years
ago, did anyone believe that would be possible.
It was a long
walk for me.
1 comment:
This is how I saw things back in 2017. Today having seen more Okinawa’s karate school history I see now how simplified my views were. But that aside I believe in the point I was making. I share this is that light.
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