Tradition the word often means something else all together.

Tradition is a powerful word, but there are many who give it attributes as seen through their eyes, which is not the same as reality. Not that I am an arbiter of history. Just one who keeps looking.

 

If we go back just a few years, there was no word such as karate. Perhaps many different words for different traditions on a very small island. To make thigs easier I am just going to select on word, and that is Toudi.

 

You and I were not eligible for that training, it was reserved for families serving the Okinawan king and the country. No one else was trained it it, there were not formal schools, others could not apply to be trained.

The art that was taught was to provide training for part of their family role, nothing more.

 There was nothing worn special for training, or to indicate the trained individual was so trained. The clothing they wore was just what was appropriate for their role in society.

 Once they were deemed adequately trained they were now allowed to perform the role their family needed them to perform. And while Toudi training was an important component of their role, there were other responsibilities that likely were learned on the job, or perhaps taught within their family.

 When they assumed those roles, the others they were assigned with, experienced in those roles, likely provided more guidance, encouragement and perhaps private acquired skills.

Toudi did not define their family responsibility, not did it confer rank.

The instructor(s) were not public instructors. They were older members of those classes who survived and excelled at their roles. They had gained the trust of the family(ies) by their service and in turn were trusted to pass their training onto their young, Most likely they were retired from their previous roles and also old .In fact Okinawan people live among the longest in the world because in large part to their diet. There is a saying 'that the best experts were the ones who lived the longest'. no doubt not accurate but.....

The start of what became karate resulted because Itosu Anko convinced the Okinawan school board to take a portion of those arts into the schools. A taste of how toudi actually began by instructing the young of those families.

But the rise of karate is not what this memory as about. And most of what is claimed to be tradition actually rose afterwards in very different times.

 

 

 

 I have a few blog posts which touch on this time…………. You might find them interesting.

 

ttps://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/06/karate-in-transition-just-my-opinion.html

 https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2010/04/itosu-anko-new-direction-for-toudi.html

 https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/10/toudi-jutst-no-kenkyo-itoman-seijn.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/01/as-opposed-to-3-years-on-one-kata-there.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/07/itoman-on-toudi-fist-types.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/10/toudi-jutsu-no-kenkyu-intreaguing-prior.html

 
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/01/on-rank-and-okinawan-karate.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/05/some-speculation-of-toudi.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2012/11/just-in-time-for-holidays-and-you-if.html

 
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/02/ryukyu-oke-hiden-bujutsu.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-ryuku-oke-hiden-bujutsr-karate.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/11/a-closer-look-at-what-is-often-not.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/04/okinawan-kobudo-traditions.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/10/okinawan-karate-should-not-be-changed.html

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/08/some-speculation-on-martial-training-on.html

Translated by Mario McKenna A chapter in the 1938 Nakasone book “Karate Do Taikan”

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/10/reflections-on-mutsu-mizuhos-toudi-kenpo.html

The book Mario McKenna translated

Itoman Seijin (Morinobu’s) book Toudi-jutsu no Kenkyu 
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/10/toudi-jutst-no-kenkyo-itoman-seijn.html

And occasionally some possible other sources, such as this

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/04/chibana-on-osae-while-blocking.html

 

 “The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu”By Kanenori Sakon Matsuo

“Ryuku Oke Hiden Bujutsu: Karate, Bukijutsu” translated by Joe Swift\
   https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/11/from-ryuku-oke-hiden-bujutsr-karate.html
   https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2018/07/from-ti-to-karate-to-karate-and-beyond.html
   https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2017/06/kasumi-uchi-blinding-attack.html