April 4, 2022
Itosu
Anko Sensei is Praised as the Father of Modern Karate-Do
It is
undisputed that the change of combat Karate-Jutsu [also called Te, Ti, Tode, or
Toudi] into recreational Karate-Do was trail blazed by Itosu Anko Sensei's
changes to the art in the early 1900s, i.e., shortly before its
all-encompassing Japanization. Because of his success in implementing a
disarmed version of an Okinawan martial art heritage into the physical
education program of public elementary schools, and because of the following,
first nationwide then worldwide, spread of this new Karate-Do version, Itosu
Anko Sensei is named as "the father of modern Karate," even as
"the savior of a cultural heritage".
Such a
laureateship, however, contains some speculation, as Itosu Sensei's endeavors
were not in line with the intentions of other Okinawan Karate-Jutsu masters who
wanted to keep the art as is, as a secretly practiced craft of lethal fighting,
and we actually do not know what would have happened if Karate-Jutsu would have
been kept a secret and taught privately as it was done for centuries before.
During all these centuries before the 1900s the art did not just survive on
Okinawa, but it flourished; it did not vanish at all though being practiced
secretly.
Times
changed, however, the need for hand-to-hand combat and the need for
guardianship of noblemen, warehouses, trade vessels and caravans decreased
considerably; so it may as well be that in modern times the demand for genuine
Karate-Jutsu has vanished too. It has at least decreased substantially in its
role as a professional skill-set, though it is still preserved by a dedicated
group of curators maintaining the genuine Karate-Jutsu systems. The worldwide
Japanized Karate-Do inflation, on the other hand, was initiated and rendered
possible by Itosu Sensei's alterations to the art.
Militarism,
the Surface (Political) Justification for Teaching Karate-Do to Kids
Itosu
Sensei justifies the introduction of Karate-Do into the physical education
program at elementary schools by the importance of the art for preparing youths
to serve in the nation's military forces. In his famous letter to the
prefectural education board, he suggests that students at the prefectural
teacher's college should practice Karate, in that "they could, after
graduation, introduce Karate at the local levels, namely elementary schools.
This way Karate could be disseminated throughout the entire nation and not only
benefit people in general but also serve as an enormous asset to our military
forces" (Itosu 1908 in McCarthy 2018, p. 26). This letter was written
1908, at the time of imperial Japan's preparations for its second war with
China and for invading all of Southeast Asia, i.e., at a time when the military
believed that the civil population existed only to feed and to service the
nation's war machine.
However,
it seems unlikely that this militaristic perspective represented the gist of
Itosu Sensei's character. Though in his younger years Itosu Sensei definitely
knew how to have a good time, though he used Karate-Jutsu to defend himself
from serious attacks, and though he did not shy away from brawls, there is no
indication that he in his later years would propagate militarism. Quite to the
contrary, he stressed the benefits of Karate as a successful means to avoid a
fight. Hence, it rather seems plausible, that stressing Karate's possible use
for supporting Japan's armed forces was his pragmatic strategy to secure
sufficient funds for his educational campaign by tapping into Japan's funds for
its militarization―whereas the final and underlying goal of this
educational campaign was not to create the raw material for the nation's
military forces, but something different, something nobler.
The
Underlying (Psychological) Explanation for Teaching Karate-Do to Kids
Be it
as it may, to the author's knowledge nobody ever really tried to explain the
WHY of Itosu Sensei's personal motivation to go public with his beloved art,
especially the WHY for sharing it with young kids. This personal WHY seems to
imply an individual psychological explanation as well and should not only be
seen as the application of a political strategy. The political viewpoint, as
plausible as it may be, does not unveil the nature of a possible other
underlying end to his efforts beyond militaristic benefits for the nation.
Although
there are quite a few psychological considerations explaining the actions of
famous public persons, there is not a single one out there shedding light on
the very topic of Itosu Sensei's personal motivation, on a subject of utmost
importance for the entire Karate-world. Such a psychological explanation is not
too hard to sketch, as it can be sufficiently based on the available sources
about his childhood, his social background and his upbringing. These underlying
social-cultural conditions are in the meantime satisfactorily researched and
document how one of the strongest human motivations came into play, the motivation
of trying to support others by sharing and spreading one's own positive
experience.
Itosu
Sensei's path of practicing Karate-Jutsu shows signs of a deeply liberating,
self-esteem-improving, and life-changing experience. Referring to the psychological
theory of motivation, such a phenomenon is usually based on the combination of
a person's compensation (which is the effort to overcome
feelings of inadequacy) with self-actualization (which is the
internal drive of a person to fully realize one's creative, intellectual, and
social potential), and with his/her motivation of social interest (which
is the wish and the felt responsibility to support others). The combination of
these three psychological purposes constitutes a most powerful motivational driving
force, a core motivation of human behavior.
By
means of re-evaluating available Okinawan sources, a recent historic study
convincingly documents that Itosu Sensei at a young age used to be a child of
poor health, who "suffered from stomach digestion problems . . . and was
often teased by his friends . . . [as] a weakling. Thus, he is described as
introverted and comparatively small for his age" (Feldmann 2021, p. 61),
as well as being extremely shy, "without passion and unwilling to refine
himself" (ibid., p. 64). These are strong indicators for the boy's
inherent feeling of inadequacy and challenged self-esteem, which is the
baseline for compensation, and it can be stated without a doubt that "it
certainly was not an easy time for the young Anko growing up" (ibid.).
The
boy's weak and valetudinarian constitution obviously changed entirely; the
weak, feeble and fragile child transformed completely through the training of
Karate-Jutsu. At the age of 14 or 15 young Itosu Sensei asked the legendary and
cherished Matsumura Sokon Sensei for training, was accepted, commuted regularly
to Matsumura Sensei's residence to train, and "within his first year of
training he was transformed beyond all recognition" (Itosu Buyuden 1915 in
McCarthy, 2018, p. 43)
The lasting
impact such a transformation from weak and sick to healthy and strong has on a
young person's self-esteem, self-definition and general attitude towards life
cannot be overestimated. It is the enormous result of the psychological drive
of compensation.
One can
easily relate how Itosu Sensei's transformation from a weak and shy boy into a
strong, masculine, and cherished leader with broad public admiration, which is
the outcome of psychological self-actualization, not only led to Itosu Sensei's
new positive self-definition at a young age, but also forcefully stimulated his
calling in his later years. His calling was to support everyone, but especially
young children, who were challenged with a comparable inferior (psychologically
speaking, not social) starting position in life like the one he faced, to
surmount their deficit and to gain that kind of health and self-confidence that
he had achieved for himself. Such a calling most certainly represents the
consequence of the psychological drive of social interest as explained earlier;
a specific motivation which very often grows stronger in a person's 'golden
years.'
Teaching
Karate-Do to Kids Is a Contribution to Social Welfare beyond Militarism
Felt
social responsibility to make own positive, life changing compensation
experience accessible to others and thereby allowing them for experiencing the
same positive self-actualization, is the above suggested 'means to another
underlying end beyond militarism' of Itosu Sensei's intentions. Social
responsibility very often becomes a priority for successful people towards the
end of their careers, in their latter part of life, expressing itself as
volunteering, as taking active social roles in organizations and associations,
as promoting charities, and as giving back by contributing all kinds of
assistances to common welfare.
Social
responsibility, based on its psychological drive of social interest, explains
Itosu Sensei's endeavors to introduce Karate-Do to kids in elementary school
and it identifies his efforts as a true contribution to social welfare. The
involved compensatory, self-actualizing and social interest forces are the
strongest psychological motivations known to man and psychologically explain
Itosu Sensei's magnificent gift to the public.
References:
Feldmann, Thomas (2021). Anko Itosu. The Man. The Master. The Myth.
Biography of a Legend. Self-published with Lulu Press. © Thomas Feldmann.
Itosu Buyuden (1915) Newspaper Article Series of 8 Parts.
In: McCarthy, Patrick (2018) Legend of the Fist Vol #1―A Compilation of
Japanese-to-English translations by Patrick & Yuriko McCarthy. © 2018
Patrick McCarthy. Middletown, DE, pp. 43-62.
The above is an original article by Hermann
Bayer, Ph.D.
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