There is always more to learn

 

You could fill whole encyclopedias with what I don’t know or understand.  The other day I shared Funakoshi Ginchin’s list of Vital Points from his 1935 Karate Do Koyan,

 https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/09/funakoshi-ginchin-karate-do-koyan-1936.html  and that got me to thinking.

 

We all hold close our own belief about how things work. I am not interested in discussing your truth. I have experienced my own answers, and trained with  too many far better than I have ever been, most often with systems holding diametrically different standards. But from experience I know what they do for them works extremely well. So I am setting aside my thoughts on the ultimate answer and prefer to  look at the pointing finger.

 

As I have actually read most of the books from the 1920s and 1930’s, they form an interesting place to start.

 

First I do not believe any instructor worth their salt ever gave any student a book and told them to teach themselves.

 

The books of that era written in Japan were not written for Okinawan students. They were written for Japanese non-karate martial artists to try and get them to understand and acknowledge karate’s worth, What was written was never a complete picture then again as the first books they became the template for future authors as to what a karate book should be.

 

In 1933 Mutsu incorporated a listing of vital points in his Karate Kempo. I ever the student went so far as comparing the Mutsu list with the Funakoshi List  https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2014/02/comparison-of-vital-points-listed-by.html

They are close enough to be related and as Mutsu published first he also could have given Funakoshi the idea, who really knows.

 

Then I began thinking further and a book written by Itoman Seijin (Morinobu’s) book Toudi-jutsu no Kenkyu (translated in to English by Mario McKenna)

 

In his book written again for Japan he described the Toudi-jutsu he studied. Of course not karate, but perhaps a precursor training.

 

His book also had a section on vital points, but he did not share a list, rather worked from more general  instruction on vital point striking. This section was integrated with the entire art he described. While I have read the book I am not an expert either. I am quite sure how to strike many of those points were discussed in his deep description of the techniques. But I have not made the effort to attempt to correlate a list.

 

That section suggests there may be a many of 160 points that were use for striking targets. He goes into detail by suggesting the points are focused on different views of the body. And that striking can be done into various organs and tissues. It also included 7 area to strike to incapacitate an opponent.

 

It certainly provides an interesting alternative to the vital points published by Mutsu and Funakoshi.

 

But I realize most of you won’t really take the time to obtain and read the Itoman book. I on the other hand am cursed to have read and thought about what was contained.