Posted on October 31, 2018 by fwlohse
I will assume most of the
folks reading this are familiar with Go Kenki (Wu Xianghui/呉貴賢). I have been
thinking about him, his impact on today’s karate, and his possible training
background lately.
Wu’s history is somewhat
unclear, though his impact on the early 20th
century karate world seems to have been quite extensive. Through personal
relationships and especially through the Tode Kenkyukai he trained with just
about all the most well known karate men of his day- Miyagi, Kyoda, Hanashiro,
Yabu, Motobu, and Mabuni among others. He supposedly knew Uechi Kanbun from his
time in Fuchow and it is said Uechi sent students to him in Okinawa. He knew
two generations of the Matayoshi family, and Matayoshi Shinko also knew Wu’s
father in Fuchow. Kata of his, or influenced by him, are officially part of
To’on Ryu (Nepai), Shito Ryu (Nipaipo), Ryuei Ryu (Paiho), and less officially
are a part of a variety of other systems in Okinawa. The Matayoshi family
passed down an at least partial system of his, including at least 6 extant
forms and 2 others that may or may not still be known. Itoman Shojo, one of
Wu’s students, said he also taught a form not on the Matayoshi list,
Zhongkuang, or Chukon in Japanese. Miyagi and he traveled to China together and
supposedly he influenced Goju Ryu a great deal even though none of his forms
were included in it. So all told a lot of contact and influence on the karate
of his day.
But what did he bring to
the table, as it were? It is impossible to know for sure, as no one has any
clear documentation on his teachers or his system. Everyone agrees it is “White
Crane”, but what white crane? It is a very good bet that he taught Ming He, 鳴鶴拳, Singing or Crying
Crane, at least based on the forms he taught. Baibulien/八歩連 (Happoren), Ershiba/二十八(Nepai), and
Zhongkuang/中框(Chukon) are all Ming He forms, and not to my
knowledge taught together in any other system. The patterns of his Ershiba and
Baibulien bear a great deal of resemblance to the extant Ming He
versions, which is additional back-up for this idea. But other than that? There
is very little information available, so it is hard to know.
I can’t help but wonder
why? Lineages are important on Okinawa. He lived at a time when people were
documenting their arts and formalizing and writing down all sorts of things.
Yet we have next to nothing on Wu even though he was considered to be such an
important influence on so many. I know I talk about my teachers around the
dojo, on both personal and training levels. I take some pride in my lineage and
have strong attachments to my teachers. So does every other martial artist I
know. But there is no record from anyone he trained with of exactly who Wu’s
teachers were, or even what the name of his art was. He had a few direct
students, people like Anya Seisho and Itoman Shojo, but it is surprising that
they never learned (or passed on) any background of the system they were
practicing- what it was or who it came from. Not even the Matayoshi family, who
may have learnt and kept more of his system than anyone, seem to have any idea
who Wu’s teachers were besides his father, or if his art is called anything
other than “Shaolin Crane Fist”.
His actual training and
teaching show a similar pattern. Wu knew all the important karate people of his
day. He is given credit for influencing many of them, in particular Miyagi,
Kyoda, and Mabuni. But even though people talk about him a great deal, outside
various versions of a form with the “crane wings” posture, a posture not really
even that emblematic of Singing Crane, his actual concrete impact seems pretty
limited. He had no students that continued to teach and train, with the
exception of Matayoshi Shinpo who certainly didn’t work to develop Wu’s art on
Okinawa. A few other people kept a form or two of his, like To’on Ryu’s Nepai
(often quite modified like Shito Ryu’s Nipaipo) but they are not core parts of
any extant art. There just isn’t much of his actual legacy around.
Looking at what he
taught, Wu also seems to have focused on the lowest level Ming He forms.
Happoren/Baibulien is the first form, their sanchin, as it were. Nepai is also
a junior form. While Zhongkuang, an intermediate form, is mentioned it seems no
one really learned it (at least no one who passed it down), though looking at
the Ming He version some of its techniques seem possibly visible in the various
Hakakku/Kakuho/ Paiho/etc, forms around the island that stem from Wu. But that
is it. So if he knew higher level material he either didn’t teach it or didn’t
succeed in passing it on.
But most importantly he appears
to have failed to pass down the core movement principles of Ming He. None of
the kata he did pass down show any sign of whipping/shaking, the base energy of
Ming He. (With the possible exception of Matayoshi Shinpo, something for a
different post.) Instead, they pretty much all are done with the power
generation of whichever Okinawan karate they are a part of. This doesn’t mean
that Wu didn’t use this method, but it seems that no one learned it from him,
they instead took what they took from Wu and applied their karate methodology
to it.
Looking at this together
I am led to three possible conclusions:
One, that regardless of
his skill he was simply not that great a teacher and was unable to pass on much
of his system, inspire anyone to become his actual student, or pass on the core
mechanics of his practice.
Two, that he wasn’t that
great a martial artist so that while people liked him and his ideas he didn’t
have much of meat to pass on or inspire, just some ideas and information that
were interesting to the community.
Or Three, that the
Okinawans looked at what he had to offer and said something along the lines of
“pretty cool. I like bits of that. But otherwise, meh. I’ll stick with karate
thank you very much.”
These are not mutually
exclusive, and of course there is no way to really know, but they all speak to
me of a different relationship than we usually hear about. Instead of a
“Chinese Master bringing secret crane technique to Okinawa” we have a friend. A
kindred spirit perhaps. A fellow student to share with. For a couple, Uechi and
Matayoshi Shinko, a training partner or associate from Fuchow. For the rest,
someone with experience they did not have, and insights into “Chinese”
knowledge, with all that carries in the way of cultural baggage in Okinawa. But
not a teacher, a master, or a bastion of White Crane the Okinawans would value
enough to adopt over what they already knew. In short, his white crane was not
good enough to inspire the Okinawans to do it instead of their karate. Whether
that was due to the art, his ability, or some other reason is immaterial.
Simply put, regardless of how important the “White Crane” looms in Okinawan
karate legend, when faced with an opportunity to simply learn and practice
White Crane, the Okinawans instead stuck with their karate.
Who knows, right? Wu didn’t come to Okinawa to
teach martial arts, or even as a martial artist. He came looking to work as a
merchant, at around 25 years old. Maybe he wasn’t a master, or a master
teacher, just a young merchant interested in the fighting arts. He had some
training, and was happy to share it with an active and changing martial arts
community in Okinawa, a community of highly trained people who found his ideas
and experience interesting but didn’t see enough there to leave their practice
to take up his. Influence, interest, exchange. Friends sharing their art,
masters or not. Real people interacting and learning. Not what the story is,
but seems to be backed up by what actually happened.
Dojo
TokyoMushinkan
Great article! My only question is - was crane (and other "stylized
civilian" forms of CMA) ever a real impact on Karate before the very late
1800s or even before Go Kenki?
Kodokan
Boston Dojo
TokyoMushinkan
I don't know. Long discussion possible, obviously.....
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