Older Karate throwing techniques

 

Various early karate authors showed that Okinawan Karate also incorporated various throwing techniques.Some of which can be found in kata. Others indicate other training must have been involved. Suggesting there is far more depth to how karate was studied in the past.


Sadly I would suggest few today keep this tradition alive. I am not suggesting I did either.


A while back my good friend and fellow karate enthusiast Joe Swift wrote an article for Fightingarts.com on http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=77



In the article he various photographs from early books on Karate to show the throws.


Never content to understand what was discussed by Itoman Seijin,  I have added judo throws that I felt matched these throws. Any errors are my own mistakes.


Joe presented some examples of throws from some of the pre-war Japanese language texts on karate in order to clear up the mis-perception that there are no such techniques in modern karate. I thought I would add to the discussion by translating a small section on throwing techniques by Itoman Seijin that was published in his 1934 book, Toudi no Kenyu or The Study of Tang Boxing. I apologize to the reader that the photos are not the best quality, but they will still provide the reader with the general idea of what some of the throwing techniques in karate consisted of. Also Mr. Itoman does not present photos for all of the throws discussed in the text.


 
Toudi no Kenkyu by Itoman Seijin Types of Throws (pp. 88 – 89)


1. Nose (pronounced NOSAY) Nage (Riding throw) – Nose nage resembles Judo’s koshi nage, koshi guruma, and uchi mata. That is to say, the technique relies upon the opponent being positioned on your hip to throw.

2. Se Nose Nage (Riding the back throw) – Se Nose Nage is similar to Judo’s ippon Seiyo Nage.

 

3. Ten Nage (Heaven throw) – With ten nage, you seize and lift the opponent above your head and throw him to the rear.
 

4. Kata Nage (Shoulder throw) – Kata nage is the same as Judo’s kata guruma.

 

5. Ushi Nage (Bull throw) - Ushi nage is similar to how a bull uses its horns to throw a person behind them. That is you place your neck between your opponent’s legs and throw to the rear.

 

6. Ne Nage (Ground throw) – Ne nage is the same as Judo’s sumi gaeshi and tomoe nage.

 

7. Ude Nage (Arm throw) – Ude nage consists of taking your left hand and seizing the right side of your opponent near his stomach and placing your right hand at on the left side of your opponent’s upper back. Twist and throw.

8. Kubi Maki Uchi (Twisting the neck strike) – Kubi maki uchi consists of scissoring the opponent’s neck with your forearm and throwing them like Judo’s uchi mata or maki goshi.
 

9. Oi Otoshi Nage (Shoulder drop throw) – When seized from behind by an opponent, drop your hips, lunge forward and use your shoulder(s) to throw him.
 

10. Furi Sute Nage (Swinging sacrifice throw) – Furi sute nage is similar to Oi otoshi nage (9). When you are grabbed from behind by an opponent, drop down and to the side to throw him.

Now you can compare them with the 9 throws found in Funakoshi, Gichin (1925). Karate Jutsu (唐手術) (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-11-29.

https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/search?q=Funakoshi+throws

This does suggest that all Okinawan karate-ka did not follow the same throwing curricula.