Karate changes after Funakoshi Ginchin went to Japan

 I often hear discussion how Funakoshi Ginchin watered down karate when he taught in Japan. Oft times it is remarked that he was teaching children’s karate. I believe this is a misstatement of his role.

 

Yes, he as a former teacher did teach the young on Okinawa. but not the youth karate program, he taught privately.   Yes he was a student of Itosu Anko and adopted Itosu Sensei’s kata curricula. But we should look closer at what he was doing in Japan.

 

Going to Japan at the request of the Crown Prince, and others such as Kano Jigero, he wanted to present his art to Japan properly. Then he stayed and began instruction of some students. For those student’s he prepared his first book, most likely to assist them. Then staying in Japan republished that book with photo’s.

 

 

But he chose to include karate instruction in the Universities, and even the Naval War College. It is disgenious to call those students children . They were for the most part adults. I imagine more than a few had background including judo, Kendo and other Japanese Arts. Think about that, Japan being a rigid structured society the students were in college to prepare for lives in Business, professions, roles in Civil Service and the Military. They found a reason to train to increase the value of their life in school, I imagine.

 

Now karate was for the most part a 4 year and out program. Few expected to continue their studies beyond college. They were for the most part more focused on their careers I expect in those days.

 

The nature of those programs probably meant that what could be addressed was limited. Both due to time, and what students could learn in those ‘times’. I imagine the focus on fundamentals and very less applications were a result of that reality.

 

So consider the program 25% new students, 50% advancing students and another 25% focusing on life after college. Certainly training, but moving along in life the most important thing in their life.  Now with several programs running at different schools much of the time would be focused on beginning karate. Likewise less time on personal training.  And then focusing on those developing instructor to mostly train beginning and slightly more advanced students.

 

Funakoshi Sensei was not a young man. And while he may have focused on his son and a few others, between the war and death for other reasons. Other levels of instruction probably were not a priority.

 

He certainly showed them in his writings, but it seems they did not become a focus for the developing JKA.  Then after the war, while he stayed involved through his 80’s and into 90, he probably focused on those 4 and out university systems.

 

I do not find those programs worthless, just different from the focus on Okinawa.

 

Teaching children likely didn’t become a reality in even Japan until the later years.

A lesson in defense from Shindo Jinen-ryu founder Konishi Yasuhiro and also Mabuni Kenwa

This is Shindo Jinen-ryu founder Konishi Yasuhiro (with the exception of Mabuni appearing in a few photos showing applications for Seipai )

Yasuhiro and Motobu defense photos from Konishi’s “Zukai Karate” 1956.

including a guest appearance by Motobu Choki

I’ll let the photos do the talking

. From Charles Goodin University of Hawaii scans.

 

 

Atemi and the Art of Aikido

From Wikipedia (  “In Japanese martial arts,(not necessarily those lf Okinawa) the term atemi (当て身^?) designates blows to the body,^[1] as opposed to twisting of joints, strangleholds, holding techniques and throws. Atemi can be delivered by any part of the body to any part of the opponent's body. They can be percussive or use "soft" power. Karate is a typical martial art focusing on percussive atemi. The location of nerve and pressure points, such as might be used for certain acupressure methods, also often informs the choice of targets for atemi (see kyusho).

Some strikes against vital parts of the body can kill or incapacitate the opponent: on the solar plexus, at the temple, under the nose, in the eyes, genitals, or under the chin. Traditional Japanese martial arts (the ancestors of judo, jujutsu, and aikido) do not commonly practice atemi, since they were supposed to be used on the battlefield against armoured opponents. However, there are certain exceptions.

 

 In 1930  Ushieba Morihei published “Budo”. In it he clearly shows Atemi striking as a component of his techniques.

Ueshiba Morihei, have made it very clear that atemi was an integral part of his practice.

'Aikido is 99% atemi'. (Ueshiba Morihei as quoted in Traditional Aikido Vol 5 (1974) by Saito Morihiro, p. 38) 'In a real battle, atemi is 70 % technique is 30%'

 

 

 Over time ,and most especially the year after WWII, Usheiba moved the practice of Aikido away from using Atemi. (I am not an Aikido-ka, most of the information on which I base this came from my reading the Aiki Journal over the years.)

 When the English translation of “Budo” was published there were Japanese Aikido instructors in Europe that reportedly forbid their students from purchasing this book because it showed clearly the use of Atemi with the Aikido techniques and the ‘modern’ Aikido had moved away from this practice. In fact the vast number of techniques Usheiba showed were done with Atemi accompaniment.

Whether this is still the case I do not know. However as the following photos demonstrate striking was a part of Usheiba’s art. I do not see there is a difference between the strikes in karate, to those used in Aikido. They seem to most often be used to break the attacker’s conceration allowing the Aikido response.

 

Budo by Ueshiba Morihei 1935

“The second part presents 50 techniques demonstrated by Morihei Ueshiba in 119, 5.3 cm square photographs. The technical material covered includes preparatory exercises, basic techniques, knife (tantodori) and sword-taking techniques (tachidori), sword vs. sword forms (ken tai ken), mock-bayonet (juken) techniques, and finishing exercises (shumatsu dosa). Budo is the only work on aikido -— Ueshiba’s art was actually called aiki budo at this stage — in which the Founder personally appears demonstrating techniques.”  From  Stanley Pranlin’s http://store.aikidojournal.com/morihei-ueshibas-budo-complete-collection/

Also from Aiki Journal  http://traditionalaikido.eu/doc/atemi_and_takemusu_aikido.pdf

 

Atemi in aikido is a controversial topic.. And yet it is clear that the ethical basis of aikido forces us to evaluate atemi

as something more than simply delivering a high impact blow to another’s human being’s body:

 

'The Way of the Warrior has been misunderstood. It is not a means to kill and destroy others. Those who seek to compete and better one another are making a terrible mistake. To smash, injure, or destroy is the worst thing a human being can do. The real Way of a Warrior is to prevent such slaughter

— it is the Art of Peace, the power of love'.

 

(Morihei Ueshiba speaking of a vision of the "Great Spirit of Peace" in 1942, during World War II, as quoted in Adjusting Though Reflex : Romancing Zen (2010) by Rodger Hyodo, p. 76).

 

So how can we understand atemi and it’s place within the practice of aikido?

 

Basically we can understand atemi at three levels:

 

#1. Lethal contact atemi as a technique in itself which decisively ends an encounter by rendering an opponent unconscious, crippled or dead.

 

#2 Non lethal but painful atemi used to create distraction or distortion in opponent’s body.

#3. Non contact atemi which is used to create an opening in an opponent’s defensiveness thereby allowing for the application of a technique which neutralizes him without further injury.

 

 

 

Again from Aiki Journal, they describe the 1935 film “Budo” which shows Usheiba performing the techniques found in the book..

 



Special Techiniques of Ryukyu Bojutsu by KATSUMI MURAKAMI

Title Special Techniques of Ryukyu Bojutsu
Author Katsumi Murakami

He is an expert on Shorin-ryu(7th dan) and Toon-ryu.He has published another Martial Arts book,entitled "Karatedo and Ryukyu Kobudo"
PUBLICATION YEAR 1983

In the preface to this book,Katsumi Murakami says,"This is an sequel edition to my previous book,'Introduction to Bojutsu'The previous book was for beginners focusing on the basics.This is a commentary on Bojutsu deals with advanced techniques


One of the best books I have on bo technique.

While Bo kata isn't covered in this book here is Murakami Katsumi Sensei
                               performing- Sueyoshi no Kon Dai

Fractals 102

It is said a great tai chi text compresses 50 years of study into the text, but it takes 50 years to learn it. I had theFu Zhongwen text “Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan” for many years before I realized it had some interesting information on the use of fractals in Tai Chi.

I don’t want to make you enter the world of tai chi literature and most of the terms. But this is an important understanding. First my personal understanding of Jin. It represents those points where energy is released into the attacker’s limb, torso, head. And in the performance the points continually change and move. To me this is similar to the fractals of karate motion finding uses against attacks.

“The energy points  (jidian) of Taijiquan follow the movements and ceaselessly vary. There fore the movements must “continuous and unbroken” and “move as if drawing silk.” Now taking the components of Grasp the Sparrows Tail as our example, the following table indicates the location and the important features of their jin, as a convenient reference for the student to consider and intuitively comprehend.”

Components of Grasp the Sparrows Tail

1.      Left and Right Ward Off (Peng)

2.      Roll Back (Lu)

3.      Press (Ji)

4.      Push (An)

 

The Grasp Sparrows Tale is this section of Fu Zhongwen’s Yang Tai Chi form.

 

 



 

Moving Jin
Figure Number	Right Hand Jin Point	Left Hand Jin Point	Principle Part
4	In the wrist, on the Ulna side	In the heel, of the palm, on the little finger side	Right Hand
5	Shifts to Ulna	Shifts to Radius	Shifts to Left Hand
6	Shifts to little finger side of the heel of the palm	Shifts to Radius, near the wrist	Left Hand
7	As it lifts up, in the region of the index finger and the thumb	While sinking the elbow, passes through the ulna to the heel of the palm near the little finger	Moves to Right Hand
8	Shifts to the Radius	Shifts to the heel of the palm	In the Right Hand
9	Shifts near the wrist near the Radius	Heel of the Palm	In the Right Hand
10	Shifts to little finger side of the wrist	Shifts to area of the index finger and the thumb	In the Right Hand
11	Shifts to near the wrist in the Ulna	Shifts to near the wrist in the Radius	In the Right Hand
12	Shifts to the little finger side of the heel of the palm	Shifts to the area of the index finger and the thumb	In the Right Hand
13	Shifts to the outside of the forearm	Shifts to the little finger side of the heel of the palm	In both Hands
14	Shifts to the wrist of the outside of the forearm	Shifts to the heel of the palm	In both Hands
15	Shifts to the fingers	Shifts to the fingers	In both Hands
16	Shifts to the little finger side of the heel of the palm	Shifts to the little finger side of the heel of the palm	In both Hands
17	Shifts to the heel of the palm	Shifts to the heel of the palm	In both Hands

 

Of course it is much more involved than just the points. Zhongwen states,”..one can coordinate all the movements of the “Hands, eyes, torso, methods and steps.””

 

The is a correlation to karate potential.