III – The Shorin-ryu School
It’s by the intermediary of Chotoku Kiyan that the course of
Tomari-te has been transmitted until our days. The three names Tomari-te,
Naha-te and Shuri-te appeared towards the end of the 19th century
for ‘well’ marking the differences between the forms of karate attached to
those localities. Let us note that these three localities are only located a
distance of several kilometers from each other, and these three are also the social hierarchy of the ancient
society. Let us recall that Shuri was
the capital of Okinawa where officers and nobles resided, Naha was a shopping
village which included Kume, and Tomari was a village close to these two
cities. Although this classification
wasn’t used until the end of the 19th century, how there exist very
few ancient documents on karate, it forms part of a collective memory with the
illusion that it goes back several centuries.
We could enumerate on several characteristic traits of the
course called Tomari-te. From the
technical point of view, it close to Shuri-te. The adepts of Tomari-te were
often renowned for the skill of their kicks; that was the case of C. Kyan. The
techniques of Tomari-te comprised of added movements which were without
effectiveness directed towards the point of view of combat and they existed
from reciprocal influences between Tomari-te and local dances. Let us note that C. Kiyan was a renowned
dancer.
1 – The Itinerary of Chotoku Kiyan (1870 – 1945)
Chotoku Kiyan didn’t give a particular name to his school,
however several masters of the Shorin-ryu school considered it like the
reference of their school. More ever,
the transmission of most kata is passed by his intermediaries, it is why it is
considered that he played an important role in the line of the Shorin-ryu
school. He is known on Okinawa under the
name of Chian Mi Gua, the surname which signifies Kyan ad two small eyes. The kata Tomari no Chinto is transmitted
today under the name of Chian Mi Gua no Chinto, which is a mark of respect
which he acquired with his surname.
C. Kiyan was born in 1870 in Shuri. His father, descendent
of a noble family, was an officer of the last king of Kyukyu in which he had of
him great confidence. He had the
responsibility to conserve the important documents and was versed in Japanese
and Chinese literature. In 1882, he went
with is son to Tokyo in charge of a mission for the ancient king. C. Kiyan was
weak and small, his father imposed on him daily exercises to reinforce his
body, in winter and summer, he trained in the garden in karate and
wrestling. However, the winter in Tokyo is painful for those who are
habituated to the soft climate of Okinawa.
Shoshin Nagamine, one of the students of C. Kiyan, born in 1907
recounts:
“When I was a police officer, our Police Chief often
spoke to us of the life that carried the Kiyan’s, father and son to Tokyo, for
he had lived in Tokyo himself during his infancy. He said: “When it was cold,
the winter and that I was near the heating, my father criticized me and to
encourage me, cited the example of Kiyan and his son. He said to me, “The same
as the day as cold as today, the father and the son Kiyan were both outside and
training so hard they were perspiring.
You also, you are the son of a family of the same blood as Kiyan, you must
therefore be more courageous.” “
The father and the son Kiyan returned to Okinawa after four
years of stay in Tokyo. A day the father of C. Kiyan said to him:
“Listen well that I stay today, it is my testament. You
are small, but your spirit is strong. Same small as you are, you must develop
you capabilities in the art of combat by good training. You must learn to access some techniques
which are most appropriate for you from the kata. If you get deeply into them you will always
be able to leave those who are adversaries.
General Kabayama of the Satsuma during the war of Keicho (1609) is agood
example. He didn’t measure one meter 50
(cm.), but he was a hero of incomparable bravery and had the surname of “Demon
General”. After this war a popular expression
appeared. ‘The General Kabayama is a
needle, who would be able to swallow a needle?” “ [translators note, this ‘you’ is the
personal one as from father to son, instead of the more global ‘you.]
“There are some people who take themselves for great
adepts, and become arrogant towards their groins (screwing their groins?), some of them are a little strong. It is this that one must avoid throughout the process of
getting deeper into karate. If you wish
to become a veritable adept, you must always keep present the spirit of the
seven precepts given by the grand master Sokon Matsumura:
Dominate violence,
Withdraw the soldiers,
Protect the people,
Develop the qualities of each person,
Give tranquility to the people,
Create a harmony between groups, and finally
Contribute to enrich society,
This is the goal of the martial arts.
You must also examine seriously the veritable sense of
this phrase of our predecessors:
“How can one commit an error while resisting
discreet? Those who are on top and those
who are on the bottom, all must accomplish their work.” “
These words let us foresee the atmosphere in which Chotoku
Kiyan was raised.
A little time after his return to Okinawa, he went to knock
on the door of master Sokon Matsumura who was already nearly 80 years (of age).
The documents report that C. Kiyan had received instruction from S. Matsumura.
But, in reason of age of the master, this teaching could not have been that one
imagines today in presenting the course of karate. He probably received
criticism and counsel on his karate and listened to S. Matsumura’s experiences
or his fundamental thoughts on his art.
The sole fact from the encounter with the greatest master of his time
was to stimulate the youthful will of C. Kiyan, and also to bring to him the
essential indications that were his guide in his long itinerary on the way of
karate. Recommended by his father, he
was admitted as a student by Anko Itosu who lived in Shuri, as they did. C. Kiyan also went to receive training from Kokan
Oyatomari, a known adept of the art of Tomari.
We don’t know that last master except from some vage recollections. He was born about 1828 and a kata was
transmitted under the name of “Oyatomari no Bassai”. In all cases, it is thanks to the recommendation
and help of his father who was himself a follower of karate that C. Kiyan
receive training from several many masters, the most important ones of this
period.
C. Kiyan, trained himself with diligence to surmount the
inferiority that he conferred on himself because of his small size. The intensity of his investment prolonged the
education that he gave got from his
father. He developed his practice to
arrive at the way to dominate an adversary large and more powerful than
himself. He thus practiced while placing
himself as if he had just behind him his back to a river, or the parapet of a
bridge and he worked to develop his personal techniques. In these techniques he
does not move back, but that does not say that that he always enters into a
collision with his adversary. By a
continual effort, he developed his methods of moving and of the legs (use) and
little by little gained the reputation of a frightening adept of combat called
kake-dameshi, combat which would leave from a challenge. His surname ‘Chan mi gua” became celebrated
among the adepts of karate.
An ironic
poem of the period said:
In the
old system, he was a trusted noble from Ryukyu,
Today he
draws a carriage, hiding his face under his hat,
What all
this is misery, isn’t it?
Kyan was himself a victim of unemployment; indeed he
effectively worked to draw a carriage to transport agricultural products and he
knew economic difficulties for a long time.
It was during this period, the most difficult of his life, that he
encountered master Chantanyara, stableman of the family of former Ryukyu
kings. S. Nagamine told an antidote,
that he heard from Ankichi Arakaki, the oldest pupil of the school of Kiyan,
who had heard it directly from C. Kiyan.
Master Chantanyara was since childhood, with exceptional
agility and had very strong legs and hips. It is said he jumped from one side
of a bridge and immediately got back up on the other side like a bird would do
while flying. But when I received his teaching age had weakened him and he
walked with a cine. But one day at dusk,
we were three students, he explained to us the technique and began to
climb. All of a sudden, he shook his
cane with power, then he pointed to me and said: ‘What would you do against this guard?” I was pushed back by the power of his glance,
his body has an immovable stability, and he maintained a distance with rigorous
justice and his cane didn’t present any fault (opening). I couldn’t do
anything, I lost by breath and I was fallen in place with cold perspiration.
Until this day, I was somewhat presumptuous and I thought that my art was
already nearly sufficient. The master
then gave me a lesson. That of him who
has forged his art unto the point of a mysterious power which is other than
simple physical force. He veritably gave off a formidable energy. I recalled my fathers precepts and I am
training more.
C. Kiyan had constituted
his karate on several personal kata. The kata Chantanyara no kushanku, favorite
kata of Chantanyara that he transmitted to him, and the kata Chanmigua no
Chinto et Oyatomari no bassai are the kata preferred. Contrary to those schools that have known a
large expansion to the center of Japan, the school of Kiyan remains discretely
in the island of Okinawa, and these kata have undergone few formal
modifications. They conserve then most
faithfully the form practiced at the end of the 19th century, the
period of C. Kiyan.
Until an advanced age C.
Kiyan remained renowned for his capabilities in combat; they said that he never
lost and they recount many anecdotes of his combats. The capability of C. Kiyan was constructed by
his proper efforts. He told his students that 70% of the level of an adepts
depends on his effort, and only 30% on his gifts. I cite these words which
condense his attitude:
“Take the example of the fist; If you train all the day on
the makiwara, you can easily break the planks and the tiles. But if you stop
your exercises on the makiwara, your fist reverts to that of an ordinary
person. In karate if you continue your
training, you must progress, but if you take a respite, you regress from
before. It is the effort without respite
and not the morphology of a person who find themselves at the junction between
a large success and a failure.”
C. Kiyan had personalized
certain basic techniques. One habitually
gives a punch (tsuki) with the fist
formed horizontally, and strikes principally with the first joint of the
medius, but he struck while maintaining a vertical fist (tate-ken) in
privileging a strike with the first joint of the index. It isn’t a traditional
mode, but it is a personal manner that he had elaborated for himself.
Here is the last give that
he had given to his student S. Nagamine:
“I had constructed my dojo in 1942, and we had made the
inauguration of this dojo .. I was
especially touched by the presence of master Kiyan, who was already the age of
73 years.. he had executed to celebrate the inauguration of my dojo his
favorite kata, Bassai, and a kata of the stick. I could not hold back my tears
and felt the heat of recognition in my chest.
All the audience had been struck by the precision of his gestures and
the power of his will. I had never felt
the grandeur of my master until that day.
It was the last time that I had seen the Master in a public demonstration.”
2 – The teachings of
Chotoku Kiyan
This text of C. Kiyan
shows the practical attitude that makes the particularities of this adepts
karate. His indications are simple, but
his pragmatic spirit is extremely instructive for today’s karateka.
Instructions for
training and teaching, by C. Kiyan (1930)
1 – It is appropriate to
teach in the following order: explain
first what is karate, what is the attitude of training, then learn the forms
and the movement. Then learn the way of
striking with the fist and the elbow, the way of kicking, the parries
corresponding with the techniques of seizing and immobilization, and finally
the kata. It is well after one has well
learned a kata that one should be initiated into combat.
2 – When one trained
traditionally in combat, without any protection, this was not without
accidents. It will be necessary to use
from now on (in the future) certain protections, like those of kendo, and to
wear rubber gloves. We will then be able
to avoid accidents.
3 – For training, aside
from the makiwara and the protections that I have earlier mentioned, we don’t
have a need of another object, nor some partners, nor much of a place. It is
one of the advantages of karate.
All things considered,
during the daily training it is necessary to strengthen the body, to exercise
the blows of the fist and the feet, to learn how to skillfully mobilize the
members, and to shift oneself with ease, all while understanding well the
principles of training. While training
ourselves in this manner a long time we will arrive at acquiring the subtle
principles of application and how to act suitable in any situation that
presents itself to us. However if one
trains oneself with the techniques of the body, and neglects to quiet (dampen
down) the spirit, that which is fundamental to the art will be unusable.
It is necessary to become
clairvoyant in life and seek to develop modesty, the calm spirit, promptitude
and bravery, at the same time that one trains the techniques of the body.
1.
The martial arts
aspires to prevent violence, to alleviate disorder and to protect oneself. It’s
why those who take the martial arts must always have a modest attitude and
reserve to comport oneself correctly with a spirit of loyalty and devotion.
2.
It is essential
in the martial arts, to act at the necessary time while totally investing your
spirit, your force and your body. Those which their force makes haughty unto
arrogant are harmful to the society,
detested by others and will do themselves misfortune.
It’s
necessary to hold this in account. A proverb says: “A fist strike will remain a
treasure in the sleeve.” It is necessary
to avoid its use without discrimination.
3.
Contribute to
the physical education, train oneself to the martial arts, quiet the spirit;
such are the aims of karate.
4.
One must keep
the [one’s] posture while remaining
motionless and to submerge the “ki” to the bottom of the stomach while taking
care that it does not rise again. However, one must also avoid at any price
from freezing [in place].
5.
When one
practices a kata, it is necessary to execute it with as much willpower and with
the feelings of the moment where one would face with his enemy.
6.
Speed is
necessary in all the gestures and displacements [body
shifts - movements].
All the displacements [body shifts - movements] owe
their carry out while placing the force in the toes.
7.
When one
practices a kata, it is necessary to know the direction, not to be mistaken
about on the goal (target) of the techniques, and distinguish the jodan
(high), the chudan (middle) and the gedan (low). Training without
comprehension [of the direction of the kata]
is useless.
8.
It is well
needed to train with the makiwara, and reinforce the impact of the strike. Whatever its speed, the strike will be
ineffective without force in its impact.
More
ever, whatever the force of the strike, it will be ineffective if it is missing agility and speed in the
techniques of the members [arms and legs]
and in displacement [body shifting]. It is not necessary that missing neither force
of the strikes, nor agility; they are like the two wheels of a carriage, with
only one missing they are unbalanced.
9.
It is always
needed to endeavor to integrate the spirit, the body and the eyes.
Instructions for
combat, by C. Kiyan
1.
Before acting,
it is necessary to discern the capabilities of the opponent. If he is powerful, he will inevitably rely on
his strength and will have the tendency to attack. Then I would make an effort
to parry so that he uses more and more force, and I will launch my attack at
the time where he reveals a vacuum [an opening].
It
is a technique by which one borrows the force of the opponent.
2.
If the opponent
isn’t powerful, he will be on the defensive and multiply the movements and the
shifts while often moving back. In this
case one should not launch an attack of a sudden strike. It is then necessary
to use blows of the fist and the feet to bring him to back up and attack all
from a strike. Then when I take the
initiative of the attack I must take guard of unexpected responses (counters).
3.
I should not
attack by over-estimating my force and my speed. They who are nimble will be
able to have a fast counter before I can move by divining the movements of my
hand and my feet.
4.
It will be
necessary to hide from the technique that one will use, while concealing his
own will (intentions). Whatever the
capability of the adversary, one should neither advance or move back more than
three steps.
5.
At the moment of
combat, attention should be paid to the
defense of the center line, since the eyes until start from the legs [This last phrase(depuis les yeux jusqu’au depart des jambs)
doesn’t seem to translate well]. One must always guard oneself
agains receiving fist strikes to the eyes, from kicks to the testicles and not letting oneself be grabbed. In general,
one must not use too much force in defense.
If one uses too much force in parries,
each gesture will be slowed down by it, which risks losing an opportune
moment.
6.
When one crosses
the arms of the adversary, it should be done in a strong and flexible way, at
the same time, but the spirit must be strong, in order to be able to react
adequately to the reaction of the adversary.
7.
The fist attack
must be especially fast. When it is
parried, and diverted from the place that was aimed for, it must carry on its
way to strike anywhere. And, the same, if the attack does not have a strong
impact, the opponent will become
flustered. And then it is necessary to continue to give all the possible blows from
the fist and the foot without stopping a moment, spontaneously and increasing.
8.
It isn’t
forcefully necessary to parry with the hand kicks from the opponent. On can
avoid them with your legs and strike at the same time with fist strikes.
And the same if the adversary falls, one should not want
to attack too easily,
because sometimes one can receive an unexpected
attack.
9.
When the
opponent seizes our leg, there isn’t a danger if one presses the leg to the
earth very strongly. But, one must pay attention not to fall when the ground is
bad.
10. While facing towards the opponent, it is necessary to
pay attention not to fall into his strategy.
Some use the foot while striking with their hands, or while making the
semblance of seizing the hand, some others utilize the fists while making ready
to attack with the foot. One must never
relax.
11. When one fights against several opponents, one should
never fight body to body [at close range],
especially one should fight at a distance.
If
the attack is to my right, I will move myself to the left; As soon as I attack to the front, I attack to
my opponent at the rear. It is the best
way.
These instructions are
fundamental for combat. But they only present a fragment [of possible tactics].
Summoning all, the variety
of martial arts is subtle and without boundries, it is impossible to describe
them all. Each one will be acquired by ardent training and by long research.
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