Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Some speculation of Toudi





Let’s have some fun and engage in a bit of logical speculation, back before there was karate. The term might have been Toudi or something else. That is not so important so I will keep to Toudi. There is not a great deal written about that time, I am going to refer to the book “The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu” by Matsuo as my source for most of this speculation.

 
What we do know is that it was not called karate. The practitioners did not wear specific uniforms. There was not rank and for certain none of us was qualified to study those arts.

 
The arts being referred to were only for qualified members of specific Okinawan bushi families. They were not learning karate to make a living teaching it. Their sole reason for the study was their family function required use of that training, part of the time in their family function. Not the art for the art, rather the art to allow them to do their role.The instructor was old having successfully survived in that role himself and then undertook the family obligation to prepare other generations of the family.

 
Each family knew the instructor, having worked with him for decades, and that meant they trusted his ability to prepare the new generations of the family.

 
As Okinawa was a very small place, those who became instructors likely knew and even shared with each other on occasion, but their primary focus was to prepare each new generation for their role.

 
We man never know exactly what those lessons were but I believe we can make some shrews assumptions.

 
For one thing everyone knew exactly what they were training for. They learned that from their fathers, what their role would entail. Already understanding what they needed to become, they had added incentive to  learn.  Then their father would not be training them, it is pretty clear that the families understood that their toudi lessons were better taught by someone else, and that someone was a trusted family member who had done the job for decades already.  A proven expert, who was also bound by the same family ties.

 
Of course they began lessons having to prove their worth, by performing menial tasks for a long time. But they also understood that their father had done the same and  worked to prove they were just as focused. And that was the idea, getting the students attention.

 
We may never understand the exact training they received. Kata certainly, but I suspect kata to train the body never kata as a quiz to unlock. I see their training after their body was developed with kata practice as being specific training for their actual roles. It was not theoretical training after all, it was reality that they were thrust in the middle of.  When sufficiently trained, they would assume their role alongside others in their family who would shepard/guide them forward.

 
And what where those roles, I got a glimpse of them in the book “The Secret Martial Arts of Ryukyu”. This is what I found.
 

“ The martial artists (bushi) of the Ryukyu can be divided into five distinct groups.
First of all, the Shuri bushi, who were in charge of protecting Shuri Castle.
Next, the Tomari bushi, who were in charge of domestic law enforcement.
Third ,the Naha bushi, who were in chages of protecting the Chineese envoys (Suppushi) as well as the tribute ships sent from Ryukyu to China.
Next were the Udun bushi, who were involved in the politics of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
Finally, the bushi of Naha’s Kume Village, who were in the service of Chinese imigrants.”

 


While all would require some of the same skills, each family would also have to address different issues in their use of Toudi too. It would be logical to assume each version of their toudi would be tuned toward their different responsibilities. And they were locked in their roles, they could not expect to change their roll either.

 
So logically their arts would be focused on different responsibilities.

 
“For example, the Shuri bushi, who worked under the scribes, and treasurers, and justice officers, also worked as castle guards, tax collectors, finance officers, or agricultural and forestry officers and studied a martial art which was characterized by the horse riding stance, and light, fast techniques. This area was called Shuri-di.

 
The Tomari bushi, who worked in domestic law enforcement. Public welfare, construction as well as guarding the Chinese Sappushi, Satusuma envoys and Satusuma Admistrative office in Ryukyu, studied an art that stressed the ability to stand on the boats that traveled the two rivers (Asato River and Kumochi River) that spanned between Shuri Castle, Naha Port and Tomari Port. This art was called Tomari-di.”

… The guards on the ships traveling to China….”These guards were the Naha bushi and in order to deliver an effective technique on a rocking boat, their training stressed such methods as Sanchin stance and heavy movements. Their art was known as Naha-di.”

 
…….“Expecially Naha-di was influenced by the Chinese Arts, and more specifically Fuijan boxing styles, and was just called Toudi (Chinese Hand).”

 
No uniforms for training, no rank just their role responsibility. And perhaps a few of them would become instructors for their families.

 
I can imagine those seniors would also form friendships with other seniors from other families. At times sharing some aspect of their own arts. And after a lifetime most likely continuing their own study into what their karate would be. At the same time most unlikely that such uses would be passed along to their students who were preparing for their own family roles.

 
Then in 1870 Japan upset the applecart, taking over in Okinawa. Removing the king, then ending the stipend for those bushi families.

 
New uses to be found for toudi, not to teach it to outsiders, but to preserve a sense of family fellowship.
 

Then one day Itosu had a different idea and something new was born.
 
Some of my other blog posts which are relevant: 




 
The secret of “Bu No Mai” the Okinawan dance, is the secret of his art.
The dance can be done with empty or hands,
Or the same movements can be done with weapons.

Bu No Mai” contains punches, kicks, throws, grappling and weaponry.
The point of origin of this secret technique is Tuidijutsu.
Tuidijutsu techniques compound on one another,
Making the possibilities virtually endless.
The structure of his art is as follows:

If the art of not injuring somebody is tuidijutsu,
Then there is that of tuidi-gaeshi (tuidi reversals)
And even higher is ura-gaeshi (reversal techniques).
Still higher ist the pinnacle, is Ajikata Nu Mekata,
Or the dance of the feudal lords.

“In other words, fully developed martial arts
Do not have corners or rough edges,
And look even smooth or weak to the eye.
But for those who have experience with Udondi,
There are frighteningly effective techniques,
that one’s hair stands on end.

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