A thought about the older source arts such as Ti.

 

 

Seeing Charles Murrays photo of the Shimabuku Tatsuo in Agena back in 1972 and the makiwara there made my mind begin thinking how much we do not know of the arts such as Ti which became the source of Karate.

 

We know the training was restricted to the members of certain families who had roles in Okinawan society that used Ti training. We have heard that they trained, when accepted by the instructor, in very private locations. Either the instructors home or perhaps at more private locations within the Okinawan forests. Exactly the nature of that training is unknown, for only those trained experienced what was taking place.

And at some point in time they began to assume their role in their society. Whether it was graduation or something else no one talks about that.

 

I assume that when they moved into their society role, they no longer trained with their instructor.

 

Then what did they do? There were not dojo. Did they continue training and training maintenance with others they were working alongside? Was there something else? I have seen no discussion on that.

 

Assuming there were makiwara of some type when they began, what might have they used later?

 

The closest I have seen comes from the Mario Mckenna translation of Itoman Seijin (Morinobu’s) book Toudi-jutsu no Kenkyu

There Itoman offers discussion of several different types, from very finished versions to more natural versions such as might be used in a forest, including one mounted on a tree.

 

Drawings from the Itoman book.

 

As to what actually occurred, it remains another mystery.