Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Thoughts about Ti or Toudi prior to 1872


 
 
One of the things not having students to occupy my time, I have much time to think about what Karate was before it became karate. Use the names Ti or Toudi or some other, matters not. I admit freely this is speculation, there is almost no documentation I have access to establish my theories correctness, but a questing I go.

 

We shall begin our speculation back before 1882 when Japan established control over Okinawa. Back when the art(s) had a definite purpose. The best description of those groups comes from this book.

 

Using the book  “Ryuku Oke Hiden Bujutsu: Karate, Bukijutsu” that time when Toudi was focused on the groups involved the use of Toudi for each group had a particular practice.

 “ 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.”

 

Ti or Toudi  what was the purpose of the training in nothing like what Karate became to be known as.

 

We can confidently establish that none of us were ever qualified to study these arts. They were for working members of those bushi groups, enabling them to perform their bushi group duties.

 

In a way you might consider the training basic training to enable the young men to be prepared (in part) to perform their bushi group rules. Those arts were working arts, adjunct perhaps to their actual bushi group functions. I am sure their training involved much more that karate. Most likely those things were taught by their father, uncle, cousin as to what would be expected of them when they assumed their bushi group rule.

 

Their training would have begun when their family sent them to the instructor, knowing what they were in for because they underwent the same study themselves. I am unsure how long they would train in their Ti or  Toudi before they were ready to assume their bushi group role. Perhaps 10 years,

 

Someone had to be in charge,  surely they talked with the instructor, having served together in the past. They would inform the instructor of losses of personnel, of retirements, etc. to give some idea when the new trainee would be needed. Their father also would have discussed their progress privately with the instructor,  they certainly had an interest in the son’s preparation for adult responsibilities. Other working members of the bushi group would have also discussed what they were experiencing perhaps also suggesting changes to the training that might make sense.

 

Of course the student(s) would not be privy to those discussions.

 

The instructor’s role then was integral in developing trained members of the bushi group.

 

They knew what the student graduate would be expected to do. In most of the roles they were being trained to perform in a group with other members. Surely whatever training they mastered would have been supplemented when they joined their group. They were being trained for a specific purpose, and the group could have had more than one instructor. Without specific information we can’t be sure.

 

The training would have had a specific end point, when they had enough training to function as a new member in their role. I can think it would be akin to modern military training, perhaps there were additional layers of study, or perhaps the group had their own maintenance program only part of which would be karate.

 

We cannot exactly say what the training consisted of. Certainly the basics we have today, some of the current kata and drills. I believe we can safely assume it was not as a modern dojo, a place to spend a lifetime training, or a place to search for new meaning with kata techniques. The art(s) were most likely very basic and fuctional, or perhaps trained to functionality. Further development might have been the instructors own study or from sharing with other long time friends who also were trained the same way.

 

Some of the Bushi were being prepared to work within a group of their fellows to perform their missions, whether as castle guards or working on ship protection and or other missions. Their use of their karate would have been as much as working with others of their group effectively and well as in individual combat. No doubt others had different responsibilities.

 

As I see it each bushi group was developed within different standards, some of their training must have covered the same basics, other aspects of their training would have been very different.

 

The thing to keep in mind was, there art was not for school education. It was not specifically for self defense. Technique potential was not something to be discovered for themselves. They were not training to spend their lives in a dojo, if anything it was to be able to leave the dojo and get to work. They did not have training clothes, surely their eventual uniforms were standard for their profession.

 

What karate would become in future generations was something very different.

 

Up to 1872 they were performing their bushi function. Between 1872 and 1915 it was a different time and the training use changed. Then post 1915 karate began to take over and became something else.

 

When we reflect on our arts origins, this represents some things to consider.

 

 

 A few prior posts that might give more context on this topic:
 
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2019/07/when-thinking-of-toudi-that-became.html


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