Old Bando Kukri form

Tradition

Tradition Tradition, tradition! Tradition! Tradition, tradition! Tradition!

Definition of tradition 1a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom) b : a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable … the bulk of traditions attributed to the Prophet …— J. L. Esposito 2 : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction 3 : cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions 

 As I was thinking about what Ti/Toudi would have been like as a practice, another thought came to me. And the concept of traditional karate came to mind, thinking about what were the traditions maintained within karate. 

First I must be clear, I am not against tradition within karate, or within your own system(s) of practice. 

I am just trying at a mega level to understand what tradition means in karate. 

The reasons, practices bound to the Bushi of Okinawa within their Ti/Toudi essentially did not fit what karate became. You were not training to then serve your society in a defined function. 

The traditions behind Itosu’s development of what karate could be were for a different reason, Of course the kata and techniques therein were passed along, and in some part perhaps that is the tradition. But the reasons became very different. 

So those first traditions, focused on the school karate, goes back perhaps 100 years. 

20 years later when karate began its export into Japan, other traditions arose to fit in to the Japanese society. 

10 years later the traditions again made changes. 

The kanjin for Karate changed, many other things began to be influenced by Japan. 

Then by the mid 1950’s many of those Japanese traditions became fixed in Okinawan tradition too. Where there just was the instructor, systems defining styles arose. Rank became part of the plan. Uniforms became standardized, and so much more. It can be said that perhaps that was when the bulk of today’s traditions took hold. 

Perhaps a short 70 years ago. And traditions kept evolving. 

They are traditions of course, they just do not have perhaps the same meaning of traditions which go back hundreds of years, if those do exist in Okinawan karate.

I would propose a small exercise in logic.

I would propose a small exercise in logic. 

That of course does not mean it is truth, just what it is a tool to perhaps understand the past.

Let us look back to the time when the practice was named Ti or Toudi. Now a distant past. 

The bushi of Okinawa were in service to the county and the families had what appears to be 5 different roles. One of those glimpses of those traditions came from 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 Chinese 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 immigrants.” 

 Their study was to enter service of their family. A tool necessary for them to fulfill their role. It was not for physical development nor was it for self defense, though the practices did offer that. It was what they could fall back on in their service for their family. 

The instructors were most likely long term members of those bushi families. Who earned the trust of the families because of their service, because of their proven abilities and because of their proven ability to share what was essential for the members to rely on. Undoubtedly most of them were acquaintances with each other. And their programs were was required to enter service trained with basic skills. 

Further training likely came from other members with the same bushi roles. They were not systems as we think of them today. 

Those instructors likely had only a part of the responsibility in the choosing of who would fill their role for the following generation. 

Instead it was likely they understood the same process to select the next instructor would be used by the same senior members of the Bushi as was done for them. 

The importance of the role was not held by one individual for it affected the future of the entire clan. 

 Now contrast that with what developed for karate over the past 100 years. Slowly that changed, systems formed, instructors were developed by the senior instructor. 

 A very different process from what the original idea probably was.