There is so much we really do not know about Funakoshi Ginchin, but that does not stop many making assumption what is wrong about his art, named by his students as Shotokan.
When in his 50s he moved to Japan proper, first to
give some demonstrations. Kano Jigero strongly suggested he teach his karate
there. He did teaching there for a year.
He prepared a book to leave behind for his students,
and likely to be able for those in the Japanese martial arts traditions to help
understand his art.
·
Funakoshi, Gichin (1922). Tō-te Ryūkyū Kenpō (唐手 : 琉球拳法)
Instead he remained in
Japan and a few years later republished his book this time with photos.
·
Funakoshi, Gichin (1925). Karate Jutsu (唐手術) (PDF).
A decade later he published his Master Text on his art.
·
Funakoshi, Gichin (1935). Karate-Do Kyohan
(空手道教範 )
The
interesting thing is each edition contained several chapters from the Okinawan
Bubishi, always in the original Chinese.
Unfortunately
I do not read either Japanese or Chinese, I did copy these pages from a .pdf of
the 1935 karate Koyhan. Using the 1972 edition published by Ohshima, He felt he could not translate those pages
and just left them in their original Chinese.
However this section has been translated into English.
·
Funakoshi, Gichin (1973). Karate-Do Kyohan: The Master
Text. Translated by Tsutomu Ohshima. Tokyo: Kodansha
International. ISBN 978-0-87011-190-7.
Of course this leaves us with a
number of questions about why Funakoshi did this.
1.
As he was leaving this for his
students of one year’s it was likely he never covered the material in this
text.
2.
Knowing the Japanese dislike of China
he might have left it in the original Chinese both as an acknowledgement that
part of the Okinawa art was inspired by China. And realizing most would never
explore what this says.
3.
There is some very sound material
here, and it would be a challenge for the student to obtain it, adding a new dimension
to what they had already learned.
4.
Apparently many of his students never
got this, One wonders why?
The way Funakoshi shared most of his teachings in
Japan was to take his karate into the University System of Japan, starting
clubs in many schools. This included the Japanese Naval academy.
Most of the students (and they were definitely not
kids, but young men at University, many with background in Judo and Kendo).
They were in those programs for what 4 years, then leaving school for life,
doing what student’s do.
While some continued their karate, most would not
have done so as they had moved away to positions in government, industry or the
Navy. What they did do was spread the idea of karate study.
Sure some did keep training with Funakoshi at his
main school. But I expect many were also trained to take over those programs.
It would mean much of the shape of Funakoshi’s art
was focused on what students could accomplish in those 4 years.
That also meant many things could not be covered, there simply was not enough
time.
Then WWII interfered…
After the war the surviving students put most of
their efforts into maintaining what was referred to as Shotokan, based more on
their own studies. Funakoshi became more of a figurehead, often visiting the
clubs focusing on basic karate for those members.
There was so much that was in his books that I have rarely seen reference to actual study.
Those sections from the Bubishi being an
example.
Always so much more to ponder.
Some of my blog posts which you might find relevant:
This is one
of those Bubishi sections that I find very interesting
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2011/07/glimpse-at-bubushi-escape-techniques.html
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2015/02/funakoshi-and-bubishi.html
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-bubishi-with-comments-by-sensei.html
https://isshin-concentration.blogspot.com/2021/07/funakoshi-s-self-defense-analysis-from.html
http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/roots_shotokan_1.shtml
http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/roots_shotokan_2.shtml
http://www.fightingarts.com/content02/roots_shotokan_3.shtml
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