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Origin of Karate's Mawashigeri
Top left,
Otsuka Jiro showing side and front views of Wadoryu mawashigeri and below left,
Jiro showing what he called the jujutsu version of mawashigeri on which he said
his father based the technique. On the right, from 1938, Otsuka Hironori
(standing) and Kato Toshio performing tantodori unga dori. In this pair kata,
as the uke stabs with the knife, tori drops to the floor and delivers a
mawashigeri to the groin.
Reading
through the early Japanese karate books (1922 - 1945) there is little evidence
that kicking played a large part in the range of techniques. That is to say,
both the range of kicks practiced and the reliance on kicking as weapon for
karateka was quite limited compared to what is practised today. Of course, what
appears in books is not the entire picture but it does give an indication of
the flavour of practice at the time.
The
earliest karate books include those written by Funakoshi Gichin, Motobu Choki,
and Mabuni Kenwa. Less well known is Miki Jisaburo and Takeda Mizuho's Kenpo Gaisetsu (1930)
which was published after the pair returned from their field trip to
Okinawa in July 1929, and Mutsu Mizuho Karate Kenpo (1933
- Takeda had by then changed his surname to Mutsu)
Miki
and Mutsu were originally students of Funakoshi. Mutsu had trained under
Funakoshi as a student at Keio University and possibly at the Meiseijuku dojo.
Miki also received training from Otsuka, as Otsuka was Shihan Dai (assistant
teacher) during Funakoshi's term as Shihan to the Tokyo University Karate Club
(1926 - 1930). Both their books are fantastic publications, especially since
neither author had extensive training experience - less than five-years each by
the time Kenpo Gaisetsu was published.
Mutsu's Karate Kenpo is perhaps most notable for
the kumite illustrated and described in the book. As well as showing 14 kata it
presents an extensive range of predominantly pair techniques done standing and
seated. In addition, knife defence, short and long sword defence are also shown
as well as a range of throws. Many of these pair techniques are recognisable as Tenjin Shinyo Ryu jujutsu
kata and have been adapted by Mutsu and the students of the Tokyo University
karate club as part of their practice. Still, amongst the dozens of pair kumite
shown, only a few feature kicks.
Looking
through some other books of the time, Choki Motobu, who was widely respected
for his practical ability, shows a series of kumite techniques in his Watashi no Karate-jutsu (1932)
but the only kick he includes is a knee kick (hiza geri). Mabuni Kenwa, goes a
little further and show's front kick (mae geri) a low side stamping kick (we
would call it sokuto fumikomi in Wadoryu) and an inward kick with the heel used
to unbalance an attacker at grappling range.
Funakoshi
Gichin's Karatedo
Kyohan (1935) describes eight different kicks, along with some
of Funakoshi's imaginative - some might say unlikely - examples of how they
might be used. Compared to today's karate though, the most obvious omission is
mawashi geri.
The
first appearance of mawashi geri is actually in Mutsu's Karate Kenpo in
an adaption of one of the knife defence which feature in Otsuka Hironori's
tantodori enbu forms. The kick is more clearly shown in Nakasone Genwa's Karatedo Taikan (1938)
in which Otsuka and his then senior student, Kato Toshio (Kochiro) show the
seven tanto-dori which
are still practised in Wadoryu (here is an
outstanding example shown by Shibata sensei and Mayumi sensei
from JKF Wadokai Choshi city dojo).
The
technique comes from a tantodori kata called unga dori. Actually, it doesn’t have to be
mawashi geri - Otsuka sometimes used sokuto to the opponents front leg - but
generally, it is performed by dropping to the floor and off the line of attack
whilst simultaneously kicking.
According
to Otsuka Jiro (the second son of Otsuka Hironori) this technique and the other
tantodori, came from the Betsuden of Jikishinkageryu swordmanship
which Nakayama Tatsusuburo learnt learnt from Matsuoka Katsunosuke, founder of Shinto Yoshinryu jujutsu
(Nakayama being the judo / kendo / jujutsu teacher Otsuka trained under from
age 13 - 18). According to Otsuka Hironori, Nakayama particularly liked
striking and kicking techniques and found them to be effective in real
encounters. Jiro said that his father told him that the Okinawan karate he
learnt only had mae geri, hiza geri and sokuto fumikomi so he introduced the
mawashi geri of Yoshinryu jujutsu
to karate (Kindai
Karatedo magazine 1990/05).
In
Wadoryu, the mawashigeri - in fact all kicks - are done by lifting the knee
straight up as if doing a mae geri, then the hip is turned to make the foot
strike at a 45 degree angle with the body remaining upright. That is the basic
form at least. In the original jujutsu form - apparently - the body leans over
slightly off the line of the opponents leading hand. Otsuka can be seen showing this in
archive film taken on his trip to San Francisco in 1965. It’s a
short range kick done with a cutting action and particularly effective
delivered into the opponents floating rib or to the groin.
The
development of kicking technique though, really comes from the university
karate clubs. Once the practice of randori or jiyu kumite found its way into
the dojo, it was quickly realised how effective kicks could be. A good kicker
is always a dangerous opponent and with the eventual development of head level
kicks, karate had to adapt to dealing with these.
In the
early years however, the kick which found popularity was the sokutogeri. The
reason is simple - it is a powerful technique and the potential for injury to
the foot is minimal compared to front kick, where the toes can easily be broken
by a defenders misplaced (or well placed) elbow. Hence, in the university
karate world, sokutogeri became the free fighting technique of choice.
It was
clearly in practice early on too, as Wadoryu karateka Nishizono Takatoshi has
written about. He graduated from Tokyo University in 1942 and found himself in
a civilian job in China soon afterwards. He was requested to teach karate to a
special section of troops for one month and to prepare them for the training,
he used his favourite technique - sokuto - to knock down the soldiers in order
to demonstrate the effectiveness of karate technique.
After
the war, when karate training resumed, the university clubs reconnected and
continued their exchange training (kokan geiko). These
exchanges became an excuse for high spirited jiyu kumite where control was
often lacking, particular in matches between rival schools and styles.
Naturally, sokuto geri became popular because you can connect with your
opponent without so much risk of injury to yourself whilst delivering a single
knock down technique. Apparently, in the 1950's university karate world,
everyone was good at sokuto geri but it is said that Wadoryu's Suzuki Tatsuo
was so good, that people talked about 'Suzuki's sokuto'. Otsuka told people, if
you want to learn sokuto, go and see Suzuki.
One
problem with sokuto geri is that it is not so easy to control. Mawashigeri
gradually became more popular through the 1950's as the university karate clubs
experimented with the rules for kumite contests. The idea of controlling the
attacks so as not to seriously injure one another came into the thinking and
mawashi geri is more easily controlled than sokuto. In addition, karateka were
experimenting with higher kicks and finding that with mawashi geri, there were
different ways to do the kick and different ranges it could be used too. It has
much more variety than any other kick hence its subsequent development.
As for
mawashigeri's appearance in later books, the 1958 edition of Karatedo Kyohan
features the kick in the kumite section and mentions it amongst the basic
techniques. The kumite section shows the kick delivered at chudan and jodan
level. Of course the Shotokan version uses an initial side lift of the leg
which is probably how most non-Wadoryu karateka think of the kick these days.
In fact, even for non-karateka, the term 'roundhouse kick' seems to be well
known (even if the term 'mawashi-geri' does not translate as 'roundhouse
kick').
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