Origin of Karate's Mawashigeri

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Origin of Karate's Mawashigeri

15 January 2022|Pre 1945 Karate

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').