On Karate Dancing

 

Iha Fuyu and Higaonna Kanjun were probably the two most well-known researchers in Okinawa studies in the early 20th century – essentially founding this field of study. One of their projects included the Southern Islands Study Group which looked at the anthropology of the Ryukyu island chain from the north in Amami Oshima to the south in Iriomote. What readers may not be aware of is that these researchers were involved with local Karate teachers, such as Funakoshi Gichin and Miyagi Chojun, in shaping the history of Okinawa and consequently the history of Karate-do.

From the left: Toguchi Seko, Yamashiro Seichu, Miyagi Chojun, Itosu Shoun / Kuniyoshi Masayoshi (?) (From Onaga Yoshiaki’s collection). January 1, 1935 “Okinawa Daily” (Sourse: Ryubun21.net)

One of the lesser known members of this group was an named Shigeno Yuko. In 1927 he published the book  An Ethnography of Amami Oshima (奄美大島民族誌 茂野幽考 著 岡書院, 1927) covered the history and culture, old songs, ancient funeral customs, myths and superstitions, folk dances, shamisen music, tales and legends of Amami Oshima. The book contains an intriguing chapter on what Shigeno titled “Karate Dance” and I thought I would provide a partial translation of that chapter.

The chapter itself presents very little new information in terms of the history of Karate-do, but does provide an interesting window of how the history of Karate-do was being shaped in the early 20th century. I personally find it a bit peculiar that a book dedicated to the history, customs and folklore of Amami Oshima includes a chapter on Karate and yet it in my previous post on the Nanto Zatsuwa, it would seem that presence of Karate on Amami Oshima is unclear. Its also intriguing that Shigeno included the word “Dancing” in his description of Karate.

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Karate  (boxing) dancing is one of the martial arts of the Ryukyu Kingdom that is widely known and is one type of classical Ryukyu dance. The origins of Karate dancing are around the 14th century during the time of King Satto of Chuzan who established ties with China and the Ming court during the reign of Hongwu. Martial arts similar to boxing (pugilism) were reportedly transmitted from China.

Usually Karate is done by pulling the right leg back slightly, bending the waist, and bending the left arm in front of the face to defend against an attacker’s fist. The right elbow is pulled back with the right fist held at the side of the waist. He is thus ready [to defend] against a punching attack.

The defender will measure the rhythm and breath of his opponent [standing] in front of him. As they glare at each other, the opponent will let out a yell and punch at the defender who will, with his left hand, deflect the attack within a hair’s breadth and counter-attack with his right fist. Although you may think that this is a simple martial art, it contains a wide variety of secret techniques, ways of forming the fist and using the legs that give  you the upper hand.

Karate practitioners wrap a rope around a round piece of wood that is sunk into the ground and when they have free time during the morning and evenings they strike it with a spirited yell to harden their fist and improve their strength. After many years of training like this a man becomes a so-called Karate master with a fist like iron and seemingly like lightening. If someone is unlucky enough to be punched by such a master of this frightening martial art on a vital point, it would stop his breathing and he would collapse.

Some of the unique methods of Karate include bassai, naihanchin, kusanku, pinan, and free-fighting with many of the kata named after the Chinese men who created them, but among these kata only the pinan kata was created by a Ryukyuan in the modern era (1). Free-fighting is the application of boxing methods in real-life circumstances.

Long ago, during the time of King Shoshin, warriors were forbidden to wear swords and therefore Karate began to flourish among them. This mirrors what happened to the warriors on the Japanese mainland during the Shogunate era who would sometimes have to face an adversary wanting to test his blade. The warriors of Okinawa would be attacked from out of no-where by someone on a whim who would then runaway.

Today, Karate is taught to students at the Prefecture Middle Schools and the Teachers’ College as a martial art. Among the famous masters of Karate-jutsu are the author Tominakoshi Gichin, who knocked-out a Russian boxer in Kyoto in 1925, Motobu Choki and others.

Through struggle they were encouraged to develop a method of self-defense and just as the Japanese art of the sword gave birth to the dance of the sword as a form of Western physical education, from the bygone art of Karate-jutsu of the Ryukyu Kingdom emerged Karate dance.

(1) The author uses hiragana to write the names of these kata. He does not use kanji. This is interesting as hiragana a phonetic script of Japanese is used to write native words. In contrast another phonetic script, katakana, is used to write foreign words.

Originally published in An Ethnography of Amami Oshima by Shigeno Yuko. 1927, pp. 240-242,  Oka Shoin (奄美大島民族誌 茂野幽考 著 岡書院, 1927). The book covers the history and culture, old songs, ancient funeral customs, myths and superstitions, folk dances, shamisen music, tales and legends of Amami Oshima.