They
did not explain what they were doing to the newspaper Ryūkyū
shinpō very well.
Translated from the French with Bing Translate
Karate in schools and Ryūkyū shinpō
Translated by Jean-Charles Juster.
Okinawa Prefectural
Middle School
In January 1905, karate was introduced as an
official subject in the old Okinawa Department College System. The following
February, an article was published in the Ryūkyū shinpō.
This text is quite difficult to understand
because it is written in ancient Japanese, but I will give the meaning below:
At the end of 1904, members of the
pedagogical team of the colleges proposed the idea of using karate in the
courses, in other words, it marked its beginnings in the school system.
Currently, the results are positive, but there is one unfortunate point. Since
teachers provide very inadequate explanations, there are Many points that are
difficult to grasp. The journalist hopes that in the future, a project will be
set up where teachers will provide sufficient explanations, once they have
acquired teaching skills in this martial art.
It is very likely that a month after the
introduction of karate in colleges, study days were set up. This journalist was
invited to one of them and attended a class where karate was taught. But, it is
a pity that the teacher's way of teaching was not rational. Or that the teacher
had not been able to explain why karate was present in schools, or rationally
demonstrate its teaching.
These members of the teaching team, or
teachers, were Hanashiro Chômo, then a physical education teacher, and Itosu
Ankô, a karate teacher. At the time, the physical education course was called
gymnastics, and so it was within the framework of this gymnastics that karate
was taught. Naturally, the hours dedicated to gymnastics set by the Ministry of
Education were reduced, to teach karate.
In the end, were there any benefits? The
explanations to be able to grasp them were insufficient... This is probably
what this journalist's questioning consisted of.
As we have just seen, the Japanese Ministry
of Education had not recognized the teaching of martial arts as a compulsory
school subject. In the metropolis, judo or kendo were not yet taught. Okinawa had therefore unilaterally decided to
teach karate in college. It was the view of the Okinawa Department Bureau of
Education, for whom "karate was not a martial art, but a gymnastics,"
that made this introduction possible. It was a way around the law. The name
"karate taisô" (gymnastics based on karate) was probably born for
this reason.
In order to use karate in schools, Itosu
founded study days, and while following each of the guidelines of the Okinawa
Department Bureau of Education, he continued the "gymnization" of
karate. However, according to the Ryūkyū shinpô, his enterprise was still far
from showing satisfactory signs.
Moreover, what does this journalist
experience? Did he witness an execution of Pin.an shodan as Itosu had taught
Motobu Chomo? If that were the case, he could have Ask if for middle school
students, this form was not too long and especially too complex. To which Itosu
would have reacted by forging the current Pin.an shodan, by removing the last
part of this first version of this kata. Or, seeing the assaults developed by
Hanashiro Chômo, could this journalist not have thought that they were
dangerous for college students, and that gymnastic movements would have been
safer.
The original Japanese article was written on May 17, 2019 on Ameblo, and the French translation was written on August 13, 2019.
The Enlightenment Party (Kaika-tō)
Written
by Motobu Naoki, translated by Andreas Quast
The Enlightenment Party (Kaika-tō)
was a group that supported the annexation of Ryūkyū by Japan after the fall of
the Ryūkyū Kingdom. The opposing group was the Stubborn Party (Ganko-tō), which
supported the restoration of the kingdom.
The activities of the members of
the Enlightenment Party were initially similar to that of spies for the
Japanese government. At that time such spies were called Tanpō-jin, literally
explorer (reporter, inquirer; investigator). Many of these Tanpō-jin were from
the lower samurai class. Some of them held a grudge against the Ryūkyū ruling
class. Of course, the Stubborn Party hated them as traitors.
The Enlightenment Party supported
both the “Okinawa Assimilation Policy” as well as the “Imperialized Education”
devised by the Japanese government. They established banks and newspaper
companies in Okinawa and gradually dominated Okinawan society, economy, and
mass media. A representative person of the Enlightenment Party was Ōta Chōfu
(1865–1938) of the Ryūkyū Shimpō newspaper.
It was at the opening ceremony of
the Private Okinawa Higher Girls’ School where Ōta Chōfu made his famous
“sneeze remark”.
Speaking about what Okinawa’s most urgent need is
currently, it is to imitate the other prefectures from A to Z, in every
particular.
I’m exaggerating a bit, but it is to imitate other prefectures even if they
only sneeze. (July 1, 1900).
This remark is an extreme denial of
Okinawa’s uniqueness. Therefore,
even though articles about Karate were published in the Ryūkyū Shimpō newspaper
during the Meiji era, they were often written negatively, and they need to be
read and considered within this context.
However, today it is still a
difficult question as to whether that remark shall unilaterally be criticized
or not. At that time, since Okinawa was economically far behind the Japanese
mainland, so they [the members of the Enlightenment Party] desired to enrich
Okinawa through the “Assimilation Policy.”
Besides, the famous “Round-table
Discussion of Karate Experts” of 1936 was also hosted by the Ryūkyū Shimpō
newspaper, and headed by Ōta Chōfu. As the times changed, Ota Chōfu might have
changed his mind and raised his voice that Okinawa’s uniqueness should be
protected.
Ōta Chōfu. Source: Naha City Museum of History
By the way, as introduced in a
previous article, Ōta Chōfu and Motobu Chōki have
been friends since they were young. Ōta Chōfu tried to get an actual fight with
Motobu Chōki, but Motobu Chōki refused because the opponent’s ability was lower
than his own.
The original Japanese article was written on September
21, 2019 on Ameblo, and the English translation was written on September 22,
2019.
1 comment:
We know Karate Gymnastics was an experiment allowed by the Japanese Ministry of Education to see if martial training would work in the entire Japanese School system. When they saw it was successful on Okinawa Kendo and Judo a few years later were incorporated in the Japanese School system across the main island of Japan.
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