Perhaps
a good, true story is the best way to present this topic.
A
few years ago the Olympics was held in South Korea. One of the events was the
Tae Kwon Do competition. Then one evening it was time for Team Japan to meet
Team Korea. There was pandemonium with national pride for Team Korea when they
were introduced. Television interviewed a Japanese businessman in the audience
about what he thought Team Japan’s chances were to win the event. I remember
his reply, “I only pray Team Korea wins, I don’t want to be here if they don’t.
“
Team
Korea did win. Peace reigned that day.
As
the seeking goes on to why arts exist, what the origins were, and incredible
minutiae about those details, I wonder how much you are looking at the context
of the larger picture behind many of those events.
Take
Karate, however it did come into prominence, the first thing to realize it was
not created so that any of us were supposed to have access to it.
About
1870 Japan got serious towards Okinawa, then a quiet place. They downgraded the
King of Okinawa and removed him into excel in Japan. They also stopped the
money given to the elite class of Okinawa, moving many of them into poverty. A
case can be made karate was used to bond the elite young. It was never intended
for the people.
Itosu saw a use for karate training (of a type) to prepare the elite young who
were in school by shaping karate to train their bodies, and prepare them to
follow orders in ranks. At the same time he borrowed the idea that this
training could be used by the masses, perhaps to improve health as the Chinese
did with tai chi.
His students took those ideas and made some of it a reality.
I doubt he considered them for the existing dojo. In a sense his idea seems to be that a separate use for karate had merit.
Then
circumstances caused karate to be exported into Japan. And it was focused on
Itosu’s idea of karate for the masses. Specifically it moved into the
Universities and the Naval War College. Karate was a way to gain respect for
Okinawa within the Japanese traditional marital organization. While they shaped
their explanations for the martial public in Japan, at the same time they did
not distinguish between the University programs and karate on Okinawa.
As a
country Japan was becoming increasingly military, for one thing they had been
occupying nations like Korea for decades. They took control of many of the
island nations in the Pacific. Many of those karate trained University
graduates entered Civil Service and moved to the conquered territories like
Manchuria ( renamed Manchuko – sound familiar the act of renaming things so
they sound more Japanese) or even officers into the Navy. Cementing that karate
was a Japanese idea. Of course it time the leaders were Japanese, and then
developed the art as they saw fit.
Then
the war intervened. Okinawa was misused, which was fine with Japan. And about
1/3 of the population was lost, a generation little training took place and
many seniors lost.
The
invasion of Japan did not occur. But a twist of fate and the atomic bomb had
been delayed and many things had been different and we would have a very
different tale.
A
result of the war, was vast depression. On Japan for various reasons Japanese
Karate returned. Likewise on Okinawa the devastation was vast, karate slowly
became an activity to train in, and a few Okinawan’s found they could make a
better living by sharing karate with the American military. Of course there
were Okinawans who wanted nothing to do with the Americans, for their
contribution the devastation of their homeland.
Those
events began the karate (Okinawan and Japanese) exporia.
In
other lands (Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea) the American military stationed
there also studied their native martial arts.
In
fact in Korea new arts were a-borning. Ones with Korean names and Japanese
roots. There were many reasons for the renaming those arts. Some of their
origins were from older Korean practices. But there were even stronger reasons
behind these changes. For 50 years Japan had used and abused Korea. There was
and is a great deal of hatred towards Japan. It is for that reason I can’t
fault Korea for declining to talk about Japanese roots, and over time they
changed their arts further in their own directions.
This
is a simplistic treatment of a very large topic. Even today these events
resound. For example Japan does not teach accurate history of the war, choosing
to sugarcoat the history. For example for many countries they won’t admit the
abuse they caused. And modern movies like Kuro Obi whitewash the occupation of
Manchuria to make a more acceptable story for Japan.
As
America continues to occupy Okinawa with our military, there are many Okinawans
which want to close our bases. And Japan continues to support them, because
they are in their self interest, and those bases are not on Japan proper.
Likewise there are complex interests involved with the Korean Arts.
To
really understand these arts, it would help to understand the related histories
that go along with the details which you try to ferret out.
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