Ever wonder why we are having a hard time finding “original” Chinese versions of our Kata?

 Dojo TokyoMushinkan 

Hello all:

Disclaimer: Massive speculation here, so do not take this as any kind of historical fact yet, until we find actual evidence of same.

Ever wonder why we are having a hard time finding “original” Chinese versions of our Kata? Even the ones that were “supposedly” introduced from China a little over half a century ago? (Yes, I'm looking at you, Uechi Kanbun)!

Perhaps, and there is a lot of speculation on my part, but just maybe we are looking in the wrong place.
We often assume, based on the verbal history, that the various Okinawan stalwarts who traveled to Fujian became students of famous masters of "private" systems such as Tiger or Crane boxing.

However, there may be a more plausible background. We know that the majority of people who traveled to China from Ryukyu were merchants, students and government officials and that they stayed in the Ryukyukan.

The Ryukyukan was administered and protected by the Chinese government. Military officers were stationed there as security, and as military officers they would have had official martial arts training.

Would it be too far of a fetch to say that maybe some of these Okinawans befriended the guards, and were taught some basic training forms that were created specifically for military training? And that, with the advent of military modernization in China, that these forms fell by the wayside as they were no longer necessary? It is entirely possible that the famed Kojo Dojo at the Ryukyukan employed some of these officers as instructors.

Now if only we could find some old military manuals of empty hand training routines used by the Green Standard Army, it might help answer a lot of questions. Wouldn’t that be interesting?