FROM CHINA TO OKINAWA KARATE; THE EARLY DAYS

 *Partially excerpted from “Hidden Hands” by the author

by Phillip Starr

After its conquest by China in the seventh century, Okinawa was considered a nominal Chinese province of sorts. Later, under license of the Ming Emperor, King Satto took the throne in 1350. He sent his brother, Taiki, to China and a strong relationship between the two nations quickly developed. Because he wanted to benefit from the vast technological and cultural wealth of the Chinese, King Satto asked the Ming Emperor to send advisers to Okinawa. And so it was that in 1392 the Emperor responded by sending the so-called “36 Families”, which was comprised of artisans and technicians who hailed from an area near the mouth of the Bijin River in Fujian Province (these families are sometimes referred to as “the Bijin.”). They settled in the village of Kume. Many karate historians believe that members of these families were responsible for the introduction of Chinese hand-to-hand fighting methods to Okinawa and that this led to the development of a combative art known as “ti.” No doubt, these methods came from southern forms of kung-fu as Fujian Province is directly east of Okinawa.

In 1477 an unscrupulous fellow referred to as Sho En petitioned the Chinese Emperor for a license to be recognized as king of the island nation. His request was granted, which means that somebody's palms were probably very heavily greased. Sho En seems to have been primarily interested in increasing his own personal wealth but his son, Sho Shin, seems to have been considerably less corrupt. When he inherited the throne, he worked to bring the nation under the control of a central government.

Then in 1609, Lord Shimazu (who reigned as daimyo over southern Japan's Satsuma Province), obtained permission from the Tokugawa shogunate to take control of Okinawa. A brief battle between Shimazu's forces and the Okinawans ensued. It was a short fight and the island kingdom became a Japanese colony. Not wanting a war with Japan, the Chinese looked the other way and kept quiet about the whole thing. The Okinawans were permitted to keep their king but he was not allowed to maintain a military and possession of weapons (primarily, swords) was a very serious crime. He was reduced to serving only as a figurehead.

However, several Okinawans learned various forms of kung-fu during visits to China or from Chinese dignitaries and traders who often frequented the islands. These arts were generically referred as “to-de.” The character for “to” is read as “tang” in Chinese and was synonymous with the great Tang Dynasty and the legendary Middle Kingdom. “De” means “hand.” Thus, “to-de” is often translated as “China Hand.” Eventually, these bare-handed fighting arts would come to be known as “kara-te”, which (as most of you know) means “empty hand.”

The oldest organized form of karate is Shorin-ryu. “Shorin” is the Okinawan/Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese “Shaolin” and a “ryu” is an art that has been passed down through generations. Numerous Okinawans traveled a bit to the north of China and learned form(s) of Shaolinquan (Shaolin boxing); it is even said that a few trained at the legendary Shalin temple in Hubei Province.

The other two popular styles of Okinawan karate are Goju-ryu (“hard-soft”) and Uechi-ryu (named for its founder, Master Kanbun Uechi). However, Goju-ryu didn't come about until its founder, Master Higaonna, traveled to southern China in 1873 and trained in one of the forms of crane boxing (it is thought that it was mainly derived from the style of “Whooping Crane”, which is an offshoot of White Crane boxing). He brought this art back to Okinawa in 1882.

Uechi-ryu's founder, Kanbun Uechi, studied a southern form of boxing. It looks very much like a form of southern Chinese crane boxing and he called it “Pangai-Noon.” It's an odd name – neither Okinawa nor Japanese...or even Mandarin. It may have come from the ancient “Min” language. In any case, the Chinese pronunciation of the characters for “Pangai-Noon” is “Ban Ying Ruan”, which means “Half Hard, Half Soft.” He brought this art to Japan in 1925. In 1940, his Okinawan students renamed the style after him (“Uechi-ryu”).

Isshin-ryu (“Isshin” translates as “One Heart”) is a relative newcomer to the world of Okinawan karate. Founded by Tatsuo Shimabuku in 1956 (Master Shimabuku, who had studied under some of the finest Shorin-Ryu and Goju-ryu instructors of the day, passed away in 1975), Isshin-ryu utilizes the same katas that are found in Goju-ryu as well as one or two that are unique unto itself.

A unique feature of Goju-ryu, Uechi-ryu, and of course, Isshin-ryu, is their emphasis on a kata known as “sanchin” (“three battles”). This same form is seen in the southern forms of Crane boxing in China even today and the name for it is “San-Zhuan” (also “three battles”). The older Chinese version of it is nearly identical to the more contemporary Okinawan set.