According to Donn Draeger* the beginning of the martial arts goes back to ancient Greece. Plato mentioned ‘fighting without an antagonist or ‘Skiamichia’, an ancient form of shadow boxing.
The Greek military had dances called ‘Prrhichia’ or ‘how to cope with an enemy’. Both of these can be compared to the Kata of Karate or the forms of Kung Fu. Even in Rome we can see similarities in
the story of Creugas and Damoxenus, where Damoxenus kills Creugas with a spear hand. There are also similarities in the Greeks, Romans and Irish (most Celts actually) shouts and the Japanese Kiai (spirit
meeting).
It has been contended that when Alexander the great conquered India his soldiers taught Prrhichia to the locals. They then combined this new art with their own, which then spread to China
with Buddhism.
However they received the arts in India, it is well documented that the Indian monk Bodhidharma* taught the Chinese special breathing exercises to help in their long meditation
sessions. He was also reported to have taught them fighting skills so they could defend themselves in the remote mountain areas where they lived. It’s been said that from Bodhidharma Cha’an developed in China
and became Zen in Japan. Shaolin Chuan-Fa (Shaolin Temple Boxing) are said to be based on Bodhidharma’s teachings. Again it either combined with or developed into a Chinese fighting art that eventually spread
throughout China.
It then made its way to a Prefecture (suburb) of the Japanese Ryuku Islands, Okinawa. When weapons were banned, not once but twice in their history, it was just the right conditions
for emptied handed martial arts to flourish. It is also suggested that they created extensive fighting techniques using common farm implements, carrying tools and even oars (Eku) from their ships but
this is a fallacy most of these (Sai, Bo, Jo, Kama, nunchuku etc.) were of Japanese or Chinese origin. As we can see weapons were also a part of this empty handed art, even if you had to take it from
your attacker first.
Yasutune (Anko) Itosu
was credited for developing the three Tekki and five Heian kata from the more ancient Chinese Katas he learnt from Bushi Matsumara. He was also instrumental in introducing Okinawan-Te (or just To-De) into the
Okinawan school system. His other claim to fame was that he was one of the Gichin Funakoshi’s three teachers, alongside Yasutune Azato and Bushi Matsumara. Funakoshi, as head of the Okinawan
Martial Arts Association, was chosen to take Kara-Te (China Hand) to mainland Japan and give a demonstration before the Emperor.
Funakoshi created a stir while in Japan when he changed the kanji (some say Anko
Itosu had already done this in Okinawa), from kara (China)
to a similar one still pronounced kara but meaning empty. He left the te (hand) alone so it went from China Hand to Empty Hand. He also reversed the order of the first two Pinan Kata and changed
the name to Heian Kata and he changed Naihanchi Kata to Tekki Kata. He then set about changing all the kata names so they became more Japanese. He also unified the "karate speak" that we use today,
before that time they all had their own names for each technique. This upset the proud Okinawans but they soon agreed that if they were going to spread karate throughout Japan then this needed to be done
and it proved very helpful after the war to spread karate worldwide.*
A lot of new and interesting facts have come to light lately with the publication of Shotokans Secrets*. It introduces ideas that
most people have never thought of before. It introduces the fact that hard style karate was never meant for self defence but for the defence of others, primarily for the royalty of Okinawa. It also
tells of the visit of Commodore Perry to the small island to enhance his reputation before he went to Japan and the fact that these weaponless warriors had to deal with pirates and others that all carried
firearms. I won't tell you to much more but recommend you get a copy and read it with an open mind, it won't change your love for karate but it will finally give you a reason why it is so good and why we
do those katas.
Asian Fighting Arts by Dreager\Smith
Karate Do Kyhohan by Funakoshi Gichin
The Way of the Warrior by Reid\Croucher