THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF KARATE IN CHINA
The Chinese communities were largely based in Kumemura (Kume village). One of these Chinese families living in Okinawa was the Cai family, known locally as the Kojo. Within Kume, the resident families studied and taught Chinese Quan Fa which the local Okinawans called Toshu Jutsu (or Tode) - Chinese hand techniques.
The people of Kumemura, traditionally believed to all be descendants of the Chinese immigrants who first settled there in 1393, came to form an important and aristocratic class of scholar-bureaucrats, the yukatchu, who dominated the royal bureaucracy, and served as government officials at home, and as diplomats in relations with China, Japan, and others. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the community was enclosed within earthen walls, and consisted of over one hundred home. Children in Kumemura began their formal studies at the age of five, and would travel to the palace at Shuri for a formal audience at the age of fifteen. At this point they would be formally added to the register of yukatchu scholar-bureaucrats and could begin their government careers. One of the defining features of the scholar community at Kumemura, and its relationship with China was the system by which students and scholars of Kumemura spent periods in Fuzhou, both as students and as members of tributary missions. Most if not all students and scholar-bureaucrats spent at least a few years of their lives studying in Fuzhou; a few traveled to Beijing, and beginning in the 17th century, some studied in Japan, in Kagoshima. Only a few hundred Ryukyuans were ever resident in Fuzhou at a time, and only eight at the imperial university in Beijing, where they were allowed to stay for three years, or up to eight in exceptional circumstances.
The people of Kumemura, traditionally believed to all be descendants of the Chinese immigrants who first settled there in 1393, came to form an important and aristocratic class of scholar-bureaucrats, the yukatchu, who dominated the royal bureaucracy, and served as government officials at home, and as diplomats in relations with China, Japan, and others. By the middle of the fifteenth century, the community was enclosed within earthen walls, and consisted of over one hundred home. Children in Kumemura began their formal studies at the age of five, and would travel to the palace at Shuri for a formal audience at the age of fifteen. At this point they would be formally added to the register of yukatchu scholar-bureaucrats and could begin their government careers. One of the defining features of the scholar community at Kumemura, and its relationship with China was the system by which students and scholars of Kumemura spent periods in Fuzhou, both as students and as members of tributary missions. Most if not all students and scholar-bureaucrats spent at least a few years of their lives studying in Fuzhou; a few traveled to Beijing, and beginning in the 17th century, some studied in Japan, in Kagoshima. Only a few hundred Ryukyuans were ever resident in Fuzhou at a time, and only eight at the imperial university in Beijing, where they were allowed to stay for three years, or up to eight in exceptional circumstances.
THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF KARATE IN JAPAN
Okinawa's relationship with Japan can be traced back almost a thousand years when Minamoto Tametomo from the great Shogun dynasty came to the Ryukyu kingdom and began his own Okinawan dynasty,
Later another Minamoto style Hakugen Ryu and its offshoot Jigen Ryu was introduced to Okinawa (specifically the style Ko Jigen Ryu) a style that many notable Okinawans studied.
Okinawa's Chinese culture was maintained by the Kojo family (among others) and perhaps the family most strongly linked to its Japanese heritage was the Motobu clan.
Later another Minamoto style Hakugen Ryu and its offshoot Jigen Ryu was introduced to Okinawa (specifically the style Ko Jigen Ryu) a style that many notable Okinawans studied.
Okinawa's Chinese culture was maintained by the Kojo family (among others) and perhaps the family most strongly linked to its Japanese heritage was the Motobu clan.
THE PIONEERS OF KARATE
Okinawa, the central Ryukyu kingdom is part of a chain of islands that has affinity with both China and Japan, in the way Jersey and Guernsey are half way between England and France. The nobility in Okinawa regularly visited both on diplomatic exchanges. Two early examples of this are the Chinese envoy Wang Ji visiting Okinawa in the late 1600s and the Ryukyu native Hama Higa visiting Japan around the same time. Hama Higa was known to be a weapons expert. In other articles I have hypothesised that Wang Ji was a student of Hsing-I Quan founder Ji Ji Ke and in turn taught Hama Higa, along with members of the Okinawan nobility such as the Motobu family. Around 1801, young men from Shuri began to be sent abroad to study in Fuzhou and Beijing, breaking the monopoly on Chinese scholarship held by Kumemura for roughly four centuries. This was the start of the original "Shuri Te".
Hama Higa Pechin (1663 – 1738) was a famous Go player and also accompanied Nago Ôji Chôgen on his visit to Shôgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi in 1681.
Hama Higa may have been the teacher of Takahara Pechin who lived in Shuri’s Akata; and became known as a talented Mathematician and cartographer (map maker).
So in these early pioneers we seen a Chinese envoy - Wang Ji, two Okinawan dignitaries Hama Higa and Takahara Peichin, and the privileged Motobu family. Not peasants.
Many early Okinawan pioneers studied Emono Jutsu (weapons) which included Japanese sword, Bo, Chinese sword (Dao) and various flails.
Training in Japan with the Jigen Ryu school, both the Okinawan Emono Jutsu practitioners and the Japanese Bushi developed fighting methods using cheap and improvised weapons, including those imported from China, including the Tuifa and Nishaku (Tonfa and Nunchaku).
By the mid 1700s the Okinawan and Japanese weapons arts (Emono Jutsu), and the fighting arts of the privileged classes (Udundi) came to be practiced alongside the Chinese Quan Fa arts (Toshu Jutsu) and the result was a new more Okinawan method referred to as Uchinadi and also still called Toshu Jutsu or Tode Jutsu.
We may say that the arts of the privileged Okinawans (Udundi and Emono Jutsu) were the original Shuri Te and Tomari Te, and that the Quan Fa practiced in Kume (Toshu Jutsu) was the original Naha Te - but these terms were not used at the time.
Hama Higa Pechin (1663 – 1738) was a famous Go player and also accompanied Nago Ôji Chôgen on his visit to Shôgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi in 1681.
Hama Higa may have been the teacher of Takahara Pechin who lived in Shuri’s Akata; and became known as a talented Mathematician and cartographer (map maker).
So in these early pioneers we seen a Chinese envoy - Wang Ji, two Okinawan dignitaries Hama Higa and Takahara Peichin, and the privileged Motobu family. Not peasants.
Many early Okinawan pioneers studied Emono Jutsu (weapons) which included Japanese sword, Bo, Chinese sword (Dao) and various flails.
Training in Japan with the Jigen Ryu school, both the Okinawan Emono Jutsu practitioners and the Japanese Bushi developed fighting methods using cheap and improvised weapons, including those imported from China, including the Tuifa and Nishaku (Tonfa and Nunchaku).
By the mid 1700s the Okinawan and Japanese weapons arts (Emono Jutsu), and the fighting arts of the privileged classes (Udundi) came to be practiced alongside the Chinese Quan Fa arts (Toshu Jutsu) and the result was a new more Okinawan method referred to as Uchinadi and also still called Toshu Jutsu or Tode Jutsu.
We may say that the arts of the privileged Okinawans (Udundi and Emono Jutsu) were the original Shuri Te and Tomari Te, and that the Quan Fa practiced in Kume (Toshu Jutsu) was the original Naha Te - but these terms were not used at the time.
the sakugawa era
In the mid 1700s, we meet another two Karate pioneers from the Shuri-Tomari area, "Tode" Sakugawa and Chatan Yara. As well as studying under Okinawans such as Takahara Peichin and Japanese Jigen Ryu instructors, they also made the trip to China where they trained under Wang Zong Yue. They are said to have trained with a man called Kushanku too.
By the end of the 1700s, the fighting arts of the Ryukyu were still dispersed geographically in the sense that Bojutsu was prevalent in the Yaeyama islands, Tonfa was most popular in Hamahiga island, old Chinese Quanfa (Toshu Jutsu) were most frequent in Kume, the old methods of Udun and the Kushanku kata were most common in Shuri and Wansu and the Swallow boxing was restricted to Tomari.
However in Tode Sakugawa these arts began to be brought together as a single art. Devising his own weapons forms (including Sakugawa no Kon Sho) and passing on the Toshu Jutsu forms of Kushanku and Wansu, Sakugawa was now passing on a system that was now Okinawan.
But just when Sakugawa thought his legacy had ended (aged 78 he had already retired and passed his school onto Bushi Matsumoto) he began to teach his most notable ever student, Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura, born 1797, and the single greatest Karate man of all time.
Matsumura studied under Takahara (Wansu kata) and Yara (Kushanku kata) and also trained in Japan (Ko Jigen Ryu). He studied in Tomari with Chinese masters like Anan (Chinto kata) and Ason (Naihanchi kata) and travelled to China with the Kojo family of Naha where he studied under the likes of Iwah, learning many new forms (Seishan, Useishi, Jutte) and creating some of his own (Bassai).
By the end of the 1700s, the fighting arts of the Ryukyu were still dispersed geographically in the sense that Bojutsu was prevalent in the Yaeyama islands, Tonfa was most popular in Hamahiga island, old Chinese Quanfa (Toshu Jutsu) were most frequent in Kume, the old methods of Udun and the Kushanku kata were most common in Shuri and Wansu and the Swallow boxing was restricted to Tomari.
However in Tode Sakugawa these arts began to be brought together as a single art. Devising his own weapons forms (including Sakugawa no Kon Sho) and passing on the Toshu Jutsu forms of Kushanku and Wansu, Sakugawa was now passing on a system that was now Okinawan.
But just when Sakugawa thought his legacy had ended (aged 78 he had already retired and passed his school onto Bushi Matsumoto) he began to teach his most notable ever student, Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura, born 1797, and the single greatest Karate man of all time.
Matsumura studied under Takahara (Wansu kata) and Yara (Kushanku kata) and also trained in Japan (Ko Jigen Ryu). He studied in Tomari with Chinese masters like Anan (Chinto kata) and Ason (Naihanchi kata) and travelled to China with the Kojo family of Naha where he studied under the likes of Iwah, learning many new forms (Seishan, Useishi, Jutte) and creating some of his own (Bassai).
shoto ryu: legacy of matsumura
Shoto Ryu is not just the legacy Funakoshi, it is the legacy of the great Sokon 'Bushi' Matsumura.
While Yasutsune Itosu is the most famous of Matsumura's students, Itosu was actually more of a Tomari stylist. Matsumura's style was more closely represented by his student Yasutsune Azato, whose senior student was Funakoshi.
Funakoshi stated: "Azato followed Matsumura and Itosu followed Gusukuma."
He reiterated: Masters Azato and Itosu were students of Matsumura and Gusukuma respectively. Masters Azato and Itosu were the teachers who instructed this writer and to whom the writer is greatly indebted."
Therefore the styles which were derived purely from Itosu's teachings such as Shorin Ryu and Kobayashi Ryu are not as closely related to Matsumura's teachings as is Shoto Ryu. We may also point out that Makoto Gima the co-founder of Shoto Ryu was a student of Kentsu Yabu who was also a student of Matsumura.
While Yasutsune Itosu is the most famous of Matsumura's students, Itosu was actually more of a Tomari stylist. Matsumura's style was more closely represented by his student Yasutsune Azato, whose senior student was Funakoshi.
Funakoshi stated: "Azato followed Matsumura and Itosu followed Gusukuma."
He reiterated: Masters Azato and Itosu were students of Matsumura and Gusukuma respectively. Masters Azato and Itosu were the teachers who instructed this writer and to whom the writer is greatly indebted."
Therefore the styles which were derived purely from Itosu's teachings such as Shorin Ryu and Kobayashi Ryu are not as closely related to Matsumura's teachings as is Shoto Ryu. We may also point out that Makoto Gima the co-founder of Shoto Ryu was a student of Kentsu Yabu who was also a student of Matsumura.