HE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HIS HISTORY IS LOST IN TIME...

The history of martial arts...specifically related to the development of Karate...

The development of Karate takes place over more than one country. It was from the combining of cultures and warrior arts that modern Karate was able to actually become known to us today. The Okinawa island is part of the Ryukyu chain. During the 1400's trade began between Okinawa and China at which time the Chinese had already developed the Chuan Fa system of martial arts through the Shaolin temples. Also the Okinawa people had developed a system of empty hand fighting called Te, or hand. Over the next 200 years and through the cultural exchange of Okinawa and China a new system of warrior art began to emerge entitled Tode, or China Hand. In the 1600's Japan forcibly occupied Okinawa and took away their right to own weapons. This development was the primary reason that Tode became known as a secretive martial art.

The people of Okinawa were no longer permitted to train in combative methods so therefore it was deemed that their art of Tode had to be trained in secret. Most training took place in dirt backyards at the palace under the moonlight. It was here that the Sho Kings, the ruling class of Okinawa, began to employ various martial art masters in positions at the palace to hide their skills as the true bodyguards of the King. In the 1700's some famous names begin to pop up including Chinese Statesmen who were on envoy to Okinawa to share their martial arts with the protectors of the King. Even though this period is often obscure in written history it is well known that by the 1800's the Okinawa islands had produced two very powerful martial arts known as Tode and Kobudo.

Kobudo was the study of using obscure weapons to defeat the Samurai if the need ever arose. The study of this martial art was separate from Tode but many people today have failed to realize this often attributing the study of weapons with Karate, which is actually an empty hand martial art. Kobudo incorporated such weapons as the Bo, Jo, Nunchaku, Sai, Kama and Tonfa for use against an armed Samurai or against multiple attackers. To this day many of the techniques they founded in Kobudo are still effectively trained in Karate dojo throughout the world. Kobudo is the study of weapons...not fighting.

The martial art of Tode was developed in secret to be very devastating and end an encounter with s single blow. Thus the conditioning training its students took a high level of priority. Practitioners of the art of Tode would strike trees, rocks and brick walls to strength their techniques. They would also spend hours striking their own bodies to withstand blows. The use of Hojo Undo, or specialized strengthening equipment was well known to the old masters of Tode. Many of the equipment types they developed are still used to this day in Okinawa as well as having been developed for use in a variety of muscle strengthening programs throughout the world.

Tode would eventually become to be known as Kempo, which also means Chinese Hand. The Okinawa people had their own language but began to assemble the Japanese language into their own which modified the Kanji for writing the name of their martial art. It was at this period (late 1800's) that the art of Tode would begin to take on a new meaning and gain public support in Japan. By the early 1900's the martial art that originated in Okinawa was renamed to Kara Te, or empty hand. This took place at a special meeting of the newly formed Dai Nippon Butoku Kai which was set to regulate all martial arts out of Okinawa in accordance with the Japanese governing bodies at the Budokan in Tokyo. From this day forward the Okinawa arts are simply known at Karate...or Empty Hand.

Even though this new name had been applied to the martial arts out of Okinawa it was not universally accepted until around 1960. The Okinawa took great pride in their heritage and culture. They felt that the Japanese methods were subpar to their own since they had modified and removed much of the original art to teach it in a University environment. Even today there is huge difference in the martial art of Karate as taught in Japan and Okinawa. In Okinawa the classes are less strict with a focus on learning as much knowledge plus daily study versus the Japanese method which has become more sport oriented with military like structure in classes. Regardless the Okinawa and Japanese methods are very unique and great martial arts. (note in the picture the Makiwara posts in the backyard dojo and dirt floor training area. Also note the sandals worn are steel training clogs).

Karate is a general term applied to explain both the arts of Okinawa and Japan. Originally there only existed three distinct systems of Karate. They were Naha Te, Shuri Te and Tomari Te. Each of these arts are responsible for at least 50 off shoot systems such as Isshin Ryu, Goju Ryu, Shito Ryu, Wado Ryu, Shuri Ryu and many more. Regardless of the name of the art that is known as Karate they all share a common bond to the diverging of cultures between Okinawa, Japan and China as far back as the 1500's. It is important to note that modern Karate has evolved into several different organizations due to political views and financial reasons. Only in Okinawa will one find several Masters of different systems training and sharing knowledge together.

Unlike the Chinese martial arts the ones from Okinawa and Japan were eager to share their warrior culture with the outside world. The spread of Karate from Okinawa came as a direct result of war. Unfortunately it was this same war that both killed many great Masters as well as contributed to the loss of much of Karate's true history. World War II hit Okinawa like a battering ram. Okinawa was bombed, invaded and many of the old dojo from the 1700's were destroyed at that time. It was during this time that several masters who had knowledge of the original arts were also killed or displaced somewhere outside of Okinawa. Many of the ones that lived through the battles were directly responsible to train the US Servicemen which is kind a weird twist of fate when you think about it.

Karate would eventually spread across the world after World War II ended. Many US military men were stationed there and began to show interest in these strange methods of combative training. One man in particular trained there and was the first to bring Karate back to the United States. In 1945 Robert A Trias opened the first Karate dojo in the USA. By 1949 he had founded the United States Karate Association and in 1955 held the first ever World Karate Championships in Chicago, Illinois. It was due to his legendary knowledge, skill and passion for the martial arts that we are able to train today. A great amount of respect goes out to Master Trias who passed away in 1989. He was truly a pioneer for spreading Karate across the USA and the world.

Today Karate is much different in its focus than what it had been developed for but it has maintained the defensive aspect regardless. Karate developed into two distinct fractions after World War II. Today you have Karate Do and Karate Kai (or Jitsu). Karate Do is designed from the teachings of Gichin Funakoshi who developed Shotokan Karate. Funakoshi Sensei saw Karate as much more than just physical training. He added cultural ideas, philosophy and aspects of moral conduct into his Karate system. Karate Do, known as the Way of the Empty Hand, was developed to help people in life gain what the Japanese saw as proper moral and character development. Karate Kai(jitsu) was more old school in that the emphasis was on development of true combative skills for use in fighting. The Karate Kai group is much smaller than the Karate Do group for various reasons but mostly due to the years of severe punishment a student will undergo during training. Both of these groups claim to be authentic and to follow the arts more traditionally than the other. In fact they are both relatively new having been founded in the last 100 years or so. As we said much of the original Karate was lost due to World War II and it wasn't until Trias Sensei's hard work that the world would experience Karate.

Karate as a sport has a long history world wide. Today more than 1.7 million people train and compete in Karate tournaments throughout the world. It was the USA that headed this pathway though with the 1955 World Karate Championships held in Chicago. In the beginning the Japanese Karate Association and United States Karate Association were the only two organizations that held this cooperative event. By the late 1960's more associations had been formed that offered more competitions and World Titles. This led to wide spread confusion amongst both the general public as well as the student of Karate. Today there are at least 65 different World Martial Arts Championship titles offered through different organizations. Some are more prestigious than others but in the end it was due to political indifferences as well as financial gain that this occurred. From 1971 to the late 1980's sport Karate blossomed world wide. There were amateur and professional events held almost every week across the US and even the world. Due to the inability of people to respect each other's arts as well as opinions sport Karate began to die out in the mid 1990's due to constant arguing and fighting over which group was the best. Today the re-emergence of the World Karate Federation in cooperation with the Olympic committee is beginning to raise the popularity of sport Karate world wide once again. Only time, and acceptance into the Olympics, will tell if sport Karate has a future.

Regardless of the sport aspect, traditional Karate has survived more than 200 years as of today's date. The main reason for this is the important aspects it instills in people. From this history we have seen a world wide acceptance of Karate as a discipline, way of improving one's life and effective method of self defense. Karate techniques can be found being taught to Police Officers, Correction Employees, the Military and there is always a self defense class being held each weekend somewhere in the US. It was because of this history, culture and passion for the arts that we can train today. Always remember this when you put on your gi, obi and walk in the dojo. Bow deeply and humbly to those many men and women who made sacrifices to offer you the opportunity to train today.