History of Martial Arts: Okinawan

Okinawan Martial Arts are around 1400 years old.

The Okinawan Martial Arts occurred due to the migration of the Chinese Martial Arts into Okinawa. Apparantly the Okinawans like to end a fight fast, with a couple of well placed blows to the vitals rather than to get into a long drawn-out brawl.

That was and still is the philosophy behind Karate, The Okinawan Martial Art's most famous and practiced form of Unarmed Fighting.

Location

Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryu-Kyu Island chain. The Ryu-Kyu Islands are a Chain of islands in the Western Pacific that are close to Japan, Korea and the Southeastern coast of China. The geographic location of Okinawa put it in an area of the world that made sure that there would be would be Empty Hand Fighting Styles being practiced all over the island.

Chinese Origins

It is thought that the Chinese first introduced the Art of Ass Kicking to the Okinawans in the 7th century when some shy, peaceful Taoist and Buddhist monks sailed over to Okinawa and began teaching the Okinawans how to dismantle the human body one Strike at a time.

Yes, the Okinawans were Strikers, not the kind with picket signs, but the kind that could deliver a Punch to the septum bone in your nose and cause it to go back into your SKULL and even farther back, back, back all the way into your brain, and cause immediate and also painful (if even for a 10th of a second) death. Or so it is claimed.

These Martial Arts were called Te, meaning hand and were practiced and fine-tuned, and through several centuries changed from the Chinese Fighting Art that it had been, to a modified Okinawan version, an Okinawan Fighting Art.

Then in the 14th century the second Chinese Martial Arts invasion took place when the three Okinawan Kingdoms entered into a relationship with China's Ming Dynasty. Many Chinese made the journey to Okinawa, and some were Masters in Shaolin Chuen Fa (a form of Kung-Fu). The Okinawans called this style Shorin Kempo. Shorin means Shaolin in Okinawan, and Kempo means Law of the Fist.

Okinawan and Kung-Fu fusion

The Okinawans studied this art and combined their Martial Art of Te and this newer form of Kung-Fu and it became known as To-Te (Tang Hand) or Chinese Hand, also called Okinawan-Te. The Okinawans went to work on this hybrid Martial Art mixing the two styles together.

But in 1477 King Sho Shin came to power and banned all practice of Martial Arts. But that ban didn't mean that everybody hung up their kimonos. These Martial Artists had to go into hiding to study their arts, and became criminals in doing so.

Then in the late 1500s the Shaolin Temple was attacked and burned to the ground by the Imperial Army. Most of the monks were killed in the attack but a few managed to escape, and went into hiding. Some monks traveled to Okinawa and began teaching Wushu to the Okinawans.

This Kung-Fu was again mixed with the Fighting Arts that had already been mixed with Kung-Fu at least two times earlier and again the Okinawans discovered new and exciting ways to tear your enemy limb from limb.

In 1609 the Satsuma clan of Japan invaded and conquered these islands. The Japanese banned the possession of weapons by the Okinawan people. The Okinawans knew they needed to train in fighting arts if they had any chance of defeating an armed enemy in Close Quarters Combat. And so the criminals practiced Martial Arts underground, in secret locations all over the islands.

And it was a good thing that they did, because for some reason the bandits that preyed on these unarmed Okinawan civilians must not have heard about the weapons ban because they kept theirs.

And all those old Samurais strutting around who thought they were superior to the lowly Okinawans could pull out their swords and slice and dice if they felt the urge to do so.

Formation of modern Karate

This situation motivated many of the Okinawans to train fanatically in their Empty Handed Fighting Arts. And they also developed a Martial Art that used common farming and household implements as weapons called Kobudo.

By the 18th century different types of Te had developed in three different villages, Naha, Shuri, and Tomari.

These styles were called Naha-Te, Shuri-Te, and Tamari-Te, from the villages where they originated.

These three styles would form modern Karate. Many Karate Styles have been developed out of the Original three Te Okinawan Martial Arts.

Just before WWII Karate became widely accepted as a generic term for all of the Unarmed Okinawan Martial Arts. Kara meaning empty, and Te meaning hand, Karate was "Empty Hand."

Naha-Te was based on the Fujian White Crane systems of southern China. Out of the three Styles Naha-Te stayed closest to its Chinese roots. Styles that later developed out of Naha-Te are:

Shuri-Te is a Karate Style that employs the use of Hard, Fast Hand Techniques and low Kicks. Styles that developed from Shuri-Te:

Tomari-Te took some techniques from both Naha-te and Shuri-Te. Successor styles:

  • Motobu-Ru
  • Matsubayashi-Ryu
  • Matsumora-Ryu Kotokukai
  • Shorinji-Ryu

Two of the Hardest Punching headknockers began their Martial Arts training in Karate:



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