Kirves

Judo is good self defence, good sweaty sport, allows competing in tournaments if you decide you want to try that, works well with other martial arts if you decide to broaden your system later on, etc. I'd take judo any day over Taichi, even though I know there are some (one in a thousand) instructors that teach "martial taichichuan".

I always liked how my friend had a cat named Neko (=cat in Japanese).

Yeah, Draeger's trilogy is great, because it goes through Japan's martial history in linear order, starting from the beginnings and coming all the way till the late 20th century. He doesn't touch much on the Okinawan martial history though, as Okinawa's martial history really is a story of it's own. Even though many view Okinawa and karate part of modern Japan, historically they were completely separate.

I keep them in a folder.

Books by Pat McCarthy and Mark Bishop are the best ones on the subject of Okinawan karate. Yes, yes and yes.

The samurai have nothing to do with Okinawan karate. The samurai studied what is known as "koryu bujutsu". This encompasses such arts as jujutsu, aikijujutsu, taijutsu and the various weapons arts like kenjutsu, iaijutsu, naginatajutsu and so forth. The samurai were professional warriors of the "bakufu" government of feudal Japan. All this has little to do with what the karateka did on Okinawa. Karate had basically no effect or relation with/to the samurai arts of mainland Japan.

Yes, modern karate is less than 100 years old. There still are Okinawan styles that (try to) stick to older methods. Native Japanese arts are those of the samurai (and arts derived from those), meaning the koryu jujutsu arts (includes also arts such as aikijujutsu, taijutsu, and so on) and their derivatives. These are the basis of old budo, and modern budo philosophies, and spawned such modern arts like aikido, judo, kendo, iaido, kyudo and so on. And let's not forget the oldest one: sumo. These have developed on mainland Japan, with little or no Okinawan influences, but with some Chinese influences, during the last millennium or so. An excellent book on this subject is the trilogy written by Draeger ("Classical Bujutsu", "Classical Budo" and "Modern Bujutsu & Budo").

There is one old book on Shorinji Kempo, but the name escapes me now. It has been out of print for a long time, and is sometimes for sale on eBay.

Yes, you are correct. Whenever a large and very complicated issue like this is discussed on an anonymous web-forum, an oversimplification is imminent. I tried to use careful wordings, for example I didn't say "nobody in Japan kept in touch with Okinawan masters" because that would make it a lie. Some styles developed in Japan are more "Okinawan" than others. And as I've said earlier, many Okinawan styles are nowadays quite "Japanese", if you get my drift... I was merely trying to shed some light on the history of this subject so those interested are better equipped for searching more information from other sources. If for no other reason than to just try and prove my point of view wrong... And one more thing... A couple of centuries ago, it was easy to beat a champ of another style or art with basic karate for the simple reason that karate was not that well known... We didn't have satellite-tv, books, internet... So a boxer for example, had never seen karate, and was easily beaten by some kicks because he just couldn't understand such techniques. Today it is different, every boxer has seen some movies and read books, and even though they don't train kicks them selves, they are mentally better prepared and informed about them and that helps them in a fight against a karateka.

I have never heard of anyone saying the old Okinawa-te was better or anything than the toudi/karate that later formed out of it (with the Chinese chuan-fa influences). I guess there's a slight misunderstanding here. First there was Te on Okinawa. Then it was influenced by Chinese Chuan-fa. Now this hybrid was called toudi/tode/karate on Okinawa. Of this we know plenty. Of the original Te we know little. Later, during the early 20th century, this karate was introduced to the Japanese (meaning mainland Japan). Then, after WW2 the Japanese styles started to look quite different than the original Okinawan version. Some people feel that the original Okinawan styles are "better" or "different" according to who you ask. And what do we mean with "better" or "different"? We mean this: - Okinawans studied defences against common street attacks, so all their studies were composed of studying the kata for self defence applications (bunkai). These techniques are designed to work against typical street attacks from (usually) untrained people. They didn't focus so much on fighting someone using karate techniques. - Japanese focused more on sparring and tournaments. This meant that in their mind, the opponent was not an untrained street thug, but another karateka. So in most Japanese styles most of the partner training and techniques is done against someone using karate techniques. So you see the difference? Okinawan styles train defences against haymakers, tackles, headlocks, grabs/pushes/pulls. Japanese styles train defences against another karateka: karate punches, karate kicks. This changes the training dramatically. And some additions here with the help of the "edit" button: We know a lot about old Okinawan karate/tode (the mixture of Okinawa-te and Chuan-fa) from 18th and 19th century. We don't know just about anything but legends from times before that. Okinawa suffered a lot in the bombings of mid 1940's and many records and libraries were lost completely. Karate ("Chinese hand") as it was then known, was introduced to Japan in 1920's, with the new name karate (meaning "Empty hand"). When Japan got into war in the late 1930's many men including karateka went into army. This started the loss of contact with their original Okinawan masters. In army, the people who had studied karate for some years, taught those who were beginners. When the war ended in the 1940's, few karateka had any contact with the Okinawan masters anymore, and those who had been teaching karate for years, even decades in the army and before the war, were seen as masters in Japan. Problem was that even though they were now very good at what they did, their original knowledge and teachings from Okinawan masters had been limited to only few years and then total loss of contact. This means that many famous Japanese karate master actually never learned any advanced stuff, only basics from the Okinawan masters. And now as these people were themselves considered masters, lots of misconceptions took place. People thought that karate only had the basic techniques and kata but knew nothing about bunkai (or ti-chi-ki as it's called on Okinawa). So they did what they could with the basic kicks, punches and blocks and thus the Japanese karateka focused on "karate-kickboxing" sparring and tournaments. Add to this the Japanese sport budo (gendai budo) mentality and the endeavor to mass teach karate to children in school class. This further simplified the techniques and kata to make them easier to grasp, correct and mass teach for small children with limited attention span. Also focus on less dangerous techniques was imminent. Hope this gives some idea about why there is a difference between Japanese and Okinawan styles of karate.

Your teahcer never says "okay, now switch pairs"? Sorry to say, but I'd go to another dojo.

It can teach some bad habits, yes. But it doesn't have to - if it is only used as one tool, not the tool.

Point sparring is not entirely useless, unless it is the only form of sparring used.

You mean Te of Okinawa? Nobody really knows, but by reading books by karate researchers like McCarthy, Bishop and others we can get a glimpse. It was definitely mixed with Okinawan Ko-budo, so a journey into that world would help understand Okinawa-Te greatly, I think. Bishop wrote an excellent (and cheap!) little book on Okinawan Kobudo.

When no gloves, no punches to head. Just about everything else is allowed, but with gentleman's rules (i.e. no intentional damaging allowed).

Yeah, I know what you mean... I also have had to edit and even remove past posts because my (then) instructor felt I was insulting him when I was talking about a martial art in general. He thought that because I got my instruction from him, people would think that anything I say about the art, I say about him too.

Yes, IMO the biggest reasons for the differences are: - Japanese modified the curriculum so that it can be taught to masses of young people in school (Okinawans taught small groups of adults privately) - When it was taught in schools and universities, tournaments quickly spawned and kumite became a focus - Japanese added Zen/Budo philosophy to it, which didn't catch on so fast on Okinawa - WW2 and the resulting depression and lack of legitimate training created a "vacuum" in Japan. Few kept any contact with their earlier masters on Okinawa and when they finally resumed training, they kinda continued on their own instead of returning to their Okinawan karate-roots - When the Japanese form of karate became popular, few even knew that there was anything different Also, later some Okinawan styles became a bit like Japanese styles, and some Japanese styles became more like Okinawan styles, so nothing is black and white any more.

No, we don't say "not as good", we just say "different". The Japanese teach less kata bunkai, and more tournament kumite. Okinawans focus less on tournament stuff and more on kata bunkai. It is a matter of taste which one you want to study. Okinawan is more "pure" to karate's roots, while Japanese is a more modern approach, suitable to school phys. ed. teaching. And more about your guestions (why, when, where...): The differences started to form during the following years after karate was first introduced on mainland Japan. The Okinawans had the "old-school" style of teaching, but in Japan, things were treated in a different manner.

In my previous school we had some minor accidents, maybe 3 or 4 a year. Each happened for the same reason: the student was "thinking something else" at the moment. In my current school we have a zero accident rate. It is my personal belief that some of it is thanks to the mokuso-practice that ensures nobody is thinking about anything else than the present moment.

That is one of the main dividing reasons, but nothing is as black and white as that. Some Japanese styles did keep their Okinawan contacts, while others didn't. Some Okinawan styles decided to join the tournament bandwagon... Some Japanese styles decided to add jujutsu to their system to counteract the lost knowledge (wado ryu being a prime example of this train of thought). So there really is no guideline. Just look around and don't get stuck.

Yeah, one of the most popular drills in my dojo: 1. hit the inner forearms together in front of your lower body (both bring the forearms from outside to the centerline - bang) 2. after the hit, pass each other's arms and lift them to the outward block movement (clockwise turn until your inner forearms bang again) 3. then do a low block to counterclockwise direction - bang with the outer forearms 4. retract your arm from his, and repeat

Yes there are so many reasons for the ignorance. It is "nobody's fault" per se. It began with the fact that some knowledge of karate was lost in Japan when WW2 and the martial art ban happened. On Okinawa this didn't happen, but it did in Japan. And then the Japanese developed karate into their own tastes (university phys. ed. goals, tournaments, zen budo). Now ad to this that we (in the west) mostly got the Japanese version of karate first. True, some soldiers learned karate on Okinawa, but when the big wave of martial arts hit us, it was Shotokan, Shito-ryu, Wado-ryu, Kyokushinkai, Japanese Goju-ryu and other Japanese styles that were the biggest styles. So we got their image of karate, instead of the Okinawan one. But we do have Okinawan Goju-ryu, Seito Matsumura Shorin-ryu, Seibukan Shorin-ryu and other styles that teach the Okinawan way too, but they are much smaller because they don't focus on the tournament fighting. So it is very understandable that people have a one-sided idea of how karate is practiced. And those who study Japanese styles, only can try to guess or find out what the kata mean. But they are good at kumite. Those who study pure Okinawan styles, always took bunkai for granted. And often thought that tournament sparring is a modern "perversation" of karate. Both are right and neither is wrong. They just aren't informed enough. By reading enough stuff by Bishop, McCarthy, and other karate reasearcher/authors people can broaden their knowledge, and they can start studying other styles too. Any Shotokan stylist for example, can go to a bunkai-seminar and learn what an Okinawan bunkai-expert has to say about his kata. It doesn't mean he has to drop his own style, not at all.

You're definitely NOT alone. But you are definitely in the minority. Happy training!

We do it for nine very slow and deep breaths.

It is meant for calming the mind before training, so you aren't thinking about your everyday problems (fight with the spouse, problems at work, etc) while you should be concentrating on training. And in the end of the session, you again calm your mind to off-mode from all the fighting.