The Link Between the Samurai and Karate

[ivette_green]

I would like people to explain what the link between the samurai class in Japan and the genesis of karate is.

[Superfoot]

I wasn't aware of any link. I had always thought that the martial art the samurai came to use were the Ju-Jitsu styles.

[shogeri]

I believe what you are wanting to know is a touch of history.

Much of everything started when, "...Japanese samurai warriors came into existence in the 12th century when two powerful Japanese clans fought bitter wars against each other - the Taira and the Minamato. At that time the Japanese shogunate, a system of a military ruler, called the shogun was formed. " -

The full article is found here: =>

http://www.artelino.com/articles/samurai.asp

In 1609 A.D. the Satsuma clan of Japan's southernmost island, Kyushu, conquered Okinawa. At that time, the Japanese samurai ruled supreme and the Okinawans were forbidden to carry weapons. Nobles, Farmers, merchants, and laypeople found it necessary to develop an alternative means of self-defense.

Those who practiced their arts, continued practicing it. Some learned how to use anything, including their hands, but certainly they would have done this regardless.

Throughout the hundreds of years their skills increased. Social changes occured, and history no longer had place for samurai, and western ideology set in. This brought about the Satsuma Rebellion of the 1800's, which also marked the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which lasted from 1603 to 1867. The Shogunate, and the last of the samurai, had fallen.

Here is a link...

http://www.taisho.com/satsuma.html

In many ways, the Tom Cruise movie, The Last Samurai depicts the 'Satsuma Rebellion'.

Now did the samurai way of life influence those who were defending themselves? Only by means of okinawans and any other country that was governed by the shogunate (of all walks of life) finding alternative ways of defending their life, family, and way of living.

I am not one to believe that the samurai taught karateka how to faught. It was primarily rich people, or those of noble class that had the opportunities that others did not. Especially peasants or farmers. Thus very little exchanged occured.

One was a cause, the other was the effect. This makes logical and historical sense.

Remember the samurai existed as servants to the Emperor. Though somewhat questionable, it was an honorable profession, that basically fell prey to 'job cuts'.

Edited October 25, 2005 by shogeri

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Hmm. There are a couple of misunderstandings commonly related to karate and samurai myth.

Myth 1: Satsuma clan forbade the carry of weapons when they conquered Okinawa in 1609.

Truth: Okinawan king Sho Shin forbade the Okinawans to carry weapons during his reign that begun in 1477. When Satsuma-clan conquered Okinawa, the weapon ban was reinforced but there wasn't any real change.

Myth 2: Okinawans used their martial arts to fight samurai.

Truth: Satsuma clan conquered Okinawa in 2 weeks. There wasn't any heavy defense and the fighting was minimal. The main reason for the action to take 2 weeks was most probably logistics - military actions and stabilizing the situation do take some time.

Myth 3: Okinawan peasants developed the Okinawan fighting arts, using their bare hands and farm tools to fight samurai.

Truth: In Okinawa, the fighting arts were mostly practiced by nobles and officers. Peasants were too busy to work in their fields (see any description of early karate here - Sakugawa, Matsumura etc. were all memebers of noble families and men in high places. There aren't any reference to peasants until 1800's, when school system adopted karate in Kadena).

Training martial arts was a tool (for police officers and guardians) and a method for staying fit/self-defense (nobles).

Okinawan weapon arts were born the same way, most probably from the Chinese influence (as did the unarmed fighting, as well). Most of the weapons - spear and shield, staff, nunchaku (flail), sai (iron truncheon), kama (sickle), chain, brass knuckles etc. - were in weapon use throughout the orient during that time. Using them as weapons wasn't unique to Okinawa in any way. Even tonfa was in weapon use, although its connection to tool is rather clear. Use of eku (oar) has most probably sprung from the use of bo (still, oars are used as a weapon in many other martial arts of the area).

It's also visible that Okinawan arts concentrate in dealing with an opponent using similar weapons or no weapons at all, instead of fighting with a person armed in Japanese military way. These differences are very visible in kata and katabunkai heritage.

What was the effect of samurai to karate or Okinawan weapon arts, then?

Very small, I'd say. It's worthy to remember that Okinawa held its close connections with China until the late 1800's. Exchange of fighting arts with Chinese was definitely there all the times. Some karate ("ti" was the name of the art, then - meaning same as "quan" in China. "To-di" hasn't been a very widely used name) masters, such as Sokon Matsumura, learned some Jigen-ryu Kenjutsu, but there aren't many noticeable traces of kenjutsu methods in Okinawan arts - unless we count a possible influence in systematization of arts (debatable influence).

I hope this sheds some light to the issue. There are lots of myths around karate, but the truth is - perhaps - less fantastic.

[JimmyNewton]

not sure, but here's a cool samurai suit my brother made in his garage. I'm the guy wearing the armor.

elvenforge.com/samurai.html

[gojuchad]

your brother does good work the armor looks nice

[JimmyNewton]

thanks.

we went to the renassaince festival this weekend, and i was wearing the samurai suit. People was flipping out and kept greeting me as "man from the east". it was pretty cool.

[feels]

When we sit in seiza, our left knee touches the floor first. And when we rise, our right knee comes up first. Samurai did the same because they carried their swords on their left sides and it allowed them to draw their swords.

[Tommy_P]

Great post jussi

[Jussi Häkkinen]

When we sit in seiza, our left knee touches the floor first. And when we rise, our right knee comes up first. Samurai did the same because they carried their swords on their left sides and it allowed them to draw their swords.

Actually, the way for sitting down varies widely even among the different iaido ryuha. What you wrote here is one way, but not the only one. Sword can also be drawn when rising the left knee first, it just requires a bit different technique.

If we want to go to the way of sitting that comes straight from the koryu bujutsu, a method called tatehiza is often used. However, that isn't seen in practically any karate school.

Different styles, different ways to sit. There isn't a specific "samurai way" for doing it.

In karate, Japanese kneeling bow is used (when it is used). However, it is more common in Japanese karate class than it's in Okinawan karate class. You can spend months in an Okinawan dojo and never kneel down for bowing or for any formal occasion.