Karate as a battlefield art.

[jolentimes]

Hi karatekas , I'm currently a 9th kyu in Shotokan. Nice to meet you people.

on topic:

The idea of sensei Choki Motobu about karate was the fastest and most efficient way to take down an enemy. This idea could be applied with the use of pressure point striking (kyusho jutsu), which is sadly non-existent in most dojos today.

I don't think I'll be learning it from my sensei though, so could I ask if anyone knows kyusho jutsu in these forums?

Anyway if you don't know about kyusho jutsu, you can discuss about bunkai of katas, preferably Tekki/Naihanchi katas.

[Toptomcat]

What do you want to talk about here? Karate as a battlefield art, kyusho-jitsu, or kata bunkai? You're sort of all over the place.

As for karate as a battlefield art, karate was invented in the 1930s, when gunpowder warfare had already made all close-combat martial arts a very poor second choice for the battlefield- when this had been the case for centuries, in fact. It has no history as a battlefield combat art, except as an almost incidental backup to a soldier's rifle, pistol, and combat knife. It is a civilian art of self-improvement and self-defense, and has been for the entirety of its history.

As for Kyusho, it has failed to live up to the claims of its most prominent practitioners whenever put to serious skeptical examination. At best it serves as an interesting supplement to a far broader training program: at worst it serves as a pernicious distraction from kata, kihon, and kumite.

As for bunkai, they are all right as far as they go- but the line between discovering applications of a kata and inventing them is a very fine one, often too fine for me. If you wish to apply a kata, make sure that the applications that you're practicing are immediately and obviously apparent in its movements when even a modicum of observation is applied: otherwise, be honest about what you're doing and create combinations or sequences of prepared responses from scratch.

[Grego]

Karate was "invented" in the 1930s from Okinawan arts that were designed to kill Samurai. It wasn't designed for the battlefield, it was designed so that when a samurai caught an okinawan out after curfew, the Okinawan could escape with his life.

[white owl]

1609 when the Ryku Islands were invaded by the Shimazu (Satsuma Clan) which known for there fighting skill is when the first karate came about because when weapons were banned the Rykyuans began practicing fighting with their hands and feet, they also were in trades with China and were learning some kempo which was Chinese Boxing even before that time of 1609.

Karate was not given it's name "Karate" until it came to main land Japan in 1921-1922. But before that Karate was known as To Te meaning Chinese Hands and when it came to Okinawa it was called Okinawa-Te.

Funakoshi gave it is name Kara meaning Chinese,

te meaning hands.

[Espina]

I think Kara means empty

[bushido_man96]

During the naming process, the characters were changed to get rid of the Chinese connection, I think, to make it more of a Japanese thing. I think.

Karate, from what I understand, has always been a civillian form of self-defense. The hand-to-hand combat that the warrior class of Japan used was early Jujitsu. Its not likely that pressure point usage was common on the battlefield, due to the use of armor.

[white owl]

I think Kara means empty

You are correct I left that out by mistake in the early years the kara character was Chinese and then Funakoshi changed the character to mean empty when he went to main land Japan. Sorry for forgetting that.

[joesteph]

I think Kara means empty.

During the naming process, the characters were changed to get rid of the Chinese connection . . . to make it more of a Japanese thing.

The "te" character does mean hand. As for "kara," there are two characters in Japanese that are pronounced that same way, one meaning "China/Chinese," the other meaning "empty." It was originally China (or Chinese) hand, but, in a nationalistic reaction, the character pronounced the same way but changing the meaning to empty hand replaced it.

In English, think of the metal, lead, and the verb, led. They're pronounced the same, but spelled differently. Another example would be "the bough of a tree" and an actor "taking a bow" before an audience.

[Espina]

Wow, thanks for the info joesteph. I didn't know 'kara' had this particular meaning. I always thought it was just 'empty'

[sensei8]

"Kara" might have many meanings depending on its intent/expression. I will forever think of "Kara" as having only one definition in my Martial Art walk, that being.... "I come to you with only Karate, empty hands, I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles or my honor, should it be a matter of life or death, of right or wrong; then here are my weapons, Karate, my empty hands.""---Ed Parker