The ramblings of a nerd - My attempt to understand some of the history of Karate

As a novice, have been rambling through the foothills of karate history for a few months now, trying to make some sense in my own head as to how the complicated beast called karate came to be.  I have always been an avid history buff, so it was an absolute guarantee if I started karate, at some point I was going to dive into the history.   Given the oral tradition, there will always be points of accuracy and disagreements, but where possible I have tried to provide quotes or supporting material to what (I think I've found).  

I keep forgetting exactly what I've blogged, so I decided to put it all in one place so it is easier for me to find and for others to read if interested.  Comments always welcome. REY 08-04-20

Nerd life: A potted summary of the development of Modern period Karate

Okinawan Villages: The hidden roots of Okinawan Kobudo and Tiy?

Addendum to:Okinawan Villages: The hidden roots of Okinawan Kobudo and Tiy?

A Nerd Blog: The birth of Karate
<Authors' note, the photograph is from the follow up meeting a year later, not this specific meeting>

What came before Karate

What Karate lost, when it lost it's teeth.

Potted Nerd: The Naihanchis

Nerd Life: The origins of Naihanchi

Shuri and Tomari, Matusumura and Matsumora, Naihanchi

The kata of Tomari - a Nerd life post

On a lighter note:

Karate Soup - The Recipes of Motobu Choki


Motobu's Recipes: Yard bird and Sake soup

Shuri and Tomari, Matusumura and Matsumora, Naihanchi

<From Watashi-No-KarateJutsu>

From many sources I have read, many of the late 1800s and 1900s Karate masters had learnt Naihanchi (I only reference that referred to as Shodan as the additional kata are thought to be a separation out or newer additions), but very few attributed their sources. In at least one case, where a source is attributed.  Yoshimura Chōgi, cousin of Motobu Choki, wrote that his first teacher, an old man who served as an accountant and administrator of the Yoshimura Udun, taught him Naifanchi and Passai.  No name was given (1).  However, in  another source, the teacher is identified as Ishmine (7).

Naihanchi is generally categorised as a Shuri-Te Kata, but many Kata are shared between the styles attributed as either Shuri-Te or Tomari-Te.  However, with the number of masters that trained with teachers from both locations, at best the distinction between the two is somewhat blurred.  An article from the Motobu-ryū website goes further and says in two places "there is no clear distinction", then later "there is no essential difference between Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te" (2).  So essentially Shuri-Te and Tomari-Te are one and the same.

Matsumura Sokon is acknowledged as a root source of Shuri-Te material and Matsumora Kosaku is given similar standing for Tomari-Te.  However, if the styles are much the same, as indicated above, both can be considered the fathers of Shuri-Te and are highlighted as having been of similar standing.  Many Shuri-Te Karate family trees place Matsumura Sokon near the top of their tree and often cite him as the source of Naihanchi, however there is scant evidence of this.  Many who learned the Kata do not give sources at all, but simply name the Masters they studied under, quite a few said they studied under both Matsumura Sokon and Matsumora Kosaku.  Motobu Choki especially is very specific in this, he trained with both. (3)

Matsumura Sokon didn't teach Naihanchi as a Kata from most of the evidence available.  Most, who do cite Kata learnt from him cite different Kata.  For example, Yoshimura Chogi cites Gojūshiho and Kūsankū (1).  From my conversations with Scot Mertz, Matsumura Sokon was primarily a swordsman who became known for his karate only after his death (4).  According to his conversations with the family, he didn't teach Naihanch, mainly Sanchin, Seisan and Useishi (Gojūshiho).  

On the other hand, there is evidence that Matsumora Kosaku actually did learn Naihanchi from Ason.  Definitely via Ufu Giko, who learnt the Kata on Ason's first visit in the 1830s and possibly directly from son on his second visit in the 1866 to 1868.  (4).  Both Matsumura and Matsumora have the same sounding name if the Okinawan dialect, “Machimura”.   This potential misunderstanding coupled with information I have to hand, I can only conclude:

Matsumora Kosaku having learned Naihanchi from Ason, whilst Matsumura Sokon was more renown for sword work:   Matasumora Kosaku therefore would be the more likely source of the Naihanchi kata in the Shuri-te styles, rather than Matsumura Sokon.    

That is not to say that there are no other sources for Naihanchi in the Shorin Ryu family, just that on the evidence I have seen and heard so far, this is the most plausible source to me.  Both Motobu Choki and Kyan Chotoku studied with Matsumora, and I found an article by Tom Bell (5) that says Itosu Anko studied with him.  I am not sure of the veracity of this last source though.  I have since come across a quote from Motobu Choki himself saying he introduced Itosu Anko to Matasumora Kosaku, in (8): Episode When Choki Won a 10 Yen Bet by Solving a Homework Problem (Figuring Out Ukete) "Then I brought Itosu to Matsumora's place. And Matsumora said to Itosu:

"This young man is very gifted. He has a great future. So let's train him together."". This suggests that they may have even worked together to train Motobu Choki.

(1) http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=8566&fbclid=IwAR2PxCgKB0zK5caoQzyKOJzuJM4uzgPfIe-UNQ_4O1x2RbUVFeBpGI00AaY

(2) http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4123

(3) My Art and Skill of Karate (Motobu Choki, Andreas Quast et al, 2020)

(4) https://www.karate4theheart.com/2020/01/nerd-life-origins-of-naihanchi.html

(5) http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=104

(6)  https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=E1U_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA417&lpg=PA417&dq=did+anko+itosu+study+with+matsumura+kosaku&source=bl&ots=LsHATfQdpK&sig=ACfU3U1vpXVAlZW6t1a35vtG6CLQn_fTRA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVlrzv943oAhUNHMAKHeSED4UQ6AEwB3oECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=did%20anko%20itosu%20study%20with%20matsumura%20kosaku&f=false

(7) The Essence of Naha-te (Joe Swift)

(8) https://www.motobu-ryu.org/motobu-kenpo/lost-interviews/?fbclid=IwAR1ynwMixXMeeH7EwbZ8YzEdOKOqvVlKuFOVZuJd5EfChljwAaOOZD6K9kE

Tensho and Breathing Kata

Under a Facebook Mentorship, have been practicing Tensho and a breathing kata loosely based on it.  Apparently these are progressing nicely, so thought I would share   Thank you Noah Legel ☺☺

Breathing kata

In this kata, am concentrating on taking deep breaths and releasing after a number of seconds.

Tensho

In Tensho, I am concentrating on matching controlled breathing to the actions.

And then I can't resist playing with the videos ☺

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZKH-gM4EFU

A Nerd post: Potted Karate Okinawa style.

A few posts I read recently set me to thinking as to what styles of Karate could be called Okinawan, or have definable roots that are Okinowan.   I was already aware that Karate is a relatively modern term, and that locally the teachings were originally referred to by the place of origin, followed by "Te" or "martial skills" in English.

So, originally there was Shuri-Te, Naha-Te and Tomari-Te.  I was aware that the form of Karate I study, Shorin-Ryu, had its roots in Shuri-Te, from an earlier post I did.  The family tree I ended up with (not formally verified, hence some of the "possible" links) is:

However, the styles derived from the other Te styles, I had not looked into.  A quick search of Wikipedia gave the following, which I have summarised in table format, for ease of comparison:

Village	Shuri	Naha	Tomari
Type of location	Capital	Commercial	Port
Root style	Shuri-Te	Naha-Te	Tomari-Te
Style most associated	Shōrin-ryū	Gōjū-ryū	No specific style
Cited founder	Chosin Chibana	Chojun Miyagi	N/A
Other  masters of root style	Sakukawa Kanga Matsumura Sōkon Itosu Ankō Asato Ankō Chōyū Motobu Motobu Chōki Yabu Kentsū Chōmo Hanashiro Funakoshi Gichin Kyan Chōtoku Mabuni Kenwa Tōyama Kanken Tatsuo Shimabuku	Arakaki Seishō Higaonna Kanryō Kyoda Jūhatsu Mabuni Kenwa Uechi Kanbun	Matsumora Kōsaku Oyadomari Kokan Motobu Chōki Kyan Chōtoku Nakasone Seiyu
Other related styles	Shotokan Shitō-ryū  Shudokan Shōrinji-ryū Gensei-ryu    Motobu-ryū	Uechi-ryū Ryūei-ryū Shito-ryu Tōon-ryū	Wado-ryu Motobu-ryū Matsubayashi-ryu Shōrinji-ryū
Main Kata	Naihanchi Pinan Kūsankū Passai Jion Jitte Rohai Chinto Gojushiho	Sanchin Saifā Seiunchin Shisochin Seipai Seisan Sanseru Tensho Kururunfa Suparinpei	Naihanchi (Koshiki) Eunibu Rōhai Wanduan Passai (Tomari) Chinsu Chinpu Wankan Wanshū Seisan Jumu Nichin Juma Ananku

I shouldn't have been surprised, but many of the styles seem to be derivative of more than one of the Te styles. Cross referencing the Tomari-Te based styles, most seem to be derived from Shuri-Te as well.  Matsubashi-Ryu, which Wiki gives as Tomari-Te, is definitely also a form of Shorin-Ryu. Wado-Ryu, which is cited as a Tomari-Te style, appear to have originated in Japan, founded in 1934 by Hironori Ohtsuka.

The ageshio web site:

https://www.ageshiojapan.com/okinawa-karate/styles.html

offers up Goju-Ryu, Shorin-Ryu (Chibana), Shorin-Ryu (Shudokan), Uechi-Ryu and Matsubash-Ryu as extanct forms of Okinawan Karate, which can still be studied in Okinawa.  I am sure this is by no means a definitive list, any more than the Wiki results are definitive, but it does give a marker of the styles which give a good representation of what Okinawan Karate is all about 😊