Okinawa a Concise History
Kobudo as we know it today began in the tiny region of the Ryu Kyu Islands, most of the kobudo kata names will refer to the name of the island, region or person where/who developed it. The Ryu Kyu Islands are known to us today as OKINAWA.
Okinawa is located in the southwestern islands of Japan. It is made up of 72 islands which stretch for 374 miles. The islands are: Aka, Daitou-zima, Hateruma, Ishigaki, Iriomote, Kumezima, Iezima, Miyako, Yonaguni, Iheya-zima, Izena-zima, Taketomi, The Keramas (includes Zamami, Tokasiki, Tonaki) and countless other smaller islands..
Okinawa is the main island in the Ryukyu Archipelago, mostly of coral origin, a chain of many islands. The name "Okinawa" means "sea rope" which looks like rope floating on the ocean.Today there is a rope ceremony in which there is a giant tug of war on the streets of Naha.
The island of Okinawa is 485 square miles in size, 67 miles long and varies from 2 to 18 miles wide.It is quite distance from the nearest port as Tokyo is located 970 miles northeast; Seoul is 750 miles northwest; and Manila is 925 miles south from Okinawa.
Climate:
July, is usually the warmest month of the year, with average temperature of around 85 F (30 degrees Celsius). February, is the coolest month of the year,the average temperature is 60 F (15 degrees Celsius).
There is enough written evidence existing to prove that formalized kobudo kata was practiced on the Ryukyuan chain of islands as early as the 1480s. The first account refers to Yaeyama, an island group south of Okinawa. The tribal chieftain, Oyekei Akahachi is credited with formulating bo and eku techniques and converting them into ritualized dance. These are the Akahachi No Bo forms.
Then sometime prior to 1868, the Yaeyama island group was used as a place of exile for deposed political leaders and other Uchinade (Okinawans) who posed a threat to the newly established administration on the main island of Okinawa. Peichin Tokumine (c. 1846-1928) was a political exile here.
While in exile he learned the Akahachi forms and became so proficient that martial arts masters visited him to learn his techniques, 'Tode' Sakugawa was one such example.
Many of these practitioners used the training they received as a basis for developing their own versions of the techniques.This caused the forms to change as they were passed down the linage tree. Unfortunately many of the older kobudo kata faded out or never known to later generations because the original masters never found a suitable successor.
The Kata TOKUMINE (TOKAMINE) NO KUN (KON) means "Bo of TOKUMINE". this Kata is the essence of the teaching of Tokumine Pechin. Tokumine Pechin indirectly passed on his KOBUDO knowledge to Kyan Chotoku (1870-1945)and the essence remains today in the Kobudo Kata Tokumine no Kun.
The modern style that specifically sites Peichin Tokumine (also known as Yamane, or Chinen Pechin) as founder is Yamaneryu Bojutsu. Chinen is credited with being a brilliant innovator whose most notable legacy is the series of exercises Chinen Shikipanaka no kon.
The trade marks of this style are a swift circular motions, patterns of twisting thrusts and pliable footwork resembling Sojutsu, the art of spearmanship, and classically includes the five kata: Shuji, Sakugawa, Chinen Shikiyanaka, Shirotaru, and Yonekawa.
Originally Kobudo was known as TEGUA, and was forged on the Ryu Kyu islands by the same civilian-warriors who developed the art of Karate.
Over the past two hundred years or so, several distinct methods of practice with the individual weapons evolved associated with different districts of Okinawa and certain families. Only rarely were these methods formalized into real distinct styles�Eoutside of China,
There are no standardized or official set of kata used by all Kobudo practitioners, there are many interpretations of the various kata handed down by the original masters. Most of the original masters of Okinawa practiced their own unique versions of the different kata.The Matayoshi and Ryu Kyu Kobudo are two of the best known Okinawan organizations that have preserved and standardized their versions of many of the Kobudo kata.The names and patterns of about fifty to sixty of these forms are very consistent and well documented as traditional kata for practice and preservation.
In more recent times, Karate and Kobudo organizations have tried to standardize the kata within their own groups. In this way the forms began to take on slight differences as focus was shifted to the better known and more popular karate, and kobudo practice secondary.
THE TWO THEORIES:
There are two basic theories in the development of Kobudo:
1. Kobudo,like Karate, developed largely from Chinese traditions, transported to Okinawa from as early as 700 CE.
In support of this first theory we have heard of records indicating that the organization of kobudo only really began in the 1600's, as wealthy Okinawans went to China and learned the use of the weapons for pleasure.
2. Kobudo was developed independently by the people of Okinawa, in response to the ban on real weapons, that is the weapons of the samarai and higher classes, by the Japanese. They evolved from farming implements.
The tradition that seems to have driven the development of these weapons is that of famous/legendary practitioners whose legacies are soundly stamped on the kata practiced today.
The Kata of Kobudo provide insight to the history of the art. Usually passed down from father to son, master to disciple, this mode of transition is a time honored tradition. It was kept secret, camouflaged, or misrepresented to avoid persecution. This applies particularly to the Okinawan tradition where weaponry and martial arts training were specifically and repeatedly outlawed by the occupying forces of Japan.
It's been suggested that the traditional Okinawan dances or Odori played a part in the development of Kobudo kata. They portrayed movements from their agricultural life, including the use of simple tools. We can see this most in the forms for the Eku that feature rowing motions, and that of flipping the sand.
The influence from the dance is interesting because we also see it in other martial arts traditions - some gung-fu and more recently the Brazilian art of capoeira. . .
IMPORTANT DATES in Okinawan History:
In the 14th century (1372) Okinawa became a Chinese satellite. It was during this time that ch'uan fa (fist law) was probably introduced. Chinese style fighting was greatly admired by the Okinawans, and they began to merge it with an existing native form of fighting called te (fist ), or bushi no te (warrior's hand). At that time, this hybrid Okinawan martial art was referred to by one of it's two names: To-de (Chinese hands) or Kara-te.
In 1429, an Okinawan by the name of Sho, Hashi united what was known as the three kingdoms: Hokuzan (north), Chuzan (middle), and Nanzan (south), and made his capital in the city of Shuri. In 1477, Sho, Hashi was succeeded by another Okinawan by the name of Sho, Shin, who put a stop to all feudalism on Okinawa, made all of the anji (feudal lords) move to the capital city of Shuri and imposed a ban on all weapons even rusty swords, by the peasant class. Sho-shin encouraged people to focus on art and philosophy, so they might be dissuaded from te. However, the martial art continued in secrecy. During this time the Ryukyu kingdom expanded and prospered through trade with China, Asia, Korea, and Japan. Then, in 1609, the reigning king of the dynasty found himself obliged to outfit an army for sake of repelling an invasion of the islands that had been launched by Shimazu, the daimyo of the clan of Satsuma, who had been exiled from Japan. The newly armed Ryukyuan warriors fought with conspicuous bravery and gallantry against the soldiers of the Satsuma clan, known and feared throughout the country for their fighting skill, but, after Ryukyuan success in a few pitched battles, a surprise landing by Shimazu's forces sealed the fate both of the islands and of their monarch, who was forced to surrender. The Sansura clan of Japan invaded and took over control of Okinawa. Shimazu reissued the edict banning weapons. Okinawan Ch'uan fa groups and To-de societies banded together to produce a solid front against the Japanese . Many Okinawans were secretly sent to China to learn fighting arts. Okinawa for many centuries engaged in trade with the people of Fukien province in southern China, and it is probably from this source that Chinese kempo ("boxing") was introduced into the islands. As well as empty handed fighting, the use of the Bo, Sai, Tonfa, Nunchaku, Kama, and other farm and household items were secretly developed into effective weapons with their own individual methods or system. Combined, these weapons systems are known as kobudo.
During the 1700s, an officer called Sakugawa, who was in the Okinawan Palace Guard, learned Chinese fighting from a Chinese military officer, Kusanku, who arrived in Okinawa in 1761. At this time of Japanese occupation, it was still permitted for some Chinese attaches to come and go in Okinawa, for envoy purposes. It was also allowed for the nobles or royal classes to practice To-te, and it was definitely a requirement for the Royal Guard ). Sakugawa traveled many times to China with Kusanku, and learned to combine Ch'uan fa with te to form Okinawan-te. In fact, Sakugawa's nick-name was "karate" or To-te" Sakugawa ( sometimes spelled ' To-de' ), which literally meant, "Chinese fist Sakugawa." The name karate, in those days, meant, "Chinese hand". Later on in Japan, the character for "Chinese," was changed to one meaning "empty," so the new translation meant "empty hand." ( From Kusanku we have the name of two high level katas, Kusanku Sho and Kusanku Dai, which is interesting because Kusanku supposedly did not teach kata! The katas may have been formed from the techniques taught by Kusanku).
In 1904, Karate became even more popular with it's introduction to the Okinawan public schools. The man responsible for this was Yatasune "Anko" Itosu, who helped make karate part of the physical education requirements. Yatasune "Anko" Itosu ( "Anko," means 'horse,' and referred to the horse stance at which Itosu was superb in demonstrating ) was an educator in Shuri, a south city in Okinawa. Itosu was born in 1830 into a shizoku, or noble family. He became an educator, but was also a learned master of karate. From Itosu came the Pinan katas. These katas were stated by one source as coming from the Kusanku kata, before it was broken down into Sho ( lesser ) and Dai ( greater ). However, another source says that Itosu learned a form from a Chinese man, and the form was called "Chiang Nan" or ( Channan in Okinawan pronunciation ) from which he produced the Pinan katas.
Itosu taught anyone who wanted to learn, in contrast to some of the other masters, who would not permit a student to learn from more than one teacher. According to Gichin Funakoshi, student of Itosu and founder of Shotokan karate, Itosu was of average height, with a great round chest like a beer barrel. Despite his long moustache, he rather had the look of a well-behaved child.
The techniques of karate and kobudo were, by their very nature, to be kept from the uninitiated, many were only taught to the oldest son in the family. Thus, there are but few historical records and the arts were conveyed almost entirely through personal oral transmission from master to disciple. However, following dissolution of the kingdom and the 1879 annexation of Okinawa as a prefecture, new institutions came into effect and karate and kobudo were into the Meiji public education system. There followed a movement to present these arts to the general public:
During the Taisho Era (circa 1910-1926), demonstrations were made throughout mainland Japan, and in the early Showa years (circa main schools (ryu): Shorin-ryu, Gojyu-ryu, Uechi-ryu and Matsubayashi-ryu. Today, there exist many more sub-schools (ryuha) and factions (kaiha). Each boasts its own distinctive kata derived from the basic movements (kihon kata) common to all schools as the systematization of techniques of attack and defense.
The next development took place in 1922 at Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. Two karate men, Funakoshi, Gichin and Motobu, Choki, gave a demonstration of Okinawan karate for Japanese approval. Funakoshi impressed the emperor Horohito so much, that by 1932, karate became part of the educational system of Japan. After his demonstration, Funakoshi was asked to stay in Japan and teach Okinawan karate-do. The karate-do as Funakoshi knew it would have to change in order for his Japanese students to understand it's complexity. Stances were altered and names of katas changed. His new system was titled Shoto-kan, but Funakoshi disliked the name; he thought that all karate should be the same.
At this time, the Okinawan martial art was referred to by one of it's two names: To-de (Chinese hands) or karate (Empty hands). The Okinawans wanted everyone to agree on one name, so during a meeting between Miyagi, Chojun; Hanashiro, Chomo; Motobu, Choki; and Kyan, Chotoku, the decision was made and one name was finally agreed upon. In 1936, the Okinawan martial art was given the name karate-do, meaning "an empty-handed self defense art", or "weaponless art of self defense." Some would even go on to call it kute-do, ku meaning "sky", which was associated with being "empty", and "te" of course meaning hand.
Shayda M Velasco
