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HISTORY
Karate is probably the best known martial art to the non-martial
artist in the Western world. Many people recognise karate as a Japanese
fighting style but in reality it has a strange history and is not as ancient
as people think.
The roots of Karate began on a small island south of Japan called Okinawa.
It was first developed by the locals of the island in the sixteenth century
when Okinawa was at battle with China and the Chinese finally conquered
the island. The Chinese banned all weapons to be used by the locals, so
being afraid of bandits and Chinese soldiers, they began to develop a
fighting system interpreted as Chinese hand, as the art consisted of Chinese
boxing and kempo which was brought to the island from China.
About a hundred years later Okinawa was taken back of the Chinese by the
Japanese but still weapons were banned and also the practise of martial
arts. The simple locals of the island still secretly practised fighting
skills to protect their land and families from bandits. More styles of
martial arts were being introduced from Japan and the word Okinawa-te
was the name of the fighting system, te meaning hand in Japanese.
During the Japanese Meiji period, in 1868-1912 Judo and Kendo were introduced.
In 1903 Okinawa-te was introduced as part of the school curriculum and
was renamed Karate-Jutsu which is translated as Chinese hand art.
It was in 1932 that Karate was kiven its name that we all know it as today.
The word karate means open hand, Kara meaning open and te meaning hand.
| KARATE TERMINOLOGY |
| CONTEST RULES (wkf) |
To view details on a style click on the style below
Goju-ryu was founded by Kanryo Higashionna although it was not actually called this as it was a mixture of Chinese boxing and naha-ta. It was in the 1920's Chojun Miyagi adapted the style and called it Goju-ryu, in 1935 Gogen Yamaguchi introduced kumite (free sparing) which laid the foundations of sport for the traditional karate of today. additional info
Isshin ryu was founded by Tatsuo Shimabuku who first started to study the art when he was 14 years old. He first studied Goju ryu karate under master Choj. additional info
Kyokushinkai means 'the way of ultimate truth' and its founder was Masatatsu Oyama. Masatatsu Oyama was taught by Gichin Funakoshi when he first studied Shotokan. Masatatsu Oyama was born in Korea and was exposed to both Korean and Chinese martial arts. He was not impressed by the combat side of Shotokan so disapeared into the mountains of Japan for nearly two years to form a new karate system based on actual combat effectiveness.
Masatatsu Oyama was famous for fighting bulls with his bare hands. He fought more than 50 bulls killing 3 outright with a combination of strikes. In the early 1970s he introduced a type of competition called knockdown, which allows full power strikes to the body. The fight ends when a fighter is knocked down to the floor, Masatatsu Oyama believed this was the only true test of a karateka's fighting ability.
SORRY INFORMATION IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED
Shotokai karate is very similar to Shotokan in that the stances are low. The split from shotokan was led by many of the older instructors but mainly by master Egami who disliked the growing trend of karate being promoted as a sport.
Shotokan means "hall of Shoto" and was founded by Funakoshi Gichin Sensei who died in1957.Shotokan Karate has 16 basic Katas and it seems that the studants learn a thorough knowledge of a few techniques, supposed to a large number of unfamiliar techniques.This accounts for the many months of practicing a strong stance with a strong punch until the student is ready to move backwards and forwards in lines while combining techniques. The Shotokan Karate Dojo was opened in Tokyo in the 1930's by Funakoshi Gichin and in 1947 the Shotokan Dojo became the first Japanese school of martial arts to be allowed to reopen by the Americans since the Second World War. Today Shotokan Karate is the largest karate style in the world.
SORRY INFORMATION IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED
Wado Karate founded in 1934/35 by Ohtsuka Hironori who was a student of Funakoshi Gichin and a master of Shindo Yoshin ryu ju-jutsu. Wado is one of the four major styles of karate and is a fast style which stresses body movement to generate power instead of just using muscle power thus making it possible to evade and attack in the same time.
Tatsuo Shimabuku started studying karate under his uncle
at the age of 12. He was taught by his uncle at first. His first official
teacher was Chotoku Kyan. He taught Master Shimabuku Shorin ryu. Master
Shimabuk also learned another form of Shorin ryu from Choiki Motobu. Master
Shimabuku then studied with Chojun Miyagi in Goju ryu. At the time Master
Shimabuku studied Karate there was no belt ranking system, but he was
considered advanced in the class(ie: black belt) and an exceptional student(top
of the class?)
In 1951 he developed Isshin ryu as it stands today as an evolution of
Karate and to simplify its techniques to make them faster and more effective.
The three changes that were made that were considered "rouge"
were a Vertical fist, 98% extension of technique, and blocking with the
muscle of the forearm rather than the bone. The fist was a big issue as
it went against the traditional horizontal fist, this move actualy caused
students to leave his school to attend a more traditional school that
didn't change this, for example: Shorin ryu.
For some good information check out www.isshinryu.com
and www.Isshin-ryu.com. There
are other goods sources of information on the web if a search is conducted
for Isshin ryu. Some ggod examples are Master Coolings site, Master Longs
affiliate sites, Master Chamberlain, and Master McGee.
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