Rise and fall of Karate

Karate is one of the most popular martial arts in the world. There is much confusion with parts of karate, reasons for the way some things were done, and true history and traditions. I'll elaborate on a lot of these in this post for the sake of clarity.

As with most cultures, Okinawa had local self defense arts based around grappling (Tegumi) and striking (Tode-jutsu). The striking arts were heavily influenced over the years by the occupying forces of Japan and China. Specifically, Chinese Kung-Fu was integrated into the Tode-jutsu. In the late 1800's and early 1900's, several main traditions started in Karate.

Kata
Though some karate exponents will claim that some karate kata (forms) are hundreds of years old, the fact is that there is no known documentation of kata existing prior to the 1850's. Gichin Funakoshi - the man who brought karate to Japan from Okinawa - brought a number of kata to Japan. Many of these he changed, and some he created himself.

Kata were primarily created so that people could practice karate legally while the controlling Japanese had banned the practice of martial arts. Kata disguised the movements as a dance. Cultural dance was not forbidden. 

Indeed, Funakoshi's instructors, Itosu and Azato, taught few kata. Itosu is credited with breaking Naihanchi (a once large kata) into three smaller parts. Given Okinawan honor codes, it is unlikely that a man of honor would alter a kata that drastically, unless he had created it in the first place.

The history of the Pinan / Heian kata is a bit more concrete. They were created either by Funakoshi or Itosu. Those who trained with both men seemed to favor the hypothesis that Funakoshi created these kata. These kata were created in the early 1900's.

In fact, the only kata for which a history can be documented prior to 1880 are Kushanku, Naihanchi, Seisan, and Chinto. Today, there are dozens of kata, and many are called traditional.

Each of the three villages had its own take on the kata, to be sure. And this further confuses things.

Styles - Original
Originally, there were three "styles" of Okinawan karate - Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te. These styles were formed more or less due to differences in training styles and kata execution between three villages - Shuri, Naha, and Tomari.

After Funakoshi brought karate to Japan, there was a natural separation of styles. Many advanced practitioners reverted to the more traditional methodologies, as opposed to Funakoshi's adopted changes. Four main styles emerged: Shotokan, Wado-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, and Shorin-Ryu. Today, there are multiple associations branched from each of these four styles, as well as other styles largely influenced from one of the main four.

In a broad sense, the four styles can be linked to the three village styles.
Shotokan - mixture of each of the three. Shuri-te dominant (80%), with a reminder of Tomari-te and Naha-te.
Wado-Ryu - Tomari-te dominant.
Shorin-Ryu - Shuri-te dominant.
Goju-Ryu - Naha-te dominant.

Styles - Modern
Today, there are almost as many styles of karate as there are black belts. So many, particularly in America, have mixed and matched different things from here and there. It used to be that one could tell the dominant influence after seeing only a few kata... but that is no longer the case. Things have become homogenous in a watered-down sense.

A distinct factor in people wanting to create their own style was the fact that the post-WWII Japanese were very angry with having American occupiers. They withheld rank. They acted racist. Americans realized they were deserving of more, and either self-promoted to higher rank, or formed groups that would facilitate such promotions.

Enter the capitalist. Other Americans, eager to capitalize on money-making opportunity, organized karate into something that could be bought and sold. More and more styles were created, as these opportunists felt a need for anonymity.

Also enter the lazy. Many people would not want to put in the hard work and dedication, and would leave a school, self-promote to black belt, and then start their own style.

Also enter the deposed. Some legitimate black belts lost their up-lines due to death, falling-out, or other circumstance. People in this position were almost forced to adopt their own style.

Enter the Koreans (Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do), the Okinawans (Kenpo / Kempo), and others who wanted to create their own style for other reasons than have been listed already. To be sure, there were some motives that have already been covered, but let's give the benefit of the doubt and say that they had their reasons, too.

Belts
There are many old stories floating around about the different colored belts in karate. One, more common story goes like this: the karate student got a white belt with the uniform, and was instructed never to wash the belt. Eventually, the belt was soiled and got darker and darker.

That story is just that: a story.

In addition to lacking hygiene, that story also lacks facts. Karate students did not have a designated uniform (gi) until the 1920's or so. Funakoshi borrowed the idea from Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo. Kano had seen swimmers divided into competition categories based on sash color, and adopted the idea. Plus, a uniform was required for Judo, given the holds taken that use the collar and other parts of the gi.

Karate adopted the uniform and the colored belt system in the 1920's, at the earliest.

The original Japanese systems used white, brown, and black belts. Europeans added the yellow, orange, blue, green, and purple. Eventually, the Japanese adopted these colors, too.

Sparring
How does one acquire a skill without actually doing the specific activity? Well, it is hard to do so. However, many karate schools engage in little if any free sparring. They do not test their hypotheses. They do not get hit. They do not hit others. They do not sharpen real skills against resisting opponents. 


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