Karate (Japan): Karate-Do is a Japanese martial art, introduced from Okinawa in 1922. In Japanese, Kara means empty; Te means hand; Do means the way, thus "Karate-Do" means "the way of the empty hand". Shuri-Te, Naha-Te, Tomari-Te are the three styles of Te (Hands) that Karate descended from. Originally, Karate was written as ("Tang Hand" from the Chinese Tang dynasty or by extension, "Chinese Hand") due to the influence of Shaolin on the native Okinawan fighting styles that Karate originated from, since merchants and sailors from Fujian Province were traveling back and forth to Okinawa. In 1820, Sokon "Bushi" Matsumura blended the three styles of Te ("Chinese Hand") into "Shaolin" (Chinese) or "Shorin-Ryu" (in Japanese) or "Forest Style" (English). However Matsumura's own students broke the style back down again into more branches and their students continued this break down adding or subtracting whatever suited them. Gichin Funakoshi, a student of one of Matsumura's students named Yatsutsune "Ankoh" Itosu changed the meaning of "Chinese Hand" to "Empty Hand" since no weapons were used. He did this in 1929 to better reflect the philosophies of the art; and try to get it noticed and popularized by the Japanese mainland. Thus he founded Shotokan from Itosu's version of Matsumura Shorin-ryu which is commonly called Shorei-ryu. Karate, like Jujutsu and judo, most likely came to America through two primary paths: Japanese immigrants to Hawaii and the mainland, where it stayed largely inside the Japanese American community, although to a lesser degree in Hawaii, and by specialized study by members of the police and the military. It would be safe to say that the biggest boost to the popularization of karate in America came with the American military occupation of Japan after World War II; once American soldiers had assimilated the discipline, they returned with it to the States and began to disseminate it. Like most martial-arts active in Japan, Karate made its transition to Karate-Do at the beginning of the 20th century. Karate-Do does not, contrary to its Chinese relatives, include the use of weapons. Any weapons used are strictly within the Okinawan tradition, kobudo, the use of modified farming tools and common implements as weapons, since 'normal' weapons were banned in Okinawa. Within Karate and Karate-Do, there are a multitude of different Ryu's (styles or schools). The most renowned are Shaolin (Shorin-Ryu, "Forest style"), Shobayashi ("small forest style"), Kobayashi-ryu ("young forest style"), Matsubayashi-ryu, ("pine forest style"), Matsumura Seito ("Orthodox Style") and Matsumura Motobu ("Street Style"). From these came the more popular styles we have today such as Shorinji-ryu (Kempo) and Shorei-ryu as well as Shotokan ("pine wave") and Goju-ryu ("hard-soft way") also Kyokushin ("ultimate truth"). Other mainstream styles are Seido, Wado Ryu ("way of peace"), Uechi Ryu, and Shito ryu as well as Isshin-ryu. Some styles of karate have teachers that have created hybrids of karate styles such as JIKC style which uses a combination of karate styles. The Shotokan style of Karate is characterised by deep, long stances to provide stability and powerful movements. At the other end of the spectrum, Wado-Ryu ("way of peace") prefers quick and subtle body movements (known as 'tai sabaki') to evade attacks and swift counter attacks. The Wado-Ryu style was introduced to the west by Sensei Tatsuo Suzuki. Karate is a hard martial art and emphasises striking techniques (i.e. Punching and kicking) over grappling. Karate can be divided into two major parts, kumite and Kata. Kumite means sparring and develops from well defined forms to the free form named randori. Kata means forms and is a fight against imaginary enemies, it is a fixed sequence of moves. Karate is also a competitive sport although, unlike TaeKwonDo and judo it is not yet an Olympic sport. Competition can be in either Kumite or Kata and either as an individual or a team. |
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