Breaking Boards and Bricks

This is an old practice in China and Okinawa. It is meant to be a way of showing strength of technique and mentality. However, it has been proven many times that it is based on physics and the make-up of whatever is being broken, rather than some special ability to break things that can only be acquired through years of relentless training. By following through in the right way, and by using the right boards, tiles, etc., even a novice can break things. If you want to show something special, rather break something that shouldn’t be breakable. That would be remarkable! Or, better yet, don’t break anything at all because it is wasteful and does not set a good example for our times. I do, however, see the value in the practice for martial development. It can help you to develop confidence in your technique and your hardness, and to improve your ability to follow through your target. But, like I said, it’s an old practice and it is wasteful. If you want to break something, perhaps use stones and then reuse the remains for something in your garden, for example. Or you could create a block of ice and try breaking that. Considering the environment on which depend, reusing, recycling, etc., is a product of the Way. Destroying useful objects is not. Think about it first, and rather devise a method to ensure it is sustainable before callously breaking anything. 

Competition in Karate

Not all competitions in martial arts are detrimental to real skill for real fighting. They can, however, be degrading to the positive development of character, but this depends on the individual and their teachers. Not every western-style boxer is arrogant and aggressive, for example. The trouble is that in certain types of prize fighting the danger is taken away. This is particularly true when using protective equipment. It is not an effective method as it only serves to aid sports, all the while it is greatly harmful to your ability to actually fight, be prepared to handle the adrenaline of an actual conflict, or have any degree of the mental preparation necessary for real fighting. If you can hit someone because they are wearing padding, they don’t mind because they know they won’t be injured. And vice versa. The element of danger, as if you and your opponent/s are in a life-and-death situation, is imperative to properly training your fighting skill. 

The Secrets of Karati

In the old days - the real old days - anything could be a secret. If you weren’t shown it, it’s a secret, at least from you. There are, however, actual secrets. Some are just tricks that help your technique, while others are genuinely “secret techniques”. They can be for fighting or healing. It can be as simple as a change in hand form, or a different version of an entire kata / system. A good example of this is the version of sochin taught to Gigo Funakoshi for his father, specified as being the correct version over any other the master had taught. So even “if” other students learnt effective techniques, they did not learn the master’s real techniques. However, all of this doesn’t necessarily matter in an actual fight. You can know all the special techniques that exist, but they alone will not save you. Only hard, daily, basic training can do that. And nothing can replace the great effort (gongfu) required. And then, all of the so-called secrets will be achieved naturally, anyway, because that ceaseless effort in the fundamentals and basics leads to the tricks and secrets and special techniques through the gradual development of understanding, which can’t be rushed as the mind is complex and takes time to learn and make things second-nature. Skill is continually progressed over the practitioner’s lifetime. Special techniques cannot be understood, nor applied effectively, or indeed responsibly, without first achieving the great transformative benefits of diligent basic training, and constantly returning to the basics as if they are the entire system in themselves. In a real fight, the skills, control and fortitude attained during extensive basic training will give you a chance of surviving, whether you know no secrets at all, or 100 secret techniques. Knowledge of certain points alone will not afford you the speed, stamina and basic skills you need to defend yourself and, if necessary, others. Hence, the real secrets lie simply in diligent daily training in the basics (provided what you’ve learnt is effective), and special techniques are for enhanced effectiveness in certain situations, but are not what make a capable fighter / boxer / warrior. The sheer speed and viciousness of attacks in real situations can be staggering. Actual fighting cannot be taken lightly. It is dangerous and demands primarily what only the basics can provide. 

Interesting Demonstrations of Chisōchin, Sanchin and Naihanchi

It’s always insightful to see footage like this. I was made aware of this channel as a result of avidly reading Motobu Naoki’s blog.

Funakoshi Okinawan Karate Kenpō Kenkyūkai

https://www.facebook.com/groups/funakoshikaratestudygroup/

Funakoshi Kūsankū 船越 公相君

Funakoshi kūsankū, with the old way of shifting the body minimally. This kūsankū is from Master Asato who studied under Master Matsumura. 

Applications (Kumiti / Kumite / Bunkai):

1. Where is the light source? Put it to your side or behind.

2. No weapons / Peace.

3. Defend inside against a swing punch, hard or soft, while trapping the left arm, then counter with sword hands to the neck artery.

4. Defend outside against straight punch, control and counter-punch.

5. Grab a straight punch with the left hand of the opponent, then counter punch.

6. Block a straight punch outside, close, then grab, and counter with a left punch.

7. Block a straight punch outside, control, defend against a rear attack and counter with a sword foot, then counter the first opponent with a sword hand.

8. Defend inside against a swinging punch and trap the other arm, then counter with sword hands.

9. Defend against straight punch, lock, counter with sword hand.

10. Slap or divert low or middle attack and counter with spear hand to the throat or larynx. 

11. Grab attack from rear, holding the wrist and under the armpit. Kick with toes. Lock.

12. Grab rear attacking wrist and either the elbow or under armpit. Kick or knee. Throw and control.

13. Control side attack, kick with sword foot, pull in and elbow.

14. Block against straight attack, control, sword-foot kick, pull in and elbow.

15. Sword hand block and counter.

16. Someone tries to grab you from behind and pull you round, so you harmonise and control, then counter with sword hand.

17. Defend against right fist then left, control and counter, front kick and back fist.

18. Slip to side, grab low attack and counter with right back fist.

19. Block right punch and control, then counter with right punch.

20. Knee rear opponent, push away and drop to ground to react to opponent from new rear, then block low kick, grab and pull leg and counter with sword hand, or take opponent down with scissor legs.

21. Block, control and counter.

22. Block and trap, then counter.

23. Block side attack, sword kick, then sword block opposite followed by slapping and grabbing a second attack, then spear hand.

24. Right hand is gripped: Twist arm and bend elbow, turn right around and counter downwards, then take opponent down.

25. Defend with left back fist, elbow, take down in one of a few ways.

26. Avoid, move in and take down by pulling behind the knee or just above while rotating left arm round over face. Strike opponent low.

27. Grab arm which is pulling your hair. Turn around to lock opponent’s arm, then counter with two kicks or knees.

28. Jump over opponent’s body or other obstacle. Suppress or grab another attacker’s strike, then back-fist counter and take down.

29. Defend against kick or punch from rear, hard or soft, depending, control with opposite hand just above the opponent’s elbow, and counter with secret punch from below, to the throat or beneath the chin. 

30. Control your adrenaline with correct, natural breathing and tensing the abdominal muscles. 

31. Remain alert.

32. Retain respect and courtesy.

End.

There are other applications, but these are thorough enough for here.

Karate is Kata; Kata are Kinds of Karate

Gichin Funakoshi illustrating the kata kusanku [dai] in Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu (1925)

I have a theory. That Gichin Funakoshi instructed Gigo Funakoshi and Masatoshi Nakayama, with Hironori Otsuka possibly no longer present by then, and Isao Obata not around at that time, to learn under his respected contemporary, Kenwa Mabuni, who had studied under many of the same teachers as himself (Gichin Funakoshi) - albeit when they were much older, and also not all of the same teachers - and other experts such as Chojo Oshiro, and for Gigo to learn - at least, if not more - a kata (system) in Okinawa from a master who wanted to pass on the correct way of doing it to Gichin Funakoshi specifically, and the reason for this was actually because Mutsu (Takada) Mizuho and Miki Jisaburo published, demonstrated and started teaching other kata they learnt from other Okinawan teachers, at least in Okinawa if not also in Japan, without, it seems, having permission or instruction from Gichin Funakoshi, their teacher, to do so.

They published two books on karate, meanwhile Jisaburo was just a beginner when he travelled to Okinawa in 1929, and he was only there for a few months, and his teacher, Mutsu Mizuho (aside from Gichin Funakoshi directly), apparently had to return to Tokyo early, whether that was before he made it to Okinawa at all, I don't know. In any case, while he was more experienced, he still would have only at most learnt for the shortest time in Okinawa, which is certainly not long enough to study so many kata properly. Maybe one, if taught solely to an experienced student, but not so many as the number they published. No wonder Gichin Funakoshi walked away from Tokyo University shortly after all of this.

At the Shotokan, or to one or more senior students of the Shotokan, Kanken Toyama apparently also taught gojushiho, his specialty, which was from Kentsu Yabu, and was / is like the gojushiho presented in Mutsu Mizuho's Karate Kenpo Zen in 1933, which was also described and partly shown in the 1930 text by Miki Jisaburo and Takada (Mutsu) Mizuho, Kenpo Gaisetsu, along with a gojushiho noted as Yabu gojushiho. I think it would make sense, upon seeing Mutsu and Jisaburo introducing kata they bearly knew, to call in a expert of that system, Toyama, to teach the kata properly in place of the inexperience of Jisaburo and the plain disrespect of Mutsu. Gichin Funakoshi must have felt it necessary to specifically instruct some of his senior students to learn those kata and others legitimately to ensure they were not being mis-taught in his school. This includes several bojutsu kata, including Sakugawa no kon and Shuji no kon, possibly Shirotaru no kon, and maybe also others before Gigo Funakoshi devised Matsukaze no kon. 

Around this time Gichin Funakoshi devised Meikyo from the three Itosu rohai, so he clearly knew more than just the fifteen kata he is known to have emphasised. Hironori Otsuka learnt rohai; perhaps all three Itosu rohai before just keeping the first as he did with naihanchi. Whether or not he learnt rohai from Gichin Funakoshi, I'm not sure, but it would make sense. Though, where did he get niseshi? That could have rather been from Kenwa Mabuni, but not necessarily. Gichin Funakoshi likely actually knew many more kata than he ever even mentioned, ranging from being simply aware of them to actually having been taught them to completion. He was clearly a trusted student, having been taught by several esteemed Okinawan teachers, for a lot longer than Kenwa Mabuni, for example, and just to note. He was also evidently given a Bubishi to copy, and he was asked personally to learn a kata the right way from that old master, as mentioned. That kata seems to have been the sochin transmitted in the Shoto karate lineage. There is really no reason to believe that he did not know all of the kata (systems of techniques) he noted in Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, at least, if not more, if he was a trusted student with recommendations from noted masters when he was young, and if we happily assume that other Okinawan experts knew more kata than they wrote about or than are listed in connection with them, including Kanken Toyama, who apparently taught different kata to different students, Yabu Kentsu, who focused on naihanchi as a base before kusanku and gojushiho, and who apparently taught different students differently, Choshin Chibana, who did not, it seems, teach gojushiho, or did not always teach it, but who at least knew of it, and Choki Motobu, who is known for only showing naihanchi shodan, while his son illustrates naihanchi nidan as well, yet neither demonstrated any more kata publicly, though Choki Motobu mentioned many others, and said he learnt and taught passai as well, but it seems that either he chose to forget any other kata, or he did not know any more, in truth, or he knew a lot but kept it all very secret and even to this day it remains a family secret. 

Choshin Chibana apparently took some degree of a beating from several people simply because he knew it wasn't life-threatening, thereby successfully avoiding fighting to the maximum level possible, yet we accept that he was an expert who learnt how to fight properly from Tawada and Itosu. So, just because Gichin Funakoshi also avoided fighting, matches, and counterattacking unless necessary, why do so many people still think ill of him, yet no one questions others such as Chibana, at least not commonly? There is so much evidence in his favour, let alone the side of the lack of evidence being true for plenty of other Okinawan experts for various aspects of the art of ti, even, dare I say it, Choki Motobu. He clearly knew how to fight, but how many kata did he actually know more than naihanchi shodan? His son wasn't only taught by him, as well. Where's the evidence, other than stories?

My point is, the old way was (is) different, so they were taught far more secretively, then they selected which kata (systems of karate, as Motobu also stated they are) on which they wanted to focus. Each kata is a kind of karate, as Anko Asato put it. And the Chinese way, therefore the old Okinawan way (though also heavily influenced by Japanese martial arts, ways and customs), is to prescribe training to each student. You may teach someone without limits, but that can mean multiple things, including not teaching this kata, but rather teaching that one. We have to remember that a kata is not part of a syllabus, it's simply a method of boxing in itself. So, Motobu could focus on naihanchi alone if he wanted to, and still be potentially more skilled than any other fighter. Yabu Kentsu chose naihanchi as well, but favoured kusanku and gojushiho, and no others. Similarly, Matsumura seems to have preferred kusanku and gojushiho, while he apparently also taught sesan and passai, and apparently also naihanchi. Hanashiro liked jion, and Asato mentioned naihanchi, sesan, passai, kusanku and jitte, and also noted that a Fujian-Chinese from Annan taught chinto, mariti (chinte), ji'in and jitte (at least). 

One point I'm trying to make here is that, for example, gojushiho is not a kata that must be practised or even known to know karate completely, nor do you need to know so many other kata, either, as each is a kind of karate, and karate is not martial art per se, but rather just a term for a collection of many different systems, rather like gongfu or quanfa. You can't really study quanfa. You study taiji-quanfa (taiji-quan), for instance. And taiji would be equivalent to, for example, studying kusanku solely. Therefore, Gichin Funakoshi, like other older experts in particular, wasn't, of course, necessarily superior to other experts in skill - this was untested, so cannot be proven nor disproven - and refused to fight unnecessarily, the same as Chibana, for instance, but on his kata, selected those he preferred and those he felt he wanted to practise and transmit, but may have additionally simply been taught certain kata while another student might have been taught different kata. Both are equal, so there is no real debate. The Chinese expert, Kusanku, taught the techniques of the system that became known in Okinawa as the kata kusanku, taking various forms. So, whether Funakoshi ever taught any other kata to anyone, who knows (some people say he did, while others say he didn't), and maybe we'll discover some new evidence at some point, but it really doesn't matter in the sense of content. He consciously chose the kata he perpetuated before his son and Nakayama legitimately added others, which Gichin probably knew anyway, considering he mentioned them so early on when he was in mainland-Japan. But whether or not he did actually know them is important only to know for certain what "Funakoshi karate" is directly from him in complete form, what was from him earlier in Okinawa and just after moving, and what is from his son and ratified by Gichin. Otherwise, it really doesn't actually matter too much as the kata always discussed by Gichin Funakoshi in his works are, for the most part, the most important systems to study if you want to try to understand the teachings of Funakoshi and his karate, before either transmitting it as it is / was, or finding your own Funakoshi karate, or, indeed, your own karate / ti.

Primary Funakoshi Karate Kata

Taikyoku-no-Kata

Ten-no-Kata

Pin'an-no-Kata

Naihanchi-no-Kata

Kusanku [Dai]

Passai [Dai]

Sesan

Chinto

Wansu

Jitte

Jion

Meikyo

Plus

Sochin

As well as

Bojutsu

Saijutsu

Additional Funakoshi Karate Kata Practised at the Shoto-kan

Kusanku [Sho]

Passai [Sho]

Chinte (Mariti)

Niseshi

Gojushi-ho (including Gojushiho [Dai] & Gojushiho [Sho])

Ji'in

Unsu

Okan

Sakugawa no Kon

Shuji no Kon

Matsukaze no Kon

and possibly others, too.

Bibliography

Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, 1925 (Karate Jutsu, 2001), Gichin Funakoshi

Ryukyu Kenpo: Karate, 1922, Gichin Funakoshi

Karate-Do Ichiro, 1956, Gichin Funakoshi

Karate-Do Kyohan, First Edition, 1935, Gichin Funakoshi

Karate-Do Kyohan, Second Edition, 1973, Gichin Funakoshi

Karate Kenpo Zen, 1933, Mutsu Mizuho

Kenpo Gaisetsu, 1930, Miki Jisaburo, Takada Mizuho

Karate-Do: For the Specialist, 1970, Shigeru Egami

The Heart of Karate-Do, 1981, Shigeru Egami

Karate-Do Tanpenshu, 2006, Gichin Funakoshi and others

Karate-Do Nyumon, 1943, Gichin Funakoshi, with Gigo Funakoshi and others

Various Articles from Shotokan Karate Magazine: Including: Mysterious Martial Art "Karate", Tokyo Newspaper Article [about Gichin Funakoshi's karate], 1922; My Years With Funakoshi, Dr Yasukiyo Takeda M.D. (both pieces from Issue 41). Editor: John Cheetham

Watashi no Karate Jutsu, 1932, (Karate: My Art, 2019), Choki Motobu and others

Ancient Okinawan Martial Arts: Koryu Uchinadi, Volumes 1 & 2, 1999, Patrick McCarthy

Bubishi, 2008, Various, Patrick & Yuriko McCarthy

The Study of China-hand Techniques, 2012, Morinobu Itoman, Mario McKenna

Introduction to Karate-Do: Its Inner Techniques and Secret Arts, 2019, Toyama Kanken, Tobey Stansbury

My 2cents Karate Blog, Matteo Muratori

Ameblo.jp, Ameba Blog, Motobu Naoki, Andreas Quast

and other works and articles

Funakoshi Chintō

 

Funakoshi chintō, performed in the old Okinawan way of twisting on the spot to change direction. 

Master Gichin Funakoshi’s Tuidi / Torite

Why has it been written that Master Funakoshi’s karate included 9 throws, or the 9 “lost” throws? They’re neither lost nor are there only 9. Evidently, I count at least 17 or 18 grappling techniques. Throws is not the correct description, as the “9 lost throws” include an arm-lock which can be turned into a throw but is shown as a lock. These are also just examples, not the only techniques known. This is also true for the kata and kumite, as pointed out by Master Funakoshi. What is shown are either examples or the main methods practised. Karate is not limited. 

The evidence below is from Karate Jutsu (Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu) (1925), Ryukyu Kenpo: Karate (1922), and Karate-Do: Kyohan (1935). Additionally, there is a photo taken at Waseda University in 1935.