Funakoshi-ha Passai [Dai & Sho]

Gichin Funakoshi taught one passai, which he learnt from Anko Itosu, at least mainly, if not entirely, as others such as Kanken Toyama, Kenwa Mabun, and Chosin Chibana learnt a version of passai from Itosu that is basically the same, with some variations (wherever each of their differences actually came from…). Whether or not he did know other versions, he at least knew of others, such as the passai that is taught in several lines of Funakoshi karate, called passai [sho]. He was also at least aware of Tomari passai, as another of his teachers, Anko Asato, noted that it is a practical kata, during an interview between Funakoshi and Asato. 

Passai [sho] was apparently also taught by Itosu, and is said to have been created by him. However, there are other passai that bear similarities. One is called koryu passai. Another name for it is Gusukuma passai. While there is yet another Gusukuma passai, which has various similarities, the former, otherwise known as koryu passai, suggests that it is an old passai. If that’s true, it may be that passai [sho], which is a variation of koryu passai, might be Itosu’s version of koryu passai. 

The passai taught by Funakoshi is called passai [dai] when separating it. Based on comparison with other passai, it appears to be a combination of Ishimine passai and Tomari passai. Ishimine and Tawada learnt from Sokon Matsumura. There are similarities between Ishimine passai and Tawada passai, so we know from them which techniques are most likely from Matsumura. Nonetheless, Funakoshi-ha passai [dai] must be Itosu’s combination of Ishimine passai and Tomari passai, which I think is interesting. 

S. R. Marshall

The “Karate” Teachings of Anko Asato

Anko Asato, for example, learnt a range of martial arts, including Jigen-ryu kenjutsu, archery, horsemanship, various other weapons arts, and empty-handed fighting. He had more than one teacher, as he was apparently taught Jigen-ryu swordsmanship by the same teacher who instructed Sokon Matsumura. But Asato was taught ti by Sokon Matsumura and no one else. Anko Itosu learnt such kata as gojushiho from Matsumura, evidently, so Asato surely must have also learnt gojushiho. 

There are two points that I want to make here. The first is that what we call “karate”, as if “karate” is really a martial art in itself, used to just be whatever martial arts a person learnt from wherever. Ti (te in Romanised-Japanese) means hands or skills. It’s just a reference to martial arts. If you learnt some Chinese boxing method from someone, in Okinawa or elsewhere, it would become part of your ti. If you learnt jujutsu in Japan, that would also become a part of your “Okinawan” martial arts. Karate/karati is a mixture of various methods and arts. Therefore, the same rule applies now. Of course, you wouldn’t call your martial arts “karate” unless you learn something that is called “karate”. But if you also study jujutsu, kenjutsu, Chinese boxing, or any other fighting method, depending on how you want to approach it, that might become a part of “your” karate, in the same way as the old masters. 

The second point I want to make is just that if Asato probably learnt everything Matsumura had to teach, which included gojushiho, and apparently taught Gichin Funakoshi everything he knew, even saying that he would tell Funakoshi about anything he discovered concerning his later research into ground fighting, with the purpose of having Funakoshi teach Asato’s son, then Funakoshi must have been very trusted, close with Asato, and taught a lot more than he generally passed on to his students. Logically, you would think he had to have been taught such methods as gojushiho, if Asato was being so thorough. I wonder, in order to find evidence if it exists, if Asato’s son did learn everything from Funakoshi, and if he transmitted it to anyone, and if that lineage continues to this day. It doesn’t really matter if a person knows or teaches certain kata, as each kata is a system of techniques, and, as Asato and Kenwa Mabuni noted, you only need a few – between 2/3 and 5/6. And it’s true that you can’t specialise in more than this amount. Each system is so complex and difficult to master, so you need to focus your practice if you want to have any hope of becoming truly skilled and knowledgeable. But, as a matter of interest in clarifying what koryu karate was/is, I wonder if there is a school somewhere, perhaps in mainland-Japan or Okinawa, where the complete teachings of Master Asato can be found. And I wonder if that would include Jigen-ryu kenjutsu and other arts, or, indeed, if not everything was taught to Funakoshi, for whatever reason, or if he simply decided what he wanted to practise and teach, and excluded certain methods. Unfortunately, while I wonder these things based on logic, the evidence may not exist to prove anything more either way. 

S. R. Marshall

Master Gichin Funakoshi Taught Tenryū no Kon

While there are, of course, others who have read this magazine article before, or who were training in karate at the time, it still isn’t information that is popularly known. Instead, the general consensus is that Master Gichin Funakoshi did not know any kobujutsu kata. However, the evidence otherwise is found in an interview with Master Shinkin (Makoto) Gima, published in Fighting Arts Magazine in the 1980s, and written in 1977, with the interviewers being Liam Keeley and Morio Higaonna. During the interview, Gima states that he learnt Tenryū no Kon, a bōjutsu kata, directly from Gichin Funakoshi. That is absolute proof that can perhaps go along with the photo of Gichin Funakoshi performing a bō technique on his own, which must have been from a bōjutsu kata. 

Additionally, during the interview there is other interesting information such as Gima practising koryū gojūshiho as his favourite karate kata. He didn’t state that it was from Funakoshi, but he did also learn from Kanken Tōyama and, more so, Yabu Kentsū, who both practised koryū gojūshiho as their favourite kata.

Here is a link to the interview:

https://www.gimahaamericas.com/uploads/4/5/8/8/45887721/interview-with-gima-sensei.pdf

S. R. Marshall

Tangshouquan 唐手拳 : Tang-hand Boxing – An ancient Chinese boxing system

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/funakoshikaratestudygroup/permalink/3261845780797792/

Tangshouquan (Tang-hand Boxing) is a kind of Chinese boxing that must date back to the Tang dynasty. They use the same ideograms as those used in Okinawa (Ryūkyū) for karate kenpō before they changed to mean “Empty-hand”. Whether or not there is a direct relationship, I’m not yet sure. Based on Master Sakugawa being called Tōdi or Karati (Karate) Sakugawa, the use of the term “karati” or “tōdi” dates back around 200 / 250 years or so, at least. However, does it date back to the time of the Tang dynasty? I don’t know, but perhaps further examination of Tang-hand boxing will reveal something. Or maybe not. … See the film footage below.

S. R. Marshall

Southern Shaolin Boxing: What Authentic Okinawan Karate Actually Is

Matsuyoshi karate kenpō is a lineage of Funakoshi karate. It is focused on the Okinawan style that Gichin Funakoshi learnt, and taught in the early 1920s in Japan. But it also, importantly, includes the later teachings of Gichin Funakoshi, as well as Gigō Funakoshi’s further developments of his father’s ever-evolving way of practising karate. They each practised a bit differently yet also similarly to one another. Ultimately, they both influenced the various lineages that originate from Gichin Funakoshi’s line. These days, some schools are more complete than others. But if you learn from one or more good teachers, you will learn whatever martial art it is, effectively &, therefore, authentically. 

Matsuyoshi is Shō and Gi / Yoshi, as in Shōtō and Gi-chin / Gi-gō / Yoshi-taka / Yoshi-nobu etc. It is after Gichin Funakoshi and the entire relevant Funakoshi family, out of respect and to reflect how the teachings strive to follow authentic Funakoshi karate. But I use the characters for Chinese-hands and include kenpō in the name as what is studied in authentic karate is Chinese boxing, with influences from Japanese and Chinese martial arts (directly), as that is what karate is; a mixture of martial arts, with a focus on Chinese boxing over everything else. It’s just an altered style of practising southern Shaolin boxing. Yet, it isn’t particularly different to actual southern Shaolin style. For the most part, it’s basically identical. That is, “genuine” karate is just the same. Sport karate and half-baked versions of karate are not like the authentic Chinese systems. There are many clubs that give a bad name to real martial arts of all kinds. The purpose of Matsuyoshi karate kenpō is to strive to study authentic Funakoshi karate, or in other words, authentic Funakoshi Okinawan-Chinese boxing. 

Karate: Okinawan-Chinese Boxing

The Chinese and Okinawan versions of minghequan 28-steps (nepai kata)

Karate, like jūjutsu and quanfa / kenpō, etc., has had various names in its history. We call it karate, as if karate is the name of a martial art. But if you were to take techniques from a jūjutsu school and turn them into an intricate kata (or potentially more than one), that would be the same as a karate kata. It or they would still be jūjutsu, but it or they could hold its or their own name/s as the karate kata do. That or those kata would be a kind of jūjutsu. The same is true for Chinese boxing, or quanfa / kenpō. Some systems have just one form, while others have multiple, and even many, forms. In each case, it is a kind of quanfa. Karate developed by learning various methods and combining them. So there are a range of systems that are all different kinds of karate. You could learn one, or a few, for example, and have learnt karate, or Ryūkyū kenpō, or te / tī, just the same as someone learning a few other kata. That would be equal to two people each learning a different kind of jūjutsu, or learning a different kind of Chinese boxing. Karate is like the term gongfu – when applied to the fighting arts – or like quanfa. After all, the old version of the name “karate” meant “Chinese-hands”. Karate is either just Chinese boxing, or it is the Okinawan style of Chinese boxing, with Okinawan and Japanese influence (Japanese not just being in more recent times, but from ancient times). 

Matsuyoshi Karate Kenpo: A Funakoshi karate lineage

Some examples of training in Matsuyoshi-den Shōtō-ha Shōrin-ryū Karate Kenpō to Kobujutsu.

Including:

Hojo Undō

• Striking finger-tips into sand / gravel

• Finger-tip press-ups

• Gripping Jars (Nigiri Game / Niji’in Gāmi)

• Iron-body + Recovery Methods (Dit Da Jow use was not shown, although I don’t believe it is entirely necessary as a practice. However, the principle of using treatments to help the healing process is useful for martial arts and health. But care must be taken with ingredients used.)

• Striking Heavy Bag

• Striking Wall

• Stamina

• Suburi Bokken

Kata

• Naihanchi (I, II, III)

• Sēsan

• Passai

• Ōkan

• Kūsankū

• Gojūshiho

• Passai nu Bō

• Kūsankū nu Bō

Kumiti (Kumite)

• Kata no Bunkai

*Note: Not all applications are shown. My training partner, a practitioner of Wudang Taiji Boxing, with about 13 years of experience at the time of filming, has bad knees, so certain application were omitted, and some she was more resistant to, such as the hip throw. In some cases, she was less resistant, which enabled cleaner illustrations of such techniques, especially considering showing techniques without applying maximum force, so as to demonstrate using softness in defence in karate, with counter-attacks being very controlled.

S. Marshall

Godan, Shōrin-ryū Karate

五段, 少林流 唐手

Bushoru.org Closure

I have closed Bushoru.org, which was intended to be a more official home for my group. It wasn’t really working as I wanted it to, so I decided to keep the site as this original blog, which is much easier to manage.