Koryu Kata: Effective Methods from Actual Fighting

The old forms like kūsankū, gojūshiho, sēsan, jitte, and many more, were developed through actual fighting, often in matches, but also in street situations in various cases, and they are ultimately related to the ancient Chinese military. In the same way, techniques in karate like those found in tuidi, are from actual fighting and are derived from the ancient Japanese military and Okinawan grappling called tigumi. Although we don’t practise in a militaristic way in my school, discipline is a quality of the military, and our methods are related to the military. This is why it is important to preserve the old ways; not for the sake of it, but because they were developed from war, hardship, and actual fighting in matches and in the street. That makes the techniques and methods genuinely useful, as opposed to many, though not all, modern ideas that are often either not based on actual fighting, or are based on competitive and prize matches, meaning that they have removed the element of the real danger of losing your life. Without that, the techniques may be good to a point, but they will lack what is required to fight effectively in a life-or-death street-fight that happens at random, as they do. Just like the old days, people with military experience who have fought in war are good modern examples of people with actual fighting experience, as well as those who have had to defend themselves in the street.

Many people with martial arts schools these days have experience of fighting in competitions, and know how to win with strategy and tactics. These teachings can be useful, still, for the street, but, again, I would argue that it’s dangerous to rely on techniques not aimed at life-or-death conflict. Actual fighting is different and requires something more. People such as police officers would appreciate this point. When I was a teenager, I competed for a couple of years before realising that, for me, there was no point in fighting for trophies. The only other competition I entered after the age of 17 was when I was 20, and it was aimed at being more of a demonstration for the school I was a member of, and assistant instructor with, at the time. Following this, I left that side of martial arts behind, for good, although not forgetting the tactics I had been taught. 

For my school, Matsuyoshi-juku Shōtō-ha Shōrin-ryū Karate Kenpō to Kobujutsu, my real fighting experience is from actual situations. The reason I want to share this is because I feel that it is necessary for a martial arts teacher to understand actual fighting, and therefore to be able to provide support for why they have their own school in which there teach, as the basis, fighting. From the age of 18, aside from a couple of incidents in which I was attacked during high school, first when I was 11, and then at 15 years old, I have experienced many different situations, against individuals and multiple opponents. I’ve had to defend, grapple, avoid being tripped, strategically escape, purposefully reposition the direction of the Sun, simply stand ready to react if necessary, release from a grip and create distance, and more. What I’ve learnt from these experiences, coupled with having studied strategy and tactics, is not limited to proving certain techniques from kata such as naihanchi and kūsankū to be evidently useful, but is, additionally and generally, that distance and timing are critical, along with speed, accuracy, agility, a strong stance, the effective application of the principles of hard and soft, and, even in the street, strategy and tactics. People should always avoid fighting at all reasonable costs. Although, it cannot be denied that actual experience in anything always enables real learning and understanding. In all of the actual situations I’ve experienced so far in my adult life, I was the defender, and in all cases I avoided being hit, and, when actually making contact, I didn’t use excessive force, as I didn’t need to. You only need to apply the amount of force necessary, minimising to be efficient. Stamina is very important in actual fighting, and a key aspect of retaining stamina is to simply be efficient, although physical fitness and correctly regulated breathing are highly necessary as well. In my opinion, real martial arts, whether old-style or newer, should be mainly concerned with how to effectively defend in random situations of life-or-death. Hence, my philosophy in my school is to be mainly concerned with life-or-death situations, and how to effectively and efficiently defend yourself, also using strategy and tactics, as a last resort.

S. R. Marshall

Godan, Shōrin-ryū Karate

What is Koryū?

Koryū is defined in Japanese martial arts as being anything created before the Meiji Restoration in 1868. After 1879, at the latest, including for the Ryūkyū Kingdom, new martial arts creations would be classed as gendai. However, that doesn’t mean that koryū disappeared. If someone learnt a method created before the Meiji Restoration, they were still studying koryū bujutsu. The reasons I would argue that the time period goes up to 1879 are that the Ryūkyū Kingdom became Okinawa Prefecture completely by 1879, and the rebellion in Japan against the new regime ended by that time, if we are to generalise to simplify. Therefore, a lot of what is practised in Funakoshi karate, for example, is koryū, even in the lineages with more changes from what Gichin Funakoshi himself taught, in my opinion. Although, the fewer the changes, the closer the versions are to the koryū kata and methods originally learnt by Funakoshi in Okinawa from just after the archipelago became part of / a prefecture of Japan. 

Kata such as the Pin’an series and Meikyō are gendai, in that case, although they are based on koryū kata. Whereas kata and methods such as Kūsankū, Jion, Sēsan, Naihanchi, Jitte, Chintō, and many others are koryū, as they were created before the Meiji Restoration. However, I would also argue that it doesn’t matter too much as to if you practise koryū kata or gendai kata, so long as they are effective and based on actual fighting experience. That being said, the reason koryū methods are good, still, is because they were developed through actual fighting of all kinds, from battles to street-fights, and refined by many experts over centuries or longer. Therefore, it makes sense to keep these traditions alive.

S. R. Marshall

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).