The Funakoshi Okinawan Karate Kenpo Kenkyukai (Research Society & Study Group) is dedicated to studying and researching, in particular, Master Gichin Funakoshi's Okinawan Shorin-ryu karate kenpo teachings. For authoritativeness, Master Gichin Funakoshi's old Okinawan karate, his later developed karate, Master Gigo Funakoshi's karate, the developments of Shoto-kai, & every other karate kenpo lineage, are all considered.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Gichin Funakoshi Performing Keriage, Illustrated in Karate Jotatsu Ho, by Yasuhiro Konishi (1956)
Gichin Funakoshi Specifically Noting Using the Sword-foot in Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu (Karate Jutsu)
Gichin Funakoshi’s keriage (keage / rising kick / side rising-kick / side snap-kick / side-up kick) was different to the modern version usually seen. In an article for Black Belt Magazine, Tsutomu Ohshima, a student under Gichin Funakoshi, stated that he had asked Isao Obata, his senior, about the side-up kick, to which Obata replied by enquiring as to if Ohshima had seen the way their teacher, Funakoshi, had performed it. That is how Obata had continued to practise it, and Ohshima realised that it was a better way physiologically.
“For a long time there was confusion about the right way to perform the side-up kick. When Master Funakoshi was showing us how to do it, he just made a small, low motion with his foot, exactly like the front snap kick except with the body facing to the side. Many of us assumed he did the kick that way because he was old. At that time, we thought the side-up kick should be delivered higher, with the knee turned in, which looked fancier but was harder to do. That was the way I practiced it when I came to the United States.
“I practiced that way for many years, but I began to develop problems with my back. Finally Senior Obata, the first captain of the Keio University karate club, was visiting this country (at my invitation) and I mentioned this to him. I said, “You know, I think there is something wrong with the side-up kick. If you perform it this way, it is very bad for the back.” Obata said, “Of course. That’s not the way to do the side-up kick. Didn’t you see how the Master did it?” Master Funakoshi was showing us the right way all along, but we didn’t understand what was wrong with our own way until many years later.”
Images from the books Karate Jutsu (English translation of Gichin Funakoshi's Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, 1925, by John Teramoto), and Karate Kenpo Zen by Mutsu Mizuho, 1933, as well as from footage of Hironori Otsuka performing wansu.
In Funakoshi karate, wansū was later (by 1935) called enpi, meaning “flying swallow”. It is a relatively swift and light form, and resembles the flight of a bird, specifically a swallow. In Chinese martial arts, and as wansū was originally Chinese, as with many of the Okinawan karate kata, any bird system is within the crane / white crane style as a matter of generality.
In Karate Jutsu, and therefore in Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, Gichin Funakoshi used kanji for wansū when listing the kata, and katakana later when describing it. There are only a few kata listed with kanji, such as gojūshiho and kūsankū, despite the fact that sēsan, for instance, is known to be “13 [hands / skills]” for certain. It must be, then, that the kanji for wansū were known, unusually. Was it someone’s name, or were they chosen in Okinawa (Ryūkyū) a long time ago?
Apparently wansū was [potentially] a system taught in Tomari village in 1683 or from the 1600s. There are a few versions, so it may have been a system of techniques that were formalised by various experts in Okinawa, or there was one kata / quan which was changed over time by several exponents.
The ideograms used by Gichin Funakoshi in Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu are not listed in Collins Chinese Dictionary within W and J, as in Wang Ji. Those meaning “prince” are different characters, and are written “wángzi” (the “i” has an upsidedown arrow above it) when Romanised. Andreas Quast wrote an article about wansū. However, with respect, the characters used for Wang Ji are different to those used by Gichin Funakoshi and Mutsu Mizuho, so, assuming accuracy of the characters written by Gichin Funakoshi, wansū is not from that Wang Ji. Additionally, again with respect, and also considering that Quast’s article is from 2015, and a researcher might form one conclusion at one point, but a different one later with further research, the article states that Gichin Funakoshi used only katakana for the name wansū, while he actually used kanji in his kata list and katakana in addition when describing the kata later, as I have already noted. Mutsu Mizuho, a student of Gichin Funakoshi’s, used the same characters as his teacher, but Hironori Otsuka seems to have used different symbols that mean “late” based on the translation provided by Google Translate, which seemed to manage to accurately scan the symbols. In Collins Chinese Dictionary, the first symbol used by Otsuka reads as “wan” (with an upsidedown arrow above the “a”) and means “late”, but the second character doesn’t appear anywhere you would think it should, such as ji, shu, su, shou, zhi, zi, and others. However, they’re different to the ideograms used by Gichin Funakoshi, so I would suggest that they are incorrect. Also according to Google Translate, the kanji noted by Gichin Funakoshi and Mutsu Mizuho are Wāng Jí in Mandarin, meaning Wang Ji in English. So even with different symbols there is a similarity to the suggestion that wansū is Wang Ji. Though, of course, the accuracy of the characters is important. Therefore, I would suggest that wansū is named after a Chinese person called Wang Ji who was an expert in Chinese boxing and who taught some Okinawans, maybe in the 1600s.
It is a myth that karate is a hard martial art in the sense
that it only uses hard techniques. It appears hard, but that is because it is
related to a variety of so-called hard methods, such as Southern Shaolin. The
karate text, Bubishi, does not specify a difference between Northern and
Southern types of gongfu, instead simply noting Shaolin. While the old masters
disagreed over the idea that karate kata were descended either from Shorin-ryu,
using the characters for Shaolin, or Shorei-ryu, using the ideograms for
Zhaoling, supposedly referring to the, or a, Southern Shaolin Temple, the
commonality is that both are a kind of Shaolin boxing. In other words, the sort
of gongfu seen to be harder or external, when compared with Wudang boxing
which, while descended itself from Shaolin, is viewed as being softer or
internal. Although, both Shaolin and Wudang actually teach hard and soft
techniques and methods, as the concept of yin and yang runs deep in Chinese
history and culture.
According to Kanken Toyama (Oyadomari) in
his Introduction to Karate-Do: Its Inner Techniques and Secret Arts (1956 –
translated into English in 2019 by Tobey Stansbury), there are no such styles
as Shorin-ryu and Shorei-ryu in karate, only hard and soft. However, there are
general northern and southern types of Chinese boxing, discussed traditionally
in quanfa through the saying, “Northern legs, southern hands”. Northern-style
gongfu is usually formed in patterns that require a lot of space to perform,
because they are based on the military patterns used for weapons such as
different kinds of swords and the spear. Whereas, southern gongfu is more civilian
based, hence the term “civil fighting arts”. Also, as with other parts of
China, the terrain and weather differ in the south. Therefore, southern boxing
often moves less than northern boxing, and sometimes not much at all. Stances
are not necessarily narrow, but there is more emphasis on solidity while using
the hands and body. Okinawan kenpo, or in other words, karate, is generally
more like the southern kind of Chinese boxing, though there are a range of
influences which have contributed over the centuries to making Ryukyu kenpo
unique to Okinawa. Nonetheless, experts such as Gichin Funakoshi are supported
in their theory on Shorin-ryu (Northern-style Shaolin boxing) and Shorei-ryu
(Southern-style Shaolin boxing; Zhaoling boxing) with, for instance, Wong Kiew
Kit’s 1996 book, The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu, stating on page 38 that “Southern
Shaolin Kung Fu is characterised by solid stances, powerful arms and elaborate
hand techniques, in contrast with the elegant jumping, extensive movements and
wide range of kicking attacks of the Northern Shaolin version.” This is
completely separate from karate, so masters like Gichin Funakoshi were not
wrong in distinguishing between different broad types of boxing; one that is
lighter, and one that is heavier. Master Funakoshi noted that both should be
studied, and this advice fits perfectly with the study of yin and yang as yin
is light while yang is heavy.
In Collins Chinese Dictionary, the character
for yin refers to the negative and the shade, while the symbol for yang refers
to the positive and the Sun, and is masculine. Gichin Funakoshi, in his 1925
text Rentan Goshin Karate Jutsu, translated into English in 2001 by John
Teramoto, described yin and yang in relation to the use of the hands as he had
been taught by his teacher, Anko Asato, as noted in Karate-Do Ichiro
(Karate-Do: My Way of Life), Master Asato always emphasising the differences
between yin and yang. According to the English version, entitled Karate Jutsu, shinite
is the dying hand, female hand, or yang hand, while ikite is the living hand,
male hand, or yin hand. This seems odd or an incorrect translation or typing
error, as yin is female and yang is male. Yet the same sort of description is
given in later books by Gichin Funakoshi, including Karate-Do Kyohan (1935 –
translated in 2005 by Harumi Suzuki-Johnston) and Karate-Do Kyohan (1958 –
translated in 1973 by Tsutomu Ohshima). It cannot, then, be a mistake. I think
it must either mean that both hands can change between types depending on the
situation, or that the living hand is soft and the dying hand is hard.
Regardless, yin is soft and yang is hard, but they rely on each other and are
interrelated and constantly changing, with no beginning or end. This is a
fundamental aspect of Taoism, referring to the beginning of the Universe and
the creation of everything. Indeed, the hand gesture in which you place the
open left palm over the closed right fist is a physical representation of yin
and yang, meaning balance, peace and to stop fighting. That same posture is the
manifestation of the Chinese character for martial (wu in Mandarin, bu is
Japanese and Okinawan). There are quite a number of karate kata that employ
this position, such as jion, jitte, wansu, passai, naihanchi (in a different
manner), and many more.
Gichin Funakoshi stated in Rentan Goshin
Karate Jutsu that karate contrasts to jujutsu in that it can be considered a
“hard” martial art. However, he goes on to write that hard and soft co-exist,
and that grappling techniques can be considered soft which is fundamental to
karate if the student seeks to become truly skilful. Furthermore, Funakoshi
stated in the same text, on page 37 of the English edition, “... the ancient
expression [which] says, ‘Battle exists in the interval between the normal and
the abnormal – without knowing that the abnormal becomes normal, and the normal
changes to the abnormal, how can victory be achieved?’” Immediately following
this, it reads, “Yin and yang have no beginning, action and stillness are not
apparent; unless one knows the Way, who can hope to gain victory?” And then the
end of the paragraph talks about the cardinal principles, which are the same,
albeit later described in a more succinct and refined way, as the three
cardinal points of karate noted by Master Funakoshi in other works, including
in his Twenty Guiding Principles of Karate which were first published in
Karate-Do Taikan in 1938 by Genwa Nakasone, and translated into English in 2003
by John Teramoto. The principles are: Hard and soft application of power,
stretching and contraction of the body, and fast and slow application of
technique, all of which are clearly based on the opposites of yin and yang.
In Karate-Do Tanpenshu (2006), by Patrick
and Yuriko McCarthy, there is an article written by Gichin Funakoshi in 1934
entitled Stillness & Action / Yin & Yang. Funakoshi details the concept
of yin and yang to a degree that shows the reader that he clearly had a great understanding
of this ancient Chinese notion of opposites in the Universe. Indeed it is the
foundation of Chinese martial arts, with some styles such as taijiquan and
taiji mantis going so far as to name their systems after it, taiji referring to
yin and yang after there was nothing in the Universe. The taijiquan classics,
including the Treatise by Master Chang San-feng, written around 1200 AD
according to T’ai Chi Classics by Waysun Liao, 1977 / 1990, the Treatise by
Master Wong Chung-yua, written circa 1600 AD, and the Treatise by Master Wu
Yu-hsiang, who lived from 1812 to 1880, all discuss the principles of yin and
yang when explaining the key points to know regarding the method of Long fist
that is commonly known as taijiquan. Karate could also be called something like
taiji karate (although that could be viewed as being incorrect as it is a
combination of languages). Yet, it already is, in a manner of speaking.
Taikyoku is taiji, but in Japanese. The three taikyoku kata in Funakoshi karate
were developed by either Gigo Funakoshi or his father or both together. In the
1958 Karate-Do Kyohan by Gichin Funakoshi, he wrote about taikyoku being the
first and last kata of a real student of karate. That is because the basics are
fundamental and difficult to master. Yet, taikyoku is taiji and therefore yin
and yang, so the teachings of the natural opposites of life and existence are
supposed to be taught as the foundations and most important lessons in karate.
Morinobu Itoman also discussed yin and yang in Okinawan karate in his 1934
book, The Study of China-hand Techniques, translated by Mario McKenna into
English in 2012. From pages 154 to 156, there is a section called The Way of
Opposites, and the first line reads, “Martial strategy is the way of
opposites.” The third sentence is: “If my opponent employs one strategy, then I
employ its opposite.” In sumo wrestling, I have seen several exponents who were
small and comparably light defeating much larger wrestlers by using the skills
found in soft power, harmonising to use their opponent’s strength against them.
Hence, all complete martial arts study yin and yang; soft and hard; opposites.
In physical practice, the theory of yin and
yang applies in many ways from a pure perspective. If there is no weight on one
foot, it is completely yin, while the foot bearing your weight is fully yang.
The free leg, or yin leg, can be most efficiently employed for kicking or
stepping. Meanwhile, the arms and hands are yin on the outside and yang on the
inside, yet can be applied in a multitude of manners. For example, checking the
opponent’s attack, rather than blocking it in a raw sense, is yin defence. A
counter-attack would be yang. All of the various methods of blending with the
opponent’s assaults are yin, as they are soft. If, on the other hand, I use a
defensive technique in a striking fashion, that is yang. For instance, instead
of blending with the attack, I can essentially hit the advancing arm or leg. In
addition, rather than just crudely blocking in such a way anywhere, I can
select a location, preferring a soft target to a hard one, particularly when
using the bones of my own arm. You need stamina and efficiency in fighting, as
well as accuracy and speed, but you also need to utilise yin and yang and use
your mind to strategise and fight with intelligence. It is better for longevity
in a situation and in life to block hard to a soft point such as the upper arm,
as opposed to connecting bone with bone more so on the inside and outside of
the forearm near the wrist or by the elbow. Iron-body training is great, and
you should be confident that you will not be easily hurt, coupled with your
ability to evade and your skills in defence. But to rely solely on an iron-like
physique is a mistake. As Master Anko Asato taught Gichin Funakoshi, “Think of
the hands and feet as swords.” And as Master Funakoshi also wrote in his 20
precepts, “Do not think of winning; think, rather, of not losing.” Hence, focus
on defence and do not let your opponent so much as touch you. In addition to
this, employing the three cardinal points, as previously noted, as well as
moving in accordance, the principles of yin and yang can be applied skilfully
and with intellect, enabling, as with the case of certain sumo wrestlers, a
small person to defeat someone much larger, no matter how intimidating they may
appear.
This essay was written for my 5th Dan exam, which I passed in early January 2022.
From sūpārinpē performed in the 1974 footage of Keio karate, which also featured Isao Obata Suparinpei is taught in Keio University karate, and, according to Sensei Kinichi Mashimo, who learnt directly from Master Gichin Funakoshi and others such as Master Isao Obata (who continued to teach Funakoshi karate at universities such as Keio until he passed away in 1976), Master Gichin Funakoshi supervised the transmission of suparinpei at Keio, resulting in the alterations present in their version, although he did not teach the kata all on his own. It does appear evident that we know which kata he focused on, but that he knew other kata to one extent or another, and was therefore able to make changes to them after they were taught by other teachers to his students. Of course, to be overly concerned with which kata this or that person knew is ridiculous and a waste of time, because, for instance, Goju-ryu does not include gojushiho, and Tomari village tii traditionally taught wansu, wankuan (okan), rohai, naihanchi, passai, perhaps sesan, and maybe one or two other systems, then chinto, ji'in, jitte, chinte (mariti) and plausibly jion, but gojushiho was from Matsumura's tii. It makes no difference if you know suparinpei or gojushiho or any other particular kata that is, nowadays, said to be more advanced. Look at Choki Motobu's example. He only practised one or two kata, focused more on kumite, probably knew many more kata, and was highly skilled, apparently more so than most. My current teacher only teaches five forms: a short version of the actual form, the actual longer form, and three weapons forms. And the short form has 108 movements. Yet, we get by, and most of the time we practise pair-work. As Master Asato said, five or six kata are enough, provided they are studied deeply. And each has its own beneficial characteristics, so they can be selected accordingly, and in harmony with your own body.
