----- Original Message -----

From: David Gimberline

Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:25 PM

Subject: Karate Acceptance

Hey, It's been a while since I've written much on karate, so I thought I would send this around. >Speaking of history: since Karate is Okinawan and thus not as "pure" as Judo (from a Japanese perspective), how have its practitioners been regarded in Japan? Was there (at least originally) a "hierarchy" of Judo as the ultimate martial art with Karate deemed somehow as inferior? Funny you should ask. ;) Yes, karate originally received with a lot of prejudice by the Japanese. The Okinawan's were perceived as peasants or backwards hicks by the Japanese, so it was assumed they would not be able to contribute anything of much value. In fact karate was only accepted by the Botukukai (Japanese Martial Arts Association) as a subset of Judo. That's basically why we wear the same gi design and use the same ranking/belt system. There were several other karate masters that came to teach in Japan. Some came before Funakoshi and some more proficient than Funakoshi. Funakoshi was the most widely accepted and perceived by the public to be the most legitimate. There are several reasons for this: 1) Funakoshi was well educated, spoke fluent Japanese, and was quite polished, conducting himself with Japanese etiquette. 2) Funakoshi was befriended and eventually sponsored by Jigiro Kano, who founded Judo (this was in the early 1920's; Judo was really only founded about 20 years before). Kano was quite a public figure and was sort of an informal ambassador of Japan to foreign countries (this is one reason Judo spread so quickly). Kano invited Funakoshi to come teach a class at his dojo. The first day 100 judo students came. The next day another 100 students came. IMO, this is one reason grappling was downplayed in karate and striking was emphasized. They already knew how to grapple, it was just smarter to concentrate on the parts that were new to them. 3) Funakoshi made many changes or compromises to karate training to make it more acceptable to the Japanese. He changed the spelling and connotation of 'karate' (not really his original idea, he just advocated this change), changed the names of the kata, some of which stuck and some of which didn't, he designed the uniforms, established kata, kihon, and kumite training (which was soon mandated to the Okinawans by the Botukukai; which didn't make him too popular back home). Our current form of kumite copies the footwork, positioning, timing, and strategies of kendo. 4) Funakoshi wrote many books introducing karate to the Japanese people and wrote regular articles for the Botukukai newsletter, which was widely distributed; he also wrote in other news papers of the day. This visibility and exposure made him the target of other karate instructors or practitioners that disagreed with his interpretations. In about 1932, Funakoshi wrote that (paraphrased from memory) 'few people realize how much karate training has changed in the 10 years since I introduced it to the mainland, and how little it resembles the art I studied as a child in Okinawa'. Anyway, karate also receives some prejudice today in Japan as not even being a legitimate martial art, not because of it's lineage, but because it uses empty hands. Many only consider it to be a legitimate traditional martial art if it is one of (or at least descended from) the classical weapon arts of the Samurai; - kendo (although the purists would probably on count live-blade sword arts, generically battojutsu; kendo uses boken (wood sword) and shinai (bamboo sword) both of which destroy the 'slicing' art. -iado or iajutsu - focusing on just drawing and cutting with the sword. - kyudo - Japanese archery, although there is interesting evidence that this is a modern, newly reconstructed art - Naginata - kind of a staff with a sword blade on the end. etc. I hope this answered your question. Please feel free to ask more. I tend to write more and better when someone asks a question, :) Dave in Minnesota