An ancient type of martial arts

Japan is usually considered the birthplace of karate. However, this is not quite true. Karate appeared not as a new art of wrestling, but only as a new name given at the beginning of the 20th century in Japan to this ancient type of martial arts, which has long been known in Asian countries. Karate, Kung Fu, Kempo - all these are different names for an essentially single system of physical and spiritual improvement, a complex and still not fully deciphered psycho-physiological complex.

According to some sources, at the beginning of our era, the famous Chinese surgeon Hua Tuo (190-265) developed an original system of physical exercises to relieve nervous tension. Most of these exercises were imitations of certain movements of a tiger, monkey, deer, heron, etc. The Hua Tuo system was also suitable for self-defense. But the most reliable version of the creation of an early system of fighting without weapons is put forward by the legend of Bodhidharma.

Known in Japan as Bodaidaruma or Daruma Taishi, the Indian monk Bodhidharma arrived in China during the Liang Dynasty (502-556) to promote Buddhism. Traveling through areas teeming with wild animals and robbers, difficult to pass even today, required from a person the maximum exertion of physical and moral strength. Apparently, the results of the pilgrimage were reflected in the further activities of Bodhidharma. Upon his arrival in China, he settled in one of the monasteries known as Shaolin on Song Mountain in Hunan Province. In the monastery, Bodhidharma established a strict discipline, the traditions of which were later continued by the successors of the patriarch. Along with the study of Buddhist dogmas, Bodhidharma proclaimed the path to internal self-improvement to be an all-round physical development. The duty of the monk was charged with the study of the most sophisticated methods of self-defense. The monastery became, as it were, a creative laboratory for developing methods of fighting without weapons. The fame of the martial arts of the Shaolin monks boomed throughout China.

During the reign of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the famous commander Yue Fei compiled a manual for his troops, which summarized the techniques of a fundamentally new school, now known as "Yue Fei's Combat Techniques" or "Yue Shi San Shou" and which served as the basis for many later schools and directions. In developing the techniques of his school, Yue Fei sought to apply not only the achievements of Shaolin, but also familiar to every soldier skills in dealing with with a spear and a sword.He emphasized chopping and stabbing with his hands, which did not require a particularly sophisticated technique from the performer.Yue Fei first began to widely use the edge of the palm of the "hand-sword" type and the fingers of the "hand-spear" type brought together.

During the Song era, unarmed fighting became extremely popular in China. But although it became a truly golden age in the history of the struggle without weapons in China, however, all its achievements remained the property of only dedicated monks and a narrow circle of the military aristocracy. For centuries, the system developed in the bosom of the three schools was kept in strict confidence. And only after the conquest of China by the Manchus, it was declassified. The Manchus destroyed and burned the Shaolin Monastery, in which adherents of the overthrown Ming dynasty found shelter. However, many monks managed to escape and escape to South China, where they built a new Shaolin monastery in the province of Fujian (Fukien).

Southern Shaolin eventually became a famous school for training masters to fight without weapons. The full course of study was designed for 10-12 years. After this period, the student took exams in the history and theory of art and competed against several partners. Those who successfully passed these exams were admitted to the last, most cruel test. It consisted in the fact that the examinee had to pass through the hall of the tower, specially equipped with 108 mechanical devices, bringing down on the subject a hail of blows with sticks, spears, knives, etc. The nature of the action of the devices depended on the severity of the body of the examinee and the width of his step along the floorboards, which served as a kind of trigger. The devices were designed in such a way that even their creator did not know how they would behave in the next moment. At the exit from the hall there was a red-hot metal ball weighing about 200 kg. The test subject had to roll it back with his bare arms and shoulders, after which images of a dragon and a tiger remained scorched on his body.

The graduates of the monastery school of martial arts left its walls and went to different parts of the country with the task of creating kenpo schools and preparing the people for an uprising against a foreign dynasty. And although later the Manchus destroyed Southern Shaolin and killed most of its inhabitants, by that time the art of kempo had ceased to be the privilege of Buddhist monks and the ruling elite. It became the property of a wide range of admirers from all segments of the Chinese population, went beyond class barriers and became truly public and popular.

By this time, the Chinese art of unarmed fighting had crossed the borders of the country. Outside it, all three schools became known under the common name of kempo. Before everyone else, the Japanese, as well as the inhabitants of the island of Okinawa, met him. The indigenous population of the island developed the Chinese art of kempo to such an extent that arms and legs became like sabers, and various combinations of ordinary pieces of wood (nunchaku and tungfa) crushed iron shells in skillful hands. The new system was called Okinawa-te (Okinawa fisticuffs). After the appearance of firearms among the Japanese, interest in Okinawa-te began to fade.

The rebirth of Okinawa-te took place at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1917, the Japanese brotherhood of martial arts masters, known as "Budokai", became interested in the art of masters from Okinawa and asked them to send the best fighter of this type to Japan for demonstration fights with jiu-jitsu masters.

By this time, there were several Japanese-language schools operating in Okinawa. The teacher in one of them, known as "Shoto Gakko", was a certain Gichin Funakoshi (1869-1957). An excellent specialist in the Japanese language, he was also known as a wonderful master of Okinawa-te.

A messenger from Okinawa amazed the Budokai masters. He easily defeated his strongest opponents, demonstrating perfect technique and effective techniques. Some of the throws he showed, such as "Uchi Mata" and "Osoto Gari", subsequently entered the technique of judo. Upon his return to Okinawa, Funakoshi became the president of the Okinawa Sebukai, a brotherhood of martial arts masters created on the island according to the Japanese model, having done a lot in this post to popularize Okinawa-te. In 1922, Funakoshi, along with another master of this type, Kenwa Mabuni, was invited by the Ministry of Education for demonstration performances in the largest cities of Japan. The performances were a huge success. Funakoshi was the first to understand what opportunities were opening up for Okinawa-te in Japan. He decided to stay here to teach the new art and soon founded a school he named "Shotokan" in memory of the school in Okinawa.