From Karate to Karate-do 2: Empty Hand Way (Okinawa, 1426-1902)

 By George M. Hizon

         Okinawa is the largest of the Ryukyus chain of islands located 550 miles east of China and 473 miles south of Japan. Because of this geographical proximity, it was probable that the ancient Chinese martial arts reached this island during the Ming Dynasty (7th-8th century A.D.), a time when trade and other relationships flourished between the Chinese kingdom and the islands. However, there were no historical records to prove this development. The only proof we have is the Tote, the Okinawan system of self-defense which was already in existence for centuries. Tote, also known as China Hand, was said to be the fusion of ancient Chinese martial arts and indigenous Okinawan fighting methods. Tote, however, would be practiced in total secrecy from the 14th century to the early part of the 19th century. According to legend, King Soshin prohibited the practice of all the martial arts in 1429. Prior to his reign, the island of Okinawa was disunited and ruled by petty local chieftains who would do everything to attain power. To avoid anarchy and preserve order, Soshin had to ban all weapons as well as the martial arts. After King Soshin’s reign, Okinawa was united by his predecessor, King Shohashi that same year.

In 1609, Okinawa was invaded by the armies of the Satsuma clan from Kagoshima, Japan. The Satsuma clan was in charge of the military affairs in southern Kyushu, Japan. During that period, military affairs were left to the strongest and most prominent families.

For the Okinawans, Tote became the last means of self-defense, but since the Satsuma clan also clamped down on this, it had to be practiced in total secrecy. The Okinawans had no alternative but to develop Tote into a very deadly fighting art. Not even the practitioner’s family would know that he was practicing this art, a situation that would persist until a man named Gichin Funakoshi revealed the secrets of the Tote when he held a public demonstration before the Ministry of Education in 1902.

In 1905, Tote was included as an official subject in Physical Education in the Normal and Prefectural 1st Middle Schools in Shuri, Okinawa. Later, Tote came to be known as Karate-jutsu (the Japanese term) and then, in 1929, Gichin Funakoshi took the revolutionary step of strongly advocating that the name be changed from Karate to Karate-do. Karate would thus be transformed, in both appearance and content, from the techniques of Okinawan origin into a Japanese martial art.

Members of the Satsuma Clan