Shotokan Karate

Shotokan Karate I spent ten years training in Shotokan Karate.After i got my purple belt i took a break and went to a Kung-Fu dojo and trained for about six months.Although i did enjoy this different style of martial arts i personally preferred Karate.Before i decided to go back to karate i asked my instructor what was the difference in styles,and to me he explained it perfectly.He said you are training in karate and i am training in kung-fu,and we both have to start at the bottom.We are both at the bottom of a hill and it is our goals to reach the top in our chosen styles. You are on the north side and i am on the south side,and we both look around at our views.You see a small seaside resort with a harbour,and think its very pretty and your view must be better than mine.I see a small village with a church steeple and think its very pretty and a much better view than you have.We both work very hard and climb halfway up the hill and stop for a rest. Now you see all of the seaside and the harbour with the fishing boats coming and going and the blue blue sea going on for miles,and think how beautiful your veiw is,and it must be a better view than mine. I see all of the the beautiful village with the fields around and the cattle and sheep grazing.I can see inland for miles.My view must be better than yours.Now we both work very hard to climb to the top of the hill,and reach it at the same time.We both look around at the view,and look at each other and realise that are views are exactly the same. As you see it does not matter which style you learn weather it is karate,kung-fu.judo,aikido or any other style,because when reach the top of your chosen martial art you will all be the same. (bloody good) So make sure you train hard.concentrate,and listen to your sensai. There are many martial arts,about fifteen are the core styles but then there are many branches of each of these. All together there are thousands of different styles. The martial arts are taught in nearly every country of the world. A lot of the original styles have been adapted. Some because where people live their life styles have changed. Others because they brought there martial art to a different country,and had to adapt for different reasons. But in all the martial arts somethings don't change. Getting fit to improve your body and health. Training the mind and its power plays a very important in the makeup of a good martial artist. Train regularly,at least twice a week,three times is even better. Meditate is good for relaxation,and most sensai's will encourage it. As my main style of martial art was karate i am writing about the origin of karate. There are many story's of how it began and progressed through the ages. A lot of it has been past down and changed for different reasons. Some of the reasons are to hide the real truths,and others could just be exaggerated. There are still practising martial artist today who like to keep there way a secret. I am not an expert at the history of karate but i will try my best to get it as close to the truth as i can.Some of what i write will be of things i already no,and the rest will be taken from what i have read.After i have written about karate i will go on to some of the other styles.So while i write about karate i will be studying other styles in the hope i keep you intrested. ORIGINS OF SHOTOKAN KARATE 'KARATE MEANS'EMTY HAND'

THE CORRECT TERM IS 'KARATE-DO'

' WAY OF THE EMPTY HAND'

The history of Karate goes back to about the 15th century.It started in the island of Okinawa the largest of the Ryukyu islands,which lies abut 500 kilometres from the Japanese island of Kyushu,and about 800 kilometres off Foochow on the Chinese mainland.The inhabitants lived mainly from fishing and agriculture and traded with neighbouring countries.There was many violent wars between the provinces-Chuzan,Nanzan and Hokuzan.The provinces unified in 1429 under the king of Chuzan,Sho Hashi.the island was in a important position to trade with neighbouring country's,China,Korea,Taiwan and Japan. Okinawa is only a stepping stone away from Japan and China and because of this the cultures of Japan and China fermented.In 1609 the island of Okinawa was invaded by the Japanese troops.The ruler was taken back to Japan as a hostage and the Japanese quickly set up a police force in the capital and ban the military class and confiscate all arms.The Japanese were confident that without weapons the Ryukyu islanders could not rebel.But the invaders had not reckoned with the ancestral heritage of this race and there martial arts.They had there own way of fighting but because of there close trade with China the Kung Fu styles and methods of the latter country's had mixed with the islanders indigenous fighting arts. The Okinawans resigned to the fact that the Japanese overlords were there to stay,so they accepted the occupation with distaste but allegiance.In 1868 a man named Gichin Funakoshi was born,a son of aminor official of Okinawa.This young man grew up learning the martial skills of Okinawan te from a great master Azato.By the time he had reached his 25th birthday he had mastered the art and had become a school teacher.When a commissioner visited his school he witnessed a demonstration of his skills.He was authorized to put martial arts on the school curriculum,and Karate was taught in schools through-out Okinawa. Martial Art is not new,way before karate came along back in the fifth century or before martial arts were taught in India.The priests were experts at self-defence because they were constantly battling(literally) against parishioners of different faiths.At the end of the fifth century Bhodidharma went from India to China to teach the Shaolin-Szu monastery.Chinese fighting called Kempo was introduced and it worked so well that the Shaolin-Szu Temple became one of the most respected schools in China.Kempo was used alongside medicine of the day and used to pinpoint areas of the body to practice acupuncture.The areas were used for attack in Kempo and later formed the basis for attack areas in Karate. Because the Japanese banned all weapons the old monks in the mountains began to toughen there hand and elbows on straw and wet sand,and eventually tree trunks to harden them.As the armour of the Japanese troops were made from lacquered bamboo and leather thongs,when they decided to fight back it was easy for them to penetrate and kill the oppressors.The islanders even learned to execute flying kicks so they could kill the mounted troops.The farmers played there part as well by using agricultural implements such as the rice grinder,which could parry the blows from a samurai sword,and the sickle made an excellent weapon against the spear and sword attacks. Japans had to wait until 1912 for the introduction of the modern day karate.The Imperial navy fleet arrived in Chujo bay of Okinawa.The crew were housed in the school were Gichin Funakoshi taught,and the schoolmaster used to put on demonstrations of karate for them.It was because of these demos that karate was talked about in Tokyo,and ten years later in 1921 the emperor of japan asked Funakashi to perform his art in front of him.He was so impressed of this fighting skill that he asked Funakashi to go to japan and teach his art there.Within five years he had become the idol of Japanese martial arts.He was now approaching 60 so he set up his own school(dojo)in Tokyo.It was known as the shotokan or the club of shoto,because when he was young he used to write poetry and his pen name was shoto meaning(waving pines),and thought this was an appropriate name.He had laid down the foundations for the biggest school of karate in the world,and at that time his art was still called Okinawan hand,it was later changed to the present name Karate-Do,the way of the empty hand. There was a lot of influence from Funakoshi's karate school and many other masters came over to Japanto teach there own styles,such as goju-ryu,shito-ryu,wado-ryu,shutokai,shotokai and kyokushinkai.today there are about fifteen major styles and many off shoot styles with millions of practitioners. Most people take up karate as a self defence system but in reality it is a lethal art.You are taught to use every part of your body with technique and conditioning to over come your assailant.When the student has mastered all the techniques he will be awarded a first degree black belt(shodan) and then becomes a teacher(sensei).As a result of hard training and the battle between mind and body he becomes calm with his or her innerself,he or she has won the fight with themselfs so no longer has the need to prove they can fight,but to prefer to walk away knowing that if the situation does not go away they will be more than able to deal with it in a deadly and effective way. Changing LINKS