The Origins of Karate
Before I begin with analysing the origins of karate art, I would like to point out that in the past, Okinawan karate didn't look at all as today. Talking from a historical point of view, there are three basic forms of karate:
The first one is today's sports karate, focused on tournaments. This highly popular and commercial form of practicing developed a few decades ago and has almost no practical value in self-defence.
Then, if we move further into the past, well come across traditional karate (karatedo) with its principal aim - recreation, pre-military preparation in Japan before WWII. For the development of karatedo, masters Ankoh Itosu and Gichin Funakoshi are the most deserving ones. It appeared around 1900 and presents a very efficient system of self defence focused on its applying in practice. Bubishi therefore talks about Tote jutsu, i.e. karate before it became karatedo and before it become sport. Tote jutsu is Okinawan method of self defence, kept in secrecy being taught only to individuals strictly within the pechin class, which relied equally on punches, joint locks, throwing techniques and usage of weapons. This method was modelled by generations of man who practiced it - warriors, by combining traditional Okinawan method of fighting (te) and different Chinese styles or fighting from neighbouring Fukien province. And out of which style was karate formed?
By studying Bubishi we can easily draw a conclusion that the basis of karate is the White Crane style. The creation of this style as a combination of the techniques of the Crane and Tiger styles was described at the very beginning of the book. This was even illustrated in the article #28, where a woman was presented while performing Hakutsuru no kamae[4] while a man was presented in position characteristic for Tiger[5] style. This symbolic uniting of female (soft, ju, jin) and masculine (firm, go, jang) style resulted in creation of a perfect method of fighting, according to manuscript. Bubishi however isn't only about White Crane style, but also mentions such styles as: Monks Fist, White Monkey, Tiger and Drunken Man. This as a definite proofs that karate is an eclectical system, i.e. a combination of most efficient techniques and principles of several quan fa styles. This hypothesis is confirmed by many prominent masters in their writings (Ankoh Itosu, Chojun Miyagi, Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni).