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Trading expanded to other countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.īecause of its highly important strategic position, Okinawa was a ground of many battles. Sho Hashi’s rule enjoys reputation as the most prosperous period for the kingdom. For his capitol he chose Shuri city located in the south of Okinawa. At the beginning of XV century (1429), Sho Hashi (overlord of the Chutsan) was overthrowing his rivals and established reign of his own dynasty. The Empty Hands Martial Arts was a fragment of that exchange.ĭuring a rule of the king Satto, RYUKYU kingdom was divided into three confronted feuds: northern Chutsan, middle Nantsan and southern Hokutsan, which struggled for dominance in the kingdom. When the King of RYUKYU, Satto, established diplomatic relations with China, and declared his loyalty to Chinese’s Emperor Ming (whereby kingdom of Ryukyu became a Chinese dominion in some way), a large economic and cultural exchange between two countries commenced. Certain period of independence enabled a predominant influence of China, which created a unique cultural heredity of RYUKYU. Today, it is the southernmost Japanese Prefecture Okinawa. RYUKYU archipelago was independent kingdom until XXVI century. Okinawa is the largest island of Ryukyu archipelago, with the area of 1120 square kilometers (length: 96, 5 km, medial width: 10 km). Main islands, from north to south, are: Amami, Tokuno and Okinawa. It consists of over 130 islands of volcanic origin.
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It is located between 127 & 130 parallels of east geographic length and 25 and 30 parallels of north geographic latitude. The RYUKYU archipelago is a boundary between the East Chinese Sea and Pacific Ocean. IN OKINAWA, MARTIAL ART OF KARATE-DO CONTINUED TO DEVELOP IN ITS ORIGINAL, TRADITIONAL FORM. Very soon, on the basis of OKINAWAN KARATE, many new styles have been formed in Japan mainland, but they are adapted to sports’ and competitions’ trends. It became one of the most popular of Martial Arts of the Far East. In the first half of the XX century this art was imported to Japan and then very quickly to other parts of the world. So, today, official Okinawan Karate systems are:Īll TRADITIONAL OKINAWA KARATE-DO styles existing today can be traced back to the one of the above mentioned Karate systems. PANGAI-NOON was renamed to UECHI-RYU in 1940. In the first part of XX century four Karate streams were defined:Īfter 25 th October 1936, SHURI-TE was called SHORIN-RYU, NAHA-TE was called GOJU-RYU and TOMARI-TE assimilated into SHORIN-RYU and GOJU-RYU. In 2005, Okinawa Prefecture Assembly officially determined the date of Octobar 25th as "DAY OF KARATE".Ī variety of the CHINESE KEMPO styles that had influenced the development of karate over the ages, contributed to the development and multitude of the Okinawan styles (RYUHA) which exist on Okinawa today. On 25th October 1936 associations of Okinawan "EMPTY HANDS" Martial Arts declared the EMPTY HANDS kanji characters (KU / KARA & TE) as the official for this art, and from that time its official name is KARATE. A few contemporary authorities agree that secrecy in practicing was kept almost by the year 1903 due to inertia, though in the seventh year of the era Meiji (1875) the Ryukyu archipelago (and hence also Okinawa as its largest island) officially became a part of the Japanese empire, whereby the former laws and edicts were abolished. It cannot be determined with precision when the secret practicing of EMPTY HANDS martial art ceased. Nevertheless, this art was practiced secretly, and the period in question was considered to be the most fruitful one in terms of the preservation and the development of this art. Parts of the dance performed by male dancers are almost identical to some movements in KARATE.įor a certain period of time, the development of Okinawa practicing art of EMPTY HANDS and Martial Arts in general, as well as possession & carrying weapons, were prohibited by an edict of authorities of that time. In the encyclopedia "SEKAI-DAI-HYAKKA-JITEN" (published in Tokyo in 1957), the hypothesis about the time when this art of fighting came into existence is supported by relatively strong facts, and it is based on observation of the classical Ryukyuanic dance, which is known to originate from this period. Therefore, that part of the historical development remains based on certain spoken legends.Īs to the question of KARATE origin, it is considered that the "EMPTY HANDS" art of fighting, once called "TE" and "KEMPO", was transferred from China to Okinawa a long time ago, at the time of Chinese dynasty Tang (618-907). The scripts about AN ANCIENT FORM OF EMPTY HANDS MARTIAL ART do not exist.