1.
Sanchin
Tam Hon taught a style that was called simply Saam Jin. The name Sanchin, meaning three battles/conflicts/wars is usually interpreted as the battle to unify the mind and spirit, there are other interpretations. Uechi-ryu practices a form of Sanchin with nukite zuki open spear hand strikes, Sanchin uses the sanchin dachi sanchin stance named for the kata. Sanchin is the first kata learned in Uechi-Ryu, while other styles may introduce it later, in Gōjū-Ryu, there are two Sanchin kata. The first, Miyagis Sanchin or sanchin dai ichi, was created by Chojun Miyagi and this kata was adopted by other styles such as the Okinawan style Isshin-ryū and Kyokushin. Some styles use a method of checking strength, Karate stances Karate kata Tiger Crane Paired Form Isshin Ryu Naihanchi
2.
Okinawan martial arts
Okinawan martial arts refers to the martial arts, such as karate and Okinawan kobudō, which originated among the indigenous people of Okinawa Island. In 1429, the three kingdoms on Okinawa unified to form the Kingdom of Ryukyu, when King Shō Shin came into power in 1477, he banned the practice of martial arts. Tō-te and Ryukyu kobudō continued to be taught in secret, the ban was continued in 1609 after Okinawa was invaded by the Satsuma Domain of Japan. The bans contributed to the development of kobudō which uses common household, the Okinawans combined Chinese martial arts with the existing local variants to form Tōde, sometimes called Okinawa-te. By the 18th century, different types of Te had developed in three different villages – Shuri and Tomari, the styles were named Shuri-te, Naha-te, and Tomari-te, respectively. Well into the 20th century, the arts of Okinawa were generally referred to as te and tii 手 in Japanese. Te often varied from one town to another, so to distinguish among the types of te.
Shuri-te, Naha-te and Tomari-te belong to a family of martial arts that were defined as Tode-jutsu or To-de. Karate was systematically taught in Japan after the Taisho era, Shuri-te is a pre-World War II term for a type of indigenous martial art to the area around Shuri, the old capital city of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Tomari-te refers to a tradition of martial arts originating from the village of Tomari, Okinawa Karate Japanese martial arts Peichin
3.
Osaka
Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Japan. Historically a merchant city, Osaka has known as the nations kitchen. Some of the earliest signs of habitation in the Osaka area at the Morinomiya ruins comprise shell mounds, sea oysters. It is believed that what is today the Uehonmachi area consisted of a land with an inland sea in the east. During the Yayoi period, permanent habitation on the plains grew as rice farming became popular, by the Kofun period, Osaka developed into a hub port connecting the region to the western part of Japan. The large numbers of increasingly larger tomb mounds found in the plains of Osaka are seen as evidence of political-power concentration, in 645, Emperor Kōtoku built his Naniwa Nagara-Toyosaki Palace in what is now Osaka, making it the capital of Japan. The city now known as Osaka was at this time referred to as Naniwa, although the capital was moved to Asuka in 655, Naniwa remained a vital connection, by land and sea, between Yamato and China. Naniwa was declared the capital again in 744 by order of Emperor Shōmu, and remained so until 745, in 1496, Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists established their headquarters in the heavily fortified Ishiyama Hongan-ji, located directly on the site of the old Naniwa Imperial Palace.
Oda Nobunaga began a siege campaign on the temple in 1570 which ultimately resulted in the surrender of the monks. Toyotomi Hideyoshi constructed Osaka Castle in its place in 1583, Osaka was long considered Japans primary economic center, with a large percentage of the population belonging to the merchant class. Over the course of the Edo period, Osaka grew into one of Japans major cities and returned to its ancient role as a lively and its popular culture was closely related to ukiyo-e depictions of life in Edo. By 1780 Osaka had cultivated a vibrant arts culture, as typified by its famous Kabuki, in 1837 Ōshio Heihachirō, a low-ranking samurai, led a peasant insurrection in response to the citys unwillingness to support the many poor and suffering families in the area. Approximately one-quarter of the city was razed before shogunal officials put down the rebellion, Osaka was opened to foreign trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Hyōgo on 1 January 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.
Osaka residents were stereotyped in Edo literature from at least the 18th century, jippenisha Ikku in 1802 depicted Osakans as stingy almost beyond belief. Edo writers aspired to samurai culture, and saw themselves as poor but generous, Edo writers by contrast saw zeeroku as obsequious apprentices, greedy and lewd. The modern municipality was established in 1889 by government ordinance, with an area of 15 square kilometres, overlapping todays Chūō. Later, the city went through three major expansions to reach its current size of 223 square kilometres, Osaka was the industrial center most clearly defined in the development of capitalism in Japan. It became known as the Manchester of the Orient, the rapid industrialization attracted many Korean immigrants, who set up a life apart for themselves
4.
Gichin Funakoshi
Gichin Funakoshi is the founder of Shotokan Karate-Do, perhaps the most widely known style of karate, and is attributed as being the father of modern karate. Following the teachings of Anko Itosu and Anko Asato, he was one of the Okinawan karate masters who introduced karate to the Japanese mainland in 1922 and he taught karate at various Japanese universities and became honorary head of the Japan Karate Association upon its establishment in 1949. Gichin Funakoshi was born on November 10,1868, the year of the Meiji Restoration, in Shuri, Okinawa, to a low-rank Ryūkyūan Pechin and originally had the family name Tominakoshi. After entering primary school he became friends with the son of Ankō Azato. Being trained in both classical Chinese and Japanese philosophies and teachings, Funakoshi became an assistant teacher in Okinawa, during this time, his relations with the Azato family grew and he began nightly travels to the Azato family residence to receive karate instruction from Ankō Azato. Funakoshi had trained in both of the styles of Okinawan karate of the time, Shōrei-ryū and Shōrin-ryū.
Shotokan is named after Funakoshis pen name, Shōtō, which means waving pines, kan means training hall, or house, thus Shōtōkan referred to the house of Shōtō. This name was coined by Funakoshis students when they posted a sign above the entrance of the hall at which Funakoshi taught reading Shōtō kan. In addition to being a master, Funakoshi was an avid poet. By the late 1910s, Funakoshi had many students, of which a few were deemed capable of passing on their masters teachings, continuing his effort to garner widespread interest in Okinawan karate, Funakoshi ventured to mainland Japan in 1917, and again in 1922. In 1930, Funakoshi established an association named Dai-Nihon Karate-do Kenkyukai to promote communication and information exchange among people who study karate-dō, in 1936, Dai-Nippon Karate-do Kenkyukai changed its name to Dai-Nippon Karate-do Shoto-kai. The association is known today as Shotokai, and is the keeper of Funakoshis karate heritage. In 1939, Funakoshi built the first Shōtōkan dojo in Tokyo and he changed the name of karate to mean empty hand instead of China hand as it was referred to in Okinawa, the two words sound the same in Japanese.
It was his belief that using the term for Chinese would mislead people into thinking karate originated with Chinese boxing, Karate had borrowed many aspects from Chinese boxing which the original creators say as being positive, as they had done with other martial arts. In addition, Funakoshi argued in his autobiography that an evaluation of the use of empty seemed to fit as it implied a way which was not tethered to any other physical object. Funakoshis interpretation of the kara in karate to mean empty rather than Chinese was reported to have caused some recoil in Okinawa. In 1949 Funakoshis students created the Japan Karate Association, with Funakoshi as the head of the organization. However, in practise this organization was led by Masatoshi Nakayama, the JKA began formalizing Funakoshis teachings
5.
Judo
Judo was created as a physical and moral pedagogy in Japan, in 1882, by Jigoro Kano. It is generally categorized as a martial art which evolved into a combat. Strikes and thrusts by hands and feet as well as defenses are a part of judo. A judo practitioner is called a judoka, the philosophy and subsequent pedagogy developed for judo became the model for other modern Japanese martial arts that developed from koryū. The early history of judo is inseparable from its founder, Japanese polymath and educator Kanō Jigorō, Kano was born into a relatively affluent family. His father, was the son of the head priest of the Shinto Hiyoshi shrine in Shiga Prefecture. He married Sadako Kano, daughter of the owner of Kiku-Masamune sake brewing company and was adopted by the family and he ultimately became an official in the Shogunal government. Jigoro Kano had an academic upbringing and, from the age of seven, he studied English, shodō, when he was fourteen, Kano began boarding at an English-medium school, Ikuei-Gijuku in Shiba, Tokyo.
The culture of bullying endemic at this school was the catalyst that caused Kano to seek out a Jūjutsu dōjō at which to train, early attempts to find a jujutsu teacher who was willing to take him on met with little success. With the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, many of those who had once taught the art had been forced out of teaching or become so disillusioned with it that they had simply given up. Nakai Umenari, an acquaintance of Kanōs father and a soldier, agreed to show him kata. The caretaker of Jirosakus second house, Katagiri Ryuji, knew jujutsu, Another frequent visitor, Imai Genshiro of Kyūshin-ryū school of jujutsu, refused. Several years passed before he found a willing teacher. In 1877, as a student at the Tokyo-Kaisei school, Kano learned that many jujutsu teachers had been forced to pursue alternative careers, frequently opening Seikotsu-in. After inquiring at a number of these, Kano was referred to Fukuda Hachinosuke, a teacher of the Tenjin Shinyō-ryū of jujutsu, Fukuda is said to have emphasized technique over formal exercise, sowing the seeds of Kanos emphasis on randori in judo.
On Fukudas death in 1880, who had become his keenest and most able student in both randori and kata, was given the densho of the Fukuda dojo, Kano chose to continue his studies at another Tenjin Shinyō-ryū school, that of Iso Masatomo. Iso placed more emphasis on the practice of kata, and entrusted randori instruction to assistants, Iso died in June 1881 and Kano went on to study at the dojo of Iikubo Tsunetoshi of Kitō-ryū. Like Fukuda, Iikubo placed much emphasis on randori, with Kitō-ryū having a focus on nage-waza
6.
Boxing
Boxing is a combat sport in which two people wearing protective gloves throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring. Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport and is a fixture in most international games—it has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds, in the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw. In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to choose the most deserving winner of the bout. While people have fought in combat since before the dawn of history. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete, in Ancient Greece boxing was a well developed sport and enjoyed consistent popularity. In Olympic terms, it was first introduced in the 23rd Olympiad,688 B. C, the boxers would wind leather thongs around their hands in order to protect them.
There were no rounds and boxers fought until one of them acknowledged defeat or could not continue, weight categories were not used, which meant heavyweights had a tendency to dominate. It was the head of the opponent which was primarily targeted, Boxing was a popular spectator sport in Ancient Rome. In order for the fighters to protect themselves against their opponents they wrapped leather thongs around their fists, eventually harder leather was used and the thong soon became a weapon. The Romans even introduced metal studs to the thongs to make the cestus which led to a more sinister weapon called the myrmex, Fighting events were held at Roman Amphitheatres. The Roman form of boxing was often a fight until death to please the spectators who gathered at such events, especially in times, purchased slaves and trained combat performers were valuable commodities, and their lives were not given up without due consideration. Often slaves were used against one another in a circle marked on the floor and this is where the term ring came from.
In AD393, during the Roman gladiator period, boxing was abolished due to excessive brutality and it was not until the late 17th century that boxing re-surfaced in London. Records of Classical boxing activity disappeared after the fall of the Western Roman Empire when the wearing of weapons became common once again, there are detailed records of various fist-fighting sports that were maintained in different cities and provinces of Italy between the 12th and 17th centuries. There was a sport in ancient Rus called Kulachniy Boy or Fist Fighting, as the wearing of swords became less common, there was renewed interest in fencing with the fists. The sport would resurface in England during the early 16th century in the form of bare-knuckle boxing sometimes referred to as prizefighting. The first documented account of a fight in England appeared in 1681 in the London Protestant Mercury
7.
Aji (Ryukyu)
An aji, anji, or azu was a ruler of a petty kingdom in the history of the Ryukyu Islands. The word became a title and rank of nobility in the Ryukyu Kingdom and it has been theorized to be related to the Japanese aruji, and the pronunciation varied throughout the islands. It ranked next below a prince among nobility, the sons of princes and the eldest sons of aji became aji. An aji established a noble family equivalent to a miyake of Japan, the aji arose around the twelfth century as local leaders began to build gusuku. Shō Hashi was an aji who unified Okinawa Island as king, the title aji variously designated sons of the king and regional leaders. During the Second Shō Dynasty, when the aji settled near Shuri Castle, a pattern for addressing a male aji began with the place he ruled and ended with the word aji, for example, Nago Aji. For women, the suffix ganashi or kanashi followed, Nago Aji-ganashi, nanto fudoki, Okinawa Bunka Kyokai Okinawa Zaidan
8.
Karate
Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the martial arts of Ryukyu Islands under the influence of Chinese martial arts. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using punching, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as knife-hands, spear-hands, and in some modern styles, throws, joint locks and vital-point strikes are taught. A karate practitioner is called a karateka, Karate developed on the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was brought to the Japanese mainland in the early 20th century during a time of cultural exchanges between the Japanese and the Chinese and it was systematically taught in Japan after the Taishō era. In 1922 the Japanese Ministry of Education invited Gichin Funakoshi to Tokyo to give a karate demonstration, in 1924 Keio University established the first university karate club in mainland Japan and by 1932, major Japanese universities had karate clubs. After World War II, Okinawa became an important United States military site and karate became popular among servicemen stationed there, Karate schools began appearing across the world, catering to those with casual interest as well as those seeking a deeper study of the art.
Shigeru Egami, Chief Instructor of Shotokan Dojo, opined that the majority of followers of karate in overseas countries pursue karate only for its fighting techniques, depict karate as a mysterious way of fighting capable of causing death or injury with a single blow. The mass media present a pseudo art far from the real thing, shōshin Nagamine said, Karate may be considered as the conflict within oneself or as a life-long marathon which can be won only through self-discipline, hard training and ones own creative efforts. On September 28,2015, karate was featured on a shortlist along with baseball, skateboarding, surfing, on June 1,2016, the International Olympic Committees executive board announced they were supporting the inclusion of all five sports for inclusion in the 2020 Games. Web Japan claims there are 50 million karate practitioners worldwide, while the World Karate Federation claims there are 100 million practitioners around the world, Karate began as a common fighting system known as te among the Pechin class of the Ryukyuans.
There were few formal styles of te, but rather many practitioners with their own methods, one surviving example is the Motobu-ryū school passed down from the Motobu family by Seikichi Uehara. Early styles of karate are often generalized as Shuri-te, Naha-te, each area and its teachers had particular kata and principles that distinguished their local version of te from the others. Members of the Okinawan upper classes were sent to China regularly to various political and practical disciplines. The incorporation of empty-handed Chinese Kung Fu into Okinawan martial arts occurred partly because of these exchanges, Traditional karate kata bear a strong resemblance to the forms found in Fujian martial arts such as Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Gangrou-quan. Many Okinawan weapons such as the sai and nunchaku may have originated in, Sakukawa Kanga had studied pugilism and staff fighting in China. In 1806 he started teaching an art in the city of Shuri that he called Tudi Sakukawa. This was the first known recorded reference to the art of Tudi, around the 1820s Sakukawas most significant student Matsumura Sōkon taught a synthesis of te and Shaolin styles
9.
Japan
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD.
Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭.
It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
