Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

366 Okinawa
Form of the Lords), thus furthering the association between the nobility
(anji) and te.
The consideration that the divine progenitors of Ryûkyûan genesis
myths were probably Japanese missionaries who came from the court of
Shôtoku Taishi at Nara about A.D. 616, together with the association between
te and successive generations of Ryûkyûan royalty and the fact that
the principal weaponry of te was also the principal weaponry of the Japanese
bushi, lends support to the idea that te itself is of Japanese origin.
The Japanese arts also influenced the development of karate on Okinawa.
Karate should not be confused with te. The original name for karate
was Toudi, or Tôte (Tang hand), denoting its roots in the Chinese martial
arts. The name was later changed to karate, meaning “empty hand.”
Kanga Teruya, also known as Sakugawa Toudi (Tang Hand), studied combative
forms in Satsuma, which he combined with forms he learned in
Fuzhou and Beijing. Sakugawa’s student, Matsumura Sôkon (1809–1901),
traveled to Fuzhou and also to Kagoshima, where he studied the art of Jigen-ryû
Kenjutsu, the sword style of the Satsuma samurai. On his return to
Okinawa, Matsumura combined this knowledge of Jigen-ryû with the Chinese-based
systems he learned in Fuzhou and Okinawa to form the basis of
Shuri-di (see Karate, Okinawan).
Chinese martial arts (wuyi) entered Ryûkyû culture through interaction
with Chinese immigrants who settled in Okinawa, and through Okinawans
who traveled abroad. The Thirty-Six Families who settled at Kume
Village in Kuninda, Naha, in 1392 undoubtedly brought combative disciplines
with them. And in 1762, the Chinese kenpô expert, Kusanku, arrived
in Okinawa with several of his students and began to disseminate his art.
Fuzhou, in the province of Fujian, was a major trading port between
Okinawa and China. Fuzhou was also the home of many renowned Chinese
martial artists, several of whom were reported to have studied at the
famed Southern Shaolin Temple, and many young Uchinachu (Japanese;
Okinawans) traveled to Fuzhou to study the martial arts. Sakugawa Toudi
and Matsumura Sôkon studied in Fuzhou. Higashionna (Higaonna) Kanryô
(1853–1915) studied go no kenpô jû no kenpô (hard-fist method/softfist
method) in Fuzhou with the Chinese master Xie Zhongxiang, as did
Nakaima Norisato. Higashionna returned to Okinawa and laid the foundation
for Naha-di and, subsequently, the Gôjû-ryû (see Karate, Okinawan).
Nakaima founded the Ryûei-ryû. Uechi Kanbun (1877–1948) also
studied in Fuzhou. He learned the art of Pangai-Noon (also PanYing Jen,
banyingruan, or Pan Ying Gut), which later became known in Okinawa as
Uechi-ryû, from Zhou Zihe (Japanese, Shu Shi Wa). The Kojô family was
one of the original Thirty-Six Families who came from Fuzhou and settled
in the Kume village. The family continues to be a prominent martial arts