Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

there continued to be an association between secret societies, radical religion,
and the martial arts. The results of this materialized in the activities
of the “Righteous and Harmonious Fists” at the turn of the twentieth century,
which culminated in the Boxer Rebellion (1900). In 1911, the Triads
played a role in the overthrow of the Qing in the Republican Revolution.
Afterwards, however, the once patriotic groups became less and less beneficent,
and became more concerned with criminal activity, slavery, drug running,
and other socially detrimental activities. Throughout the history of
these groups, martial arts had had a greater ritual than practical significance
in their activities. As with the boxing systems mentioned earlier, a
Shaolin association served a need for validating and legitimizing and was
not necessarily a genuine point of origin.
The Shaolin hard-fist styles played an influential role in the development
of martial arts outside China as well. Trade and diplomacy allowed
for the dissemination of the Shaolin external tradition throughout East and
Southeast Asia. Okinawan and Japanese martial arts can serve as examples.
After the Battle of Sekigahara (A.D. 1600), the Shimazu clan, despite opposition
to shôgun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616), was allowed to remain in
charge of Satsuma on the island of Kyushu. Further, in 1609 the Shimazu
were given the shogunate’s permission to launch an invasion of Okinawa.
Some have suggested that the invasion was allowed in order to dissipate
Shimazu energies in directions other than the Tokugawa shogunate. Ruling
the islands from their base on Satsuma and through the Ryûkyûan monarchy,
the Shimazu forbade the practice of native martial arts. Also, most
weapons were confiscated under a weapons edict, originally passed by Okinawan
ruler Shô Shin (who was in power from 1477 to 1526), forbidding
the wearing of the swords and the stockpiling of arms, and eventually banning
the import of bladed weapons in 1699.
The Okinawans, however, had developed a long-term relationship with
the Chinese, particularly with the Fujian province, and tradition holds that
during this period some of their best fighters traveled to China to learn martial
arts and thus build upon an exchange initiated in 1393 with the settlement
of the “thirty-six families” who emigrated from China to Kuninda
(Kume village) in the district of Naha. One art in particular, Sukunai Hayashi
Tomari Te (Shaolin Small Pine Tomari [a village in Okinawa] Hand), manifests
the influence of Chinese Crane styles. Contemporary systems maintain
the Chinese influence. For example, Uechi-ryû, the ryûha (style) founded by
Uechi Kanbun, was based on the Pangai Noon (pinyin banyingruan, hardsoft)
of Zhou Zihe (Chu Chi Wo; Okinawan Shu Shi Wa), a Fujianese teacher
suspected of having ties to the Ming secret societies that are alleged to have
played a central role in the history of the external Shaolin styles.
Also, during the Ming dynasty, a monk by the name of Chen Yuanpin
Boxing, Chinese Shaolin Styles 41