Back to the roots of karate in Okinawa. This report shows the original and pure Karate styles in the presence of Okinawa with their heritage. A human body becomes the ultimate destructive weapon with its mysterious divine techniques. Karate is a martial art far beyond your imagination. It can only be mastered with years of continuation and practice to reach the state of true self-consciousness.
From the archive: Martial Arts Gala 1994 of the “Kampfsportschule Aarau”.
Karate demonstration by Dieter Lüscher and Sivathana Samedy. This gala was organized by the Aarau Martial Arts School. 2500 spectators were present in the packed Aarau hall.
Between Japan and China, this island was a strategically important point. So it happened that at different times the island was under Chinese or Japanese influence. Therefore, a martial art developed on Okinawa, which contained its own self-defense experiences and experiences of the Japanese samurai as well as Chinese boxing. In the last three centuries, the Japanese maintained the upper hand on Okinawa.
The possession of weapons was strictly forbidden on the island. However, the people living there wanted to protect themselves against attacks by the occupying forces. This is how karate and kobudo came into being. The new martial arts were initially called Okinawa-te (Okinawa hands). Some masters of Okinawa-te traveled to China to gain experience for their martial arts. When they returned, they passed on their knowledge to their families.
Shotokan karate meets Okinawan Karate. Tatsuya Naka begins a long journey to reach the origin of Karate through technical exchanges with the Okinawan karate masters.
Founder of Shotokan
Gichin Funakoshi(1868 – 1957) broke the family spell at the beginning of the 20th century and traveled to Japan to teach Okinawa-te. In the years 1917 – 22 he drew attention to this martial art through karate demonstrations at universities. In Japan, the ancient martial arts were just experiencing a period of renaissance. This had a positive effect on the spread of Okinawa-te. It was around 1900, when on Okinawa the value of the martial art Okinawa-te for education was recognized and this art was introduced to the middle schools. It was then that the name Karate was chosen for the first time. Under this name, this art spread very quickly.
Funakoshi founded Shotokan Karate, as it was later called. It contains all the great styles of Ch`uan-fa (also called Kung Fu or Kempo) known to him at that time, which can still be seen today in the differences of the master katas that have been handed down. Master Itosu developed student katas (Pinan) from these master katas for better learning of the arts. Gichin Funakoshi then renamed them “Heian“.
The Japan Karate Association
The Japan Karate Association (JKA; jap. 本空手協会, Nihon karate kyōkai) is the world’s largest and most renowned karate style organization. Guiding principle of the Japan Karate Association (JKA) is: “The supreme goal in the art of karate is neither victory nor defeat, but lies in the perfection of the character of the practitioner.”
Okinawa had many masters of the Okinawa-te. All of them had their own ideas and experiences. When they realized Funakoshi’s success, some followed him to Japan. Thus, other great styles emerged, such as Gojo Ryu, Shito Ryu, Wado Ryu, etc.
Karate will make its first appearance on the Games programme at Tokyo 2020, with men and women competing in kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) events at the Nippon Budokan.
Sensei Andre Bertel, as a direct student of Master Tetsuhiko Asai, is showing his abilities and understanding of the Asai Karate Style. This is a brief video from my first International Budo Karate Seminar in Freital, Germany. In the Asai style, a lot of circular movements, paired with tai sabaki are typical.
Sensei Keiji Tomiyama is one of the most senior Shito-Ryu Instructors in Europe. He has been teaching at Kazoku Kai Clubs. This old footage shows also some practical partner applications.
This is video for the participants of my seminar in Ahrensburg, Germany in the year 2016. It provides some small reminders about what was covered over the two days by sensei Andre Bertel and his training methods.
Shihan Michael Sim presents his point of view about Karate-Do. Benjamin Ow and Alycia Goh from Hayashi-Ha Shitoryukai, Singapore demonstrates various Katas while 6th Dan Black Belt Shihan Michael Sim explains Karate to the audience.
Seibukan Shorin Ryu is the karate of Master Zenryo Shimabukuro, student of the great Master Chotoku Kyan. It is neither a hard or soft style and requires power and precision as well as speed and agility.
Discover some insight into the traditional karate karate lessons today of the “Kampfsportschule Aarau” in Switzerland. Those trainings consists, Kihon, Kumite and Kata with Bunkai. Self defense situations are also trained in separate courses especially optimized for women. You are invited to visit the official website of www.karateschule.ch