Kara and Kara
Karate-do is Okinawa in it's origins. However in the past it was confused with Chinese boxing because of the use of
in its earlier name, in fact for the past thousand years, the study and practice of masters and experts, through which it was nurtured and perfected and formed into the unified martial art that it is today, took place in Okinawa. It is therefore, not a distortion to represent it as an Okinawan martial art.
One may ask why the character has been retained for so long. I belive that at the time the influence of Chinese culture was at it's peak in Japan, many experts in the martial arts traveled to China to practice Chinese boxing. With their new knowledge, they altered the existing martial art, called Okinawa - te, weeding out it's bad points and adding good points to it, thus working it into an elegant art. It may be speculated that they considered an appropriate new name. Since, even in contemporary Japan, there are many people who are impressed by anything that is foreign, it is not difficult to imagine the high regard for anything Chinese that prevailed during that period in Okinawa. Even at the time of the present writer's youth, lack of a full set of Chinese furniture and furnishings in one's home was a serious impediment to the social influence of any leading family. With this background, the reason for the choice of the character , meaning "Chinese," as a simple case of exoticism is apparent.
Following tradition, the writter has in the past continued to use the character . However, because of frequent confusion with Chinese boxing, and the fact that the Okinawan martial art may now be considered a Japanese martial art, it is inappropriate, and in a dense degrading, to contine use of in the name. For this reason, in spite of many protests, we have abandoned the use of to replace it with .
Gichin Funakoshi |
