Traditional karate

Traditional karate is an old martial art without a weapon which served as self-defence in Japan in times when fighting was an everyday reality and wearing weapons was forbidden. Providing the principles of karate are studied correctly, its students are able to maximally use the capability of their bodies and create a powerful and efficient technique, by which – if used at the right time and place – they can fight off an enemy.

Traditional karate is high teachings of fighting as a way of inner self-knowledge. Its function is to bring peace, joy and self-confidence into all aspects of practitioners’ everyday life. To excel in a gym and at the same time sink hopelessly into depressions, stress, intolerance and disregard, means to miss the genuine meaning of the teachings.

Traditional karate does not want to show who is better and who is worse, but the fact that everybody can practise. To practise means to grow neither aggressiveness nor own ego; a martial art is an art of courtesy, courtesy to oneself, to ones’ potential, to everything and everyone around us. Traditional karate is a method which gives us an opportunity to influence the whole of our life, to feel our progress through everyday life; it is not a form one can put on and later take off in a dojo change room.

The traditional karate technique is based on using the body as a complex (the synchronization of breathing, contraction and relaxation of muscles, dynamics of the body), rather than counting on the power of arm and leg muscles. What is important in application is strategy and timing in combination with a powerful thought and determination to fight – the fighting spirit. In practising one learns to make use of a free space in the competitor’s action rather that to resist his strength. A practitioner develops self-confidence, stable emotions and clear deciding, so that the body would respond naturally to any impulsion – attack.

Practising traditional karate needs neither any extreme physical demands nor an affiliation to any philosophical, religious, social or political group. The principle of reality itself stands outside the ownership of any organisation, group or sect, and ruling one’s life is therefore the responsibility of every single human being.

Everybody with the time and desire can practise. Everybody can choose the frequency and amount of effort put into practising. No matter whether it is one’s deep involvement, self-defence or only the need of physical movement and relaxation after work what brings them to practise, everything counts. If we use all tools traditional karate provides, the capacity of an aggressor becomes to some extent relative. That is the reason why karate can be practised by everybody regardless sex, age and physical abilities.
Traditional karate requires hard and long practising. There is no short and easy way.

History

Thanks to Chinese origins this martial art used to be originally called “Chinese hand“. It was also the original meaning of symbols used for karate in Japan. A modern master of this art, Gichin Funakoshi, who died in 1957 at the age of 88, changed the symbols the way that they meant “empty hand“. However, Funakoshi chose those symbols also for their meaning in Zen Buddhist philosophy: “to become empty“. For the Master, karate was not only a martial art but also a tool forming the character. He wrote: “Same as a shiny surface of a mirror reflexes everything that is in front of it, as even a low sound floats over a valley, a karate trainee must empty his mind of selfishness and badness in an effort to respond appropriately to anything he can meet. This is the meaning of kara – or ‘empty’ – in karate.”

Karate was first shown to Japanese public in 1922 when Funakoshi, who was a professor at Okinawa Faculty of Education, was invited to teach and show demonstrations of traditional martial arts under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. His demonstrations impressed audience and students so much the he got a lot of requests to stay and teach in Tokyo. Instead of returning to Okinawa, Funakoshi taught karate at various universities and at the Kodokan Institute – Mecca of judo – till he was able to found Shotokan, a big turning point in the history of karate in Japan.

The Japan Karate Association was founded in 1955 with Funakoshi as the chief instructor. At that time the organisation had only a few instructors who were studying karate under the direction of the aging Master. The Association was recognised by the Ministry of Education in 1958. In the same year the Association hold the first all-Japan championship in karate (won by Hirokazu Kanazawa) which turned into an annual event and helped establish karate as a competitive sport discipline.

In modern times karate plays a multilateral role. As a practical tool for self-defence it is widely taught in private clubs, and for example in Japan it is part of training programmes for police and armed forces. A large number of colleges include karate into their school programmes of physical education, and its techniques are learnt also by a growing number of women. However, karate is being popularised all over the world as a competitive sport which focuses on mental discipline as well as physical abilities. What had originally been created as a martial art in the Far East, survived all changes throughout centuries to become not only an efficient means of self-defence without a weapon, but also an exciting and attractive sport discipline meeting the needs of enthusiasts all over the world.